USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
Richard Hale in The History of Bar Harbor, describing feudal Acadia in the latter part of the seventeenth century, says: "According to Versailles and Quebec records, seven seigneuries were granted, two paper and four or five real. Grandchamp where Lefebre was located was at Thomaston at the mouth of the St. George, where the Indians must fore gather deep in fur trade."
In 1630 Edward Ashley, as the agent of the Muscongus Pa- teentees, and Captain Wm. Pierce were sent over with five laborers, one of them a carpenter, in a small vessel namd the "Lyon," of which Pierce was the master. They arrived in June and established a truck house on the eastern bank of St. George's River, five miles below the head of tide waters. This must have been in the present Thomas- ton at the foot of Wadsworth Street. Here possession and traffic con- tinued down to 1675. Ashley's agency was sent back to England after a short time.
Aside from casual visitors from English vessels and the men stationed at the trading house, one lonely white man at least had al- ready made his abode here. At about this time there were supposed to be two settlers at St. George's, denominated "farmers": one, Philip Swaden, was undoubtedly located within the limits of the future Thomaston and, with or without a family, constituted its entire sta- tionary population.
In 1736 five settlers included in this town who came with as- sociates to the upper town, Warren, were Scotch-Irish: the elder Alexander, one of the first settlers in Londonderry, New Hampshire; North, who may have come over with Temple; Kilpatrick from Ire- land; John Young and John Alexander. These people were settled by Waldo and were the nucleus of Thomaston.
Honorable John North had resided at Pemaquid in command of Fort Frederic before coming here with this group. He was made commander of Fort St. George in 1757. He was possessed of personal and military courage, was tactful in public dealings, and was an ex- perienced surveyor of great ability.
Of those already mentioned as having settled within the limits of Thomaston, only Thos. Kilpatrick remained. Captain Wm. Wat- son, one of the emigrants from Northern Ireland, built his house here in 1753 and after the war closed, carried on farming and lumbering operations with great success.
Mason Wheaton, the most important settler of the town, started a settlement on Mill River in 1763. He was a connection of General John Thomas for whom the town was named, was also a colonel in the army in the Revolution and a representative to the
197
General Court. Colonel John North's death had occurred in 1763, and Colonel Mason Wheaton assumed his position. North was above all things a soldier, while Wheaton was a business man. Under a lease he carried on the manufacture of lime; and Simon Whipple and Samuel Briggs were associated with him and his store.
The first tax assessed in Lincoln County was in 1762. Cap- tain Kilpatrick, the leading citizen in what is now Thomaston, and Hugh McLean were chosen assessors. The garrison was discontinued in 1762.
In 1764 Samuel Briggs was licensed as innholder; in 1775 Wheaton held a major's commission in the militia. Daniel Morse came a few years after Wheaton; born in Attleborough, he settled on a farm and made and repaired carts. Thos. Stevens, a shoemaker from Falmouth, came about the same time. Dr. David Fales arrived and took up a farm. In 1770 Oliver and Abiathar Smith came from Norton, Massachusetts, and settled near Mill River Bridge.
At the time of its incorporation the town contained forty- seven persons possessing ratable estates. In addition to those already mentioned were James Weed, Samuel and James Brown and Israel Lovett, all of whom, together with James Stackpole, came from New Meadows or Harpswell in 1774 or earlier and settled below the Rob- bins lots, along the Bay of George's River toward Simonton's Point. Michael Long resided on a farm near the St. George line. Officers elected at the first town meeting were: selectmen, Col. Mason Wheat- on, Lieut. John Matthews and David Fales, Esq .; treasurer, Col. Wheaton; committee of correspondence, Captain Jonathan Spear, Lieut. Matthews and Jonathan Crockett.
In 1795 the Congregational Meeting House was erected by subscription with a fine bell given by General Knox. General Knox brought many mechanics to this village in 1795. He was the most distinguished of the inhabitants of Thomaston, the commander of the American artillery in the Revolution'and Secretary of War from 1785 to 1794. In the years 1793-94 he built his elegant mansion near the St. George's River, at the great bend near where the fort stood.
When the town was incorporated in 1777, the name Thomas- ton was given in honor of Major General John Thomas, a brave of- ficer who was born at Marshfield, Massachusetts, then called Green Harbor, in 1724. He studied medicine at Medford and practiced in his native place, but soon moved to Kingston. In 1746 he went north to Annapolis, N. S., as second surgeon with the troops. In 1755 he joined Shirley's regiment as surgeon's mate and soon, in 1759, became . Lieut. General; in 1776 he was sent by Washington to fortify Dor- chester Heights, was made a Major General, and went to Canada to command the army which had been led by Arnold and Montgomery,
198
raised the seige and retreated to the mouth of the Sorel River, where he died on June 2, 1776. The inscription over his grave at Kingston reads: "Erected to the memory of John Thomas, Major-General : Commander in Chief of the Army in Canada in the Revolutionary War who died at Chamblee, June 2, 1776."
South Thomaston, 1848
This is the most southerly of the towns in Knox County. Its Indian name was Wessaweskeag which signifies "a tidal creek" or a salt inlet or bay. The peninsula which comprises South Thomaston was early of great importance, since across it was the shortest east and west route for travel. This was much used by the Indians. Here at this strategic point was located one of the French seigneuries of the later seventeenth century, called Grandchamp, and presided over by Thomas Lefebvre. His name, under various spellings, appears often in our colonial history.
The western line of Acadia was flexible as far west as the French could hold. As late as 1724 Governor Vaudreuil of Canada wrote to Governor William Dumner of Massachusetts that the St. George's River was the boundary agreed upon in 1700 between the lands of the French and English and "that one Lafevre had a right to the Land thereabouts & that all vessells paid a Duty to him . .. . " Colonel Benjamin Church, the old Indian fighter, in his account of his fifth and last expedition east in 1703 and 1704, tells of his meet- ing with old Lafaure (sic) and his grown sons, Tom and Timothy. These young men, after being persuaded in a somewhat unfriendly manner, consented to act as pilots for Colonel Church to the main- land of the Penobscot, carrying him directly to every place and habi- tation of both French and Indians thereabouts.
The first English settler to our present South Thomaston was doubtless Elisha Snow from Harpswell, who came in 1767. He early built a saw mill, later a house and still later a grist mill, on Wessa- weskeag Stream. He also began shipbuilding. For each of his seven sons, he lotted a farm from his holdings, treating his son-in-law, Cap- tain James Spaulding, in like manner. Following Snow came Lieut. John Matthews from Plainfield, Connecticut, Richard Keating from New Meadows, John Bridges from York and James and John Ober- ton.
Another early comer who contributed much to the growth of the settlement was Joseph Coombs, who arrived about 1773 and by his own energy and persistence became a leading citizen. He also built a saw mill and later he and Snow, as partners, erected a second grist mill. He also engaged in lumbering, shipbuilding, the burning of lime and the manufacture of salt, all leading industries of the day.
199
Other early settlers in this section were Joseph Snow, a brother of Elisha, and Robert Jordan, a brother-in-law, both from Cape Eliza- beth. Their lots were on the west side of the river. Another settler from Cape Elizabeth was Robert Thorndike, whose father had taken up a lot of land here thirty years beforehand. Benjamin Williams be- gan the business of tanning before the close of the eighteenth century.
The Baptist Church at South Thomaston was early established under the leadership of the Reverend Isaac Case in 1784. A meeting house was built in 1796 which was later improved. Elisha Snow, the first settler, became the assistant pastor of the church in the 1790's, and following the turn of the century became the pastor in charge, hold- ing that office until his death in 1832.
Upon the incorporation of this section of the old town in 1848, various petitions were circulated by a portion of the inhabitants. One asked to be annexed to Thomaston or to become a separate town under the name of Independence, while another desired the name of Melrose. No action resulted from this. The present name, South Thomaston, is simply the designation for the southern part of the original town.
Fryeburg, 1777
The town of Fryeburg consists of land granted to Captain, afterward General, Joseph Frye in 1762, for services in the French and Indian War at Louisburg and at Fort William Henry, where he commanded a regiment. Captain Frye had studied for two years at Harvard. The Indian name of the town was Pegwacket. This place has been rendered famous by being the seat of an Indian tribe, a branch of the Sokokis, and by Lovewell's fight in 1725. It is one of the most distinguished towns in Maine; Paugus was the Indian chief here who was slain in Lovewell's fight in May, 1725, and the tribe was nearly exterminated. Fryeburg was settled in 1763 and by the time of the opening of the Revolutionary War was a flourishing plan- tation. When incorporated as Maine's thirty-sixth town, in 1777, it was the only one in what is now the county of Oxford.
The first white people to pass a winter in Pequawket were John Stevens and Nathaniel Merrill. Limbo, their Negro slave, in the winter of 1762 pastured cattle on the great meadows and fed them on the hay which had been cut and stacked the summer before. At the beginning of the winter, he and his owners drove 105 cattle and 11 horses from Gorham to Pequawket and camped with them on the high land and fed them all winter.
The first settlers began to come in 1763; more followed in 1764, coming on horseback and in oxcart and on foot, driving their
200
stock before them. The line of travel was from Phillipston (Sanford) to Francisborough (Cornish) across the Ossipee to the falls in Hiram, then through what is now Brownfield to Pequawket. In 1763 Nathan- iel Smith and his wife came from Concord, New Hampshire, and set- tled in what is now East Conway. He was a millwright and built the mill on the outlet of Walker's Pond in what was called "Sodom."
Late that fall came Samuel Osgood, Jedediah Spring, David Evans, Nathaniel Merrill, John Evans and Moses Ames, most of them with families, also from Concord. Their route was by Berwick and York, then to the crossing of the Ossipee, reaching Pequawket when the snow was two feet deep in November. Only one log house was available, which they all occupied until houses could be built for the families. A gun and an axe was all a man could bring, while the housewife had to get along with a kettle and frying pan. The trails were marked only with spotted trees. The next year, 1764, Aaron Abbott came from Concord, New Hampshire, the only first settler to become one of the first members of the church.
A number of pioneers came in 1764 from Andover, Massa- chusetts; among them were Simon Frye, a nephew of Colonel Frye, Isaac Abbott, Daniel Farrington, John Farrington and Wm. Howard. These last two families, however, went on to Stowe. In 1766 Caleb Swan and Wm. Wiley came from Andover, Massachusetts - Wiley by way of Newburyport to Saco. He crossed the Ossipee on a raft and located on the west side of the township. The families coming later in the year from Andover were Bradford, Atkinson and Crawford, who crossed the Ossipee at Waterborough. Joseph Knight and a dozen more families came in 1767. Swan was a Harvard graduate, a class- mate of John Adams. He had served in the French and Indian Wars. He settled at the Falls.
In 1767 the settlers used batteaux to bring grain from Saco. These boats would bring eight or nine barrels, which were paid for in beaver or sable skins. In 1768 the Reverend Paul Coffin visited the settlement. At that time in the plantation, in addition to those whose names are already given, were John Webster, Stephen Knight, Moses Day, Captain Henry Y. Brown (the grantee of Brownfield) Joseph Walker, Supply and Ezekiel Walker and Asa Buck. Jonathan Drew, another Andover man, came in 1770. Joseph Emery, M. D., the first physician, came in 1768 from Andover. One of the earliest acts of Colonel Frye was to lay out a series of lots of forty acres cach. These the grantees drew by lots. They constituted what was referred to as "The Seven Lots," the only name by which the locality was known until January, 1777, when the town of Fryeburg was incor- porated. In time these seven lots became many more, as they were
201
cut up and sold to the incoming residents. The seven lots merged into Fryeburg Village.
Reverend Wm. Fessenden occupied the "Minister's Right." While the larger part of Fryeburg was granted in 1762 to General Joseph Frye, who had been at the siege of Louisburg and commanded a regiment at Lake George in 1757, that same year, 1762, a grant was also made to some persons in Concord, New Hampshire, already mentioned, who came with their cattle and started clearing.
Standish, 1786
Doubtless the earliest of our military commanders to be hon- ored in the name of a Maine town was Miles Standish of the early Plymouth Colony.
Standish, a town located in Cumberland County, Maine, bears the name of this hero, whose courage and character has been kept in mind by the early settlers of this section of the District of Maine. The township was early granted to Captains Moses Pierson and Humphrey Hobbs and their respective military companies whose services had been great in the first siege of Louisburg. Therefore its plantation name had been Piersontown and Hobbstown. The settlement was started about 1750 and the town was incorporated in 1786 under the name of Standish. The old Bridgton, Sebago and Portland stage and mail route passed through what is now Standish Corner during the early days of the nineteenth century. As early as 1767 the way was opened "sufficient for passage on horseback from Long Pond to Pear- sontown Fort to Standish Corner." The early fort, or stockade, sixty feet wide, was constructed of heavy, hewn timbers and stood at the present crossroads at the corner. When threatened by the Indians as the colonists often were, they took refuge in the fort. It was event- ually torn down to make room for the first meeting house.
The first settler was Ebenezer Shaw who came from New Hampshire in 1763. He had accepted the offer from Moses Pearson to erect the first saw mill, which he is said to have done in nine days. He also received 200 acres of land. A tavern was built about this time and in 1782 a windmill was built by Thos. Shaw to grind corn; when the wind was favorable, fifty bushels of corn might be ground in a day.
The first settler, already mentioned as Ebenezer Shaw in 1763, was followed the same year by Daniel Cram, Daniel Sanborn, John Sanborn, Jonathan Sanborn, Michael Philbrick, Jonathan Philbrick, John Pierce, Moses Lowel, Caleb Rowe,. Worthy Moulton, Jonathan Bean and Jabez Dow from New Hampshire, most of them having their families. Samuel Moody settled at Bonny Eagle in 1768; Daniel Har- mon, John Hall, James Moody, Moses Richardson and Dominicus Mit-
202
chell came prior to 1776. James Moody opened a blacksmith shop near Standish Corner in 1775 near which Josiah Shaw kept a tavern, and Joseph Paine came from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1780. In 1783 Aaron Parker purchased 200 acres of land on the "Neck" for 150 pounds and occupied it with his family.
Standish Corner, the point of original settlement, was for many years the business center of Standish, with at one time two tan- neries, six stores and three hotels. Steep Falls is the principal village of Standish. The first settlement here was made by Captain Benj. Poland, who built a mill a mile below the falls in 1826. James Foss opened the first store in 1829. Tobias Lord erected a grist mill in 1836. Wm. Pierce established the first hotel here in 1826. The first selectmen in 1786 were Caleb Rowe, Daniel Hasty and John Deane.
Greene, 1788
This territory was first known as a part of Lewiston Planta- tion. Then it was known as Littleborough, in honor of Moses Little from Newbury, Massachusetts, who was a large proprietor in the Pejepscot Patent which covered a portion of this area, and is said to have made a large purchase of land from the Indians in this vicinity. The town was incorporated in 1788, and its name was bestowed upon it as a compliment to Major General Greene of the Continental Army, who has been called "next to Washington the greatest soldier the war produced." In the petition for the incorporation, the request was made that the new town should be called Greenland. At the time of incorporation, it is said that there were about one hundred in- habitants in the place.
Benjamin Ellingwood, a squatter, made the first home and was the first resident on the land now in the town of Greene. He cleared some land and, it is said, planted corn and had a fine harvest in 1775. Mr. Ellingwood was joined in the early summer of 1775 by Benj. Merrill of North Yarmouth, who became the first permanent settler. Ellingwood's cabin and clearing had attracted Merrill and he soon made a bargain with him and remained during the summer, paying his board with "a peck of corn, an old woolen shirt, a shovel and the balance in cash." He secured Ellingwood's services to harvest hay and to clear land which he proposed to own across the brook, and eventually this land was deeded to him by the proprietors' agent. On November 1, 1775, he purchased of Ellingwood his house and improvements for 140 pounds. He gave for "housen stuff, £20." He came from North Yarmouth again on the fifteenth of the month, bringing his family and goods in an oxcart. The snow lay a foot deep upon the ground and was still falling when they moved into the log house.
203
Colonel Wm. Sprague moved in from Medford, Massachu- setts, in 1779. He built the first mills in town and excelled in military tactics. Lemuel Comins was probably the third person to make his home in the wilderness of Greene. He came from North Yarmouth, but was a native of Massachusetts and was the first deacon in the Baptist Church and the acknowledged leader in religious affairs. His house was one of the first frame houses built in town. The Larrabee family from Yarmouth settled between the center and the west part of the town. Deacon John Larrabee, one of the first selectmen, filled the office for several years. He was a joiner by trade. John Mower came from Charleston, Massachusetts, about 1786; he and his wife were a most valuable acquisition to the settlement and their descend- ants have among them many worthy citizens. Benj. Alden, descend- ant of John Alden, and a Revolutionary soldier, was also an early settler. He was a blacksmith. He belonged to the Friends Society and was selectman for sixteen years. Luther Robbins of Hanover, Massa- chusetts, was selectman, town clerk, Representative to the General Court and postmaster. Captain John Daggett, who settled in 1786, taught first school in town. Sprague, Daggett, Robbins, Mower and Alden were all Revolutionary soldiers. As far as has been ascertained, others who had served in the Continental Army and settled in Greene were Colonel Jabez Bates, Captain Ichabod and Jarius Phillips, Sam- uel Mower, Thomas More, George Berry, John Allen, Joseph Mc- Kenney, Ezekiel Hackett and Benjamin Quimby.
The petition for incorporation in 1788 was opposed by some because "most of us new settlers in the woods are in indigent circum- stances," but to no avail. The settlers of Lewiston traded at Greene's Corner, and educated their children there. It is generally believed that the first shingles sawed in Maine were made at the shingle mill put up by Willard Bridgham on the old Beriah Sampson privilege at the outlet of Allen Pond. The earliest grist mill was built by Wm. Sprague in 1795, and not long afterward Beriah Sampson had one at the privilege mentioned above. Wm. Sprague, Jr., and Anslem Cary had small tan yards, but the principal business in this line was that of Moses Harris. Anslem Cary was an early merchant, probably the first trader to rank as such. His store was at Greene Corner. He later admitted. Elijah Barrell as partner. Greene Center near Greene Sta- tion was early an important business center where the land that was conveyed to Benj. Merrill by Moses Little in 1785 was located. The first town meeting was held August 29, 1788, at the dwelling house of Samuel and Eli Herrick; all town meetings were held there until 1793, when the annual meeting was adjourned to the new Baptist Church. Benj. Merrill, Sr., Lemuel Comins, John Larrabee, John Daggett and Benj. Alden were selectmen and assessors in 1788. Benj.
204
Merrill, 3rd, was town clerk and Wm. Sprague, treasurer. Also ap- pointed were tithingmen, surveyors of highways, fence viewers, and an "informer of deer and moose and hog reeves."
Sedgwick, 1788
Major Robert Sedgwick of Charleston, Massachusetts, a man of popular manners and military talents and a onetime member of the celebrated artillery company in London, and Captain John Lever- ett of Boston, a correct tactician and enthusiastic patriot, were placed in command of an expedition of 500 men whom Cromwell had directed to reduce the Dutch colony at Manhadoes. Before the ex- pedition was ready to depart, articles of peace were signed between the English and Dutch colonies.
The eastern inhabitants greatly feared the Indians and the French control over them. Cromwell's orders to the captains of the ships before they left England were, when they had reduced the Dutch colony, to turn their arms against Nova Scotia and conquer it. No time was lost in carrying out these orders whereby Major Sedgwick captured the three key fur trading posts at Pentagoet (Castine), St. John (Jemsac) and Port Royal (Annapolis Royal). Cromwell granted Acadia to Colonel Sir Wm. Temple, who carried on the monopoly of the fur trade until 1667.
It is from Major Robert Sedgwick that the town of Sedgwick, Maine, received its name in 1788. The place had previously been called Naskeag, an Indian name meaning "the extremity" or "the tip." Sedgwick was one of the six townships of No. 4 in the first class granted by Massachusetts in 1761 to David Marsh and 359 others. These townships were to be six miles square and located con- tiguously between the Penobscot and Union rivers.
The first permanent settler in Sedgwick was Andrew Black in 1759. Four years later came Captain Goodwin Reed, John and Dan- iel Black, and two years after them Reuben Gray moved in from Penobscot. His descendants are very numerous. In 1789 the court confirmed to each settler 100 acres of land. The first minister of Sedgwick was Daniel Merrill. The Town Hall, a handsome white structure on a hill overlooking the village, was built as a church in 1837 to replace the first church which was built in 1794. Four col- umns ornament the front entrance and a weather vane surmounts the attractively domed cupola. Daniel Merrill, first pastor of the church, received an annual salary of 50 pounds.
That the town was not particularly prosperous in the early days is shown by the official records which reveal that all unattached and unmarried females who could not find anyone to undertake their support were warned to leave town. Among the estates of first set-
205
tlers in Hancock County which were appraised from 1787 to 1792 were those of John Gray and Nathaniel Allen, Sedgwick, Daniel Bridges and Andrew Black.
About eighty heads of families are mentioned as in Sedg- wick in the census of 1790. Among them, in addition to names mentioned above, were Herrick, Freathy, Gra, Billings, Grindel, Dodge, Allen, Fly, Cozens, Wells, Eaton, Carter, Parker, Ma- honey, Reed, Bunker, Hooper, Black and Stanley.
Nobleborough, 1788
When Wm. Vaughn of Boston came to Damariscotta Fresh Falls as early as 1730, James Noble, Esq., and his brother, Elliot Vaughn, came with him and after his death, his deed passed to those two men. According to some writers, it was from James Noble that Nobleborough was named. Colonel Arthur Noble, brother of James Noble, Esq., led the English forces in an at- tempt to drive the French from Nova Scotia. He was killed near Grand Pré at Minas in 1747. The Journal of Colonel Wm. Pote records
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.