USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 23
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
The place first selected to give to the soldiers was Suncook on the Merrimac River, but on running the line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire this was taken into the former, and the Maine tract was given to make good the soldiers' loss.
Sweden was set off from Lovell in 1813. The names of the early settlers are Noah Eastman, Stephen Dresser, John Stearns, Capt. John Wood, Oliver Whitney, Joseph and Annias McAllister, Benj. Stearns, Josiah Heald, Levi Dresser, John Whiting, Abel Butters and James Kilgrave.
Lincolnville, 1802
This town forms the southeastern point of Waldo County. It was originally from the Muscongus, later the Waldo Patent. General Henry Knox acquired the estate in 1792, but six years later on ac- count of financial difficulties he was obliged to mortgage the portion comprised within the present towns of Morrell, Belmont, Northport, Lincolnville, Searsmont and Waldo to his friends, General Benjamin
215
Lincoln and General Henry Jackson. It remained with them until 1812, when it was assigned to Messrs. Israel Thorndike, David Sears and Wm. Prescott of Boston. It was from one of the two mortgagees, General Lincoln, that the town of Lincolnville took its name when it was incorporated in 1802.
Benjamin Lincoln distinguished himself throughout the entire Revolution as a Major-General in the Continental forces. In 1787 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts and in 1789 was appointed Collector of Customs in the port of Boston.
As a plantation this town had been called Ducktrap and Canaan. As to the origin of the former name, Sibley in his History of. Union tells the following: "There is a tradition that several Indians came from the east on a hunting and fishing excursion. At the harbor in Lincolnville, they caught some ducks and so called it Ducktrap." The name Canaan is of course of biblical origin, the promised land.
The place was first settled by Nathan Knight, who came to the wilderness from Castine in 1770 and made a clearing beginning the same year. John Studley and a Mr. Wilson started to build a house in town in 1774 and were among the first settlers. Samuel Studley was a resident here in 1797-98. In 1790 there were 190 inhabitants in the settlement. Mr. Nathan Knight cleared up the first farm in town and was the first permanent settler. He had two children, Nathan and Martha, the former being the first white child born in Lincolnville. Nathaniel and Thos. Knight, brothers of Nathan, settled here soon after his arrival. Thos. Knight erected a two-story house; John Knight, a nephew of Nathan, Sr., settled here also. The Knight family has al- ways been prominent in Lincolnville and has taken a leading part in town affairs.
George Ulmer, of German descent, was born in Waldoborough in 1757; his parents were of the party of immigrants who settled in that town under the inducement of General Waldo. A Revolutionary soldier, he came to Ducktrap at the close of the War and took up land at the Trap. He was Representative and Senator to the General Court. Major Philip Ulmer and Jacob, his son, the first town clerk of Lincoln- ville, were also born in Waldoborough. The Ulmers were among the most prominent, influential citizens of Lincolnville in the early days of the settlement. Joseph Thomas settled on the south side of Thomas Pond in 1773. Hushai Thomas, a native of Medumcook, settled in the plantation a little later. Samuel Miller of Hopewell, New Jersey, came to Lincolnville from Nova Scotia and settled about 1777-78. Zephaniah DeCrow of Marshfield, Massachusetts, arrived with his wife and sons about the time of, or shortly after, the Revolutionary War. John De- Crow came about the same time. Samuel Spaulding of Georgetown,
216
Wm. Parkman of Ashby, Massachusetts; Ephraim Sheldon of Cape Ann, Massachusetts; Adam Rogers of Marshfield, Massachusetts; Joseph Prescott of Epping, New Hampshire; John Wade of Scituate, Massachusetts, who came prior to 1792; Thomas Spring who settled before 1793; John Gordon of Raymond; Elijah Gill, Stoughton, Massa- chusetts; Samuel Bussy of Bath; Elisha Johnson, Sanbornton, New Hampshire; Samuel McCurdy, Bristol; Wm. Stone, Cape Porpoise, settled before 1797; Samuel Bullock, Salem, Samuel Hillman and Wm. Matthews of Marblehead, who came prior to 1794, were all early set- tlers in the town.
The Colimers (Collamore or Collimore) were also early set- tlers. Mahoneys, Lambs, Langs, Wadsworth and Youngs were early comers. There were three Young brothers, born in Damariscotta and Bristol. The Heals (there were four of them) of whom Abner was a member of the first board of selectmen, later held many other town offices. The Smiths were early comers to town and Benjamin and Thomas at least were in this section in 1793. They settled at Fernald Neck and sold their holdings there to Nathaniel Fernald about 1810. The latter, according to tradition, drove the first loaded wagon over the turnpike. The Fernalds took a leading part in town affairs. Tim- othy, the son, built a fishing vessel of 28 tons on Fernalds' Neck. The Frenchs came early and took up a residence on the shore at Ducktrap. They came from Bilerica in 1773.
When the town was incorporated in 1802, the first town meet- ing was held at the house of John Calderwood. Philip Ulmer was moderator, Jacob Ulmer, clerk, Wm. Parkman, Abner Heal and Sam- uel Miller, selectmen. The meetings were held in private residences, until the town house was built in 1820.
Mercer, 1804
This is the southwesternmost town of Somerset County. The water power is chiefly on Bog Stream at Mercer Village, where have been a saw mill for long and short lumber, a tannery, a grist mill, and other factories common to early villages. Bog Stream empties into Sandy River. There is a great deal of fine intervale where corn and hay are chief crops.
The settlement of Mercer was started very soon after the Revo- lutionary War. Nathaniel Emery, regarded as the first settler, was a Revolutionary soldier and emphatically the pioneer of the town. His practice was to fell a few acres of trees, build a log house, sell his im- provements to some newcomer and then start again. Others among the early settlers were Nahum Baldwin from New Hampshire, Sam- uel Hinckly from Georgetown, Maine, Nathaniel Davis from Cape Ann, another soldier, Ambrose Arnold and Joshua Greenleaf who set-
217
tled here in 1785. The first settlements were on the river lots, where the intervales prior to settlements were covered with noble growths of maple, elm, butternut and other hardwoods. Little more than the river lots were occupied until 1801, when settlers began to come in rapidly. The titles were mostly from the Plymouth Company. Twenty families with their farms were annexed from Starks in 1835. In 1840 a portion of Mercer, containing twenty-five families, was set off to form a part of Smithfield; and in 1841 another portion containing twelve families was given to New Sharon.
The streets of the town are beautiful with elm and maple trees, some seventy-five years old. There are some quite handsome residences. On the lawn of a small church is a bronze tablet commemorating what is believed to have been the largest tree in New England, an elm that was thirty-two feet in circumference. This town is the birthplace of the publisher, Frank A. Munsey. Mercer was a part of the planta- tion of Industry. Its census in 1800 was forty-one people.
When the town was incorporated in 1804, it was named for Brigadier-General Hugh Mercer of Revolutionary fame. Since few of us know the events of the life of this great general, I am quoting many of the facts as given in the Dictionary of American Biography.
A Revolutionary soldier, born about 1725 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of the Reverend Wm. Mercer and his wife, Anna Munro, he was educated as a physician at Marischal College, Uni- versity of Aberdeen, joined the army of Prince Charles Edward, as a surgeon's mate, and was present at the Battle of Culloden. The col- lapse of the Pretender's cause led him to emigrate to America; and after a brief sojourn in Philadelphia, where he landed in 1746-47, he settled near the present site of Mercerburg. At the outbreak of the French and Indian Wars, he became an officer in a Pennsylvania regiment, captain, major and lieutenant-colonel in turn, and then colonel in 1759. Many daring escapes are ascribed to him and many important negotiations. He was a friend of Washington. In 1775 he was elected Colonel of the Minute Men, then became Colonel of the 3rd Virginia regiment. In June, 1776, he was elected brigadier-general. Washington placed him in charge of Flying Camp whose function was to hover between Howe's forces and Philadelphia and to protect Northern New Jersey against attack by the British troops on Staten Island. It is claimed by some that he orginated the plan of recrossing the river and surprising the Hessians at Trenton. This statement is challenged, but there is no doubt as to the important part he took in the battle. On January 3, 1777, he attempted to seize the bridge over Stony Brook where he lost his life. Washington repeatedly lauded his judgment and experience, characterizing him as "the brave and worthy General Mercer."
218
Raymond, 1804
The town of Raymond in Cumberland County takes its name from an officer who served in the Canada expedition of 1690 under Sir Wm. Phipps. The land included in this township was granted to the heirs of Captain William Raymond and his company in 1767, who in 1735 had been given a grant which proved to be in New Hampshire. The plantation was first called Raymond Town. On April 30, 1767, a meeting of the proprietors was held at Beverly, Massachusetts, and it was voted that the town be called Raymond. Captain George Ray- mond was made treasurer, Thos. Porter, clerk, and other officers were elected to forward the settlement.
The first settler was Captain Joseph Dingley in 1771. The town was incorporated in 1804, and when Casco was set off in 1841, Ding- ley's home was in that town. Settlers were encouraged to move to the territory and develop it: the choice of free lots was offered to those who would move on the land and build a house and a mill. Samuel Jordan from Cape Elizabeth was the first settler in the present town of Raymond in 1771. He it was who had competed with Dingley to gain the opportunity to build the first house and mill and thus secure free lots. In this contest Dingley won. Raymond Village is on the northeastern shore of Lake Sebago, and is separated from Jordan Bay by a quarter of a mile of level meadows.
John Davis, Jr., a trapper, was the first white occupant. His sons, John and Gideon Davis, chose lots east of the present village in 1770. Nathaniel Jones of Cape Elizabeth, Thomas Lewis and William Dingley also chose lots the same year. Captain Nathaniel Jordan cleared the first road in 1771. Of the first thirty settlers in Raymond who received deeds of their lands in 1794, Dominicus Jordan settled on the bay bearing his name where his son, Samuel, located the first farm in present Raymond and his grandson, Samuel, Jr., was born, the first white child to have been born in Raymond. Joseph Brown settled next toward the village, Mark Leach and James Jordan north of the village. The site of the village was reserved as a "mill lot," but afterward sold to James Leach, Eli Longley, J. Plummer and E. H. Scribner.
The part of Raymond west of Cook's River was taken to form Naples in 1829, the western half was incorporated as Casco in 1841 and Raymond Cape annexed from Standish in 1841.
Dingley Brook separates the towns of Casco and Raymond. Just after the road crosses the bridge is the Hawthorne House, a re- modeled two-and-a-half-story barnlike structure, now owned by the town of Raymond and used for public meetings. It was erected in 1812 by Richard Manning for his sister, Mrs. Hawthorne, after the death
219
of her husband. Here the boy, Nathaniel, then about seven years of age, roamed the near-by hills, fished in local streams and frequently sat on rocks in sunny spots engaged in his favorite pastime of reading. Extracts from the boy's diary show that the daily affairs of the village and the conversation of the men who congregated in his uncle's store interested him. One of the visitors appeared as a character in one of Hawthorne's stories. Before the house was built for Mrs. Hawthorne, Nathaniel visited his uncle for months at a time. It was this gentleman who taught the boy the rudiments of mathematics, grammar and geography.
The first religious meetings in Raymond were held previous to 1790 by Elder Joseph Hutchinson, a Free Will Baptist. Two meeting houses were begun in 1801. In 1814 the Rev. Allen H. Cobb, a Metho- dist, began preaching in the proprietors' meeting house on Raymond Hill and a meeting house was built at East Raymond between 1816 and 1820. Reverend Mr. Leach was elected first minister of Raymond in 1817.
Washington, 1811
No Revolutionary leader has been more honored throughout the United States in our place names, in commemoration of his deeds both in war and in peace, than General George Washington. In Maine one of the sixteen counties pays reverence to our greatest general in this manner. It adopted the name in 1789, when it was incorporated and at the time when Washington was entering upon his first term of office as President of the United States. In Knox County is the town of Washington which was incorporated in 1811 as Putnam, thus com- memorating the name of General Israel Putnam, also of Revolutionary fame. In 1823 the name was changed to Washington.
In the period following the Revolution a number of planta- tions, doubtless settlements started by loyal soldiers settling in Maine, adopted for a time the name of Washington. Among them were the present towns of Mount Vernon, Newfield, Belgrade and Brooks. Plantation Number 4 in Franklin County bore the name for a period of time, until its organization was given up. Doubtless there were others who wished to so honor the man who was "first in the hearts of his countrymen."
The town of Washington, Maine, was in part included in the Plymouth Patent and in part in the Muscongus, later the Waldo Patent. It was made up of the westerly part of Union and several strips and gores adjacent. Among the petitioners for incorporation were Mark Hatch, John and James Laughton, John Bowman, David Colomy, Benj. Speed, Wm. Starrett, Thos. Nelson, James Daggett, Samuel Stickney and Sanford Rhodes.
220
In honor of several officers who were his contemporaries dur- ing the Revolution, Knox gave names to the townships in his patents : Searsmont before incorporation was Greene Plantation in honor of General Greene; and Belmont was also Greene Plantation for the same reason. Monroe was Lee, for General Henry Lee; and Jackson Plan- tation was for General Henry Jackson of Massachusetts. For a short time Troy bore the name of Montgomery, the general who fell at Quebec; Thorndike, that of Lincoln, and Brooks, that of Washington.
George Washington on his Grand Tour came to Portsmouth and crossed over the river to Kittery on November 1789, his only recorded visit to our present State of Maine.
Eddington, 1811
Eddington, situated on the Penobscot River at the head of the tide, was so named in compliment to Colonel Jonathan Eddy, in con- sideration of services and sufferings endured by him and nineteen other refugees from Nova Scotia during the Revolution. In 1785 the Gen- eral Court granted to them 9000 acres of land. Each was to erect a dwelling house on his lot within two years and the place was to be immediately settled. Most of the grantees came on the tract, which was surveyed and lotted in 1787. The town was incorporated in 1811, one of the oldest in Penobscot County, and is the only one except Bangor and Brewer which appears in the census of 1790, when all three towns belonged to Hancock County. Nichols Pond, partly in the east section of the town, takes its name from James Nichols, one of the early set- tlers in the town. A number of other ponds lie wholly or partly in Eddington. The principal village is Eddington Bend; it is at the junc- tion of the old river road or military road to Houlton with the only wagon road southwesterly and south through the entire length of the town. This is the old "air line" stage route to Aurora and Calais.
Jonathan Eddy was a native of Norton, Massachusetts, born about 1726. Some time after 1758, he moved to the present Nova Scotia, then in the Province of Quebec; he was probably influenced by the seductive offers of Governor Chas. Lawrence of Nova Scotia to prospective settlers upon the fertile lands from which the French Neutrals had been driven. Here he lived at Chigneto Bay for ten years, where he acquired considerable influence and prominence. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, General Washington started two agents for this area, hoping to enlist the sympathy of some of the inhabitants who were related to our patriots, but being timorous, the agents accomplished nothing. Eddy, hearing of this, made a journey to the General Court in Boston, where he reported the weakness of the Cumberland Fort and the ease with which it might be reduced.
Mr. Eddy entered the Continental Army "active, bold and con-
221
fident." Three years after the close of the war the grant was made to him and his nineteen associate refugees from Nova Scotia by the Gen- eral Court which forever associated his name with this notable town in the Penobscot Valley. He was the first Register of Probate when Hancock County was formed in 1790.
The settlement of the town had begun five years before the grant to Eddy and his companions. As early as 1780, several families had located on this side of the river. Among them were Alexander and Stephen Grant, Daniel Mann, Stephen Buzzell, Jacob Oliver, and P. Mahoney. They had no rights to the soil except that of preoc- cupancy.
The census of 1790 gives the following as heads of families in Eddy Township at that date: John Phillips, Eleazer Blackman, Elias, Jonathan and Ibrook Eddy, James Nickolls, Thankful McMann, Stephen Bussell, Patrick Mahaney, Patience Rowell, Daniel Mann, Samuel, Alexander and Stephen Grant, Jacob Oliver, Philip, Daniel, Nathaniel and Nathaniel, Jr., Spencer.
Dearborn, 1812-1843
Dearborn was incorporated in 1812 as the one hundred and ninety-second town in the District of Maine, and was so named in compliment of General Henry Dearborn. It is separated from Rome by Great Pond.
The following was taken from an editorial of some years ago in the Bangor Daily News: "That there was an ancient town of Dear- born in Kennebec County is recalled by the Kennebec Journal, which town has entirely disappeared from the map, not so much as a post- office being left to preserve the name."
According to the Journal, Dearborn was a well-defined section of the county from 1812 to 1843. It was a good-sized area, as old maps revealed, but was gradually absorbed by other towns which were or- ganized from time to time.
Fairfield, Smithfield, Mercer, Rome, Belgrade and a part of Oakland were once known as Dearborn, and the name figures promi- nently in county business during the years of its existence. In 1839 a section was annexed by Belgrade. Smithfield took a portion in 1840 and Waterville took two sections, one in 1815 and the other in 1841.
The Journal does not venture into the history of the old town, but we assume that it was named after the old Revolutionary hero, General Henry Dearborn, some of whose ancestors lived in the state within recent years and probably do now, although we are not sure of that.
General Dearborn was a native of Hampton, New Hampshire, and was practicing medicine in Portsmouth, when
222
the war broke out. He was at the time but 25 years of age. After the battle of Lexington in 1775 he marched to Cam- bridge next day with 60 volunteers and was there made a cap- tain. He was at the battle of Bunker Hill and accompanied Arnold on his ill-fated expedition through the Maine woods to Quebec. He was a major under Gates at the battle of Bur- goyne, and distinguished himself and his regiment by a gallant charge at Monmouth. He was with the army of New Jersey at Yorktown. He was twice a member of Congress and was Secretary of War under President Jefferson. He was Collector of Boston in 1800 and in 1812 was made senior Major Gen- eral of the Army. He died in Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1829, his last service being as Minister to Portugal. It is too bad that some of the towns of which Dearborn was carved couldn't have spared enough of the old town to preserve its name. Gen- eral Dearborn was deserving of any honor that could be paid him.
Westbrook, 1814 (City, 1889)
This present city was once a part of Old Falmouth, from which it was separated in 1814 and incorporated as a town under the name of Stroudwater. A few months later, the name was changed to West- brook in honor of Colonel Thomas Westbrook.
At Saccarappa, the principal village in Westbrook, the first settler was Joseph Conant, who is said to have gone up the Presump- scot River in a canoe. He built his house on the northerly side of the river at the falls. He deeded this house to Thomas Haskell, husband- man of Falmouth, in 1762. Joseph Conant was also a husbandman, al- though he owned a mill site at Saccarappa Falls and owned saw mills and grist mills. Parson Smith says in 1748: "went to Saccarappa; Mr. Conant tells me that he has ground 1000 bushels of corn this Winter, there being no mill than his between Yarmouth and Saco." About 1729 the lumber business was beginning in Saccarappa and flourished for a time with great profits. Daniel Godfrey was an out- standing man in this business and swamped out the first road for teamsters. He had a double saw mill spanning the river. It was no un- common sight to see twenty-six yokes of oxen in line for drawing im- mense loads of lumber.
Bartholomew Conant lived at Duck Pond in Westbrook. He and Joseph Conant deeded to Daniel Conant in 1792 one half part. of the mill privilege which their late father, Joseph Conant, purchased of the Reverend Thomas Smith. These Conants were doubtless des- cendants of Roger Conant, one of the first settlers of Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1628. The Babbs were among the early settlers in West- brook. They came from Scarborough and intermarried with the Has- kells and Conants. Tradition says that some of the Thompsons lived at an early time at Ammoncongin Falls (Cumberland Falls) .
223
Thomas Westbrook named the place of his settlement Stroud- water, and from that it has been inferred that he came from Stroud- water, in Gloucestershire, England. That however is not certain. He was the government agent for procuring the masts for the navy, and when that interest was removed from Portsmouth to Falmouth in 1826, he was sent early the following spring to take charge of it here. In the Fourth French and Indian War, he was placed in command of the eastern forces. He was a very active and useful man, became a large proprietor of land, built mills, employed many men and by his activity and capital essentially promoted the welfare of the town.
Robert Means came here from Ireland as a young man, by the way of Massachusetts, with James Armstrong, whose daughter he mar- ried. Among the early men at Saccarappa was Timothy Pike from Newbury, a blacksmith and a well-to-do citizen. In 1775 he moved to Saccarappa, where he erected a saw mill and set up a forge. He was an enterprising and useful citizen. In 1774 Archlaus Lewis settled at Saccarappa and opened a tailor shop. In 1776 he entered the Con- tinental Army and was with Washington at Valley Forge. Mr. Lewis settled on lands at Ammoncongin and Rocky Hill and built a resi- dence at Cumberland Mills. He was for many years a prominent citi- zen and held many public offices. He was the son of a Welsh sea cap- tain and a nephew of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. Thomas Haskell was an early settler in the town, coming from Gloucester, Massachusetts. He had a grist mill at Saccarappa. In 1802 Edmund Marsh kept a hotel at Saccarappa and Elias Merrill a store; the latter was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, a member of the Committee of Safety in Falmouth. Joseph Peabody, who was formerly a distinguished merchant in Salem, lived in Sac- carappa but removed from there in 1785. Daniel Dole was an early settler who married the daughter of Moses Pearson.
Among the other early settlers of the town were Joseph and Benj. Quimby and their families. Joseph was a shipwright by occupa- tion. At Stroudwater the old blockhouse was built to protect the people against the Indians. This also is where Admiral Tate lived. Near Stroudwater was the Broad place and farther eastward, the Seals. Captain Thos. Seal is remembered as commander of the largest ship which sailed out of Portland harbor at that time. Captain Chas. Bart- lette once built large ships at the old wharf.
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.