USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 25
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Jones, Richardson, Balch, Ross, Hucken, Harond, Blackey, Chaloner, Lancaster, Fenwick, McBride, Tucker, Rice, Bean, Ramsdell, Leigh- ton, Sanders, Esty, Presley, Warren, Card, Donald, Lelland, Dinsmore, Cornell, Phinegard, Kieves, Keegan, Madison, Bridges, Wheeler, Chase, Waddee, Barron and Nickleson.
Marion, 1834
The town of Marion lies in the southeastern part of Washing- ton County, eighteen miles northeast of Machias. The village is on the falls of Cathance Stream. Gardiner's Lake lies mostly within the town at the southwestern part. Daniel Calvin and Laban Gardner, Richard Smith, and some of the Grants and Reynolds were early settlers here. When the town was incorporated in 1834, it was named for General Francis Marion, an American general of the Revolution, born in South Carolina in 1732, who entered the army soon after the war had begun. Marion helped to defend Sullivan's Island against the British in 1776, led a brigade in guerilla warfare for more than three years and won many victories, escaping capture in spite of all efforts by the British generals to seize him. He died on his plantation near Eutaw, South Carolina, on February 29, 1795.
Waldo, 1845
The town of Waldo lies near the center of Waldo County. The first clearing was made in 1798, but no family resided upon the area until 1811. It was organized as a plantation in 1821, and consisted only of so-called "Three Miles Square" or the "Six Thousand Acre Tract" which was set off from the estate of Brigadier Waldo of Bos- ton, in 1800, to Sarah Waldo, administratrix of the estate of Samuel Waldo, Falmouth, Maine. Robert Houston, James Nesbit and Daniel Clary of Belfast appraised it at $8,000. The first clearing, already mentioned as having been made in 1798, was by William Taggart and a Mr. Smith from New Hampshire, near the southeast corner, one hundred rods from the Belfast line. In 1800 came Jonathan Thurs- ton from Belfast, who remained only a few years, followed by Josiah Sanborn from Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1805. The Thurstons were doubtless the first upon the tract. In 1809 Malcolm and Gleason sur- veyed the area and divided it into sixty lots, in six ranges of ten lots each. No family resided upon it until 1811, when Henry Davidson moved in. Territory from Swanville was added in 1824 and a gore of about 150 acres lying between Knox and the "Three Miles Square" was annexed in 1836, which completed the present township.
The town was incorporated in 1845, taking the name Waldo from the family of whose estate it was once a part. The Muscongus Patent had been granted in 1630 to John Beauchamp of London and
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Thos. Leverett, a Boston merchant. In 1719 Samuel Waldo had been given half of the grant "for services rendered." Eventually he bought the other half and the grant became known as the Waldo Patent.
The land which Thurston cleared afterward came into the possession of Hall Clements, who came from Knox about 1718-19. John, David and Josiah were the sons of Josiah Sanborn and his wife, Olive (Fogg). The Sanborns were among the very early settlers in Waldo and took a prominent part in the early affairs of the planta- tion. Stetson West came from Perham, New Hampshire, and settled in Belfast, from which place he moved to a log cabin on what is now the Beckwith place in this town. He came to Waldo prior to 1820. Luther and Asa West were here at the same time. Samuel Bullen who came from Farmington and married Margaret, the daughter of Stet- son West, was here in 1822. He became a leading man in the planta- tion. Henry Davidson, son of John Davidson, one of the earliest set- tlers of Belfast, came there from Windham, New Hampshire, prior to 1810 and settled in Waldo a year or two later. He was one of the most influential and prominent men in this vicinity and took a leading part in town affairs. He was a Justice of the Peace and served as moderator at the first meeting of the inhabitants of the new plantation on July 6, 1821. He was clerk of the plantation for many years, and became postmaster of Waldo in 1839. Major Timothy Chase, one of the first assessors of Waldo Plantation, was an early settler here and one of the leading citizens until his removal to Belfast about 1826-30. Joshua Thompson was here in 1806, Abial Abbott in 1809, Joseph Adams in 1810, Wm. Elwell, Lewis Ryan and Winthrop Ellis in 1813, John Gooding in 1817. Luke Barton and Wm. Ranks came before 1817, Seth Chatman before 1819 and John Wentworth, who came from Fryeburg, and Nathaniel Gurney were early settlers also. Joseph Miller, Joseph Cram, Edmund Clements and Alexander Wilson came in 1820.
Eben Whitcomb of Hope was an early resident here. The Coombs family probably settled about 1811 or 1812. Daniel Vickery settled here probably before 1814. Addin Daniel came from Swanville before 1822. Among the settlers here in 1821 or 1822 were Elijah Decrow, John and David Sanborn, Jesse Coombs, Barnabas French, Wm. Elwell, Jr., and Martin Patterson; in 1823, Eph'm Payson, John Elwell, Daniel Shaw, Jos. Perkins, Luke Staples, James Gordon, Sam- uel Coombs, Alex Greenlaw, Benj. Poor, Dearborn Doe and David Bailey; in 1827, Benj. Nickerson, Hugh Godding, Hugh Little, Chas. Mitchell, John Walls and John Brown. Alonzo Winslow of Harpswell, John Coombs of Georgetown, Ira Whitcomb of Hope, Robert Bray of Deer Isle, Manoah Elis and Amos McCorreson were also early settlers.
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Bartlett Briggs and Enoch Wentworth were here in 1824. Thos. Mc- Clure was an early resident also.
Plantation officials were elected at a schoolhouse near the resi- dence of Capt. Josiah Sanbon in 1821. Henry Davidson, Esq., was moderator; Nathaniel Gurney, clerk; Timothy Chase, treasurer; Na- thaniel Gurney and Hall Clements, assessors; David Getchell, con- stable and collector; and Hall Clements and Timothy Chase, surveyors of highways. When the town was incorporated in 1845, Jeremiah Evans was first clerk and treasurer; Abner Littlefield, John Durham and J. D. Wentworth were selectmen. The first school appropriation was in 1822 for about $150.
Flagstaff Plantation, 1865
This plantation occupied the southern township of the western range in Somerset County until its elimination by the Central Maine Power Company in 1949, when the waters of Dead River, backed up by a dam, converted the area into a lake.
It was here that Benedict Arnold on his famous march to Quebec in 1775 raised the continental flag (which had recently been adopted) from a tall staff beside his tent, thus giving the future small town of Flagstaff its name.
Bigelow Mountain bears the name of Major Timothy Bigelow, one of Arnold's officers who climbed the mountain hoping to see Que- bec. The Indian, Natanis, is said to have been encamped on the hill now called Jim Eaton, and helped to guide Arnold to Quebec.
The early settlers arrived in the first years of the nineteenth century. Thomas Lang and Ira Crocker were doubtless the first to establish their homes here. They were looking for lumber and, finding the place suitable, sent in their agent, Myles Standish, a descendant of Myles Standish of Plymouth of 1620. Standish brought supplies and built a saw and grist mill to supply boards and meal for the coming settlers. He also hired carpenters, Wm. and Bill Gammon, father and son, to build three houses, all standing in 1949.
Mr. Wm. Butler was one of the first settlers who built his log house on the lake and brought his family from Industry. Among the families who have come down through the years are Viles, Wings, Savages, Hines, and Taylors.
The last plantation meeting was held March 7, 1949; the first seems to have been held 108 years earlier in 1841. The plantation was organized in 1865.
I am indebted to the Flagstaff Clamor in the Maine State Library for much of this information. It was prepared by the girls of Flagstaff High and their teacher, and is a welcome gift to Maine his- torians.
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CHAPTER XII Maine Town Names Which Compliment Massachusetts and Maine Governors
During the time when Maine was a Province and District of Massachusetts, the newly arrived settlers from Massachusetts often honored their former governor by christening their towns with his name. At least seven Maine towns bear the names of Massachusetts governors, one that of a lieutenant governor and still another the name of an unsuccessful candidate for the position.
Bowdoinham, 1762
The settlement of Bowdoinham which lies east of Bowdoin in Sagadahoc County, although begun soon after the building of Fort Richmond, a very ancient establishment built about 1719, was much retarded by the wars with the Indians and the disputes about land titles. This area was originally claimed by the Plymouth proprietors who, upon a decision of the Court, conveyed it and other contiguous lands to William Bowdoin of Boston, for whom the town was named. It was incorporated in 1762 as the eighteenth town in the District. Wil- liamson says that it bears a name evidently given to the town in com- pliment to a family distinguished for its wealth, one of whose members contributed largely toward the first college in our present state.
Thus while the town may not have been named directly for Governor James Bowdoin of Massachusetts, it compliments the name of his family.
The Indian sachem, Abagadusset, had his residence on the point which now perpetuates his name in the town. It lies between the Abagadusset River and the Kennebec. Alexander Thwait pur- chased land of the Indians and lived at that place before 1656. He went to Bath for a few years, but returned in 1665. It is said that during the first Indian War, nine families living on the north shore of Merrymeeting Bay were destroyed or made captive by the Indians. Remains of orchards planted before this date have been mentioned by later inhabitants. A settlement was made a little south of Bluff Head (Center Point), about 1720, by Thos. McFadden of Georgetown who brought his family and cattle; but the Indians raided the place and destroyed his buildings and stock. In 1802 it was permanently settled by Samuel Center and since that time his name has become
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fixed to that point. Reed's Point was originally settled by Alexander Brown in 1714 and evidently remained so for only a short time, when Mr. Abram Whitmore located there, kept a store and traded with the Indians, who never disturbed him. He lived there in 1800 at the time of the settlement of Somerset Center Point.
The early settlers found the west side of the bay an inviting locality on which to make pleasant homes. Early records establish the fact that Capt. Gyles and Watkins settled on Cathance Neck about 1720, but during the Lovewell War in 1725 all the settlers were killed or driven out by the Indians. This so discouraged immigration that none came permanently until about 1735. In 1720 Capt. John Gyles had received a title from the Pejepscot proprietors to the first lot of land at Pleasant Point, on condition that he would build a suitable dwelling within three years. He also received 515 acres of land on Cathance Neck, now Bowdoinham. This condition was not complied with and Gyles transferred to land in Topsham.
The Indian name for Merrymeeting Bay was Quavocook, meaning "the duck water place." The English name came most likely from the meeting place of the five rivers.
These were the settlers on Cathance Neck or Point: Gowen Fulton, Wm. Patten, Capt. Jameson, Samuel Jameson, Robert Ful- ton and Capt. Robert Patten. This small colony was settled between 1750 and 1755, and for the most part was located across the Neck.
On the west side of the Abagadusset River, the land was gen- erally taken up about 1749 or 1750 by settlers from Old York. Some of these were Elnathan Raymond, Nathaniel Jellerson, Robert Sedg- ley, Andrew Tibbets, James Buker, Joseph Sedgeley, Richard Temple, George Thomas and Zacheus Beals. Many of these names appear on the town books as officials of the town. From Old York also came three pioneers by the name of Preble, who made a permanent stay in the town. Abraham, the first settler, was town clerk and many times selectman, a leading spirit in all good works. Religious worship was held in his house, as were also town meetings and schools; his home was near Birch Point and was built about 1725 or 1730. Jonathan Preble located on the west side of the bay on the George Center estate. The Western house was built in 1738 on Abagadusset Point. Mr. John Brown came in possession of it in 1812. In the years 1738-39, Samuel Adams settled in Bowdoinham on the west bank of the Abagadusset; he was in the battle on the Plains of Abraham. Thus it would seem that from 1725 to 1730 was the earliest date of the first permanent settlements in the town: Prebles, Adams, Sedgley, Beals, Hatch, Get- chell were all of the number of settlers.
Captain Francis Whitmore was moderator at the first town meeting in 1763; Abraham Preble, Zacheus Beals and Joshua Beck-
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ford were selectmen and assessors, and Agreen Crabtree was con- stable and collector. In 1765 the town voted to build a house of wor- ship; it was finished by 1775, except for the pews. It was located on a line between Richard Temple's and the Hallowell estate, near the Abagadusset River which was a convenient landing place, for the worshipers came by water, on horseback or on foot. The building was burned during the same year, 1775. Services were held in private houses until 1797, when the town again voted to build and to raise $150 for a new church. This was placed by a committee near Hall's Corner, and the house was finally built by private subscription. The first ser- mon was preached by Reverend Benj. Randall, the founder of the Free Will Baptist Denomination.
The first dams and mills were on the Abagadusset, and there was a tide mill built by Elihu Getchell on the bay. The records of 1763 show there was a bridge here called Whitman's bridge. The first grist mill, built by the proprietor, Hallowell, at the mill privilege on the west branch, was there at the organization of the town in 1762, as a saw and grist mill. A carding machine was built by Springer and Kid- der in 1800. The steam mill at the village was built in 1837 by a stock company. In 1843 General Joseph Berry bought the property and carried on a large business both in sawing lumber and shipping by coasters.
Winthrop, 1771
The Kennebec County town of Winthrop had its settlement effected in 1760 by emigrants from Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire at the site of the present village. The plantation name was Pond- town, for its many lakes and ponds. When the town was incorporated in 1771, it included the present town of Readfield. It was named Winth- rop in honor of Governor John Winthrop, the first colonial governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1791 the separation of the two parts was effected, the north parish becoming Readfield.
A hunter named Scott was the first recorded visitor in the present town of Winthrop; he built a cabin beside a pond. He was a trapper and he found beaver by the streams and fish in the ponds. He was the first squatter and made improvements that in 1764 brought him 30 pounds from Timothy Foster, the first settler, who came from Attleborough, Massachusetts. Mr. Foster brought his wife and ten children in 1765 and settled on Lot 8. Squire Bishop took a grant for ยท Lot 17 and Eben Bly for Lot No. 18 in 1766. The next year Mr. Bishop brought his wife and six children. The names of some of the men to whom other land grants were issued were: John Needham, Samuel Needham, Abraham Wyman, Nathan Hall, Timothy Foster, Jr., Na- thaniel Stanley, Amos Boynton, Peter Hopkins, and Nathaniel Floyd
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in 1768; other early settlers were Captain Billy Foster and the Rev- erend Jonathan Whiting, Joseph Baker and Stephen Jones. Some of the men who signed the petition for the incorporation of the town in 1770 were: John Chandler who came from Ipswich, Massachusetts, and built the first mills on the water power between the two ponds in the village; Squire Bishop, the second settler and first innholder from Reheboth, Massachusetts; Benjamin Fairbanks, fourth settler, from Dedham, Massachusetts; Stephen Miller, the third settler; Moses Greeley from New Hampshire; Gideon Lambert and Ichabod Howe, both of whom came from Martha's Vineyard in 1769; Seth Delano, of French origin, and Joseph Stevens. The first town officers were John Chandler, Timothy Foster, Robert Waugh, Jonathan Whiting, Stephen Pullen and Gideon Lambert.
Religious observance came early; three weeks after incorpora- tion a committee was appointed to secure preaching for eight Sab- baths. Twenty pounds were raised by tax, and meetings were held at the home of Squire Bishop. In 1776 Reverend Jeremiah Shaw was called to the pastorate, which he declined. No regular preacher came until 1782. In 1774 a meeting house had been partly built by the town, but never finished; in 1794 the South Meeting House in what is now Winthrop was built. The Reverend David Thurston was ordained in 1807 and served for forty-four years. This church instituted a Sunday School in 1808, the first in Maine and probably in New England. Jesse Lee preached in Winthrop, probably in the Fairbanks neighborhood. Five years later he brought the great Bishop Asbury to town with him.
Other mills were built following those already mentioned: saw, grist and cotton mills. One of the curiosities in the early history of Winthrop was the canal which, in 1806, Nathaniel Perley, a lawyer from Hallowell, cut from the north pond; it crossed the street just east of the hotel and brought water to the grist mill. Benjamin Dear- born was the miller until the cotton mills company bought the canal property. When the canal was filled up, shingle machines were run here, and a fulling mill was built in 1791. There was also a blacksmith shop. In 1809 a capitalist from Boston and New York bought the water rights and incorporated the Winthrop Woolen and Cotton Manu- factory, with Amos Barrett as Superintendent. The four-story, brick fac- tory was built five years before work began, but continued in use for twenty years. Winthrop has one of five post offices established in 1795.
Bowdoin, 1788
Situated in the northwestern part of Sagadahoc County, Bow- doin is supposed to have been settled some years previous to the Revo- lutionary War, and was known first as the Plantation of West Bow- doinham and then Pottertown. It was incorporated in 1788, when, ac-
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cording to Williamson, it contained about one hundred and twenty families. It was named in compliment to Governor James Bowdoin who served as Governor of Massachusetts in 1785-86. Governor Bow- doin, a graduate of Harvard in 1745, was a philosopher and statesman of the first order. He was a Whig, a patriot of good ability and great worth. He was accused unjustly of being partial to the merchants, be- cause he thought in humanity and justice that according to the treaty of peace, the acts of confiscation ought to be repealed.
The people of Bowdoin, Maine, were chiefly of the Baptist denomination and one of the first ministers settled there was Elder James Potter. The Reverend Nathaniel Purinton and his son, the Rev. Albert Purinton, were highly esteemed citizens.
Cushing, 1789
This Knox County town was incorporated in 1789 and its name honors Thomas Cushing, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1783 to 1788, a friend of Hancock and Sumner, and the founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Its plantation name was St. George; and the present town of that name was included in Cush- ing until 1803, when a separation was made. The present Cushing is located between the rivers St. George and Medumcook.
The first settlers on this tract were Scotch-Irish emigrants from the north of Ireland who were induced to settle here in 1733, by a proclamation made by General Waldo's son and published in Cork, Ireland. Friendship River forms the dividing line for two-thirds of the length between Cushing and Friendship. Broad Cove and Maple Juice Cove are its principal harbors, lying on the eastern side. Directly south of the mainland and separated only by a narrow passage is Gay's Island which forms a part of the town.
In the year 1753 a very strong stone fortress was built in the town and garrisoned by a company of provincial troops under the command of Major Burton. In 1635 Mr. Foxwell who had lived on the west side of the St. George at Squid, or Sawkhead, Point was prob- ably located in Cushing at or near Pleasant Point. In 1740 it appears that Waldo had located one or more settlers on the western bank be- low the Narrows in Cushing and perhaps also on Watson's Point. Moses Robinson resided there, but later moved to Warren. In 1741 Brigadier Waldo formed another settlement called the Lower Town and gave about forty lots to probably less than thirty settlers.
During the Revolution, Captain Long from Martha's Vineyard was a resident of what is now Cushing. He was a Tory, and a daring, troublesome adventurer. Simon Mclellan commanded a coastal vessel to Boston, built on St. George's waters. The town was first represented in the General Court in 1789 by Edward Kelleran.
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Sumner, 1798
An Oxford County town, Sumner was first settled in 1783 by Charles Bisbee of Pembroke, Massachusetts. Settlement was made in that same year by Increase Robinson and Noah Bosworth in the south- east part of the town. The greater number of the first settlers, who were Revolutionary soldiers, came from Plymouth County, Massa- chusetts, especially from Pembroke and the surrounding towns of Hali- fax, Plympton and Middleborough. The town at first was one with Hartford, under the name of West Butterfield, a name which honored the proprietor of the town. When East (Hartford) and West (Sum- ner) Butterfield were separated in 1798, the town was incorporated and named for Increase Sumner, the Governor of Massachusetts from 1797 to 1799.
Among other early settlers besides the two mentioned were Joseph Robinson, Simon Barrett, Keen, Barney Jackson and Oliver Cummings. These men obtained the titles to their land from Massa- chusetts. Oliver Cummings from Dunstable, Massachusetts, struck the first axe-blow near the center of the present town. For some years the settlers were obliged to carry their grist upon their backs ten miles to the mills in Turner; their only guidance a spotted line through the woods. The first grist mill and the first saw mill in the town were erected by Increase Robinson in 1783.
As early as January 1781 a petition was sent to the General Court by Samuel Butterfield of Dunstable and others for land located north of what is now Buckfield. The petition was not granted. This is the first reference to Samuel Butterfield, from whom the plantation took its name. In 1785-86 surveys were made and in 1787 the deed to the so-called townships Nos. 6 and 7 was given to Ebenezer Bancroft of Dunstable and his associates, as proprietors. Six names represent the ownership of the two townships: Bancroft, Butterfield, Cummings, French, Merrill and Parkhurst. Lots were laid out and drawn by the proprietors in proportion to their shares: a single share meant about 600 acres of land. By the opening of the year 1784 twenty-one settlers had taken up land and made improvements within the limits of the old plantation. Plantation meetings were held at the dwelling of Deacon Increase Robinson or the barn of Hezekiah Stetson or, later, in the schoolhouses. Settlers poured in and before incorporation there were about four hundred in the old plantation, of which nearly one half were in the present town of Sumner.
Petitions for incorporation from both East and West Planta- tions were made in 1793, but both failed. In December, West Planta- tion (Sumner) prepared another petition under a committee headed by John Briggs, for the Plantation to be incorporated as New Han-
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cock (Hancock was then Governor of Massachusetts), with the same result. In December, 1795, a third petition for incorporation, under the name of Gilman, was presented, but action was postponed. Then came a petition by a joint committee of both plantations in 1797, making the east branch of Twenty-Mile River the dividing line, and thus evening the acreage of the two proposed towns and placing the mills built at East Sumner in 1784 by Deacon Increase Robinson into West town. The opposition was from proprietors whose taxes would be increased. The townsmen sent the petition by Deacon Increase Robinson. Both towns were incorporated as Sumner (West) and Hartford (East) on January 13, 1798.
Increase Sumner was Governor of Massachusetts at this time. He was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1746, graduated from Harvard at sixteen, was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature at thirty, a Congressman at thirty-five, a supreme judge at thirty-six and a governor in 1797. He was re-elected both in 1798 and 1799 and died in office in June, 1799.
The diary of a missionary, the Reverend Paul Coffin, tells of his visit to Sumner, Maine, on September 7, 1800:
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