USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 27
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The early post office in this area, before Hancock became a town, was called Sweetland.
The town lies between Taunton Bay on the east and Skilling Bay on the west. Two of its streams, Kilkenny and Egypt, have suf- ficient power to turn mills. The villages are Hancock and North and South Hancock. There have been mills for manufacturing staves, shingles and long lumber, and one producing staves and short lumber Other manufactures have been boots, shoes, wagons and sleighs. In the earlier days the inhabitants, especially those of the Neck, were largely engaged in Grand Bank fishing. The pioneer settlers were Oliver Wooster, Agreen Crabtree, Thomas McFarland, Thomas Rog- ers and Joseph Googins. In 1766-68, came Philip Hodgkins, Reuben Abbot, Thomas Moon and Richard Clark.
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Seven towns in Maine are named after Maine governors. Half of these towns lie in Aroostook County.
Kingfield, 1816
The town of Kingfield, in Franklin County, was formerly Plan- tation No. 3, Range 1 of the Bingham Purchase and was surveyed by Solomon Adams in 1808. Settlements had begun a year or two earlier, about 1806; the pioneer being a Mr. Blanchard from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Then came the Reverend Nathaniel Gilbert of Kings- ton, Eben Pillsbury, Solomon Stanley, Joseph Longley, Benjamin Fos- ter, William Trask, Charles Pike and others.
The town was incorporated in 1816 and named in honor of William King, Maine's first Governor, who was a large proprietor and a temporary resident of the place. The name King's Field, as it was first written, was chosen by his wife.
Kingfield is situated near the middle of the eastern side of Franklin County. Carrabasset River runs southward through the town and is joined in the southern part by the south branch coming from the west. The northern part of the town is very mountainous and af- fords much fine scenery. The principal peaks in the town belong to the group of Mount Abraham which stands in an adjoining township. Kingfield, with its cement bridges, wide streets and modern stores and offices, is a distinct surprise in this great woods area. It is located on a narrow intervale in a valley of the Carrabasset, which is very rapid at this point.
In 1807 William King and some associates purchased three townships which now comprise Kingfield, Concord, and Lexington Plantation. Among the surveying party the preceding year was Solo- mon Stanley of Winthrop who brought his family here in 1807 and was the first settler after the purchase. He built the first dam on the Carrabasset River, a grist mill, a saw mill and a dye house. These were later acquired by Governor King, who added a clover mill, a carding mill, a potash mill, a flour mill and a tannery. In 1821 Gov- ernor King erected a colonial mansion which is one of the few historic buildings remaining in Kingfield.
A boulder opposite the Universalist Church marks the grounds of the former residence of Governor King. In the town of Scarborough there is a marker indicating the site of his birthplace.
The following is a part of the inscription on the boulder in Kingfield :
Wm. King, Maine's First Governor, Founded the Town of Kingfield, Erected Dwelling on This Lot in 1821, was Grand Master Mason in State. He was Merchant, Mill Owner and Ship Builder. Established First Cotton Mill in Maine.
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President of the Convention that Framed the Constitution of Maine; Colonel in War of 1812; Governor of Maine, 1820-21; Commissioner to France, 1821; Author of Toleration and Bet- terment Acts; Trustee of Bowdoin and Colby Colleges, 26 and 27 years respectively; Born in Scarboro, Feb. 9, 1768; Died at Bath, June 17, 1852.
The state has erected an imposing monument to his memory in the town of Bath, and one approach to the new bridge across the Kennebec is on the site of the former King mansion. He was an emi- nent merchant and lumberman and a man of great force and natural ability. Some early services to the state were: 1790-1800, town officer and Representative to the General Court from Topsham; Representa- tive from Bath, 1804-05-06; Senator, 1807.
The old chain suspension bridge which was built across the Carrabasset River in 1853 was the first of its kind ever constructed on this continent: the massive iron chains that supported this bridge were ordered direct from England and brought to Hallowell by boat. It is said that it required all the horses and oxen in this section to convey them from that point to Kingfield. It was replaced in 1916 by an at- tractive modern bridge.
Lincoln, 1829
Lincoln lies in the middle of Penobscot County, on the east side of the Penobscot River. About the year 1825 a group of people be- came residents of what is now the town of Lincoln. It is supposed that there were some settlers earlier than these. Not far from the above date, that portion of the territory not already sold to settlers was pur- chased by Governor Enoch Lincoln. Those who located on the Lincoln Purchase were mostly from Oxford County, while those in other parts came from New Hampshire. The town received its name from Gover- nor Lincoln of Paris who was elected in 1827. The town was incor- porated in 1829.
Jeremy Nelson, one of the first settlers of the town, contributed in 1873 the following to the Bangor Historical Magazine:
Aaron Woodbury was the first pioneer, the first perma- nent settler in 1822 from Orrington. He settled on the upper- most lot next to Winn, where he built a large log house, which he later tore down and erected a frame house which Michael Foley lived in. In 1823, Mr. Benjamin Chesley moved here from Paris with his family, he was selectman in 1829, the year of the incorporation of the town. From Paris, also came Hum- phrey Merrill with his family in 1824-5, and Deacon Stephen Chase moved here from Woodstock, Maine with a family of boys in 1825. He did much good in the settlement preaching and attending funerals. Again from Paris, came John Car-
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penter in 1823 and Alfred Gates in 1824. The township No. 3 was sold at auction in 1823 by Massachusetts to Simeon Cummings of Paris, he took in six partners to the purchase: Enoch Lincoln, Cyrus Hamlin (Hannibal's father), James Daniel, Jr., Jacob Jackson, Moses Hammond and Caleb Cush- man whose names are all on the deeds given to the early set- tlers in Lincoln. Dr. Hamlin; Enoch Lincoln and Dr. Ezekiel Holmes were all in Lincoln exploring in 1824. They visited Governor John Attean at Mattawamkeag Point.
In 1825 many families moved into the Mattanawcook settle- ment. Among them were John Davises, Deacon Josiah Smith from Parkman, Reuben E. Carpenter from Paris, Wm. Wyman from Wood- stock, Moses Bagley from Troy, Maine, Asa Kneeland from Harrison and Nehemiah Kneeland, who afterward moved to No. 8, now Tops- field, which he named, as he had lived in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Solon Gates and Edward Chesley, son of Benjamin Chesley, also came. Nehemiah Emery came from Howland, Wesley Caldwell from Nor- way and Hiram Bradbury from Foxcroft.
Some of the first settlers on the south end of Lincoln, or Town- ship No. 2, were Jonathan Clay, Azariah Edwards, David Low from Buckfield, Cyrus Johnson of Jackson and Aaron Huntress from Park- man, in 1827. Doctor Forbes, the first physician, was educated in Ban- gor; the first lawyer was Henry C. Fields of Belfast. Ira Fish came in September, 1825, from Wakefield, New Hampshire, with seventeen men, to build a mill. A double saw mill was framed in 1826 by Robert Kimball. Much lumbering was carried on. The first blacksmith was Isaac Junkins of New Hampshire. The first innkeeper was Chesley Hayes from Wakefield, New Hampshire.
Jeremy Nelson was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1801, lived and died in Waterford, Maine, and took up a lot of land in Lincoln, Maine, in 1824. In the winters of 1824-25 he kept school in the settlement. The schoolhouse was near Joseph Snow's in No. 4, now Winn. Scholars came from three townships. No. 4 had four famil- ies in 1824: Snow, Briggs, E. Kyle from Great Works and Brackett from Yarmouth. Chester had two families: Moses Babcock and John Weston from Paris. When Nelson came in 1824 there was no family south of his lot until he came to David Bryant's in Enfield.
Enoch Lincoln, for whom the town was named, entered Har- vard but did not graduate; he was first a resident of Paris, later of Port- land, and afterward the sixth Governor of Maine, 1827-29. He was the son of Levi Lincoln of Worcester.
Stephen Chase, the first minister, arrived in 1825 from Wood- stock, Oxford County. He organized the Calvinistic Church (Baptist) at Lincoln Center. The Congregational Church was organized in 1831,
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and their building erected in 1840. In the State Park at Augusta, at the end of a long lane of trees, is a marble shaft marking the grave of Enoch Lincoln.
Morrill, 1855
This Waldo County town was incorporated in 1855. The first settlers, who had come about 1801 and 1802, purchased their lands of General Knox, proprietor of the Waldo Patent. They were: James Weymouth, Benj. Smith, Joseph Coming and Nathaniel Cushman.
I am indebted for much of the following to Robinson's History of Morrill. The settlement included Belmont and Searsmont and was first called Greene in honor of General Greene .... In 1784 Daniel Dolloff came from New Hampshire and made a settlement in what is now Belmont. In 1854 troubles arose between the northern and southern parts of Belmont, and the citizens of the northern part peti- tioned the legislature for a new town to be set off, which was done; and the new town was named Morrill in honor of Anson P. Morrill, who was the governor of Maine at that time.
The first mills in what is now the town of Morrill were built by Benj. Smith of Sanbornton, New Hampshire, who came from Bel- fast with a crew of men, selected a place for his mill and settled there the following year. The mills were built about 1800. The Weymouth mill, which was built about 1830 or 1835, was located on Murphy Brook and owned by George Weymouth and John Alexander. Alex- ander built a stave mill about one-half mile below on the same stream. The Bailey mills, saw and grist mills, were built in the early part of the last century and were owned by George and Merrill Bailey. They were replaced by the Vickery Stream Mill.
The first visit made by a clergyman to the town of Morrill, was made by the Reverend Paul Coffin, the Congregational mis- sionary, who passed through Morrill on his way from Davistown to Belfast; and the Reverend Mr. Johnson of Belfast occasionally visited the residents here, when meetings were held at private houses. The Baptists completed their meeting house in 1849. Morrill Methodists formed a part of the Knox circuit and later built a meeting house. The Christian Baptists organized a church in 1838. Previous to this, in 1827, a Free Will Baptist Society was formed. In 1849 the meeting house at the Mills was built by the Baptists, Free Baptists, Christian Order and Methodists and was dedicated by the Rev. Ebeenezer Knowlton, a most remarkable man. This meeting house is the religious home of all the denominations in Morrill.
Anson P. Morrill, eighteenth governor of Maine, merchant and manufacturer, governor from 1855 to 1858, was born in Belgrade in 1803, in a picturesque house standing not far from the stream upon
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which stood his father's mill. He was educated in his native town and put to good account the short and infrequent terms of district school. He helped his father in the grist, carding and saw mill; and, even during his minority, won such a reputation that his endorsements on his father's notes were honored in the money transactions needed in the conduct of the business. He was postmaster and held other offices in his native town while still a young man. At his majority he had a country store of his own at Belgrade, from which he moved to Bel- grade Hill and then to Madison in the same business. In 1844 he took charge of a woolen mill in Readfield which he eventually owned. In 1833 he had been elected to the Legislature by the Democrats, but in 1853 left that party on the prohibition issue; he was one of the first lead- ers in the organized temperance movement of the state. He was nom- inated as governor on the Prohibition and Free Soil ticket and was de- feated, but continued to stand firm for prohibition. He was again a candidate in 1854, when the result of the vote was indecisive; but he was appointed to that office, the first Republican governor in Maine. In 1860 he was elected to Congress, but declined renomination on account of his business. He was succeeded by James G. Blaine with whom he had a lifelong friendship. They were pioneers in the founding of the Re- publican Party. In 1871 he became president of the Maine Central Railroad. He moved to Augusta in 1879, and became a member of the State Legislature the following year. He was magnanimous, kind- hearted, charitable, liberal and progressive on all subjects. He died in 1887.
Fort Fairfield, 1858
While the town of Fort Fairfield took its name from the fort built within the town during the border difficulties, the fort itself was named for John Fairfield of Saco who was governor of Maine at this period (1839-1843). The first settlers came from New Brunswick about 1816, but the town was not incorporated until March 11, 1858. The town, as now organized, includes what was formerly Township D, Range 2, and also the township immediately north of it, known in ancient annals as Plymouth. In the year 1806, the people of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, who wished to build a breakwater to protect their harbor from the surging ocean waves, applied to the General Court of Massachusetts for aid in their undertaking. This township of land was granted them by a resolve passed March 4, 1806, and the deed was executed on December 19 of the following year. Plymouth Grant was organized as Sarsfield Plantation soon after the treaty. Letter D Plantation was incorporated as Fort Fairfield in 1858, and a few years later Sarsfield Plantation was annexed to it. The deed for Plymouth Grant in 1807 contains the usual conditions in favor of
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all persons who might have settled upon that tract previous to 1784, and provided for the setting apart of lots for the first minister, for the ministerial fund and for the school fund.
The first settlers of whom there is authentic record came from New Brunswick up the St. John River, then up the Aroostook, and settled on the Plymouth Grant on the south side of the Aroostook. It was in what is now the town of Fort Fairfield in 1839 that State Land Agent McIntyre, sent by Governor Fairfield to deal with the trespassers who were cutting timber on the Maine side of the international bound- ary, was captured by a posse from New Brunswick and there put in jail. A little later in that same year, the military post named Fort Fairfield was established. Two blockhouses were built, one near the bridge and one on Fort Hill. The old barracks have been removed from their original site and converted into a dwelling house. War was averted by diplomacy. A cannon that played a part in the Aroostook War is still on the lawn of the public library. The deed for the Ply- mouth Grant bound the grantees to settle twenty-five families, includ- ing those already settled thereon, in said tract within six years. The deed describes the township as surveyed by Charles Turner, Jr. It ap- pears that Park Holland also surveyed it, in 1807, which was previous to the date of the deed. The oldest settler on the town was Michael Russell, who came up the river from New Brunswick in 1828 and settled on the south side of the Aroostook River, a short distance above the fall on the Plymouth Grant. Other early settlers were Anthony Kean, 1829; Wm. White and Bernard Mclaughlin, 1829; Wm. and Amos Bishop, 1831; Daniel and Wm. Turner, 1832.
On the north side of the river, Peter Fowler, Margaret Doyle and Wm. Lovely came in 1827; Samuel Davenport, 1829; Daniel Mclaughlin, 1831 and Thomas Whittaker, 1832. These settlers, with others, all made homes near the river which was their only highway as there were then no roads, and the whole country was a tractless wilderness except where the logging roads of the lumbermen led in winter to the river. They made small clearings and raised little in the way of crops at first. They depended chiefly upon cutting floor tim- bers and floating them to Frederickton where they were sold for sup- plies which were boated back up the river to their homes in the for- ests.
With the disturbance of 1839-41, the attention of the people of Maine was called to this fertile region and some of the original posse, sent here to protect the international boundary, remained, took up lands, and made themselves homes. Maine settlers began to come in soon after the settlement of the boundary question and settled on Let- ter D plantation, now the south part of the town. The road had been cut through by this time from Presque Isle to Fort Fairfield, and set-
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tlers began to make clearings along the road. Among those arriving were J. Tucker from Orono, George A. Nourse from Hallowell, Wm. Whitney and his sons from Corinth, Levi Hoyt, B. D. Eastman, D. G. Palmer, Jonathan Hopkinson and Henry Currier; the latter started a clearing north of the Presque Isle road. A customs office was estab- lished in 1843, and the Congregational Church was organized in 1844.
Governor Fairfield, born at Saco, Maine, in 1797, was dis- tinguished for his ardent love for knowledge, his active mind and great strength of purpose; he devoted himself to the study of law after grad- uating from Limerick Academy. In 1832 he was appointed by the governor as reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court. In 1835 he was elected to Congress by the first Congressional District, and re-elected in 1837; elected Governor of Maine in 1838, he was thrice re-elected. Here he displayed a decision and force of character which fixed upon him the attention of the whole country. In 1843 he resigned the governorship to become a member of the United States Senate. He died in 1847.
Washburn, 1861
The town of Washburn lies on the Aroostook River, in the third range of townships from the New Brunswick border. Two fine streams, the main stream and the west branch of Salmon Brook, unite in one strong flow of water above its junction with the beautiful Aroostook River. On the charming plain on the west side of Salmon Brook is situated the principal part of the village of Washburn which also extends across the stream. The town of Washburn was formerly known as Township No. 13, Range 3.
The first settlers on the township, like those of nearly all the towns on the Aroostook River, came up the stream from New Bruns- wick many years ago and settled along the river banks. Nathaniel Churchill was the foremost man of the first colony which came from New Brunswick about 1829, and settled near the mouth of Salmon Brook. Three of his sons, Job, Joseph and John, and their descendants, also settled here. The rich lands in the river valleys attracted the settlers.
In 1837 Thomas McDonald came from Miramichi and settled about a mile below the original lot of Nathaniel Churchill, which Isaac Wilder and Stratton took up very soon after Churchill had moved farther down the river. The first settler and pioneer business- man in what is now the village of Washburn was Isaac Wilder, who came to the Aroostook from the town of Pembroke about 1840. He came first to Fort Fairfield, then pushed up the river and built a saw mill in the dense wilderness on the banks of Salmon Brook. In 1844 there were twelve settlers: Bulls, Churchills, Curriers, Dunns, Hickey,
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Farrel, Stratton, Elizabeth Mumford, Christie, Harris and Esty. The town was then owned by Massachusetts which owned each alternate township. In the winter of 1844-45, the township was organized as the plantation of Salmon Brook, having been surveyed by W. P. Par- rott in 1842. Settlers came slowly for a while, a few made clearings on the new road toward Caribou and quite a number came after the Editorial Excursion in 1858, the reports of which made the country better known to the outside world. The town was incorporated in 1861, and named for Israel Washburn of Orono who was then gov- ernor. The town received from him, in recognition of the honor, a present of a library of two hundred choice volumes.
Governor Israel Washburn was the eldest of seven Washburn sons. He was a Representative from Maine from 1851 to 1861; Gov- ernor of Maine, 1861-62; and Collector of Customs, Portland, 1863- 1877. He came of a family which had more members who became nationally distinguished than any other Maine family, or perhaps even than any in the United States: four were members of Congress from four different states, and three were in Congress at the same time.
Fort Kent, 1869
Fort Kent is situated in the northern part of Aroostook County on the south bank of the St. John's River, the grandest river of all this northern land. Broad and fertile intervales are along its banks, and beautiful islands are dotted here and there throughout its course. Away from the river the land rises in broken ridges in many places and the scenery there is the finest to be found in Maine. At the confluence of the Fish River with the St. John is the old town of Fort Kent and the old blockhouse which dates back to the Aroostook War. The fort was erected in 1841 and was named in honor of Governor Edward Kent of Bangor, who was Maine's chief executive officer in 1838 and again in 1841.
The first settlers were Acadian French refugees who came about 1829. The first settler upon the territory now included in the town, called by the French, LaDécharge, was Mr. José Nadeau, who came in 1829 and built a log house. His nearest neighbors were at Baker Brook, about seven miles away, on the opposite side of the river below. In 1836 his brother, Sefroid, came to settle on the point at the mouth of the Fish River. Francois Thibodeau and Basile Albert also came early. Mr. Daniel Savage built a mill on Fish River about a mile above its mouth, some years after 1827, when he came from Anson and settled at Baker's Brook. Mr. Fred Hathaway of Frederickton had a grant of this mill lot from the British government, and this grant was confirmed by the Commissioners in 1840; Mr. Savage moved some eight miles farther up the river.
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A boundary dispute arose from the carrying on of lumbering operations by parties from Maine and New Brunswick, and the loca- tion at the junction of the Fish and St. John's rivers was a focal point of the trouble. In April 1839 the first armed forces appeared. In 1840 the blockhouse was completed and was named Fort Kent, in honor of Governor Edward Kent who was that year elected as Governor of Maine. The same year a company of United States troops came and buildings were erected for the proper accommodation of the post. A number of those who came with the Maine posse stayed and took up farms, and others were attracted hither by the large lumber operations then carried on. The United States troops who came in 1840 remained four years and left the post in 1844 after the boundary disputes had been fully settled.
The old blockhouse was put in good repair not long ago by the Fort Kent Historical Society, assisted by state appropriation.
Honorable Edward Kent was a native of Concord, New Hamp- shire, born January 8, 1802. His mother was a sister of Prentiss Mellen, the first Chief Justice of the State of Maine. Kent graduated from Harvard in 1821, settled to practice law at Bangor, Maine, in 1825 and was successively Representative to the State Legislature, Chief Justice of Court of Sessions for Penobscot County, Mayor of Bangor, Governor of the State of Maine for two terms, one of a Committee to settle the eastern boundary question, United States Consul for four years at Rio de Janeiro under President Taylor's appointment and, for fourteen years, one of the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. He received an L. L. D., from Waterville College in 1855. He died in Bangor, May 19, 1877.
Perham, 1897
An Aroostook County town, Perham had its first settlement in 1856 by citizens from Oxford and Franklin counties. It was organized in 1867 as a plantation and named in honor of Governor Sidney Per- ham of Paris, who was elected to the governorship of the state in 1871. Perham was incorporated as a town in 1897. It was formerly No. 14, Range 4. The first settlers, although natives of Maine, came from Law- rence, Massachusetts, and settled along the southwest line of the town- ship twenty years before the survey was made. One man named Jenk- ins built a camp near the scene of his raft's wreck and earned his liv- ing by hunting and fishing.
In June 1861 more settlers came from Oxford County and set- tled in the southeast corner of the town. In 1862 the Reverend Wil- liam E. Morse received a grant of land from the Legislature to build a saw mill on Salmon Brook. It was completed about 1865, but was a poor investment, twice burned and twice rebuilt.
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