USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 29
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The History of York County, written by Ralph Sylvester Bart- lett in 1938, contains the following concerning the name of the town: "In the pages of Old Eliot it is stated that our town of Eliot takes its name from Robert Eliot of Kittery, a graduate of Harvard in 1701 who was the son of Robert Eliot of New Castle, a member of the Pro- vincial Council of New Hampshire."
Garrison houses were erected by the inhabitants for protection from the Indians. Two stand on the Frost farm; the house they were designed to protect was built about 1733 and it has been so well pre- served that in its exterior it is like a modern building. The garrison was built about 1735; the large one, massive and strong, was built in 1740 of hewn timber doweled together with the seams caulked so as to be nearly water tight. Loopholes for the musketry were provided on the sides, and from the loft, over which a good floor was laid, there were draws from which a watch could be kept on the enemy.
Major Charles Frost, who represented the old town in the General Court in 1660, 1661, 1669 and 1674, was killed by Indians on July 4, 1697. His grave is on the old Berwick road between South Berwick and Portsmouth. Nicholas Frost, the first settler, lived at the old garrison house down in the field across the road and nearly op- posite the house, in front of the grave of Major Charles Frost. Other graves are there. The stone marking the Major's grave lies flat upon the ground and it is said that it was made heavy to protect his body from the Indians.
In the North Parish (Congregational) of Kittery in 1715 Mr. John Rogers was employed to preach on probation and was continued from year to year until a sufficient number had been gathered to con-
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stitute a church which was organized with seven members in 1721. He remained until 1768. The first meeting house was built about 1717, one mile northwest of the present site of the church. The first meeting of the Friends for worship in Eliot was in October, 1730, and was con- nected with the Dover Monthly Meeting. For more than ten years it was the only meeting in the state. In 1769 a meeting house was built. The Methodist Church was built in 1826 and dedicated by the famous John N. Moffet. In early times John Heard Bartlett and Alpheus Hanscom and more recently Colonel George C. Bartlett were the most celebrated teachers in the town. Dr. Caleb Emery is remembered as the first physician in the town. Noah Emery, probably a descendant of Anthony, was born in 1699, studied law, came to the bar in 1725 and is regarded as the first resident lawyer in the state.
Monroe, 1818
The name of James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, remains in that of a town in the northern part of Waldo County where the first settlement began about 1800. As a plantation, the set- tlement assumed the name of Lee, but in 1818 became the town of Monroe in honor of the president at that time.
The area of the town is drained by both the north and south branches of Marsh River and on these are many water powers which have supplied saw mills for long and short lumber, grist mills, carding mills, barrel and cheese factories and other manufacturies common to early villages. Some years ago there were the following in operation in the town: Willis' Mills on the fall of fifteen feet on Marsh River, com- prising a saw mill, with an annual capacity of 400,000 feet of log lum- ber and 800,000 shingles, and a grist mill with four sets of stones. On a fall of ten feet, half a mile above, were saw, fulling and carding mills. Half a mile above the last was a lumber and stave mill, and two miles above this were saw and shingle mills. On the outlet of Northern Pond was Thurlough's Mill with an annual capacity of 200,000 feet of lumber. On the outlet of Thomas Chase's bog was a stone dam, unoccupied; and half a mile farther down were board, lath, shingle and stave mills. On the outlet of a pond in Swanville were the Mayo Mills, including a first-class grist mill. On the Emery Mill Stream was a saw and stave mill, a pail factory and, still earlier, a grist mill. The settlements in Monroe started soon after those in Frankfort, which was settled about 1760. Monroe was settled in 1789 by Adam Couillard of Frankfort.
Franklin, 1825
The territory now included in the town of Franklin, Maine, named for Benjamin Franklin, was first occupied by the French; the
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English settlers came about 1764. The town is located on Taunton Bay, a prolongation of Frenchman's Bay.
There are several ponds in Franklin, with streams furnishing considerable water power. It had, in 1880, nine lumber mills, two grist mills, a tannery and three granite quarries. The material wealth of the town is mainly in its water power and granite. Nearly one third of the hay in Franklin is on the salt marshes whence it is raked and boomed in as the tide flows. Cranberry culture has received some at- tention with successful results. Franklin is said to have shipped more spars, railroad ties and ship timber than any other town of its size in Hancock or Washington counties. Franklin was orginally Plantation No. 9. It was first occupied by the French at Butler's Point. Moses But- ler and Mr. Wentworth came in 1764 and are supposed to have been the first English settlers. The next were Joseph Bragdon, Mr. Hardi- son, Mr. Hooper and Abram Donnell. On Butler's Point are apple trees more than one hundred years old.
Crawford, 1826
Located in Washington County, Crawford lies somewhat east of its center. Pokey or Crawford Lake lies on the northern border and extends to the center of the town. It was incorporated under the name of Adams in February, 1828, but the name was changed to the present one less than two weeks afterward.
The name Crawford was given in honor of William Harris Crawford, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison from 1816 to 1825. He was a stanch Jeffersonian. He was born in Vir- ginia, but moved to Georgia where he became a teacher, and then a lawyer. He prepared the first digest of laws for Georgia. He was a member of the State Senate in 1802, of the United States Senate from 1807 to 1813, and was Minister to France and Secretary of War, and, later, Secretary of the Treasury. In 1824 he was a nominee of the Democratic Party.
Among the early settlers of Crawford, Maine, were Joel Hans- com, John W. Bird and the Reverend Elisha Bedell, who went to Amity from Crawford about 1835. Other early settlers were the Dar- lings, Lydicks, Morriseys, Baileys and Dwelleys. In 1828 there were fifty people in the town. In 1855 Hiram R. Nason, Thomas Nason and Edward Seavey were justices in the town.
Webster, 1840
Webster is situated in the southeastern section of Androscoggin County. The land titles in town are from the Plymouth proprietors. It was originally a part of Bowdoin, but was included in the territory separated and incorporated as Thompsonborough and afterward re-
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named Lisbon. This territory was divided in 1840; and the northern portion was incorporated as the town of Webster in honor of Daniel Webster, who at this time was at the height of his fame.
The first settler was Robert Ross, who came from Brunswick in 1774 and located on the brook which bears his name. He built a log house and made a clearing in the central part of the town. John Merrill surveyed for him a tract of 200 acres. Mr. Merrill surveyed three other tracts for Samuel Hewey, Wm. Spear and Robert Hewey, all from Brunswick. John Hewey, son of Robert, soon came, and he and his father were the first to raise apples in Webster. In January, 1777, Jonathan, father of Thomas, and Hugh Weymouth joined the others. His brother, Timothy, a millwright, came from Berwick as a settler, and built the first mills. Another local colony was established here by Jesse Davis who, in the performance of an agreement entered into by him and his paternal uncle, Dr. Jonathan Davis of Roxbury, Massa- chusetts, a grantee of the Plymouth Company, arrived in 1780 and began a settlement upon the western extremity of an extensive tract of land mostly covered by virgin forest, owned by Dr. Davis. By the terms of this agreement, Jesse Davis was to make a clearing, build a saw mill and grist mill and suitable buildings for a tavern, and Dr. Davis was to convey to him in fee a considerable tract of land, includ- ing the improvements thereon. This colony was in the southwest part of the town, and the mills built by Mr. Davis were near the southern line on the fourth power, so-called, on the Sabattus River.
At the close of the Revolutionary War a number of soldiers set- tled in Webster, among whom were Alexander Gray, Abel Nutting, Aaron Dwinal, Paul Nowell, Simeon Ricker, Foster Wentworth, Elias Stone, Phineas Spofford, Jesse Davis, Captain James Curtis and Sam- uel Simmons. The last mentioned was one of the first schoolteachers in town and was the ancestor of Franklin Simmons, the sculptor.
Webster Corner came into being in 1775 or 1776 as Burnt Meadows. In 1840 the place was incorporated as Webster. At the time of its founding it was the center of business for the community, was larger than Lewiston, and had, in 1826, the third largest postal receipts in the county: fifty-three dollars. Its decadence came about prior to the Civil War, and its decline was rapid as it gave place to the more thriving mill towns on the Androscoggin and Sabbatus rivers.
Webster Corner Church is a simple white frame structure, sur- mounted by a square belfry with a single spire. The facade is flanked by twin entrance doors with a large central window, and four lancet windows mark each side of the building. The interior is severe and dignified, white paneled, with elevated altar, sounding board, box pews and singers' balcony. Its spire, rising to an elevation of 118 feet, can be seen for miles around and from it one may see Portland Harbor on
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a clear day. The church was built in 1827 by Universalists and Cal- vinistic Baptists. The Pound, the Hearse House and the Brick Powder House were on adjoining lots. Reverend Wm. A. Drew, the first min- ister, gave the dedicatory sermon. The cost of the construction of the church was met by sale of pews under the supervision of Aaron Dwinal, Ben Doyle Bryant and Samuel Moody; the two denominations al- ternated their Sunday services. Webster Corner was the birthplace of the eminent sculptor, Franklin Simmons, born in 1839. He attended the country school, later opened a studio in Portland and afterward made his home in Rome, Italy. Many of his best known works are to be found in Portland at the Sweat Museum. The honor of knighthood was conferred upon him by King Humbert of Italy in 1898.
The first Justice of the Peace here was Samuel Tebbetts from Brunswick, but he left for Ohio in the cold year of 1816. Noah Jordan from Cape Elizabeth was the next comer, and he owned the mills and water privileges improved by Jesse Davis. Benjamin Dole Bryant was the second commissioned magistrate. Ephraim Jordan, the first of that name to cross the Androscoggin, came in 1787 from Cape Elizabeth.
Benton, 1842
The town of Benton, in northeastern Kennebec County, was a part of the town of Clinton, until its separation and incorporation in 1842. At that time it was named Sebasticook, from the Indian name of the stream which passes through the center of the town. It was a part of the Plymouth Patent, and the first settlement was made about 1775. In 1850 its corporate name was changed to Benton in honor of Thomas Hart Benton, a prominent Democrat and Congressman from Missouri, author of Thirty Years in the United States Senate.
The first white settlers chose the banks of the Kennebec, at- tracted by the abundance of edible fish in the river, as well as by the means of transportation it afforded. About 1775 George Fitzgerald and David Gray came from Ireland and took up land north of what is now Benton Station; and several years later one Gibson settled about two miles north of the station on the river road. Before 1777 Stephen Goodwin came from Bowdoinham, and Gershom Flagg came from Lancaster, Massachusetts, and settled on the west bank of the Sebasti- cook. Tradition says that the land was given to Goodwin for his ser- vices in the construction of Fort Halifax, and that he gave a portion of this land to his brother-in-law, the Honorable Joseph North of Au- gusta, who had it surveyed for him. About 1779 Job Roundy removed from Lynn, Massachusetts, to land north of what is now Benton Vil- lage; about 1790 a mile south of East Benton, John Denico, Simon Brown and a Mr. Anderson took up land on the lower Albion road; and before 1800 Solomon Peck, a Revolutionary soldier, came from
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Vermont and began farming in a primitive way on the west bank of the Sebasticook.
Among the settlers in Benton at the beginning of the 19th cen- tury were Joseph and James North; the latter, the father of the his- torian, Honorable James W. North. The Norths engaged in lumbering and trade, but on the death of James, Joseph moved to Augusta. In August, 1812, Dr. Whiting Robinson came from Albion. Other old settlers were Abram Roundy, brother of Job, and Nathaniel Brown who lived on the Albion road. Mathias Weeks and Henry Johnson were early lawyers. About 1800 Captain Andrew Richardson estab- lished one of the first saw mills ever built, on the east bank of the Sebasticook at the upper falls, now Benton Village. Above this point, however, two saw mills were built nearly a century ago. About 1810 Jeremiah Hunt had a tannery near Benton Falls, on the west side of the river. Between 1820 and 1830 there were two saw mills, a carding and grist mill, a carding, dye and grist mill and a tannery occupying both sides of the river at the upper falls. Major Amos Barton and Samuel Cony, father of Governor Samuel Cony, built a store on the east side of the Falls about 1808. They sold new rum and groceries, the princi- pal stock in trade of all the early stores. About this time Peter Grant, one of the earliest settlers, kept a store on the west side of the Falls. Previous to 1830 Benjamin Paine conveyed the mail on horseback twice a week from Winslow through Benton to Bangor.
Carroll, 1845
This town, now a plantation, lies on the eastern boundary of Penobscot County, on the old stage line from Lincoln through Lee and Springfield to Princeton in Washington County. Much of the settle- ment of the town is on this main central highway. Carroll is a finely watered town and one exceedingly eligible for settlement.
About 1830 Mr. Luke Hastings came in and felled the first trees and built a cabin on the bank of the Mattagordus Stream. The cabin was sold to Deacon William Stevens of New Gloucester, Maine, and later to the Honorable Hiram Stevens. In 1831 Messrs. Charles, Ezekiel and Horace Brown of Topsham, Samuel Coombs, William Oliver and others started farming here, and during the next three years, Captain Daniel Lathrop, Captains Daniel and Thomas Lindsay, Lincoln Curtiss, Samuel Bowers and H. W. Larrabee made their set- tlements in the township. Among the other early settlers were the Lanes, the Bishops and the Blanchards. These early pioneers had no roads available, yet went to Lincoln twenty miles away for their mill- ing and supplies.
On March 30, 1845, Carroll became a town. Previously, the west half of the township had been in Penobscot County and the east
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half in Washington County, but in 1845 they were united in the former county into one municipal organization.
Daniel Carroll, in whose honor the town was named, was a statesman, born in Maryland in 1756. After receiving a classical educa- tion, he engaged in agricultural pursuits on his estate. He took his seat in the Continental Congress in 1781, and served until 1784. He pre- sented to the Congress the act of the Legislature of his state which assented to the Articles of Confederation, and thereby became a signer of that instrument. Mr. Carroll was also a delegate to the Convention which framed the Federal Constitution and was a signer of that docu- ment. He died in 1849.
Monticello, 1846
In addition to the town of Jefferson, President Jefferson is also honored by the name of a town in Aroostook County which bears the name of his estate. This town was originally known as Wellington Plantation because it was bought by Joel Wellington of Albion in 1828. On its incorporation in 1846, the present name, Monticello, was adopted. It was settled in 1830 by George Pond of Thorndike, and General Wellington was also an early settler. Others came from Cas- tine and Dixmont. Monticello Village is situated upon the Meduxne- keag, North Branch, a little south of the center of the town. The in- dustries have been saw mills for long and short lumber and a starch factory.
Some early citizens were Peter Lowell, Samuel Stackpole and John Pond. When General Wellington bought the township, he was required to make certain improvements, such as the building of a mill, opening roads and building schoolhouses. In 1829 he came through the woods on a spotted line from Houlton and brought with him a crew of men who started felling trees and clearing land on the highland south of the Meduxnekeag Stream, near where the Wellington home- stead now stands. Wellington cleared up the greater part of the land upon which the present village is located and built a mill upon the stream. The first frame house built in town was built by George Pond in 1835, and in this house Mr. Pond kept hotel for nearly twenty years. Mrs. Pond's services were very often required by the sick. Her daughter, Mrs. Isaiah Gould, later lived in the old homestead.
General Wellington continued to make his home in Monticello until his death in 1865. He and the other pioneer, Mr. George Pond, were buried on the same day. In 1831 Colonel Nathan Stanley came to the town and settled on the Houlton road, and Mr. Wm. Copper- thwaite came from New Brunswick and bought a lot of 320 acres some three miles below the mill.
Among the other early settlers of the place were Mr. Jerry
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Lyons, the Stackpoles, Wadlias, Jewells and Lowells. Mr. Wadlia came from Castine in 1832 and bought a lot half a mile west of the county road. In 1833 Peter Lowell came from Dixmont and settled on a beautiful ridge of land half a mile south of the stream. In the same year Mr. John Hayward came from New Brunswick and took up land in the eastern part of the town east of Mr. Wadlia. The road from Houlton to Monticello was cut through in 1833. The hotel kept so long on the highland on the south side of the stream was built by Mr. Jesse Lambert in 1846; another well-known inn was the old Gould Stand on the hill a mile south of the village. The town was incorpor- ated in 1846 and in 1850 had a population of 227.
Dayton, 1854
This town in York County was originally a part of Hollis, lying south of Cook's Brook, but was made a separate entity under the name of Dayton in 1854. It was named for Jonathan Dayton, then a promi- nent leader in national politics, the youngest member of the Constitu- tional Convention and Speaker of the House. These lands comprising the town of Dayton were purchased from Mogg Megone, a noted In- dian Sagamore of Saco, by Major Wm. Phillips in May, 1664.
The first permanent settlement was made by Andrew Gordon and his brother, John, of Biddeford in 1753. Although driven away by the Indians in the outbreak which followed soon after their settle- ment, they returned and continued their improvements. John Smith of Biddeford lived near the fort on the "Cook right" in 1762; Na- thaniel Buzzell, near Mr. Gordon's place. Joseph Chadbourne, Thomas Young, George Hooper, Moses Weller, Jr., and Zebulon Gordon were living in the town in 1781. Reverend Simon Locke, a Baptist minister, settled in the south part of the town in 1782, but became pastor of the Limington Baptist Church in 1783. John Clark, who died in 1801 aged ninety, was an early settler. Many additional settlers came about 1787. In the Gordon neighborhood and about Goodwin's Mill there were Geo. and Tristram Hooper, Ebenezer Cleaves, John Young, Dominicus Smith, Benjamin Emerson, Nathaniel Goodwin, who built the first Goodwin's Mill, and John Teleston.
Farther north were Lemuel Buzzell, William Merry, Jonathan Rumery, John Clark, Captain Potter Page, Zackariah Usher, John Dennett, Benjamin Newcomb, Ezekiel Bragdon and Aaron Stackpole. Abner Ellison and John Smith of Biddeford took up land near the fort at $1.00 per acre. Robert Cleaves came from Kennebunkport with his family in 1795 and settled near Boiling Spring. His uncle, Israel Cleaves, had already located half a mile south of the spring. Their homes, like many of those of the earlier citizens, were back from the roads laid out when the country became settled. Hezekiah Drew lived
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in the southwest part of town, where there was a large body of natural meadow which has since been made into cultivated farms. The bury- ing grounds were on the homesteads; some of the graves have uncut stones just as they were taken from the field.
Lumbering was the chief industry at first, since the valley of the Saco was filled with a magnificent growth of timber; the logs were sawed in a mill erected on the banks of the Saco or hauled by ox teams to Portland, for marketing. Previous to the War of 1812, Little Falls Landing was the center of a thriving lumber trade. In 1807-08, the river was dammed at Union Falls, and four or five saw mills erected. These were swept away by a freshet in 1837. Goodwin's Mill is on Swan Brook, six miles from Biddeford. Union Falls was settled by Stephen Hopkinson from Buxton who, with Nathaniel Dunn and Peletiah Came, erected the first mill in 1806. The site of the old block- house, or fort, about sixty yards from the Saco River was finely located for defense. A grove of sumac and a burying ground mark the spot where the fort and its surrounding palisades were; the blockhouse standing as late as 1810. Jonathan Bean is buried here, as is Thomas Davies, a Revolutionary soldier, and some thirty others, most of whose graves are unmarked. John Gordon, the first settler, is buried on the Biddeford road near Boiling Spring.
The Rev. Simon Locke lived near Goodwin's Mills for many years; a schoolhouse was built for the joint use of church and school, and half the seats were high old-fashioned boxed-in pews. This build- ing was finally replaced by the Reverend Timothy Hodgdon's lower meeting house which was built near the Boiling Spring in 1802. Before 1670 Phillips sold 1500 acres of land to Edward Tyng, a portion of which, if not all, was in the southern part of the town; next north of Tyng's, he sold 2000 acres to Richard Russell of Charleston, which long afterward went by the name of the "Russell Lot." A tract at least three miles square adjoining the Russell lot was conveyed by Phillips to Major John Leverett. These three sales of Phillips comprise nearly all the land within the present limits of the town. The town was known as part of Little Falls Plantation until 1798, and then as Phillipsburg, until its incorporation under its present name. In 1728 a house for trading with the Indians was established by the Massachusetts govern- ment on the intervale land about thirty rods south of Union Falls. The building was constructed of hewn logs and defended by cannon; a sergeant and ten men were stationed there. This town appears to have been designated from its first settlement for a separate government. As early as 1797 a petition signed by Joseph Chadbourne and others requested the General Court to set off that part of Hollis south of Cook's Brook and erect of it a separate plantation. This petition was not acted upon until 1854, when Dayton was incorporated.
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Sherman, 1862
This flourishing town is in the southwestern part of Aroostook County. It was settled in 1832 by Alfred Cushman from Sumner in Oxford County. It was then a great forest tract with fine soil for rais- ing grain, hay and corn to be sold to the lumbermen. It was early called "Golden Ridge," and was incorporated in 1862 under the name of Sherman.
The township was first organized with Benedicta, afterward with Island Falls. It was named for Senator John Sherman of Ohio, Ameri- can statesman and financier, ardent abolitionist, later Secretary of the Treasury and State, presidential nominee and writer of the Anti-Trust Act.
The first Sabbath school in the town was the Union Sunday School organized by the few settlers on Golden Ridge in May, 1844, and continued until the present. The children of the settlers were taught to read in this early Sunday School, before there were town schools.
The principal streams are the Molunkus and the outlet of Macwahoc Lake. This lake is two miles by three-quarters of a mile wide. A great variety of trees are found in the forests, such as beech, birch, maple, hemlock, spruce, pine, cedar, elm, ash, fir and bass- wood.
Ashland, 1862
This town is situated near the center of Aroostook County and was settled about 1835, mainly by people from the Kennebec Valley. It was organized as a plantation in 1840 and was incorporated as a town in 1862, under the name of Ashland, a title which honored the estate of Henry Clay in Kentucky. In 1869 the name was changed to Dalton, in honor of the first settler, but again took the name of Ash- land in 1876. It had earlier been called Buchanan.
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