USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 3
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When the town was incorporated in 1788 there were eighty- eight names on the tax list.
Norway, 1797
An interesting account of an Indian name in one of our towns may be found in the History of Norway by Chas. F. Whitman. He states that when the inhabitants of Rustfield and Lee's Grant, now Norway, petitioned for incorporation, they requested the name of Norage, but when the petition was returned from the Legislature, the new town was given the name of Norway. The most plausible explana- tion for this seemed to be that the name Norage was a misspelling of some name the people wanted. Norridge was an Indian name for falls, as in Norridgewock, and with Steep Falls at one end of Norway, it is easy to see why such a name should have been chosen.
Whitman offers one other possible explanation. The old Eng- lish pronunciation of Norwich was pronounced as if spelled Norridge and it has been urged that this is what the petitioners meant ; but since none of the settlers came from Norwich there seems to be no reason for such an explanation. Williamson says that the name Norway was adopted to honor the European nation.
Numerous hunting parties came here after the fall of Quebec. Tradition says some of them came from New Gloucester and Gray, led by James Stinchfield of New Gloucester, a noted man of that town and "a mighty hunter who understood wood craft and the Indian method of warfare." Other factors in bringing about settlement were the beautiful growths of wood and excellent soil.
In 1786 settlers came in, made clearings, built houses and in due time brought in their families. A Captain Rust had become a large proprietor of land here and was much beloved and esteemed, so that the plantation was called Rustfield.
The families, in their order of coming into the little settlement in 1787 from Gray, were Joseph and Jonas Stevens, George Lesley, Amos Hobbs and Jeremiah Hobbs. Joseph Stevens, a Revolutionary soldier, was the leader and foremost man among the pioneers. When the town was incorporated in 1797, he was selectman and assessor and so continued the following year. He kept a public house for many years,
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and built his small frame house early in May of 1787. It was the first to be built in the present town of Norway.
George Lesley, also a Revolutionary soldier, who served in the siege of Boston, was a man of standing and moral worth. Jeremiah Hobbs was one of the petitioners for the first Congregational Church; his son William was the second trader in Norway. Amos Hobbs was a Revolutionary soldier.
Captain Henry Rust sold lots and encouraged settlement. Wil- liam and John Parsons, his nephews, then residents of New Gloucester, came in June, 1786, built a rude camp, felled a few trees and then returned home. They were both industrious and valuable citizens.
The Lee grant was a tract of six thousand acres, "lying east of the Saco River." This had been granted in 1780 to Arthur Lee of Vir- ginia, American Commissioner to Great Britain, and at his death in 1792 was given to his nephew, Francis Lightfoot Lee. The first settler on this grant was Wm. Gardiner, in 1791. Daniel Knight, originally from Gray, was the second settler and was living here when Little pur- chased the grant in 1812.
The first settlers on the Cummings tract were Jeremiah Hobbs, Nathaniel Stevens and Peter Everett. The first clearing was made by Darius Holt and Nathan Foster, both of whom were Revolutionary soldiers. Amos Upton from Reading selected a lot for settlement in 1789. He was a Revolutionary soldier at Bunker Hill, a good citizen, a zealous member of the orthodox church and one of the early pillars in Norway. A natural mechanic, he made many useful household utensils and built a grist mill near by.
Job Eastman from Fryeburg, whose sister had married Jonathan Cummings, the proprietor of this purchase, settled here in 1792, going to live in the house built for his nephew, Jonathan Cummings, Jr. When the town was incorporated in 1797 Eastman was elected chair- man of the selectmen and town treasurer and was town clerk for about forty years.
Those on the Waterford Three Tiers, later annexed to Norway, were Phineas Whitney, Jonathan Stickney and Lemuel Shedd.
Thus Norway was made up of the inhabitants of Rustfield and Lee's Grant, Cumming's Gore and Kent Gore and three tiers of lots taken from the plantation of Waterford. In 1790 there were one hun- dred and ten persons in the place later called Norway.
Wiscasset, 1802
This beautiful town was settled before King Philip's War and, at the breaking out of that conflict, the settlers were obliged to flee from their homes. In 1760 it became a part of ancient Pownalborough;
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but in 1802 it was incorporated under its present Indian name, which is generally interpreted as meaning "the outlet."
The old Indian deed of Wiscasset shows that the land sold was at the outlet of a great inland harbor; and the word itself described just the kind of an outlet it was, one where a sharp bend in the river cut off the view above and one felt the current before seeing the great bay behind the barrier. The idea is "comes out from - but you don't see where."
The period of Wiscasset's written history begins with the brothers Davie, about 1660. Prior to this, European discoverers, fisher- men, adventurers, and traders or neighboring settlers visited here. George Davie, an English sailor from Cornwall or Devon, with his brother John and two Massachusetts men came here and made clear- ings in the wilderness on the heights near the site of the present county jail. Three years later the land was purchased of three Indian sachems. Every estate in the village is held under this title, which is legally estab- lished. Thomas Cleeves and Richard Pattishall were on the river about the time of the Davie settlement.
These settlements were destroyed by the Indians at the out- break of King Philip's War and the town was depopulated for nearly sixty years.
The lands purchased by George Davie of the Indians came by inheritance and transfer to gentlemen of wealth who, in 1734, as- sociated at Boston under the name of "The Boston or Wiscasset Co." Resettlement began under the Boston Co., later the Wiscasset and Jeremy Squam Proprietors. Under this, Robert Hooper with a family of four persons was the first settler, in 1729. He built a log cabin on the side of a great rock on the west side of where Water Street now runs. It was on the top of the hill, Fort Hill, that the first so-called "Garrison Fort" was erected just after 1730 as a refuge for the settlers from the savage attacks of the natives. Hooper brought with him cattle and fruit trees and set about his duties as a settler very seriously - later moved to the peninsula under Cushman Hill as a place of greater security. There are now Hooper's Narrows (between Berry Island and Westport) and Hooper Street, a town way of much later date.
In 1734 Michael Seavey, Robert Groves, Sheribiah Lambert and a man by the name of Foye came in from Rye, New Hampshire; Joseph Bradbury, Nathaniel Randlett, Richard and Benjamin Hol- brock and Col. Kingsbury arrived about the same time. A few years later John Young and Messrs. Taylor, Boynton and Chapman settled on Cross River at about two miles south of Wiscasset Point, the site of the village. Numbers increased yearly from this time until, in 1740, there was a plantation of thirty families numbering some one hundred and fifty persons.
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The earliest occupant of Birch Point in the south part of town was Jonathan Williamson, born at Whitehaven, England, one of the settlers under the Wiscasset Co. in 1734. It is believed that Williamson, his wife and young son were the only English settlers during resettle- ment, the others coming from southwestern Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. By 1736 Williamson had built a house and had begun to clear and improve his land, calling his Birch Point property "Whitehaven." By 1757 he had built a mill, a claim not fully substanti- ated until 1792. Captain Williamson was twice carried to Canada as captive, the last time because the French commander hoped to gain in- formation of the British through him; but he was returned to Boston in 1747.
In 1750 he headed the first petition for an incorporation here, there being about fifty families here at that time. To this there was no response. A similar petition was sent in 1754 - with the same result. The names signed to the first petition were Jonathan Williamson, Robert Lambert, Elisha Kenny, Nathaniel Runelet, Thos. Young, Da- vid Danford, Joshua Sylvester, Ebenezer Gove, Joseph Taylor, Tim- othy Dunton, Wm. Hilton, Joseph Young Sr, James Pierce, Caleb Boynton, Robert Foy, Michall Sevey, Isaac Young, Abraham Preble, Jacob Metcalf, Francis Gray, Obadiah Albee, Samuel Trask, Henery Slooman, Jonathan Howard, Jonathan Blackledge, Ambrose Colby, John Rowell and John Gray. These were all Wiscasset people and doubtless it was the Plymouth Company's influence which delayed such action and resulted later in the incorporation of Pownalborough which included Wiscasset, Dresden, Swan Island and a part of Alna.
Captain Williamson performed many additional services. In 1760, at the first meeting of the town at the garrison in Wiscasset, he was chosen clerk and one of the selectmen, the other selectmen being John Fairfield and Michael Sevy, both residents of this section of the town. Captain Williamson held the office of town clerk for thirteen years, and that of selectman for fourteen years.
Ebenezer Whittier came in 1766 from Haverhill, Massachusetts, and was the proprietor of the Whittier Tavern prior to 1767. He was also the first postmaster. He was a public spirited man and a man of affairs for forty years. The first meeting house was completed in 1767.
Orono, 1806
Orono, located on the Penobscot River and incorporated in 1806, bears a name of debatable origin, that of an Indian chief, him- self enshrouded in mystery, faithful to the Americans during the Revo- lution. Some Indians even say that the name Orono is not Indian. The plantation name of this town was Stillwater.
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The place seems first to have been known as "Deadwater Plt," but one Owen Madden, a discharged soldier of Burgoyne's army, who had spent some time in Stillwater, New York, changed the first part of the word from "Dead" to "Still" as having a preferable sound. Mr. Madden seems to have been a schoolmaster in Bangor and Orono. When the plantation of Stillwater was incorporated as a town, it was named Orono in compliment to a worthy chief of that name.
Mrs. Frances Mace wrote:
Noblest among the braves was Orono A kingly native, just and wise and true . . . Worthy of honor - well do we bestow On this his dwelling place the name of Orono.
Little is known of the antecedents of Orono, "the blue-eyed chief" whose personal appearance gave rise to stories that he was a white child stolen by the Indians. Orono himself told Captain Joseph Mansell that "his father was a Frenchman and his mother half-French and half-Indian." General Knox, after seeing Orono in 1784, wrote that he was "an old man, half-French and half-Indian of the Castine breed." But with the age usually ascribed to him it is difficult to identi- fy him as either the son or grandson of Castine. What we do know is that the services of Joseph Orono to the Americans at the time of the Revolution could never be over-valued. He was remarkable for his forethought and wisdom, for his mild and equable disposition; a man of good sense and great discernment ; in mood, thoughtful, in conversa- tion, reserved, in feeling, benign.
Orono was settled by Jeremiah Colburn and Joshua Ayres, about 1774. They came from Pittston, Maine, and cleared and im- proved a large tract of land, five miles above any settlement. In July of 1774 the buildings were begun and in the following October the families of these two pioneers were moved into their new homes, where they remained until the following May. Joshua Ayres built his cabin in the Myrtle Street area. His daughter was the first white child born in Orono. Jeremiah Colburn built his house on our present Mill Street. Jeremiah Colburn was "clark" (clerk) of Colburntown Plantation, as it was often called in the early days. In his certificates of marriage he invariably spelled it "Cobentown." The first mill in town built by these same men with the assistance of others was on the south side of the Stillwater near a small island. At a subsequent date, Captain David Reed built a mill on the same spot. In the spring of 1775, deeming it unsafe to remain on account of the depredations of the Indians, they removed their families to the nearest settlement. At the close of the war they returned.
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Other early settlers were John Marsh, who came with the Col- burns, Captain Abraham Tourtelotte, the Treats and the Freeses. Abraham Freese built the first frame house on Bennoch Road. David Reed was also an early settler and built the second frame house in town, which stands in what is now the village of Orono. It was used as the first tavern, as the meeting place for the election of town officers in 1806 and the first post office. It was owned and occupied subsequently by John Bennoch, Esq., a Scotsman, who came to Orono in 1806 as a merchant and lumber manufacturer, a prominent and leading citizen, active in every good work "whether it looked to the outward growth and progress of the village, to its educational facilities or to its moral improvement." Squire Bennoch later lived in a house on North Main Street. Other early settlers who might be mentioned were Samuel White, from Mendon, Massachusetts, who moved into Orono in 1784; Captain Daniel Jameson of Freeport, Maine, who followed in 1785; Joseph Page, from Rhode Island, who was a resident in 1787. Andrew Webster, from Salisbury, Massachusetts, settled in town about 1795. Previously he had lived in Castine and Bangor. Not long after the above date, Archibald McPhetres moved from Arrowsic, in our present Sagadahoc County, and settled in Orono on the Bangor road. George Ring, Sr., came from Georgetown in 1800, occupying the home of Joshua Ayres when the latter moved to Passadumkeag.
The survey of 1797 gives the following list of the owners of lots, beginning on the Stillwater Branch and running down along the river to what is now the Veazie line: Wm. Lunt, Captain Daniel Jameson, S. Wheeler (White), M. Crosby, Abraham Freese, John Freese, Cap- tain Jeremiah Colburn, Captain David Reed, Joshua Ayres, Captain John Reed, Davis Lot, Mr. Treat, Joseph Page, Joseph Inman, Archi- bal McPheters, Wm. McPheters, Abram Tourtillot, J. Bussell, Mr. Treat, Vaughn Lot.
Sebec, 1812
Only one town in Piscataquis County has a name of Indian origin: Sebec, which derives from the same source as Sebago and Se- boomook, the latter being the Indian name for Moosehead Lake. The word means "big lake." Sebec was one of the six towns granted to Bowdoin College in 1794. It was settled in 1808 by Ezekiel Chase and incorporated in 1814.
In 1803 the treasurer of Bowdoin College deeded sixteen thou- sand acres to Richard Pike of Newburyport, for which he paid seventy cents per acre. In 1804 Mr. Pike sold one sixteenth of this to Captain Benjamin Wyatt and not long afterward David and Chas. Coffin, Mary Pike and Philip Coombs bought equal shares and became pro- prietors.
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Captain Ezekiel Chase, the first settler, had been a Revolution- ary soldier, loved to roam the forest and became a successful hunter. In a single hunt he once took four hundred dollars worth of furs. In 1802 he selected his lot on the Piscataquis River and felled an opening. He bought of Vaughn and Merrick of Hallowell, in whose township this point lay, being brought into Sebec by incorporation. In 1803 he raised his first crops, cut and stacked meadow hay, built a log cabin and in September moved in his family, the second in the county. Cap- tain Chase was a self-taught physician as well as hunter and farmer.
Abel Chase, a brother, was also an early settler. Among others of the early period were James Lyford, Mark Trafton, Jeremiah Moul- ton, Peter Morrill and W. R. Lowney. Mr. Trafton became sheriff of the county, later a military officer and finally a militia general. The minister's lot was voted to Elder Asa Burnham, a Free Will Baptist, who continued his religious labors for the remainder of his life. Dr. Francis Boyington settled on the place still known as Boyington's Point, practised medicine and taught school and vocal and instrumental mu- sic as opportunity offered. The first store was opened by Mr. Towle, who soon took in Solomon Parsons as a partner. Henry Parsons was the first lawyer to open an office in town.
In 1804 Samuel Kimball, Mark Trafton and others built a dam on the fall at the outlet of the lake and put up a mill, the first framed building raised in the county. Roger Chase, of Carratunk, built the gearing and put a saw and grist mill in operation. In these the first boards were sawed and the first grain ground in the county. In April, 1805, Kimball and Trafton each sold one-eighth of the dam, mill and land connected to Moses Greenleaf, who was soon to settle in Williams- burg. As rafts could be run out of this mill to tide water, he early se- cured an interest in it. Mark Trafton planted one of the earliest and largest orchards in the county. His son, the Reverend Mark Trafton, was later a member of Congress. In 1816 Ichabod Young put a fulling mill in operation.
Kennebunk, 1820
The late Mrs. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, our best authority on Indian place-names, after weighing the different interpretations of the word as given by several individuals, defined Kennebunk as "the long cut bank," denoting the importance of the cut bank to the In- dians, rather than its height or length, as distinguishing it from other beaches.
Kennebunk was a part of Wells until 1820. The first settlers in that part of the town of Wells now known as Kennebunk were John Sanders, John Cheater and perhaps George Buckland, who was in possession of land here. Sanders had a grant of one hundred and fifty
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acres of upland and fifty of marsh from Thomas Gorges, deputy gov- ernor, and from Richard Vines, his assistant in 1643. The house doubt- less stood on the verge of the point near the sea and was partly for the entertainment of travelers, who took this route in journeying from the Piscataquis east. Sanders was also the ferryman. In 1653 he was chosen lieutenant of the town of Wells. He sold his property in 1663 and moved to Cape Porpoise.
John Cheater came here from Newbury in 1655 and lived near the Mousam River. He was a surveyor of lands and also a lieutenant of the militia. In 1662 he was appointed ferryman and was allowed to tax twelve pence for a man and horse, and at low water six pence, and was also licensed to keep the ordinary or tavern. He did not remain long in Wells.
In 1717 the name Kennebunk was applied to the area between the Kennebunk and Mousam rivers.
The first permanent settlement was by Wm. Larrabee and four or five companions in 1718. A few years afterward, a house was built on Great Hill and two or more at the landing. Mr. Larrabee had been one of the most energetic and fearless defenders of the old town during the war. His house, which he built in 1714, stood on a point of land about forty rods below the Roundabout on the eastern side of the river. It was a small house built of timber. The same year John Look built a house a short distance below Larrabee's, and the following year Thomas Wormwood erected one about forty rods farther down. These last two were garrison houses surrounded by palisades of large timber as high as the eaves, with sufficient space to carry on the work inside.
The Harding House, which stood near the beach, although a one-story building, was a famous public house for the entertainment of travelers and seamen who came into the river in coasters. It was palisaded in the same manner as the Look and Wormwood houses. A few years after Larrabee located on the Mousam, others took up land below him, near the vicinity of public travel. John Webber built a small house in 1721 and Richard Boothby also erected one.
A house was also built in 1721 on Great Neck, which was after- wards called Gillespie Point. The Neck was occupied by Nathaniel Spinney and then by John Gillespie.
About 1735 a large fortification was erected on the Mousam River by Sergeant Larrabee. It was called Fort Larrabee and was torn down in 1762. Sergeant Stephen was the son of William Larrabee. This fortification enclosed more than an acre of ground. Five houses were within its walls, those of Larrabee, Edw. Evans, Ebenezer Bay- ridge, Nathan Morrison and soldiers. The Indians made several at- tempts to surprise the fort, but Larrabee's watchfulness saved the gar- rison on many occasions.
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In 1774 iron works were erected on the island below the lower dam on Kennebunk River. The iron ore was brought from Saco, Maryland Ridge, and the western side of the Wells road. A grist mill was erected the same year on the dam at the lower iron works. Three salt factories were built around then. They functioned several years.
The first vessel built on the river was a small one made by John Butland for a gentleman in Newburyport. It was built a little below Sergeant Larrabee's fort. After this he built six or seven ships for men in Boston, Salem and Newburyport.
In 1792, in order to facilitate the navigation on the Mousam River for larger vessels, a corporation was formed to straighten and deepen the channel. This venture in the end proved to be a failure.
Kennebunkport, 1821; Arundel, 1718; Cape Porpoise, 1653
One of the earliest towns in Maine, Kennebunkport, was incor- porated under the name of Cape Porpoise in 1653. The oft repeated story is that the name was given by Captain John Smith because he found many porpoises here. The early inhabitants were driven off in the Indian Wars and, returning, were reorganized in 1718 under the name of Arundel, in honor of the Earl of Arundel. In 1821 this name was changed to Kennebunkport. The meaning of the word has already been discussed under Kennebunk, of which this town is the port.
Although the people of this town never compared with their neighbors in wealth or population, they were a bold and spirited group. The land titles had come from Gorges and Rigby. The first perma- nent settlements were made in the southeastern part of the town by Wm. Scadlock and Morgan Howell, about 1630. The court records of 1640 show that Mr. Scadlock was presented for allowing a man to get drunk on his premises; he was complainant against John Baker for in- sulting words spoken against the minister and meeting.
ยท Grants of fifty acres of lands to new settlers were offered in 1719. Stephen Harding received a lot on condition that he and his heirs would maintain a ferry on the Kennebunk River and convey all inhabitants of the town without charge. In 1727, feeling secure from the Indians, the inhabitants undertook to build a meeting house. The work went slowly at first, but with a great revival the following year, the church was speedily finished in 1728. The present Congregational Church dates from 1764.
The tidal mill at Kennebunkport, known to the people there as the "Old Grist Mill," was in operation for many years. It ran until fairly modern times according to the tide, twenty-four hours a day.
The western boundary of the town was established in 1653 by commissioners appointed by the General Court. The two from Cape Porpoise were Wm. Scadlock and Morgan Howell. Those who signed
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the submission to Massachusetts were Morgan Howell, Christopher Spurrell, Thomas Warner, Griffin Montague, John Baker, Wm. Rey- nald, Stephen Batson, Gregory Jeffries, Peter Turbat, John Cole, Simon Taft and Ambrose Berry.
In 1663 a town meeting was called to settle conflicting claims to the marshes in the eastern part of the town. The marsh was divided between the claimants. The population could not have been very large at the time, for these are the only people who attended the meeting: Seth Fletcher, John Sanders, Jr., Francis Littlefield, Sr., John Bush, Peter Turbot, John Cirmihil, Griffin Montague, Wm. Kendall, Thos. Mussell, Wm. Renalds and Wm. Kendalls, Jr.
Some of the earliest presentments of the town were for not lay- ing out roads, living without an orthodox minister and not having children educated.
Old records show that in 1678 Wm. Frost was granted the privilege of erecting a saw mill at the falls on Goffe's Creek and also was granted one hundred acres of upland and twenty of meadow in any place not taken. In 1680-81 one hundred acres of land was granted to Joseph and Edmund Littlefield on the east side of Kennebunk River, " as near as maybe to the Upper Falls," near the Indians' plant- ing grounds for the purpose of building mills. Free liberty was also given to John Batson to build a saw mill on Batson or Middle River and to John Purinton, Isaac Cole, and Samuel York to build mills on the same river and to cut timber on the town commons.
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