USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 30
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The settlement was begun by William Dalton, who in 1835 made his habitation at the junction of the Big Machias with the Aroostook. Benjamin Howe followed a year or two afterward, and settled on the Aroostook Road a short distance above Dalton. The township was lotted by Noah Barker during the years 1839-40. The Fairbanks Road leading to Presque Isle was opened at that date. The Aroostook Road extends from the military road, seven miles above Mattawamkeag Point to the north line of Ashland. The Fish River Road, surveyed and opened in 1839, runs from the Aroostook Road north to the mouth of Fish River. There is also a road extending from this point to the Allegash River. There are several small saw mills now; but when the industry was at its peak prior to 1916, daily
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shipments of 100 carloads of lumber were not uncommon. The town is an important shipping center for lumber and potatoes.
The Aroostook River runs in an oxbow form through the town, with its principal bend toward the west. The Little Machias, forming the outlet of Portage Lake, comes in at the northwest corner and the Big Machias which has its source in several lakes, enters at the middle of the western line. Numerous streams rise and run southward in the eastern part of the town and empty into a tributary of the Aroostook River. The village is on the east side of the river near the center of the town. The streams have furnished power for the manufacture of lum- ber, starch and cheese. The settlements are principally along the Aroos- took River.
Dalton remained on the lot upon which he had built until 1844, when he sold his improvements to Elbridge G. Dunn and John S. Gil- man.
Titles of the land recognized by the Commissioners in their report of 1844 were those of Solomon Soule, Thomas J. Page, John S. Gilman and Elbridge G. Dunn. In the report of the second commission the names of George W. Smith and Josiah H. Blake were also given as owners of lots. Not many years after Dalton came, Thomas Neal set- tled on the lot above the mouth of the Big Machias, and Benjamin Howe went a few miles up the river.
In 1838 a group of men that included George W. Buckmore of Ellsworth, William D. Parsons of Eastbrook, and James McCaron of New Brunswick built a mill and a dam near the mouth of the Big Machias River. This gave encouragement for men to come to the township for lumbering as well as farming.
Among those arriving in 1838-39 were Luther Butler from Eastbrook, Septimus B. Bearce, Jabez Dorman and Elbridge Wake- field. Micajah Dudley of China came in the fall of 1838 and felled some trees on a lot. He did not remain, however, and in the spring of 1839 Mr. R. G. Kalloch, who was also from China, bought Dudley's improvement and moved in on the lot. There was then no road to the town, and Mr. Kalloch came by team from Bangor to Masardis, where the road ended, and built a raft of boards on which he floated down to his new home. He was a very active citizen of the town, and in 1842 represented the district in the State Legislature. In 1839 Solomon Soule also came in and began clearing up the land where the Orcutt Hotel now stands. He built a house and began keeping a hotel, which changed hands from time to time. In the fall of 1839, a road was cut through from Masardis to Ashland, but was not made wide enough for carriages until a few years later. Mr. D. G. Cook came to Ashland in 1839 and made a clearing a short distance south of Mr. Kalloch. The next year he made a clearing at the corner of the Presque Isle
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road and built a frame house in which he kept a hotel for a number of years.
Blaine, 1874
One town in Maine bears the name of an unsuccessful candi- date for the Presidency of the United States. Blaine is situated on the eastern border of the state and Aroostook County.
In 1842 Bartlett W. Chandler came from the town of Winslow to the present town of Blaine and cut the first tree to clear land for farming purposes. With the exception of the winter lumber roads, there was then no road in all this section, and the home of this hardy pioneer was miles from any neighbor and in the midst of an almost boundless wilderness. Some six miles farther north was the home of James Thorncroft, built in 1841 in what is now Westfield, but the en- tire townships of Easton and Mars Hill were at that time covered with the original forest growth unbroken by a clearing.
During the few years following, a number of other settlers came to the town; and when Mr. Joel Valley came in 1847 from New Brunswick and started a clearing where the village is now located, there were about ten settlers upon the area. Mr. Valley's lot included nearly all the land contained in the present village. Benjamin Bubar had a small clearing on the west side of the road a short distance below Valley's. Wm. Freeman and Sherman Tapley then lived in a double log house, and one Rideout had a clearing on the west side of the Houlton road with a log house on the opposite side. A short distance below, where the road crosses Three Brooks, James Clark had a log house and a small clearing on the west side of the road, and Wm. Ride- out started an opening and built a cabin on the east side opposite Clark's. James Gilman lived in the extreme southern part of the town near the Bridgewater line. About a mile west from where Blaine Cor- ner now is, Wm. Roake and Charles De Merchant had small clearings. These settlers were all the inhabitants here in 1847; the openings were then very small, and very little improvement had been made in the new settlement. In the spring of 1848 a number of families came from New Brunswick, and later other families arrived from different parts of Maine. Blaine, then known as Letter B, Range One, was. a half- township belonging to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the land was sold to settlers for one dollar and twenty cents per acre. Later, when the land came into the hands of the State of Maine, the price was reduced to fifty cents per acre, in road labor, and the settlers were credited with work already done under the Massachusetts agent.
Mr. Valley's home was a frame house which burned and was rebuilt in 1866. He was the first trader in town and kept his goods in the house which is now standing. This old Valley House, now private,
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was important in stagecoach days as a place where a good bed and food were available to the traveler.
The first store at the Corner was built by Messrs. Sherman and Perkins of Augusta, then it was sold to Sherman and later to others. In 1859 Mr. Wm. Robinson came to Blaine and purchased 260 acres of land in the southern part of the town and in 1864 built a mill which contained a shingle machine. In 1874 Mr. Joseph Chandler built a mill on the Presque Isle Stream of the St. John, about half a mile from the village.
In 1858 the settlement was organized as a plantation, still known as Letter B, Range One. In 1860 when a post office was established, the name was changed to Alva, which it retained until it was incorporated as a town in 1874 and named in honor of the Honor- able James G. Blaine. The present executive mansion in Augusta was his home, the gift of his daughter to the state. He was Augusta's most distinguished citizen, known as the "Plumed Knight."
Blaine was born in Pennsylvania, but came to Maine as a young man and represented that district (Augusta) in Congress for several terms. He was Secretary of State under Harrison and was nominated for the Presidency by the Republican Party in 1884. He also devoted much time to writing historical books. His Twenty Years in Congress is considered the best book on the political life of that period.
It is probable that some of the first settlers of the present town of Blaine were volunteers in the Aroostook War and had passed through here en route to Fort Fairfield.
For more than twenty years after the first settlements, Blaine was a lively place, where teamsters, lumbermen and stage drivers passed the night. Much lumber was cut on the stream and the lumber- men put up there at Alva Corner, but the building of two spurs of railway put an end to that. Many settlers sold out and went away, but the Bubars, Lowells, Nobles, Bells, Tapleys, and a few others clung to the rich soil.
Van Buren, 1881
Martin Van Buren, America's eighth president, is honored in the name of an Aroostook town which lies on the west bank of the St. John's River, the channel or deepest part of which forms the exact boundary between the United States and the Canadian Province of New Brunswick. The town was incorporated in 1881 and was named for the man who had been President of the United States from 1837 to 1841, the period when the so-called Aroostook War was in progress.
The people of Van Buren are largely descendants of the original settlers driven out from Nova Scotia in 1755. On the Grande Rivière (St. John's River) some of the Acadians who were the original set-
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tlers of the present town of Van Buren were Augustin Violette, Fran- cois Violette and Joseph Cyr. This first establishment on the Grande Rivière was on the south shore, two miles above the present town of Van Buren, where the church of St. Bruno was built later. The five islands located here on the American side of the river have been and are most useful to men, serving as natural piers for the fastening of booms. Huge tracts of land far up the St. John River and its branches have given to lumbermen many million feet of logs which by the aid of these booms are directed as the river drivers wish. At first long lum- ber, spruce and pine, and now smaller logs for pulpwood are most often seen floating on the river.
Keegan, a village in the same township, but two miles north of Van Buren, has one of the largest lumber mills in the United States. Violette Brook and its northern branch drain the southern and middle parts of the town. Lumber mills, grist mills and starch factories have been operated in the town. Van Buren is the largest of the northern boundary towns in population. The inhabitants are employed in lum- ber operations or in the potato fields. There are still spring log drives. Keegan is the site of the first French-Acadian settlement in the town. The lumber industry, the backbone of the community in boom days, has dwindled to sporadic bursts of activity, and lumber mills along the river are idle much of the year.
Bancroft, 1889
The town of Bancroft is located in the southeastern section of Aroostook County. The first settlement was probably made about 1830 by Charles Gellerson, who came from Bridgton, Maine. He settled in the extreme northeastern portion of the town near the Weston line and a short distance south of where the ferry now crosses the Mattawam- keag River. Mr. Gellerson had a large family of sons, some of whom remained and made farms in the adjoining town of Weston, while the others made their settlements in Bancroft. Upon coming to the town, Mr. Gellerson purchased a block of 300 acres of land lying along the Mattawamkeag River. This tract he afterward divided into smaller farms, reserving 100 acres for his own homestead; he was engaged in lumbering and farming. Josiah Gellerson, son of Charles, took one of the 100-acre farms and also engaged in lumbering. After living here fourteen years, he moved to Haynesville. Atwell and Samuel Gellerson, both sons of Charles, each settled on 100 acres.
Shubael Kelley came from Bridgton in 1833, bringing with him his two sons, Albert and Lorenzo, and cleared up a farm to the east of Charles Gellerson's. They lived together until 1857. Albert Kelley, a man of kindly disposition, was for many years one of the principal citizens of the town, first largely engaged in lumbering and then in
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insurance. He died in 1881. His son, George Kelley, succeeded him. Joseph Rollins came from Brighton in 1833 and settled next south of the Kelley lot. Joseph E. Shorey came from Kennebec County in 1835, engaged in lumbering and farming, and was a prominent man and a trial justice for many years. Daniel Bean came from Cumberland County in 1834 and settled near the mouth of Baskahegan Stream. Here he built a mill containing an up-and-down saw and also a grist mill. He sold his property in 1850 to John Pomroy and removed to Haynes- ville.
In 1834 Simeon Irish came and settled on the west side of the Mattawamkeag River a mile below the mouth of the Baskahegan Stream and also engaged in lumbering and farming. Others who came in the 30's were Jeremiah Thompson from Kennebec and Leonard Smith from Sidney. Jonathan Quimby arrived in 1840, and Robert Hinch, who was for years one of the prominent business men in Ban- croft, came the same year and settled on the east side of the Matta- wamkeag, a short distance above the mouth of the Baskahegan Stream. He engaged in farming and lumbering for some time in company with John Pomroy; the company carried on an extensive lumbering busi- ness. Mr. Hinch was a worthy man of much business ability and was much esteemed by all.
Bancroft was first organized. as a plantation in 1840 and was incorporated as a town in 1889 and named for George Bancroft, the historian.
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CHAPTER XIV Maine Towns Bearing the Names of Proprietors of the Eighteenth Century
Many towns in the State of Maine are of historical interest by reason of the prominence of the first purchasers, proprietors or sur- veyors of the original townships. Although earlier examples may be given, it was during the second quarter of the eighteenth century, when there was profound "peace abroad and settled tranquility at home among the Indian tribes," that Governor Belcher of Massachusetts recommended surveys and appropriations for settlers in the Province of Maine. The Legislature, believing that many men of industry and virtuous habits had been unable to obtain lands upon encouraging terms and for that reason had removed in large numbers to other colonies, "ordered a new township to be surveyed and lots to be as- signed."
From these modest beginnings subsequent grants continued to be made, for the most part upon the same following conditions and requirements : individuals must clear land and build dwelling houses ; groups for the most part consisting of sixty families must collectively build a meeting house, settle a minister, make provision for his sup- port and reserve lots for public uses like the ministry, schools and the first settled minister. The men who fostered these settlements, often by buying the land and selling the lots in the township for settlement, were called proprietors. Very often the town took the name of one of these proprietors when it was incorporated.
Sanford, 1768
About 1734, when the Massachusetts Legislature was becoming generous in encouraging settlements in the Province of Maine, a tract adjoining Berwick and Towwoh (Lebanon) was laid out on very gen- erous terms to a group of associates. This is now Sanford, incorporated in the Province of Maine in the year 1768, as its twenty-fifth town. Up to that time the place had been called Phillipstown, for Ma- jor Wm. Phillips who had taken several quit-claim deeds from the Indian chiefs for a large territory which included the present towns of Sanford, Alfred and Waterborough. This purchase was confirmed to Phillips by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Often the name of Mousam, from
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the river which flowed through the area, had been used instead of Phillipstown.
John Sanford of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, died in November, 1653. In May of that year, he had been chosen President (Governor) of the Rhode Island Colony for the ensuing year. He owned 200 acres of land at Black Point, Maine, and other lands in Rhode Island. His second wife was Bridget Hutchinson. After her husband's death, she returned to Boston and married, as his third wife, Major Wm. Phillips, vintner, a prominent merchant of Boston and later of Saco, Maine, where he was a large landowner. She survived him and dis- posed of a large landed estate in Maine at Cape Porpoise, Saco and Kennebunk in Wells. She willed a tract of unsettled land in Wells to her four children: Peleg Sanford, Samuel Phillips, Wm. Phillips and Eliphal Sanford Stratton, and gave to her grandson, Wm. Stratton, 1000 acres of land which her husband, Major Phillips, had made over to her son, Elisha Sanford. The present town of Sanford, Maine, is built upon this land which came to her Sanford children from Ma- jor Phillips, and from this source the town received it name.
Many of the residents of Sanford are descendants of English emigrants, and some are French Canadians who came in the last few decades to work in the mills and factories. The town was surveyed in 1735 and settlement commenced about 1740. It is reported tradition- ally that a Mr. Parsons who located on Lyon Hill was the first settler. Samuel Willard was also one of the first comers. He bought a tract of pine timber and built a mill near South Sanford. In 1745 Captain David Morrison of Wells bought a lot containing the two mill privileges above Springvale. He erected the first log house at Morrison Corner and built a saw mill. There was an iron works factory built in this vicinity to smelt ores, but this was abandoned for want of success. Phineas Thompson and Samuel Willard were here in 1765; Walter Powers, in 1768; Nathaniel Bennett and Thos. Rogers, in 1771 and, previous to 1774, the Reverend Peltiah Tingley, John Linscott, Ste- phen Gowen, Joel Moulton, Wm. Tripe, Eleazer Chadbourne, Eleazer Hall, Stephen Coffin, Daniel Barston, Moses Pate, Elisha Smith, Caleb Emery and Enoch Hall.
The land, though poor in the valleys, was covered with a dense growth of valuable white pine which encouraged the first settlers, who were extremely poor, to fell the trees or work them up into shingles and staves. Many large masts used to be hauled from here to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Masts to refit the French fleets were taken from this town. At the second town meeting in 1769, Benjamin Harmon was elected moderator; Samuel Willard, town clerk; Jonathan Johnson, Wm. Bennett and Samuel Willard, selectmen and assessors. The next year, 1770, it was voted to hire a minister to preach the gospel for
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three months; Wm. Bennett, Ephraim Low and Jonathan Johnson were made a committee to secure the pastor. Wm. Bennett was chosen the first grand juror in 1773.
Sanford, the first village, is located on the west bank of the Mousam River two miles south of Springvale. Samuel Nasson was one of the early settlers of Sanford. The Linscott Mill is the lowest on the river and is mentioned in the town records as early as 1775.
The first church was organized by the Baptists in 1772. Pelti- tiah Tingley was made first pastor in October, 1773. The meeting house, which stood some distance apart from the village, was later re- moved to a more central location. The Congregational Church was organized in 1782, and a Mr. Hall was the first preacher. The Rever- end Moses Sweat settled in 1786 and lived here for many years. He was famed for his great learning and versed in thirteen languages. The Free Will Baptist Church dates back to 1817. Springvale Baptist Church was organized in 1843, and the first house was built in 1847.
A schoolhouse was erected in the south parish in 1782. Master Gowen was a noted teacher.
Springvale is not a separate town but lies within Sanford. Ed- win Emery, in his History of Sanford, Maine, explains the origin of the name Springvale as follows: In the presence of villagers and English operators of the calico print works at the village which is now Springvale, near the cold crystalline spring, Elder Greenhalgh mounted on a box and offered prayer. Then, in answer to the question: "What shall we call it?" he named the settlement, "Spring," pointing to the clear water at his feet, and with a gesture down the valley, "vale, Springvale." Thos. Greenhalgh had been a local preacher of the Methodist denomination in his native Lancashire, but before coming to Sanford was superintendent of the Tourlin Print Works in Dover.
Hallowell, 1771 (City, 1850)
One of the earliest towns in the Province of Maine to bear the name of a proprietor was ancient Hallowell, which was named for Benj. Hallowell, a wealthy merchant of Boston and one of the proprietors of the Plymouth or Kennebec Patent, of which this town was a part. At the time of its incorporation in 1771, it included the present towns of Augusta, Chelsea and part of Manchester. The set- tlement here was formerly called "the Hook"; the other village in town being "the Fort," now Augusta. This latter was set off as the town of Harrington in 1797, and Manchester and Chelsea were sepa- rated from the parent town in 1850. Hallowell was incorporated as a city at this latter date, and accepted its charter in 1852. The name "Hook" was said to have been an abbreviation of Bombahook, a word whose entymology and significance is not known. The Indian name
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for Hallowell was Medumcook; perhaps Bombahook was an English corruption of this name.
The first settler here was Deacon Pease Clark who came from Attleborough, Massachusetts, in 1762, in a ship belonging to Massa- chusetts Bay, which came to the Kennebec with supplies for Forts Western and Halifax. No doubt Mr. Clark hoped that the generous offers made by the Kennebec or Plymouth proprietors, who at this time were making vigorous efforts to colonize their lands, might be a good opportunity for him to secure homes for his six sturdy sons, all of whom came to the Kennebec. It is said that his son, Peter, had been here previously among the guards for the workmen on the forts, and then the Deacon himself came to see the country before moving here.
Clark received a grant of land of 100 acres, which included the central part of the present city of Hallowell. His son, Peter, had a lot at the south which he doubtless purchased from the Hallowells. The first clearing made by Deacon Clark was near the present city hall. Here he raised a crop of corn and rye. That same season he erected a frame house, the timber for which was cut and hewn upon the spot where the house was built; the boards were floated up from Gardiner, where a saw mill had been erected. Clark's home became the headquarters for many new settlers when they arrived.
Benj. Hallowell's son, Briggs, was a resident here before the incorporation of the town. He seems to have been on the Kennebec as early as 1768, caring for the interests of his father; his house stood near Sheppard's Point. Elisha Nye came from Sandwich, Massachu- setts, in 1781. The most prominent of the early settlers of Hallowell was Dr. Benjamin Vaughn, who was born in England in 1751 and married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Benjamin Hallowell, Esq. Vaughn was a member of the British Parliament at the time of the French Revolution and, had been compromised in a political move- ment which became dangerous; he had to flee to France and soon after came to this country. He arrived at Hallowell about 1796. A pub- lic spirited man, he did much for the advancement of learning in the state. He planted a large nursery of fruit trees from which sprang many of the orchards in the vicinity. His numerous and valuable books had a strong effect on the advancement of learning. His brother, Charles, had come in 1790. Together they ran a large flour mill and brewery and were much devoted to agriculture and cattle breeding.
John Merrick, born in London of Welsh parentage, came over as tutor in the Vaughn family and subsequently married a sister of Dr. Vaughn. He was a man of profound learning and occupied many important positions. He surveyed the route to Canada by way of the Chaudière in 1810, was cashier of a bank in Hallowell in 1821 and agent of wild lands in eastern Maine.
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Samuel Moody from Newbury, Massachusetts, a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1790, came as the preceptor of Hallowell Academy in 1796. He was always known as Preceptor Moody. Hallo- well Academy, incorporated in 1791, was the first school of that type to be established in the District of Maine, although Berwick Academy, the second to be incorporated, went into operation first. The old academy building, now a primary school, is located on Middle Street.
Ephraim Lord of Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived in 1792, and John Sewell, born in York, Maine, came in 1797. He was town clerk for many years, and it is said that it was through his efforts that the records of Hallowell families were made and preserved. He was also selectman and taught in the town school on Temple Street.
Vassalborough, 1771
The twenty-seventh town to be incorporated in Maine, Vassal- borough was settled about 1760, chiefly by emigrants from Cape Cod. At the time of its incorporation, in 1771, it contained the present town of Sidney, and was surveyed and lotted the succeeding year ac- cording to the plan of Nathan Winslow. In 1768 there were only ten families in the township; yet, in 1771, the inhabitants voted "to raise £30, lawful money, for the support of a minister and other necessary charges." At a public town meeting in January, 1775, Dennis Getchell was chosen Captain of the town for the emergency of the times. That same year, his brother, John, one of the first settlers, was pilot to the army under General Arnold in that memorable trek through the wilderness to Canada. He dug an underground avenue from his dwell- ing to a gully near the river whence he might escape the Indians. He was a mighty hunter. Once he wounded a moose and caught him with clenched fingers, threw him to the ground and cut his throat with a jack-knife.
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