USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
In 1772 Daniel Staples, Thos. and Elisha Record, Joseph Lea- vitt and Abner Philipps were voted the ten-pound bounty on the con-
299
dition that they complete the terms of the settlement. Joseph Leavitt, born in Pembroke, Massachusetts, a Revolutionary soldier, was one of the first to enlist in the Revolution. He concluded only one enlistment and then came to Maine as assistant to the government surveyors. His home in Turner was next to the meeting house lot, where he built the first frame building in town. In 1773 Peleg Wadsworth, Ichabod Bon- ney, Jr., and Peleg Chandler performed the settlers' duties that en- titled them to three "settlers lots," and Josiah Staples occupied a fourth. Elisha Lake brought his family that year, but soon went away. Peleg Wadsworth, afterward General, took an active part in lotting and selling the town, but did not become a permanent settler.
On July 19, 1774, Ichabod Bonney was chosen by the pro- prietors to go to Sylvester and forward the building of a saw and grist mill, and was voted four pounds a month and expenses. In 1775 Israel Haskell, Moses Stevens from Gloucester and Hezekiah Bryant from Halifax came with their families. By 1780 there were here: Mark and Samuel Andrews, Jotham Briggs, Israel Haskell, Daniel Briggs, Abner, Richard and Isaac Phillips, Daniel, Josiah and Seth Staples, Deacon Daniel, Levi, Benjamin, and Jabez Merrill, Jacob and Joseph Leavitt, Charles, Jr., and Wm. Turner, Stephen and Hezekiah Bryant, Deacon Benj. True, Wm. Hayford, John Keen, Henry Jones, Ezekiel Jr., Wm. and Jesse Bradford, James and Ebeneezer Crooker, Moses Stevens, Samuel Blake, Malachi Waterman and Hezekiah Hill, most of them with families.
The growth was now rapid; the town was incorporated in 1786 and named for the Reverend Charles Turner, born in Scituate, Massa- chusetts, in 1732. He was graduated from Harvard in 1752 and was a minister in Duxbury for twenty years. He was a Whig, active in state affairs, one of the agents for the claimants, the first treasurer and col- lector for the proprietors. In 1791 he moved here and preached part time for a number of years. He was a faithful preacher, whose culture and education left its imprint on the townsmen. Colonel Wm. Turner, his brother (Harvard, 1767), was proprietor's clerk for years and a valuable officer of the Revolution.
The first mills, both saw and grist, were built by Samuel Blake in 1775 on Twenty Mile River, at what is known as Turner Village. Destroyed in the great freshet of 1785, they were soon rebuilt.
Waterborough, 1787
This York County town was the fifty-first to be incorporated in Maine. Waterborough was a part of the purchase made by Major Wm. Phillips of the Indian chiefs, Capt. Sunday, Fluellin and Hob- inowell, in 1661 and 1664. By virtue of the will of Major Phillips' widow, three men of Boston: John Avery, Colonel Joshua Waters and
300
John Wheelright became the proprietors, from one of whom, Colonel Joshua Waters, the town took its name. Prior to its incorporation, the town was included in the northern part of Alfred, under the name of Massabesic Plantation. A widening of the Pequaket Trail in 1764 made it suitable for a logging road, as lumbering became the chief industry. The first permanent settlement was by John Smith in 1768, near Waterborough Old Corners. John Smith was joined by seven other families during the next two years: John Scribner, Robert Harvey, Alexander Jellison, Wm. Deering, Scammon Hodgdon, Wm. Philpot and Wm. Nason. These men came from Berwick, Scarborough and Somersworth, New Hampshire, to engage in lumbering.
The outbreak of the Revolution retarded the settlement and prevented any vigorous action by the proprietors, whose headquarters were in Boston, Massachusetts. Their meetings were usually held in one of the public houses of that city.
Following the close of the war immigration increased. The fol- lowing were here prior to 1787: Samuel Damm, Andrew Burleigh, William Bean, Benjamin Warren, James Carlisle, Nathaniel Haines, Clement Moody, Wm. Tibbetts, Samuel Cammett, Moses Downs, Thomas Gubtail, Valentine Shaw, Humpfrey Downs, Benjamin Perry, Timothy Ricker, James Hamilton, Nicholas Carpenter, Joseph San- born and John Bridges. The first town meeting was held at the dwell- ing house of Captain John Smith, an innholder. Wm. Bean was chosen moderator; Benjamin Warren, town clerk; James Carlisle, Andrew Burley and Wm. Bean, selectmen and assessors.
The first book of records contains this inscription on the title page, in a large bold hand: "To the inhabitants of the town of Water- borough this book most respectfully presented by their Friend and very Humble Servant, Josiah Waters, Boston, March 10, 1787." In response it was voted: "the thanks of this town be returned the Honbl Josiah Waters, Esqr. for his generous donation in that he has been pleased to bestow on it a book for the records of said town, together with a number of other books for the instruction of the rising genera- tion."
At that date, 1787, there were within the town four mills owned by Captain John Smith, John Knights, John Bridges and Lieutenant Issachar Davis on Moody Pond Brook. In 1780 Samuel Dam of Dur- ham, New Hampshire, settled about a mile south of the Old Corner and opened a public house for the accommodation of lumbermen and teamsters on their way to and from the coast. That was the first public house in town. The first school was held in a barn in 1784 and was taught by Samuel Robinson. The first church was formed in 1782. It was a Union Church and the meetings were held at dwellings. Bap- tist and Free Baptist Churches were organized before 1800.
301
Gouldsborough, 1789
Gouldsborough, the sixty-sixth town to be incorporated in the District of Maine, was originally granted to Nathan Jones, Francis Shaw and Robert Gould of Boston, who immediately settled it with lumbermen from Portland, Saco and vicinity. The town was called Gouldsborough in compliment to Robert Gould, one of these grantees. It is situated between Frenchman's Bay and Gouldsborough Harbor. Francis Shaw, Jr., born in Boston, July 28, 1748, went to Goulds- borough in 1770-71 as agent for the proprietors. He was a staunch patriot, much engrossed in the Revolutionary War, and in 1775 was captain of the Gouldsborough militia. In 1776 he made and ratified a treaty with the Indians on the St. John River, and as a private, he was a member of Captain Daniel Sullivan's company for the protection of Frenchman's Bay in 1780. He died in 1785. His son, Robert Gould Shaw, the great Boston merchant, was born in Gouldsborough on June 4, 1776; he and his brother were sent to Boston to an uncle for school- ing in 1789. In 1793 he returned to Gouldsborough to care for his in- terests there, but after three summers the property was sold to Wm. Bingham, and Shaw became a merchant in Boston.
The first white man in our present town of Gouldsborough, as far as we know, was Nathan Jones of Weston, Massachusetts, who had been surveying land on Mt. Desert for Governor Bernard and sailed across the bay to find land for himself in 1762. The township was run out by Jones and Frie in 1763. Jones interested two Boston merchants, Robert Gould and Francis Shaw, who explored the township that year and in 1764 obtained a grant of the township under the usual in- structions and limitations. Jones had one-eighth of the town and built a saw mill or one-half of one, the first in the town. Immediately after the completion of his purchase in 1764-65, he began the erection of mills on the Frenchman's Bay side and in 1768-69 moved his family there and carried on the business, until Shaw and Gould who had bought a part of the township and saw mill, started their settlement in 1764-65 and sent Francis Shaw, Jr., there as an agent in 1770-71 for all parties. Jones later moved to what is now Cherryfield.
The harbor was fine, the country beautiful, lumber abundant, but the soil was poor. Settlers were sent here, however, and farms were cleared, houses and mills built. The names of some of the original set- tlers were Robert Ash, - Fernald, Tristram and Richard Pinkham from Boothbay, who built a tide mill and afterward moved to Steuben, Benj. Glazier and Ichabod Willey, who removed to Narraguagus be- fore 1771. Nathaniel Denbo or Densmore, - Goodwin, - Tracy, Tobias Allen, Thos. Hill, Benj. Bickford, John Gubtail, Asa Cole, Isaac Patten and Daniel Tibbetts were early settlers. The Revolutionary War
302
put a stop to all business and the settlers were destitute. After the war, operations were again begun, but lasted briefly. Francis Shaw, Sr., died in 1784 one year before Francis Shaw, Jr.
At the first town meeting held in Gouldsborough, April 4, 1789, the following officers were elected: Nathan Jones, Esq., moderator; Wm. Shaw, clerk; Dr. Benjamin Alline, treasurer; Thomas Hill, Sam- uel Libby and Eli Forbs, selectmen and assessors. Thomas Hill was constable and collector; Nathan Jones, Samuel Libby and Benj. God- frey, surveyors of roads; Thomas Hill, William Shaw and Abijah Cole, surveyors of lumber; Wm. S. Jone, Clement Furnald and John Gub- tail, Jr., fence viewers; Benjamin Ash and John Gubtail, Jr., deer reeves; Dr. Benjamin Alline, sealer of weights and measures and Peter Godfrey, sealer of leather.
Under the Bingham administration, General David Cobb came as agent and removed to Gouldsborough Point in 1796. The records show he was taxed a poll tax of twenty-eight cents that year. He con- ceived many plans to promote the interests of both proprietors and settlers. He hoped to found a city at Gouldsborough Point. The loca- tion was superb. Large wharves and store houses were erected, miles of streets were laid out in all directions up in the country, and some were built, as his diary shows. Ships sailed for England and the West Indies loaded with lumber and returned loaded with the products of those countries. The city did not materialize however. Enterprise and push were elsewhere, at Ellsworth, at Machias and up the Narragua- gus. General Cobb lived in Gouldsborough for more than twenty years. He held the positions of Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, major-general, Senator from Hancock County from 1801 to 1804, lieutenant governor, 1809, and President of the Executive Council, 1805-08, 1812-14, 1816, 1817. He moved to Taunton in 1820. For nearly twenty-five years he was the foremost man in eastern Maine.
Vinalhaven, 1789
Maine's seventy-first town, Vinalhaven was established in 1789, and was so called in honor of John Vinal, Esq., of Boston who had been employed the preceding year by settlers to obtain legislative measures for securing the titles to their lands. The town embraced at the time of its incorporation the North and South Fox Islands and all the smaller islands within three miles of their shores. North Haven (North Fox Island) was set off in 1846. The first permanent settlement was made in 1765 and increased up to the fifth year of the Revolutionary War, when the British, issuing from their encampment at Biguyduce (Castine), compelled these islanders to leave their families and work upon the British fortifications. To avoid servility and abuse, a number of settlers retired from their homes, some of which the enemy reduced
303
to ashes. Returning after the peace in 1786, seventy-two of the inhabi- tants obtained from the government deeds of their lots, in considera- tion of only 246 pounds for the whole.
These Islanders have been "noted for their humanity and be- nevolence to strangers."
Martin Pring, an English explorer, landed on the islands in 1603 and was delighted with "the high country full of woods." Gorges says that "Pring made a perfect discovery of all these eastern rivers . and harbours; and brought back the most exact account of the coast that had ever come to hand." It was he who named these islands "the Fox Islands," because they saw here so many silver-gray foxes.
The first permanent white settler is supposed to have been Daniel Wooster who came to Vinalhaven in 1763; his son was the first white child born on the island. In 1766 the Carvers came and from that time settlements rapidly progressed. The first town meeting of which we have a record was held on March 11, 1785, at the home of Benjamin Kent on North Island.
William Vinal who settled in Maine before 1786 was the first of a Boston family to come to Maine. He was the son of John, and it was for the latter that the town was named since he helped the set- tlers to secure legislation to their advantage. William's two sons, John and William, Jr., were influential citizens on Vinalhaven. Colson and Lane are also names of early settlers on the island.
In 1797 the town "voted to hire a minister" and raised forty pounds therefor. In 1802 they "voted not to hire a minister."
Bridgton, 1794
The eighty-fifth town to be incorporated in the District of Maine was Bridgton, granted by the General Court in 1764 to Moody Bridges, Benj. Milliken, Thomas Perley and others, in lieu of Rowley, Canada, a section which had been taken away from them by the run- ning of the New Hampshire line. The new area was divided into. eighty-six shares, sixty-one of which belonged to individual proprietors, one being set apart for the support of the ministry, one for the first settled minister, one for Harvard College, one for the support of schools and one for the first settler of the township. The town received its name from Moody Bridges of Andover, Massachusetts, a large pro- prietor, proprietors' clerk and leading spirit of the entire group. The place was first called Pondicherry, possibly for a French province in the eastern part of India, or because of the great number of ponds and wild cherry trees within the boundaries of the town.
The natural waterways over which the settlers reached the present Bridgton and which the Indians traveled before them were Sebago Lake, Songo River and Long Pond. According to the History
304
of Cumberland County, the first improvements were made at the pres- ent North Bridgton in 1769 by Captain Benjamin Kimball, a sailor from Ipswich, who, in 1768, in return for a grant of land, bound him- self to build a house of entertainment, to keep a store of goods and to hold himself in readiness with a boat of two tons burthen, rigged with a convenient sail, to carry passengers and freight for a term of seven years from Piersontown (Standish) on Sebago Lake to the head of Long Pond and back at a special rate, whenever called upon by the proprietors. The same year the proprietors in like manner contracted with Jacob Stevens to build and keep in repair a saw mill and a corn mill, which he did upon the outlet of Crotched Pond, ever since known as Stevens Brook. In 1782 certain lots were given on the shore of Long Pond to those settlers who, by greatest progress in clearings and build- ings, merited reward; these lots therefore have since been known as the "merited" lots. It was at the same time arranged to build a public mill at the locality known as "Pinhook." Longfellow, when he came to Bridgton over the Sebago Lake route, was so delighted that he wrote the poem, "Songo River," from which the following is an ex- cerpt :
Nowhere such a devious stream Save in fancy or in dream Winding slow through bush and brake Links together lake and lake.
The early grant provided that each settler who cleared twelve acres, erected a house and settled his family before 1771 should be al- lotted 100 acres. Evidently Moody Bridges was only a land speculator ; Kimball, the first settler, kept an inn and store, traded with the In- dians and ran a boat until his death in 1802. Other pioneer settlers were Jacob Stevens, Andover, and Wm. Emerson, Moody Foster and David Kneeland of Topsfield, Massachusetts. The latter settled "on the ridge" and planted Bridgton's first orchard. It was at South Bridg- ton that the first settlers pitched their camps and here may be found some of the oldest buildings in this part of the state. Doubtless the first settler here was Enoch Perley, son of Thos. Perley, one of the proprie- tors. Enoch came in 1775, settled on a farm and built the first frame house, which consisted of one room about eighteen feet square.
In 1789 William Sears of Beverly, Massachusetts, bought two lots at what is now the village of Bridgton Center. Here he built a grist mill at Highland Lake, then called Crotched Pond. He also con- structed a tavern, later called the "Pondicherry House." In 1798 a meeting house was built which for many years was used for civic and religious purposes. Here too in 1800 the first post office was established. The Sebago Lake Stream Navigation Company made its center of operations here for the management of its steamers on the lake.
305
The first town meeting was held in March, 1794. Enoch Per- ley was elected moderator; Isaiah Ingalls, town clerk; Phineas Ingalls, treasurer; and Robert Andrews, James Flint and Joseph Sears, select- men. In 1784 the first Congregational Church was organized by the Reverend Wm. Johnson of Fryeburg with seventeen members. The first settled minister was Mr. Nathan Church of South Hadley, Massa- chusetts, a Dartmouth graduate, who came in 1788 and was supported by the proprietors until the incorporation of the town. The first meet- ing house was built on the ministerial lot in 1791. Dr. Samuel Farns- worth, the first physician, came in 1791 and became eminent in his profession until his death in 1817.
Lewiston, 1795 (City, 1861)
The territory comprising the city of Lewiston was included in the Pejepscot Patent, granted to Thomas Purchase and George Way in 1632. On the death of these two original proprietors, most of the tract became the property of Richard Wharton, a Boston lawyer. To make his title secure, he obtained in 1684 a deed from Warumbee and five other sagamores of the Anasagunticooks. On Wharton's death his ad- ministrator sold the claims to Thomas Hutchinson, John Wentworth, John Watts, David Jefferies, Stephen Minot, Oliver Noyes and John Rusk for 140 pounds, in 1714. These persons were commonly styled the Pejepscot Proprietors, and their lands were called the Pejepscot Claim. Its limits were finally fixed on the western side of the river at Lewiston Falls, and on the eastern side so as to embrace about two- thirds of what is now the town of Leeds. The grant under which Lewiston was settled was made by the proprietors to Jonathan Bagley and Moses Little of Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1768. The name of the town, as provided in the grant, was to be Lewiston.
The first settler was Paul Hildreth from Dracut, Massachusetts, who, in the summer of 1770, built a cabin just below where the Con- tinental Mill now stands. The first ferry was established by him about three-fourths of a mile below the falls. David Pettengill of New Glou- cester, the second settler, came in the fall of 1770, and brought his family in the following spring. He owned several lots by gifts and by purchase from the proprietors; the most valuable was the mill lot at the falls, which comprised a hundred acres. He built his house on what is now known as Lower Main Street. After his death, one of his sons sold the mill lot and fifteen acres of land to Colonel Josiah Little. Asa Varnum, also from Dracut, was supposed to have been the third settler in 1772, and Amos Davis moved from New Gloucester to Lewiston in 1774. He was a farmer, surveyor and shoemaker; surveyed a part of the town for the proprietors in 1773 and made a plan in 1795. He gave the land for the old burying ground on Sabbattus Street
306
and erected at his own expense a small building within its present enclosure, which was occupied for some years as a meeting house and a schoolhouse. He was a leading member of the Society of Friends and a very noble man. His son David, whose heirs gave Mt. David to Bates College for an observatory, was the second boy born in Lewiston.
Israel Herrick, Jesse Wright and Jacob Barker came in 1774; James Garcelon arrived from Freeport in the following year and soon after settled at what is called Garcelon's Ferry. His father was the Reverend Peter Garcelon, a native and resident of the Isle of Guernsey. James had emigrated to this country at thirteen years of age. He was a member of the first board of selectmen of Lewiston. His son James was for years a Baptist clergyman and another William, one of the first merchants in town, engaged in lumbering and shipbuilding in Free- port. Josiah Mitchell came in 1776 and Jonathan Hodgkins in 1777. James Ames from Oakham, Massachusetts, arrived in 1785 and car- ried on the business of blacksmithing in connection with farming. Pre- vious to this the people had been obliged to go to New Gloucester for their blacksmith work. Ames also kept a public house for many years. Dan Read moved in from Attleborough in 1788. He was subsequently one of the board of selectmen for twenty-six years, chairman of the board for twelve years, town clerk, fifteen years, Representative to the General Court in 1804-05 and to the Maine Legislature in 1820, 1823 and 1825. He was also the first postmaster of Lewiston, to which office he was appointed by Washington, a position which he held for forty years, lacking three months. He died in 1854. Ebenezer Hamm from Shapleigh, grandfather of Colonel Hamm, came in 1789. Only three persons who have been residents of Lewiston are now known to have been in the Revolutionary War. David Pettengill, who died in the army, his son and Joel Thompson. After the end of the Revolution a few men who had served in the war settled in Lewiston.
The first saw mill was built by L. J. Harris in 1770-71, near the falls, and was burned about 1785. Some three years later, he put in a grist mill, probably the first in Lewiston. Colonel Little, in 1809, put up a building on the same site, which was used for saw, grist, fulling mill and carding machine. This was burned in 1814, but was rebuilt and stood until about 1850. In 1775 Jacob Barker built a grist mill at Barker's Mills and, some two years later, a saw mill. These mills were rebuilt once or twice by his son and once about 1836 by his grandson.
The growth of the southern part of the plantation was slow, the settlement incorporated as Greene in 1788 attracting more set- tlers. In 1790 Lewiston had 532 inhabitants. At the first town meeting in 1795, John Herrick was moderator; he and Joel Thompson, Wins- low Ames, James Garcelon, Daniel Davis were selectmen. It was not
307
until the water power was developed that Lewiston was anything more than a prosperous farming town, and its rapid growth is due to the use of that power by sagacious capitalists.
Livermore, 1795
Maine's ninety-ninth town, Livermore was incorporated in 1795 and lies on both sides of the Androscoggin River in the north- western part of that county. It was named in honor of Deacon Elijah Livermore, a large proprietor and first settler. He was a wise wealthy man who drew about him other settlers of means. The town was originally called Port Royal because it was granted by Massachusetts to certain persons for services in the French and Indian War in the expedition against Port Royal, Nova Scotia, in the early part of the eighteenth century. The petition for the grant was made by Nathaniel Harris and others.
To these petitioners were granted Township No. 2 "on the east side and next adjoining the Connecticut River." The proprietors held their first meeting at the house of Isaac Baldwin, innholder, in Weston in 1737. Previous to 1779 a large number of rights or shares came to Deacon Elijah Livermore by purchase at tax sales and from individual proprietors. Later study showed that the old grant "fell into New Hampshire" and another township was granted in 1771, some "of the unappropriated lands in the Province of Massachusetts Bay to the eastward of Saco River ... on the condition that the proprietors set- tle sixty families in said town in seven years, build a house for the public worship of God, settle a learned Protestant minister
On August 9, 1771, Elijah Livermore and Elisha Harrington were directed by Samuel Livermore and Leonard Williams for the proprietors to explore the country and select the location, they "to take a boat and pilot at Brunswick Falls and proceed up the river as far as Rocky Mico." The grant was located adjoining Sylvester (Turner). After the surveying, laying out the lots and petitioning for further land to make up the deficiency, the proprietors voted to open a horseway to Sylvester town and a cartway to Pondtown (Winthrop), and in 1774 a committee was appointed to look after a saw and grist mill. Elijah Livermore was active in all these projects, and he and Major Thomas Fish came as first residents and were soon joined by Josiah Wyer, Elisha Smith and Wm. Carver. For a brief time, the town was called Liverton. Elijah Livermore built the first mill in town in 1782 or 1783. Major Fish perished in a snowstorm the following winter. In 1782 the mill lot, the island near it and sixty pounds was to be granted for building a mill on the brook leading from Livermore (Long) and Stinchfield (Round) ponds, and Elijah Livermore agreed to build it. In 1793 it was voted to build a meeting house.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.