USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 39
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Seth Stinchfield, who came in 1834 from Leeds, was for many years an energetic and influential citizen in the town. In 1844 he made his first clearing on the site of the present village and in 1845 built the first saw mill. He cleared much of the land on which the village lies, on both sides of the river, and shortly afterward built the first frame house in the village. Cyrus Schillinger came about 1838 from Poland; Nathaniel and Jeremiah Schillinger, about 1840, after pre- viously going to Weston.
Notice should be taken of the fact that most of the early set- tlers located on the hill with the Morse and Snow farms as a nucleus of the settlement.
After 1845 the lumber business began to prosper. The first store was built by Frank Butterfield; the first post office was kept by Thomas Gilpatrick in Weston; the first postmaster in Danforth was Chas. H. Merrill; the first school was held in a room of the Tewks- bury log cabin. Among the earliest lumbermen were Colonel Rams- dell, Henry Prentiss, Thomas Crosby, and Zeb Day, who was em- ployed by Crosby. Another, Dow, began his operations as early as 1828 or 1829, and continued them for about five years. He cut only pine and hauled his logs to Baskehegan with oxen. Many stories were told in later years of the abundance and size of trees cut in this vi- cinity. The cutting of meadow hay in the summer for the feed of oxen was an important part of lumbering operations. Most of the provisions used here were brought by lumbermen from Bangor either by boat up the Baskehegan or were hauled to this town from Matta- wamkeag Point by the Military Road. The trip up the river by bateau was a long and difficult one.
Sometime in the 70's, a grist mill was built underneath the saw mill. This was very important for the farmers, who came from as far away as Topsfield. The pound was built in 1865. Probably the first owner of the flowage rights of the water power of Danforth was Henry Prentiss. After the town meeting in 1872, when settlement was made, the water power rights were vested in the town, and later the Baskehegan Dam Company came into existence. The first library in the town was presented to it by Henry C. Prentiss. Joseph Lessly, who lived on the Powell farm, was chosen first librarian.
Eustis, 1871
This most northerly town in Franklin County passed through the hands of a number of owners in its early days. Some time before Maine became a state, the southern part of the township was granted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the Bath Academy As- sociation, from whom it was purchased and settled by various indi- viduals. About 1700 acres of this, lying south of the Saddleback River,
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were purchased by Gilman and Redington of Waterville. The north- ern part of the township was purchased from the state about the year 1831 by a Mr. Clark of Massachusetts and Charles L. Eustis of Lewiston, Maine. A saw mill and grist mill were built by the latter at the same date. From these two owners, the township went through the hands of a New Hampshire firm to Ex-Governor Coburn and his brothers.
Charles L. Eustis, whose father came from Rutland, Vermont, in 1803, to become an early settler in Mexico, Maine, had begun trad- ing in Dixfield as early as 1805, and continued there for more than twenty years before erecting the mill in Eustis.
When organized as a plantation in 1840, the name of Hanover was given to the township, and in 1850, when adjoining townships in the county were added, the name of the plantation became Jackson; but in 1857, when an act of the Legislature prohibited the organiza- tion of more than one township into a plantation, the original town- ship was organized independently as Eustis, in honor of the former proprietor of the northern part. It was incorporated as a town in 1871. Caleb Stevens, a native of New Hampshire, was the first set- tler and was soon followed by Abram Reed of Kingfield, as the second. Then came Captain Isaac Procter, Frank Keen, Nathaniel Allen and Reuben Bartlett from Hartford, and Noah Staples from Dixfield. The balance of the Bath Academy Grant was purchased by Captain Pet- tengill and Colonel Herrick of Lewiston. From there it went through various hands to Gibson, Fogg & Company of Fairfield.
Benedict Arnold made one of his camps near the northern end of the grove in Eustis now known as Cathedral Pines. This is a beautiful stand of Norway pines covering several miles on both sides of the road. From here Arnold went up the northern branch of the Dead River.
Hersey, 1873
Formerly No. 5, Range 5, Hersey in Aroostook County was first organized as Dayton Plantation. It was incorporated under its present name on January 5, 1873, at which time proprietors of the township were General Samuel Hersey and Mr. George Stetson. The town takes its name from the former. In 1894 he was a candidate for the governorship on the Prohibition ticket.
The old Aroostook Road, now the main road from Patten to Ashland, runs diagonally across the northwest corner of the town, and the State road from Smyrna Mills runs on the line between Hersey and Moro Plantation and intersects the Aroostook Road some two miles from the northwest corner of Hersey.
The first settlers in the township came from Plymouth in 1839.
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They were Samuel Huston, Timothy Hale, Nicholas Cooper and Daniel Cooper. Samuel Huston settled on a lot on the Aroostook Road six miles from Patten. Here he cleared a large farm and was for many years one of the leading men of the town. Mr. Timothy Hale settled near the Penobscot County line; he felled fifteen acres, but did not clear the land and after a year or two moved west. Nicholas Cooper built the buildings next north of the lot which Timothy Hale had partially cleared, and lived there twenty years. Daniel Cooper did not stay in town.
James Brown came from Wilton in 1840 and settled just north of Nicholas Cooper. He cleared a large farm, was a prominent citi- zen and was well known throughout the section. Other early settlers were Nathan Fish from Jefferson, Daniel Darling from Hartland, Seth Allen from Sumner and Columbus Bragg from Plymouth.
When the settlers first came the township was owned by Hon- orable W. W. Thomas of Portland. He afterward sold it to Hall and Lewis of Cherryfield, but soon obtained possession of it again. He subsequently sold to Hersey and Stetson. General Hersey was long a wealthy and active business and public-spirited man in Bangor and was Representative of the Fourth District of Maine in the Forty- second and Forty-third Congress. He was studious, hard working and generous, yet judicious in his charities.
Vanceboro, 1874
The extreme northeastern town of Washington County, Vance- boro was named for William Vance of Baring, a large owner of land in that place and in other eastern parts of our state. He was a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention at Portland in 1819. He was originally from Readfield, Maine, a most colorful figure. He spent some time in Canada but was more often in Baring, Maine, where he built a large three-storied house which he named Mount Defiance. According to the historian of Baring, the house was built for Alex- ander Baring for whom that town was named.
The town of Baring was long known as Vance's Mills, since they had been erected by "the Squire" for use in his extensive lum- bering operations. He first leased and then purchased a large amount of Baring's holdings of land. He had come from Concord, New Hampshire, in the last decade of the nineteenth century, and taken up a grant at St. David, New Brunswick. He moved up the river once or twice before crossing to the American side. He was for some years a member of the Maine Legislature, an outstanding example of a man who freely moved and traded back and forth across the border.
In 1871, the European and North American Railway (now the Maine Central) was completed from Bangor to Vanceboro and
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thus opened this section. The tannery at Vanceboro was one of the so- called Shaw tanneries (F. Shaw & Brothers). These had been built at different times, some by the Shaws themselves, and some by different parties from whom the Shaws purchased them. The Industrial and Labor Statistics of Maine 1873 gives the following information about this tannery: "stock used, hemlock bark; 8,000 cords; value $30,000; production, sole leather 600 tons; wages during the year, $24,000; average weekly wages, $8; 12 months in operation; market Boston."
Before the end of the 19th century the United States Leather Company had bought up some of the large sole leather tanneries of the state. Vanceboro was among the tanneries included. However, this new company did not operate for a very long time in Maine. By 1910 they had ceased operation in all of the large tanneries purchased from the creditors of the Shaws.
Early settlers in the town were Clendening, Maxwell, Hol- brook and Kellogg, storekeepers; Sprague, custom house officer; Ross, hotel keeper and sheriff; Hanson, blacksmith and Keefe, a lumberman.
Talmadge, 1875
This town lies in the northern part of Washington County on the Houlton and Baring road. In 1804 Benjamin Talmadge purchased the future township of 23,040 acres up the St. Croix for $7,408.80. The town was named for him.
A Legislative act of 1824 was designed to open large tracts on the St. Croix and in Washington County. The first forty settlers in each township in the area were allowed to purchase up to 100 acres at thirty cents per acre, one half to be paid down in cash and the other half to be paid off in road building and other labor. The land was to be settled in four years, fifteen acres cleared, ten laid in grass and a house built. Additional land could be secured at sixty cents per acre. Five hundred acres was the limit in any single case and if the purchaser ran over 300 acres, two additional settlers were to be brought in by the purchaser.
In 1832 about thirty Calais residents, most of them young, took advantage of the offer and acquired lots ranging from 100 to 300 acres in the upriver townships now called Waite and Talmadge, about thirty miles above Calais. Here they planted wheat, corn, oats : and potatoes. For many years lumber camps were the principal mar- kets of these isolated farms. Quantities of hay and oats were required for the oxen and in later times for horses, and sturdy lumberjacks consumed fabulous amounts of baked beans, pork and potatoes. In the winter, when there was little to do around the farm, the more in- dustrious found jobs with logging crews, and operators were generally ready to hire an extra yoke of oxen or team of horses.
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The names of the earliest settlers of 1850, as recorded in the office of the town clerk, were Nathaniel Densmore, David Williams, Samuel Thornton, David Patten, and Amos Metcalf. Nearly all the woods common to Maine flourish here. West Musquash Lake, seven miles long and three miles wide, lies across the western area. The outlet of this lake is the principal stream. In 1851 Frederick Bosnow and Charles Ruper had tax trouble. They went to Talmadge, estab- lished a mill and cleared a farm. For many years Bosnow manu- factured building material. His correct name was Boissonualt and Charlie Ruper's correct name was Frenault La Moor. By 1882 a saw mill for long lumber and a shingle mill which manufactured about 2,000,000 shingles annually were established in the town.
Waite, 1876
The town of Waite lies in the northern part of Washington County on the Houlton and Baring road. Through it runs Tomah Stream, said to have been named for Tomah, an Indian chief, who aided the Americans at the time of the Revolution.
Benjamin F. Waite, for whom the town was named, was a Calais lumberman. He with others purchased townships of land in Washington County. In 1846 he was a partner in the ownership of mills which were being improved in Calais.
The opportunity offered in 1824 by the Legislative Act which opened large tracts of lands in Washington County has already been noted in the section on Talmadge. The same procedure resulted in Waite as in Talmadge: young men from Calais took up lots and raised wheat, corn, oats and potatoes which they sold to lumbermen, the only market for these isolated farmers.
The first settlers, according to the early records, were originally from England: John Dudley and Ephraim Fogg who were in Waite in 1832. About two years later came the Ripleys and McLains. In 1837 the Phelps from Perry settled here. Later came the Peacoys from France and the Vagues from Canada.
B. F. Waite gave to the Baptist Society in Milltown a site for a church, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1833.
Swan's Island, 1897
Swan's Island in Hancock County is thirty miles south of Ells- worth and five miles southwest of Tremont, with which it has com- munication. Its population in 1940 was 452. The island was named for Colonel James Swan who bought the Burnt Coat group from Massachusetts in 1786 and built a large mansion on the island which now bears his name. The house is no longer standing. Burnt Coat Harbor is the chief port of Swan's Island. The name is a corruption
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of Brulé-Côte or Burnt Hill, which Champlain gave to the island in 1604.
Colonel Swan was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, and came to America in 1765. He was a member of The Boston Tea Party, an ar- dent patriot, a merchant, politician, soldier, author and intimate friend of Washington and LaFayette and other Revolutionary lead- ers. He was a volunteer and aide-de-camp to General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and captain of the artillery in the expedition which drove the British fleet from Boston in 1777. Despite hardship and privation he succeeded in colonizing the Burnt Coat group of islands. In 1808 he was arrested for debt and confined in a French prison. Since he was not responsible for the debt he remained in pris- on twenty-two years rather than pay it. LaFayette, who was his close friend, tried to persuade him otherwise. When Louis Philippe ascended the throne, Swan, with the other debtors was released, but he died three days later.
Residents on Burnt Coat Island in 1790 were David Smith, Moses Staples, Joshua Grindle, John Rich, Wm. Davis, David Bick- more and Isaac Sawyer.
Merrill, 1911
Township No. 6, Range 4 in Aroostook County was organized as Merrill Plantation in 1876, taking its name from Captain William Merrill of Portland who bought the southeast township about 1840. Captain Merrill made his first clearing on the hill west of the east branch of the Mattawamkeag River, a short distance from the Smyrna line. His son, Edward T. Merrill, moved to the town in 1844 and set- tled on the lot. Others of the family came and built good sets of buildings. Wm. G. Merrill, another son of Captain William, had the next lot to the west, but returned to Portland after about ten years. when Captain Merrill sold his interest to S. H. Blake of Bangor.
Mr. Arthur Rosie occupied the Edward T. Merrill place after they left, and then Mr. William Anderson bought the farm from him. This is a very handsome farm situated upon elevated land with a fine set of farm buildings. The large barn was built by Captain Merrill and the hinges upon the barn door were made from iron taken from the British brig "Boxer," which was captured off Portland by the gallant Lieutenant Burrows of the United States Brig "Enterprise" on September 5, 1813. The old settlers of the town report that Cap- tain Merrill bought the remains of the old British hulk and that he brought to the township many articles, mostly iron implements, ob- tained from that source. Relic hunters can still find in the town an old crowbar or two and some broken sabers and other articles taken from the "Boxer." William G. Merrill's farm was taken over by Ira
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K. Tarbell; next west is the farm of G. W. Tarbell who came from Solon when a small boy.
Wade, 1913
Wade lies on the Aroostook River in Aroostook County where the early settlements were made in 1846, in the southeastern part of the township. It was first organized in 1859 as Garden Creek Planta- tion, then lost its organization in 1852, but regained it on May 2, 1874, when it was named for an early proprietor. Though Township 13, Range 4, was organized as Wade Plantation, it was generally known as Dunntown. In 1890 the northern part of the township was owned by the Farnham brothers and the southern part by the Dunns. At this time settlement was encouraged; lots were available at $3.00 per acre with no reservations for timber.
Ashby, in his compilation of Aroostook towns, says that as early as 1840 settlers from New Brunswick built homes along the river in this township. It was finally incorporated in 1913.
Chapman, 1915
Chapman is situated in the middle of the eastern part of Aroos- took County. The surface is moderately uneven. At the southwest part is one of the elevations called "Horsebacks." The south branch of the Aroostook River drains the southern and western parts of the town. The township was organized in 1874 and incorporated as a town on March 11, 1915.
Mr. C. J. McGaughy has given me the following information concerning the naming of the town: "When the town of Chapman was surveyed, the work was done by a man by the name of Cyrus Chapman. For some reason either as a hobby or by design, he carved his full name on the four corner posts which enclosed the township. For this reason the town was called Chapman."
I am indebted to Mr. George H. Dean, the treasurer of the town of Chapman, for a list of the names of some of the early settlers. They arrived between the years 1870 and 1874. Simeon and Sylvene- ous Grendell with their wives came from Newport, Maine. Other set- tlers were Lewellyn Morse, Elmer Mclaughlin, Albert Jones, Andrew Judkins, Stephen Wilcox, Eben S. Garland, Job Ingraham, Jerry Burrell, Oliver Pendexter, Daniel Gardiner, Sumner A. York, Millard Fillmore and John D. Mooney.
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CHAPTER XVII Maine Towns Named for Early Settlers and Surveyors
Early settlers of worth and courage have left their names in the towns for which they labored unceasingly and which they fostered and cherished all their lives.
Sullivan, 1789
Sullivan, in Hancock County, was previously New Bristol or No. 2, one of the David Marsh townships laid out by Samuel Liver- more in 1762. The township was incorporated in 1789 and named Sullivan for Daniel Sullivan, one of its first settlers. Captain Daniel Sullivan was born about 1738 in Berwick, son of John Sullivan, a schoolmaster in that town. His brothers were Governor James Sul- livan of Massachusetts; Major-General John Sullivan, Governor of New Hampshire, and Benjamin, a British officer lost at sea before the Revolution.
The early settlers came to our present Sullivan about 1762-63, because of its rare opportunities for lumbering and trade, which were carried on until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Among the early settlers who came at that time were Sullivan, Bean, Prebles, Simpson, Gordon, Blaisdell, Card, Johnson and Hammond. The grant given to these newcomers was not ratified by the king as re- quested, so many returned to York; later, in 1803, the settlers were confirmed in the possession of 100 acres each by Massachusetts, on the payment of $5.
In 1776 Daniel Sullivan was commissioned as Captain of the 2nd Company, 6th Lincoln regiment; he immediately organized the company and built a sort of garrison or blockhouse near his residence.
The heads of families in Sullivan in 1790 are listed in the census of that year. At that time the town included our present Sor- rento or Waukeag Point. Waukeag, the Indian name of the place, was the name for seal.
At the first town meeting held in 1789 at the incorporation of the town, the following officers were chosen: moderator, Ebenezer Bragdon; clerk, Thomas Moon; treasurer, Captain Paul Simpson; selectmen and assessors, Jabez Simpson, John Bean, Agreen Crabtree; to lay out roads, Asa Dyer, John Preble, William Crabtree; surveyors
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of land and roads, Wm. Wooster, Agreen Crabtree; collector of taxes, Jabez Simpson.
Six additional men were elected as surveyors of roads; four, as surveyors of boards; five, as tithing men; and four, as hog reeves. Ten pounds were raised for the use of the town.
The monument to Captain Daniel Sullivan is in the cemetery near Highhead on Waukeag Point.
Readfield, 1791
Readfield was formerly the North Parish of Winthrop, from which it was set off in 1791 and incorporated as a town.
According to the Readfield Register of 1903, there is a tradi- tion that the town of Readfield was named for Peter Norton and his mother, because they were such extensive and constant readers. Mrs. Stephen Norton, the mother of Peter, appears to have been a woman of many accomplishments and of strong personal charac- teristics. Her scholarship was remarkable for her day and generation. Her husband came to Readfield previous to 1790. Peter Norton was Readfield's first lawyer and merchant.
Among the other early settlers were Joshua Bean, a large land- holder in the town, John Hubbard, Robert Page, Christopher Turner, Josiah Mitchell, Joseph Williams, Dudley Haines, Joseph Hall, Peter Noyes, Warren Kent, three brothers named Whittier, John Gray, Ichabod Simmons, John Gage, Jeremiah Glidden, Pearly Hoyt and Peter Norton. Of the twenty-seven men who signed the petition, dated Kennebec, 1770, for the incorporation of Pondtown Plantation (Win- throp), eight were living in the territory now Readfield: James Craig, Elisha Smith, Moses Ayer, Joseph Greeley, Watt C. Emery (near the head of East Cove), Robert Waugh, Moses Greely and Jonathan Emery. Others who were contemporary with these, but whose names do not appear on the petition are: John Greeley's sons, John, Samuel and Henry, of whom the last two lived near the old town house; John O. Craig who had a son, John P .; Mr. Whittier, who came in 1765, cleared a farm and sold it to Levi Morrell, and his sons, Levi, Samuel, James, Jacob and David Whittier; Mr. Hoyt who came in 1770 and had sons, Eliphalet, Hubbard and Levi; Cap- tain Job Sherburne, 1770, and Eliphalet Dudley who settled Dudley's Plains in 1770.
The village of Kents Hill, named for an early settler, is two miles to the westward of Readfield Village. It was created and main- tained for the wants of the school, Maine Wesleyan Seminary, which was founded in 1825 and which maintained for some time a college for women, established in 1863. The brick for Sampson Hall, a Kents Hill building built in 1859, was made south of the saw mill
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about forty rods from the upper dam. There was an old brickyard on land near the stream owned by Shepherd Bean, where he made bricks as early as 1835, and there were other brick kilns about.
Readfield is the birthplace of two Maine governors: Jonathan G. Huntoon, 1781-1851, and Dr. John Hubbard, 1794-1869. The latter was known as the "Father of Prohibition," having, in 1851, signed Maine's first law prohibiting the sale and manufacture of liquor in any part of the state.
The Kennebec Agricultural Society, formed here in 1787, was active for thirty years. In 1819 the society compiled statistics con- cerning the production of cider, the first recorded compilation of agricultural statistics in the state. The first post office at Readfield was established in 1798 and took the name of the town.
About 1770 James Craig had built the first saw mill, later owned by John Bean, Jr., and John O. Craig, Dudley Fogg and James Sampson. A grist mill was added about 1790. On the upper dam, Joel Bean built a fulling mill. A tannery and bark mill was built by Joshua Bean before 1815 on the stream that crosses the stage road at the foot of what used to be called Cameron Hill. As early as 1785 to 1790, Robert Conforth, an Englishman, who had sons, Wm., Robert and Leonard, had built a mill on factory dam, where he made yarn and cloth for a number of years. Joseph Perham made ma- chinery to manufacture woolen goods. He was from Wilton, where he had other woolen mills.
Some of the early storekeepers at the corner were Thos. Smith, John Smith and James Fillebrown. The first store at Readfield Depot belonged to a Mr. Butler.
Jere Page built a saw mill as early as 1820 on a brook running through his farm. On the same brook about 1810 John Lane had built a mill for grinding flax seed and making linseed oil. On a small stream about a mile and a half long at East Readfield, a grist mill had been built by one Carleton, as early as 1800. Near the same brook was a tannery, about 1812, and when Peter Sanborn bought it, he and his three sons ground their bark by water and for thirty years tanned leather that was widely known for its superior qualities.
In 1793, on August 19, Jesse Lee, Methodist leader, reached Readfield and preached a sermon, formed his circuit, preached again in 1794 and in 1795 delivered a dedicatory sermon at the Readfield meeting house, the first Methodist church dedicated in Maine. Bishop Francis Asbury presided. "From 1000 to 1800," he wrote in his diary, "attended these meetings." Baptist preaching began in 1791, with Parson Potter, then Reverend Isaac Case. In 1793 a church was built.
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