USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 47
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Alexander Campbell moved to that part of Steuben, now Cherryfield, where he built mills about 1772 or 1773. He first con- templated building on the privilege occupied by Forest Mill, but built a dam and tide mill down below. There was a mill built prior to
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this, perhaps owned by Joseph Wallace, Deacon Jonathan Stevens and others.
John Archer, an Englishman, a surveyor and teacher, took up a lot on the Beddington Road in the early settlement, was one of the assessors in 1812, and a member of the Committee of Safety. Shubael Hinckley, sometime prior to the Revolution, settled first on the east side of the river and then moved to the intervale beyond the Archer Place. The Fosters came to the river from Cape Elizabeth soon after the close of the Revolutionary War. They were English born and lived at Halifax, but had great sympathy for American independence.
The northeast part of Steuben was annexed to Cherryfield in 1826. Alexander Nickels first settled in Milbridge and then purchased the Todd lot in Cherryfield and built a mansion. He was concerned with the tide mill at the old shiypyard. Isaac Patten, by trade a tan- ner, came to Gouldsborough early and then moved to Foster's Island in Narraguagus Bay. Colonel Campbell relinquished some thirty acres of the large lot which he had taken up, and Mr. Patten estab- lished a tanyard near the creek. Joseph Bracy, a very early settler, already mentioned, finally bought a piece of land of the Todd or Nickels lot and built a house on the south side of the old County road that led to the bridge at Shipyard Point.
The first meeting house was built on the east side of the river near the Campbell Mill. "The Belgrade," a full-rigged bark that car- ried fifty-six local men around Cape Horn to California during the gold rush, was built in this formerly active shipbuilding community.
Among later Cherryfield settlers was Dr. Benjamin Alline, surgeon in the Continental Army, who settled in Gouldsborough after the war. He moved to Cherryfield about 1790, the first physician in the vicinity. Joseph Adams came about 1807 from Massachusetts to Wiscasset, soon to Cherryfield. He was among the plantation officers in 1809 and from that time was identified with the town and with its interests. He held nearly every town office and was elected several times to the General Court. He often rode on horseback from Nar- raguagus to Boston and back again after the session. A man of fine personal presence and of genial manners, he was a member of the Committee of Safety in 1812, and a Representative, from 1821 to 1831, to the Legislature of the newly established State of Maine.
The census of 1790 lists the following additional heads of families in No. 11 at that date: John Jordan, Moses Roff, Gawing Wilson, John Anderson, John, Elisha, Ebeneezer and John Small, Jr.
Greenfield, 1831
Greenfield in Penobscot County lies east of Milford and Green- bush, in one of the many corners of the county, and although some-
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what isolated, the tract now occupied by it began to be settled in 1812. The earliest settlers came from Salem, Thorndike, and Boston, Massa- chusetts. The township was originally No. 38 of the Bingham Pur- chase. Titles to the land came from William Bingham, the great pro- prietor of lands in Maine, through his agent, John Black.
Among the early comers were Jeremiah Lord, Samuel Wheel- er, Wm. Costigan from Salem, Peter Witham from Thorndike and Miles Stone from Easton. Greenfield was once a part of Hancock County, but was set off to Penobscot in 1858. The people are given mostly to lumbering, for which the streams flowing to the Penobscot offer fine opportunities. Samuel Wheeler came from Salem, Massa- chusetts, around the year 1800. He and his son, Jesse, cleared the first land in town. Both these men and their descendants have always been active in civic affairs. Asa White came from Peterborough, New Hampshire, to what is now Greenfield in 1828; his farm is still in the hands of his descendants in the northern part of Greenfield. Wm. Pierce came in 1829 from Montville in Waldo County. His son, Wil- liam, cleared a large farm and proved to be a fine citizen. The Little- fields came from Waldo County.
The town was incorporated in 1831 and given the descriptive name Greenfield in honor of its extensive green fields, according to some writers; others suggest that the name was transferred from Greenfield, Massachusetts. On three sides of it are comparatively un- improved townships. It is on the lowermost of the steps of a sort of "giant's staircase" which the eastern boundary of the county makes in this quarter. Greenfield has no lakes or ponds, but is otherwise well watered. Olamon Stream, Bear Brook and Halfway Brook, with their tributaries, are the principal sources of water. Roads lead to Lowell, Costigan Station, Olamon and Milford. Most of the population of Greenfield is on the Lowell road.
Springfield, 1834
The northern half of the township of Springfield in Penobscot County was granted to Foxcroft Academy and sold at thirty-one cents per acre to Bangor parties by the trustees. The buyers were land and lumber operators. It was a valuable tract, heavily timbered with pine and spruce. The southern half was sold in smaller sections by the state to settlers and others and was said to contain some of the best land in Maine. Springfield received its first settlers in 1830 and was incorporated in 1834 under the descriptive name of "extensive fields abounding in springs." Others suggest that the name was bor- rowed from Springfield, Massachusetts, which in turn was named for an English town.
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James Bartlett was the first man who came to the present town of Springfield. He built a house in the southern part of the town, about 1829. Very soon after, Elder Samuel Lewis, a Baptist minister from Harrison, also erected a house in that locality. The exact date is not available, but it is known that he was preaching in Chester in 1831 and 1832, and was living in Springfield at that time. He married Phebe Irish in Harrison. All of his twelve children, with the exception of the oldest son, William, who moved to Minnesota, came to Springfield and raised families, most of whom settled in the town.
One of the oldest and first settlers of the town was Hiram Burr, born in Brewer in 1810. His father, also Hiram, came to Brewer from Massachusetts and was one of the first settlers in Brewer; he was a ship carpenter. The son, Hiram, came to Springfield in 1828 or 1829. He was a farmer who kept a public house in connection with his farm. Mr. Burr came to the town when there were but five acres cleared and no road within thirty-five miles from here. The family had to go to Lincoln for supplies and bring them in on their backs. The first fall their provisions failed and they lived about three months on beans and musty meal with a little salt. They had brought in pro- vision enough to last until their crops matured, but they were stolen. The privations which these early settlers underwent were very severe indeed. Mr. Burr was prominent in leading positions of the town for many years. James Butterfield, the first trader, was also an early set- tler. Wm. Olmstead came to Springfield in 1835 from New York.
Population must have grown rather rapidly, for the town was organized in less than four years after the first settlers came, on the 12th of February, 1834. It is said then to have had about three hun- dred inhabitants, and by 1850 the number had increased to 583. Springfield was Township No. 5, in Range 2 north of the Bingham Penobscot Purchase.
In 1837, when the state offered a bounty for wheat, Samuel C. Clark of this town received the first prize. There have been many grist, shingle and lumber mills on the various streams. Robinson Con- forth from West Waterville came to Springfield in 1843 and made a chopping. The next year he brought his family and built a house.
In 1847 Francis Lewis, the son of Elder Samuel, moved down into what is now the village of Springfield and built a house in the lower section not far from the branching off of the Lee road.
Some of the other early settlers were Ellis, Dwelleys, Nortons, Philbrooks, Youngs and Woodwards. The names of some of the early settlers in the south part of the town were Fogg, Fish, Cushman, Mc- Ginley, Brock, Watson and Marshall.
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Enfield, 1835
Enfield in Penobscot County lies on the east bank of the Pen- obscot River opposite the mouth of its chief western branch, the Piscataquis River. It was incorporated in 1835.
The first settlers were from Bangor and Buckfield. The pio- neer, John Wood, came about 1819 or 1820 and made his clear- ing near the south end of the town, hence the name Enfield (the end field) may have been given. There is a possibility, too, that the name may have been derived from an old English town in Middlesex.
Almost the entire eastern part of the town is covered by Cold Stream Pond, only a small portion of which is in Lowell. This pond occupies about one-third of the town. Its outlet, Cold Stream, flows into the Passadumkeag River. In the river along the front of the township are about ten of the Penobscot Reservation islets, among them Gordon, Moose and Pierce Islands.
In 1821 Mr. Joseph Treat of an old Bangor family, who had an extensive grant of land in this quarter, had a saw and grist mill constructed at the mouth of the Cold Stream, which aided in stimulat- ing settlers. This mill was subsequently destroyed, and then was re- built by his brother, John Treat, in partnership with John, Jr., and Edward W. Treat, sons of the latter. The Treat grant consisted of five thousand acres of woodland lying in the southern part of the pres- ent town. North of it was Township No. 1, east of the Penobscot River, comprising about ten thousand acres. On January 31, 1835, these two tracts were united by the State Legislature to form the new town of Enfield.
Among the earliest settlers in Enfield following John Wood was Mr. Smith Gilman who came here about 1822 from Freedom, Maine. He was born in 1792 in Gilmonton, New Hampshire. When he came, there were only four acres of trees felled. He cleared up a farm, and since there was no road in summer, supplies were brought in by boat or on sleds in winter. Travel in summer was on horseback through the woods. Mr. Gilman, in his early manhood and middle life, often held prominent offices in the town. He was also a Repre- sentative to the Legislature in 1855.
John Treat, Sr., came to Enfield from Bangor in 1823. John Treat, Jr., was born in Bangor in 1817. He came to Enfield when a lad and was engaged in milling and merchandizing all his life. The mill he owned in the town manufactured about two million rafting wedges each season. He was town treasurer for a long time and was sent to the State Legislature in 1861. Walker Darling came from Blue Hill in 1825. His grandfather, Jonathan Darling, came from England. He held many town offices during his life. He was a major
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in the Aroostook War. His son, Adoniram, became a prominent citi- zen, and held office as selectman and town agent. His home was in the southern part of Enfield on the shore of Cold Stream Lake, called by the Indians Ammadamast.
Thoreau, on his journey to Mt. Katahdin in 1846, gives us a description of Enfield. He had left Bangor by buggy, September 1, for Mattawamkeag Point. He wrote:
At sundown leaving the river road awhile for shortness we went by way of Enfield where we stopped for the night. This, like most of the localities bearing names on the road, was a place.to name, which in the midst of the unnamed and unincorporated was to make a distinction without a difference, it seemed to me. Here, however, I noticed quite an orchard of healthy and well grown apple trees in a bearing state, it be- ing the oldest settler's house in the region. The next morning, we drove through a high and hilly country in view of Cold Stream Pond, a beautiful lake four or five miles long, and came into the Houlton road again, here called the Military road.
Northfield, 1838
Lying a few miles southwest of the center of the county and ten miles north of northwest of Machias, the township of Northfield in Washington County was originally No. 24 in Bingham's Penobscot Purchase. It was incorporated in 1838, and given its descriptive name to designate "the extensive field lying at the north [of Machias]."
The early settlers came from Machias to the plantation be- tween 1824 and 1827. The first comer was Benjamin Harmon; then came Harrison George, Turner Smith and D. Case. The principal settlements are along the road in the southern part of the town, and on the road south of the pond.
Machias River runs in a southeasterly course in the south- western part of the town, receiving on its way Old and New streams and Bog Brook, the outlet of Bog Pond, which lies in the eastern part of the town. The size of this pond is two miles long by one mile wide. The old stage road from Machias to Calais passed northward across the eastern part of the town just west of the pond.
Smithfield, 1840
This town lies in the southwestern part of Somerset County. It was formed from parts of Mercer and Dearborn and called East Pond Plantation, from one of the Belgrade lakes, East Pond, which lies in the southern part of the town. North Pond, another of this chain of lakes, lies in the western section.
North of this in the center of Smithfield is a large marsh. The ponds are each about three miles long and two wide, beautiful sheets
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of water with excellent facilities for sailing, fishing and shooting. The surface of the town is broken by large hills and valleys; Mount Tom and Green's Mountain are the highest elevations. Beech, birch and maple are the principal forest trees; saw, grist and shingle mills were once located in the town.
When the town was incorporated in 1840 its name honored one of its valued citizens, the Reverend Henry Smith.
Other early citizens in the plantation and town were Caleb Gilman, John Copeland, Francis Allen, Wales Gould, Denison Haynes, Peter Libbey, Barnabas Allen, S. N. Marston, John Piper and Oliver Parsons.
Marshfield, 1846
This Washington County town takes its name from Marshfield Stream, a tributary of the Machias River, which partially bounds the southern side, and upon whose principal falls its largest village lies, a short distance above the junction with the Machias River.
The area of the open spaces along the river is marshy, whence the name. It is from these marshes that the early settlers who came from Scarborough found the hay necessary for their cattle. The town was formerly the northern part of Machias, from which it was set off and incorporated in 1846. Marshfield Stream or Middle River is the site of the hiding of the British vessel, the "Margaretta," in the first naval battle of the Revolution. The township was sometimes called Middle River, and as early as 1772 it was called Marsh Lands.
Mr. E. D. Merrill of Machias gives the following names of those assessed for a school tax in 1790: Daniel Hoit (Hoyt), Aaron Hanscom, Benj. Crocker, Jonathan Berry and Joseph Getchell.
Mr. N. S. Bowker's present-day farm was reclaimed from the marshes in 1867, and a barque was built on the very site of his farm buildings by his uncle, Oliver Crocker. The house was built by Levi Bowker, Jr. The farm was originally part of the old Joe Getchell place. Levi and Watts Bowker built the first mill here.
In 1826 a big fire swept through the forest then stretching inland for miles. The blaze was fierce and it took only one day to race from Wesley to Marshfield. There was a Benjamin Harmon house far- ther upstream which was destroyed by fire years ago. In 1855 John F. Harmon and Levi Booker, Jr., were justices in Marshfield.
Oakfield, 1897
Lying southwest of Houlton in Aroostook County, Oakfield was organized as a plantation in 1866 and incorporated as a town in 1897; its name was derived from the many oaks surrounding the fields. Oak- field, formerly known as Township No. 5, Range 3, is the Switzerland
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of the Aroostook. It is the most mountainous and broken of all the towns in the county. It reminds one of the hill towns in Oxford County, and for ruggedness of surface may be compared with the old town of Albany. The east branch of the Mattawamkeag River flows due south, across the western portion of the town. About the center of the town is the height of land from which brooks and streams flow into the east branch and its lakes, and thus find their way into the Penobscot; while others run into the Meduxnekeag and its feeders and finally mingle their waters with those of the beautiful St. John.
In the division of the wild lands, when Maine became a state, Township No. 5 remained in the possession of Massachusetts. About 1830 two large lots were run out by the Massachusetts land agent. In 1831 Daniel Spaulding came from Kennebec County and took up one of these lots and Alexander Caldwell, who had recently come from Ireland, took the other. These two men were the pioneers of the town of Oakfield.
Mr. Spaulding was a man of much business ability and was, for many years, a prominent citizen in this section. He was largely engaged in lumbering and also had teams upon the roads to trans- port goods from Bangor to the Aroostook. At that time all the goods and supplies for this portion of Aroostook County were purchased in Bangor and hauled by teams over the old Military Road. Aroostook had in those years a close business connection with Bangor and a large trade was established which was continued for many years. Mr. Spaulding left his farm when he moved to Minnesota; Mr. Avon Weeks purchased it.
In 1831 Alexander Caldwell started to make his clearing on the north side of Timony Lake near the Smyrna line. His daughter, Mrs. James Timony, came in possession of the property when he died. The next settler was David Clifford who, in 1848, made a clearing in the southwest part of the town.
In 1858 this township became the property of the State of Maine and was surveyed and lotted for settlement by Parker P. Bur- leigh and J. E. S. Cony. It was offered to actual settlers for fifty cents per acre, to be paid in road labor. Thus the settlers could pay for their lots by making roads for their own accommodation. The first deed from the State of Maine was given to Samuel Gerrish, who came from Linneus in 1858 and took up a lot some distance south of the center of the town; John Bell, one of the earliest of the pioneers to Oakfield after the survey, came from Stoneham in Oxford County, to seek a new home. Hearing of the state land in No. 5, he went there and as the hills looked natural to him and reminded him of his home he decided to stay, and took a lot in the southwest part of the town.
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Cushman Walker of Hodgdon had made a twelve-acre chop- ping on the lot and Mr. Bell purchased Mr. Walker's improvements, built a log house and in 1861 moved his family to their forest home. After six years he sold to John Bartlett and took the lot next west. In 1859 John Lougee came from Linneus and settled a short dis- tance southwest from the center of the town.
A short way to the northeast is the divide from which are far- distant and beautiful views. In 1859 Joseph T. Robbins, who held the second deed from the state, came from Exeter and located a short distance southeast of the center of the town. Mr. Robbins was always a prominent man of the town. The township remained unorganized until 1866. At the request of James Timony, then the oldest living resident of the town, it was voted that the plantation be called Oak- field.
Many of the names of Maine towns which are descriptive are also locative. Some are formed with a prefix denoting direction.
Northport, 1796
This Waldo County town lies on the west side of Penobscot Bay, formerly the north part of the plantation of Ducktrap, hence the name Northport, describing its location in the plantation and on the bay. The early settlers of the plantation arrived a short time be- fore the Revolution. In 1790 there was a population of 278. There were no further settlements until peace was declared, when immi- grants appeared from all parts of the state. The earliest authentic records place the coming of the first settlers in 1780-1790. The town was incorporated in 1796.
Among the earliest permanent settlers was David Miller who took up land on the shore evidently about 1786; John and Catherine Wadlin came not long afterward; Captain Thomas Buckmore, a Revolutionary soldier, took up a great tract of land of two or three hundred acres and became a leading man in the settlement. John and Thomas, Jr., were probably his sons, though the name is spelled in various ways; Joseph, who had at least a hundred acres of land, was probably a brother. Nathaniel Sylvester came before 1792. Mi- cajah Drinkwater was born on Cousins Island in 1789, and settled on the shore road, where he was by 1793; Gershom and Abigail Col- lier who probably came from Scituate, Massachusetts, located near Knight's Pond about 1797, after settling previously on Islesborough. The Colliers were leading men in the early days of the town. Lewis Pitcher came from Waldoborough and took up land near Pitcher's Pond before 1797, acquiring a tract of at least one hundred and fifty acres. George Pitcher was here in 1795, at which date the Prescotts
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also came. Samuel owned a great tract of land in the upper part of the town. Benjamin Stevens came from New Hampshire; James Rhodes and Sylvester Cottrel were also early settlers.
Among others who arrived before the Revolution were Sam- uel Bird, Colonel Thomas, Stephen and John Knowlton, H. Flanders, Adam Patterson, Mark and John Welch, Zachariah Lawrence, Cap- tain Ebenezer Frye, Major Benjamin Shaw, David Alden and Henry Pendleton. Having located but a short time before the Revolution, they had scarcely begun to put their plans for homes into operation, when they were called to the more exciting life of the army.
Other settlers on the shore included John Battie, John Clark, Reuben Knowlton, Henry Elwell, Isaac Woodworth, Adam Hysler, James Dickey, Daniel Lawrence, Pinkham, Doyle and Ely.
In the vicinity of Ducktrap Pond were James and Thomas Rhodes, John Gilkey, Rena Knight, David Gary and Will Bradford. In the Panhandle near the Belmont line were Jonathan Clark, Jr., Will Fowler and the Bracketts.
Probably the first clergyman here was the Reverend Paul Coffin who came on August 12, 1796, as the guest of James Beattie. The old Methodist Church was built at Saturday Cove about 1827. Elder Benjamin Jones of Lincolnville was an early preacher. The Methodist Church at East Northport was built about 1900-1903; the Baptist at Saturday Cove had no settled pastor.
Major Ebeneezer Frye served in both French and Indian and Revolutionary wars. In the War of 1812 on September 23, 1814, two British barges made an attack on Saturday Cove. The English drove the defenders back and plundered a store and several houses.
North Haven, 1846
In 1603 Martin Pring, an Englishman, on an early voyage of discovery along the coast, named this island, together with our pres- ent Vinalhaven, the Fox Islands because here he saw so many grey foxes. The two islands are separated by a strait or thoroughfare about a mile in width.
The first form of government was under the name of Fox Island Plantation; in 1789 North and South Fox Islands were in- corporated under the name of Vinalhaven. Our present North Haven is North Fox Island, incorporated separately as Fox Island in 1846. The following year the name was changed to its present form thereby retaining the word "haven" of its former name, when the islands were incorporated together, and locating itself by the word "north."
The island lies in Knox County, at the entrance to Penobscot Bay; it is about eight miles long and four miles wide and irregular in shape.
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When North Haven became a separate town, after having been a part of the town of Vinalhaven for more than half a century, the North Haveners were glad to become finally established as a legal entity. There had been an attempt at a settlement about 1760, but the settlers were driven away by the Indians. David Wooster is said to have been the first settler in 1762; but in 1764 and 1765 quite a large colony had been established, the members of which had come largely from Marshfield, Massachusetts. Among the group these names are represented: Winslow, Carver, Kent, Newbury, Carr, Banks, Robbins, Thomas, Waterman, Ames, Lindsay, Cooper, Beverage, Heath, McMullen, Bowen, Brown, Luce, White, Dyer, Crabtree, Alexander, Webster and Young.
The Winslows were descended from a brother of Governor Edward Winslow of Massachusetts; the Carvers, from Governor John Carver of Plymouth Colony; the Watermans, from Robert Waterman who settled in Massachusetts in 1635. Websters and Coop- ers, judging from their resemblance to pictures of Daniel Webster (also of Marshfield) and J. Fenimore Cooper, believe that the same blood runs in their veins. Benjamin Carr, a Revolutionary soldier, was an early settler; his purchase comprised about five hundred acres. The title to his land came through General Knox. Most of the estate around Pulpit Harbor remained in the Beverage family for one hun- dred years. John Newbury was a Revolutionary soldier and one of the first settlers; he is buried on Oak Hill; Michael Bowen was an early teacher, while Peggy Owen taught the first dame school.
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