USA > Maine > Maine place names and the peopling of its towns > Part 53
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In 1857 Ephraim Osburn and Daniel Libby obtained pos- session of the mills, and business revived, resulting in a large immigra- tion during the next four years. Daniel Libby was agent for the town and at once proceeded to lay out roads for the convenience of the new settlers. Some of these newcomers were I. W. Kennerson, J. E. Spear, L. G. Morris, Josiah M. Noyes, Hosea Webster, Josiah Ward, R. B. Chase, Charles Stetson, P. B. Sayward and James Edgcomb; Mark Trafton, Jr., returned this year, made a fine farm and a beauti- ful home and began trading. In 1866 the mills were sold to Dennis Getchell, who made many improvements. They burned in 1877, but were rebuilt by a son and continued as Getchell Brothers.
The plantation of Limestone was originally organized in 1848, ost its organization, but was reorganized in 1858 and incorporated as a town in 1869.
Rockport, 1891
The town of Rockport lies in Knox County. It was originally a part of Camden and was called Goose Village. By 1852, when it had grown to be of some importance, its citizens felt that it should be designated by a more appropriate and euphonious name, so a public meeting was held and the inhabitants decided upon the very appro- priate name of Rockport, "a rock bound port." Its Indian name was Megunticook, meaning "swelling waves."
Goose River takes its source from Lake Hosmer and flows into Rockport Harbor, but furnishes no water power of any consequence. Indian Island is at the entrance of Rockport Harbor; Beauchamp's Point is on its northern side. This harbor is sheltered and deep and capable of accommodating many large vessels. On many of the mountains and lesser elevations the soil is rocky, sterile and unproduc- ive. There are deposits of limestone within the town.
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In July, 1769, Robert Thorndike of Cape Elizabeth, a native of Beverley, Massachusetts, came with his family of seven children and settled at Goose River, now Rockport Village. He had been here previously to cut timber. For two or three years, he had brought his sloop to Goose River and carried away several cargoes of ash to be used in making vessel blocks. During his stay here on these occasions, he explored the country and decided to return some future day.
Thorndike possessed the enduring qualities of a sturdy pioneer. He settled on his own land, for when he decided to come here he purchased of the "Twenty Associates" a tract containing about fifty acres extending from the eastern side of Goose Harbor to the Neck Pond now known as Lily Pond. A portion of this land is now covered by Rockport Village. Thus Mr. Thorndike became the first settler of Rockport, and his log house stood near where the Rockport Metho- dist Church is today. Later he built a frame house on almost the same spot, which was the first house of its kind at Goose River.
Paul Thorndike, brother of Robert, next came to Goose River, and at about the same time appeared James Simonton and later John Harkness, Peter Ott, John Ballard and others. Dr. Ballard took up a lot of one hundred acres on the western side of Goose Harbor. A part of this lot is now Ballard Park. Soon Wm. Gregory, Wm. Porterfield, Wm. Upham, David Nutt and Barak Bucklin settled in the vicinity of Clam Cove now known as Glen Cove. Robert Thorn- dike lived to the advanced age of one hundred years.
There had been a force stationed at Clam Cove under the command of General George Ulmer of Lincolnville, just prior to the expedition to Castine in 1779. Ulmer erected a breastwork on Pine Hill and mounted an eighteen-pound gun. Those who remained in Camden from Belfast found shelter principally at Clam Cove at the houses of Gregory and Tolman, and others at Goose River, with Mr. Thorndike. The force stationed at Clam Cove consisted of two hun- dred men. The barracks were simply a temporary shedlike structure for the protection of the soldiers, situated on the land of Wm. Gregory; and a part of Mr. Gregory's log house was occupied by the officers. There was a company of Penobscot Indians connected with the force, and John Marsh acted as interpreter. The surrender of the British was the occasion of a celebration at the house of Robert Thorndike at Goose River.
Another of the early settlers of Camden was Wm. Molineux, who came here in 1786. In 1769 he had become one of the "Twenty Associates" by purchasing the share of John Oulton, one of the origi- nal associates. Afterward he purchased large tracts of land in different parts of the township, including Beauchamp Point, the Ballard lot at Goose River and lots at Glen Cove.
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Until after the Revolution, the Camden settlers had to get along without a village store. The first to try his fortune in merchan- dizing was John Dergin, an Irish sailor, who was cast away in 1783 on the island of Grand Manan; from there he went to Boston and fell in with another Irishman by the name of Ward. With a small stock of goods, in which they had invested, they came in a vessel to Goose River, where they started their store in part of an unfinished frame house belonging to Robert Thorndike. Dergin was lame and attended to the store, while Ward traveled around the country as a "pack peddler." The partnership lasted about nine months, when Dergin moved to Camden.
The first record book of the town of Camden, like all the rec- ords in the division of towns, is in the custody of the town of Rock- port. Beauchamp's Point is named for one of the original patentees of the Muscongus Patent, a merchant of London. Peter Ott's Tavern was at Goose River. Rockport was separated from Camden in 1891.
Stonington, 1897
Stonington was a part of the town of Deer Isle and called Green's Landing until 1897, when it was incorporated under its present name. This was bestowed upon the new town because here are located quarries of granite, the products of which are suitable for building purposes. The early history of the town is included in that of Deer Isle. Nathaniel Kent, in 1768, built a grist and shingle mill which was a tide mill, as many of our early coastal mills were.
Job G. Goss was the first to begin operating the quarry. There was no village there at the time he purchased the land from David Thurlow on an outlying island. Thurlow Island is about two hundred yards from Stonington.
There were four great granite quarries in 1910, which had de- veloped after 1870. Since the latter date, the quarries at Stonington have been the greatest in the country. G. S. Goss, a pioneer in the granite business, started the first at Green Head and afterward de- veloped quarries on Crotch and Moose Islands.
Ryan and Parker on Crotch Island developed a second im- portant quarry which furnished large quantities of stone for New York buildings. Rogers' Quarry at the settlement had its beginning about 1900; and Bien Venue Quarry on Crotch Island, developed some five or six years later, furnished stone for the building of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Many smaller quarries are located in the town.
The village of Oceanville is a part of Stonington. Here a Bap- tist society was organized in South Deer Isle in 1807 by members of the Baptist Church in Sedgwick.
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Mechanic Falls, 1893
A combination of Maine's rich resources, its fertile soil and unsurpassed mercantile and manufacturing privileges have worked together to produce continuous and rapid extension of business in- terests in the development of the town appropriately named Me- chanic Falls, in Androscoggin County. It is situated on both sides of the Little Androscoggin River, and was made up of parts of Poland and Minot and incorporated as a town in 1893. These business in- terests are paper manufacturing, corn packing, shoe and machine shops, brick yards, manufacture of steam engines and boilers, carriage building, novelty turning, tool works, canned goods establishments, clothing making and other lines of work.
It was in 1823 that Isaiah Perkins, his brother, Luther, and Captain James Farris of Hebron, had the courage to enter that wilder- ness and to build a saw mill on the Poland side of the river. This burned down. Another with box mill attached, owned in part by a Mr. Smith of Portland, was built, and this in turn burned. A double saw mill was then built on the same place. A. C. Denison and E. W. Fyler purchased it in 1850 or 1851 with the water power on the Poland side. It was run until 1867, when it was taken down and a brick paper mill built on the site.
Soon after the building of the saw mill, a shingle mill was built by Asaph Churchill and a clapboard mill on the Minot side. A little later Isaiah Perkins erected a grist mill, much needed by the community. These mills called for mill men. The first to respond, build a house and move in his family was Dean Andrews, in 1823.
Old Dr. Tewksbury from Hebron (now Oxford) who had to follow a logging road in on a dark and stormy night to reach a patient, called the place "Jerico" by which name it was known for some time. Afterward, in consequence of the large quantity of "grog" sold, it was called "Groggy Harbor," but the popular name was "Bog Falls," until a post office was established in 1841, when, at the suggestion of S. F. Waterman, one of the settlers who came after 1836, it was called Mechanic Falls, because of the manufacturing and mechanical interests of the place. Mr. Waterman was the first postmaster, a prominent citizen and one of the first county commissioners.
The next family to arrive after Dean Andrews was that of Azel Marshall who purchased the land now used for the cemetery and built a house near by. Peter Thayer's was the third family. He built a log house and a blacksmith shop and afterward a frame house. He was the first blacksmith in town and a very ingenious man. The first store was in the end of the first grist mill and was run by Isaiah Perkins. He soon afterward built a very small building for a store.
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The only room necessary was for a hogshead of New England rum, several barrels of gin and brandy and kegs of other liquors, with molasses, salt pork and fish and a slight sprinkling of dry goods, such as a few pieces of calico, sheetings and shirtings, called factory cloth, and perhaps a piece of broadcloth. The circulating medium was largely shingles.
The first dwelling on the Poland side was built by Luther Perkins near where the Grand Trunk Station now stands, but the first frame house was erected by Mr. Merrill on the site of the Elms. From 1823 to 1836, very few buildings were built; the people were generally poor and the business confined entirely to lumbering. The lumber was hauled by ox teams to Portland and Yarmouth to market.
Then men of more means began to arrive and bought land. Captain Jacob Dwinal, his brother, Isaac, Nathaniel Cushman, Sam- uel F. Waterman, already mentioned, Deacon Joseph Hall, Salmon Hackett, John Valentine, Captain Charles Alden and Albert Valentine were among these. The last mentioned came from Westbrook about 1838 and engaged in general merchandise. Within one year he moved to the Minot side. Reverend Zenas Thompson preached a sermon in 1840, probably the first Universalist sermon in the village. Captain Jacob Dwinal, a well-to-do farmer and speculator, moved from Dwinal Hill about 1836 and purchased a large tract of land, built a house and store and employed Samuel F. Waterman as manager. He also traded largely in lumber and cattle and was probably the wealthiest man in town. The place was called Bog Falls because of the long stretch of marshy land along the Little Androscoggin. Paper- making has been the principal industry since 1850, when it was be- gun by Ebenezer Drake and Ezra Mitchell on the Minot side. Dr. Moses R. Pulsifer was the first physician to locate, and remained there until 1858.
Bluehill, 1789
Mary Ellen Chase, in her delightful book, Jonathan Fisher, Maine Parson, quotes the following from some early descriptive sketches written by this clergyman who settled here in 1796. In these he explains the reason for the naming of the town:
About 11/2 miles from the harbor, there rises to the north a hill which is 950 feet above high water mark. The as- cent to the rocky summit is quite steep and from the top one is given "a delightful prospect" of the surrounding land and sea, Mt. Desert Island, Penobscot Bay, the Camden Hills. The fir, spruce and pine which cover this hill cause it to appear at a distance of a very dark blue color, hence its most natural name.
Dr. Chase, herself, in A Goodly Heritage, in describing Blue- hill Bay, says: " ... northward ... at its extreme head rises the great
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hill, a landmark to mariners past and present and a suggestion to more travelled eyes of Vesuvius beyond the Bay of Naples."
The town of Bluehill, Maine, is located in Hancock County. The township was first known as No. 5, then for a brief time called East Boston by the early settlers. The plantation name was Newport and at the time of its incorporation in 1789, it became the sixty-sec- ond town in the District of Maine.
Bluehill was first settled in 1762, near "Fire Falls," where Bluehill Bay runs into a salt water pond. The pioneers were Captain Joseph Wood and John Roundy. In a petition sent in January, 1762, to the General Court of Massachusetts, these first settlers of Bluehill described themselves as "husbandmen" living near the towns of Haverhill, Beverley and Andover, "without land sufficient for them- selves and sons." They humbly begged for a "considerable Tract of Unappropriated Wilderness Land and Islands as they shall find suit- able in some place or places on the Sea Coast between Passamaquoddy Bay and the land near the Penobscot." Their petition, granted two months later, was delayed until such time as his Majesty's Royal Approbation "might be obtained."
But the two petitioners already mentioned, weary of waiting, came without permission and with no rights whatsoever, and they were soon followed by the others. The third family in the town was formed by the marriage of Captain Wood's daughter with Colonel Parker, who had served at the siege of Louisburg. The family of Sam- uel Foster was the fourth, and following them were Colonel Nicho- las Holt, Ezekiel Osgood and Nehemiah Hinckley. Several citizens of Bluehill served in the Revolutionary War. Christopher Osgood, one of the first settlers, was at the Battle of Bunker Hill; Nehemiah Hinckley served throughout the war and was honorably discharged at West Point. Ebenezer Hinckley, born in Brunswick, settled in Bluehill in 1766, where he resided on the Neck. He was frozen to death on Long Island, Bluehill Bay, where he and James Candage, Sr., had built and owned a saw mill. Ebenezer probably was the ancestor of all the Hinckleys. Among other early settlers were the Carletons, Peterses, Candages and Hortons.
A Congregational Church was formed in 1772 and a Baptist Church in 1806. Jonathan Fisher, already mentioned, was the first settled Congregational minister and served from 1796 to 1837. He was a remarkable man, of broad interests and unusual energy.
The first post office was established in 1795, and Bluehill Academy was incorporated in 1803.
The town was a thriving seaport in the middle of the nine- teenth century; before that an industrial development had taken place. Within forty years of its settlement in 1762, it had several
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small mills including one that spun cotton yarn; the lanes and har- bors were echoing all day long with the steady pounding of ham- mers and sledges in the shipyards and there was also mining of min- erals, chiefly copper.
Deer Isle, 1789
Deer Isle was incorporated as the fourth town in Hancock County, and the sixty-third in the District of Maine. It derived its name from the great numbers of deer found in its forests in the early days. It included Deer Island, Little Deer Island and Eagle Isle.
The earliest settlements upon these islands were in the 1760's: in 1762, Michael Carney settled on the north shore of the island. Wm. Eaton of Haverhill started the first settlement in 1762, near the steam- boat landing; then came John Billings of Lincoln, Massachusetts, to the head of Little Deer Isle. He removed to Sedgwick, but one of his sons continued his residence here. The Greenlaw brothers, five in number: Jonathan, Charles, Ebenezer, Alexander and William, set- tled on Campbell's Neck in 1762. They were from Scotland. They removed to Nova Scotia during the Revolution, but two of Jonathan's sons later returned and settled at Deer Isle.
Among the other arrivals of that decade were the Torreys, Haskells, Dunhams, Sellers, Hoopers and Marshalls. About 1768 Mark Haskell arrived, probably from Gloucester, Massachusetts, with his sons, Ignatius and Solomon. They were shipbuilders, saw mill owners and real estate traders, and Ignatius came into a large property at the death of his father. This made him the most promising man in the community. He built a meeting house entirely at his own expense and sold the pews later to anyone who wished to contribute.
The first arrivals on Deer Isle came without benefit of legal title of any sort. They built rafts and floats to cross the Reach and set about clearing land and building homes; they enacted laws and organized churches and helped in the battle against the wilderness. The flow of new settlers was slowed by the Revolution, but never com- pletely stopped. Massachusetts recognized the rights of all settlers on Deer Isle to one hundred acres of land as of January 1, 1784, upon payment of thirty-nine shillings to cover the cost of the survey. Those arriving after that date could purchase up to one hundred acres at a dollar per acre.
On March 24, 1788, the General Court called upon the larger islands and new townships settled upon the Penobscot River and eastward of it to assign their reasons why they did not apply for arti- cles of incorporation. To remedy the inconveniences experienced by these people owing to the remoteness of the courts from them, the government was disposed to divide the County of Lincoln, as soon as
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there were towns enough from which jurymen could be legally drawn. Hence the call which so generally awakened the inhabitants of the plantations that within a period of some fifteen months, about twenty towns were incorporated. By 1789 there were enough settlers at Deer Isle to warrant its incorporation also.
During the Revolution, the warships of both England and the United States were active around Deer Isle, and in the War of 1812, several naval skirmishes are recorded as having taken place there.
Alna, 1794
The town of Alna is situated in the western part of Lincoln County on the western side of the Sheepscot River. It was originally the north precinct of Old Pownalborough, from which it was set off in 1794 and incorporated as the town of New Milford, a name de- rived from the mills on the Sheepscot River.
The inhabitants of the town felt that this was not a satisfactory name, so in 1811, through the exertions of Josiah Stebbins and others, a special town meeting was called for the purpose of selecting a more truly descriptive name. The name Alna was chosen, from the Latin word alnus for alder, since there were many beautiful alder trees growing along the banks of the Sheepscot River.
The area was probably settled about 1760. The section border- ing on the Sheepscot River which is now known as Alna could hardly have been overlooked by early adventurers.
The following named persons, many of whom appear to have been settlers on the east side of the Sheepscot River in May, 1750, petitioned the Massachusetts government "to incorporate as a town a tract beginning at the narrows between Wiscasset Bay and Sheep- scot and so upwards as far as the tide flows and to extend four miles on each side of the river": Alexander Nickels, John Ballantine, James Clark, Sr., Robert Cokeran, Timothy Wood, Samuel Kennedy, Wm. McCleland, Wm. Cunningham, Wm. Hodge, John Cunningham, Jr., James Forester, Wm. Kennedy, Robert Hodge, Samuel Burns, James Hodge, John Cunningham, Henry Little, Alexander Nickels, Jr., Wm. Clark, James Clark, Jun., Wm. Ross, James Kennedy, James Black, Robert Given, John McNear, Wm. Hopkins, James Anderson, David Hopkins, Joseph and Samuel Anderson, Samuel Nickels, Joseph Boys, David and James Given, James and Henry Hodge, James Nickels, Peter and John Patterson, Wm. Cokeran and John and Alexander Mayors. A favorable report was made thereon.
In the center of the town is a pond which receives two con- siderable streams and discharges into the Sheepscot River. The water powers are Sheepscot Falls where were saw and grist mills and "Head- of-the-Tide Falls," in the northern part, five miles above the first,
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where were grist, stave and shingle mills. There is also another good power, the "Rapids," two miles above. The villages are at the first two falls mentioned; that at the head of the tide is the larger.
The first church was organized in 1796. Jonathan Ward, a Dartmouth man, was chosen its first pastor, although the church it- self had been built in 1789 as a Congregational sanctuary. Among the names of those worshiping here were Jewett, Verrill, Carleton, Walker, Newell and Averill - all old English names. Parson Ward's term of service continued for twenty years. A second Congregational church was built at Head-of-the-Tide in 1838, less than three miles away. The Old Church today is cared for by the town and the annual town meetings continue to be held there. It is indeed a "meeting house," although not used for religious services.
Castle Hill, 1903
The late Honorable Edward Wiggin, in his History of Aroos- took, gives the following information concerning the town of Castle Hill in Aroostook County:
The town was settled in 1843 by Jabez Trask. As one approaches the western line of the town on the way to Ashland, the Aroostook River is seen a short distance to the right bend- ing to the form of the huge letter S among the lofty trees and flowing through the fertile meadows. Near the river is a lofty hill from which the town takes its name, a large log building having been built on its summit by the surveyors of the olden time, the remains of which building may still be seen. A con- siderable stretch of the imagination invested these ruins with the dignity of a castle and from this the township was named Castle Hill. The town was incorporated in 1903.
Jabez Trask located on the State Road. He was usually called General Trask, having acquired the title in the militia in the western part of the state. About the same time, Ephraim Knights, Caleb Spencer and a man named Seavey made clearings at the mouth of Beaver Brook. Patrick Powers arrived shortly thereafter.
Others who soon came were Henry Tilley, who kept a hotel, and Daniel Chandler and Aaron Dingle in 1850. Others that same year were Samuel Caughey, G. D. Smith, James H. Tilley, L. H. Tilley, M. K. Hilton and James Porter, who was from Mirimachi, New Brunswick. Robert Porter and John L. Porter arrived in 1851, also Micajah Dudley from China, Maine; John P. Roberts came in 1858; T. K. Dow in 1859. John Waddell came in 1860 from Lubec, Maine, and Edward Tarr in 1861 from Waldoboro, Maine. The latter raised bees and lived at the foot of Haystack Mountain. Other early settlers were A. H. Parker, A. F. Hoffses and William H. Bird. Here the Honorable J. W. Dudley produced the famous winter apple.
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Gilead, 1804
This town on the western border of Oxford County received its first settlers about 1780. Before its incorporation it was called Pea- body's Patent, from the name of the chief proprietor. When it became the one hundred fifty-ninth town, in 1804, it was called Gilead, be- cause of the large number of Balm of Gilead trees in the center of the town.
The Androscoggin River enters the town from the State of New Hampshire and flows between two rows of mountains on the northern side of the town. Only the northeastern and northwestern corners of the town and some tracts along the river are of level land.
The water powers which have been improved are on Pleasant and Chapman brooks. There have been lumber mills, grist mills and a mill to manufacture spool stock, boxes and staves. The chief crop was hay which found a good market with the lumbermen who made this a starting point for the woods.
In 1781 the only two families living in the town were killed by the Indians. In 1801 George W. Chapman of Bethel and his brother, Eliphaz, purchased farms and built log houses. They moved in, in 1804. Better homes were built later. The Chapmans were active in town affairs. The first Representative to the General Court from Gilead was Eliphaz Chapınan, in 1804. His brother George served in 1827, and was a selectman for fifteen years. Other early settlers were Isaac Adams and Joseph Blodgett.
A church was formed here in 1818, and for ten years sermons were read by the leading citizens.
During the terrible storm of 1826, when the slide occurred on the White Mountains which killed the Willey family, there were many slides on the mountains in Gilead. From Peaked Hill thousands of tons of earth and rocks and trees came hurtling down, destroying every living thing in their course. Through the intense darkness gleamed the lightning and the long streams of fire caused by the sliding rocks.
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