USA > Maine > Washington County > Machias > Memorial of the centennial anniversary of the settlement of Machias > Part 2
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
Nothing seems to have been done to carry out these pro-
17
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
positions. It was about this time also, that the King author- ised the General Court to grant without money and without price, any lands which might be selected from the royal do- mains, to those who had served in the then late French and Indian War. A Captain was to receive 3000 acres, a sub- altern 2000, and a private 50 acres. And this provision for the old soldiers may have been a reason why the projects of Catherlough and Vassal were not carried out.
Mr. Williamson, in his history of Maine, remarks that "the cessation of active hostilities between the French and Eng- lish, at the close of the year 1760, and the strong disposition at that time manifested by the Indian tribes of Maine to maintain a treaty of perpetual peace and amity which to this day has never been disturbed, were events of vital impor- tance in the settlement of the eastern part of the Province of Maine, and gave a new and most favorable impulse to every species of enterprise and improvement which so es- sentially concern a rising community." The whole white population of Maine, did not exceed 17000, at this time, and no permanent settlement had been made eastward of Penob- scot river, owing to the wars between the New England Pro- vincials and the Eastern tribes and French, which had over- spread the land with blood and desolation for nearly ninety years.
But it was the pleasure of Divine Providence, that other severe trials should await them, besides those of Indian warfare. The year 1761, was one of extraordinary drought and scarcity throughout that part of Maine lying west of the Kennebec river, which was preceded by a wasting sick- ness that added greatly to the calamities of the season .- "The freshness and bloom common to June of other years, were shrouded in the habiliments of premature decay ; and the husbandman in view of his withering fields had a sufli- cient reason for a deepening despondency of his hopes .-
3
18
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
These severe calamities were followed by devouring fires which did immense damage. They burst from the woods of New Hampshire, early in July of this year (1761), and burn- ing with irresistible fury, passed through Lebanon in Maine, and being driven by the wind, to the eastward, entered Scarborough, Gorham, and other towns and ravaged the neighboring forests till they were checked by a flood of rain which fell on the 19th and 20th of August."*
The year 1762, also, was equally distinguished, with its predecessor, for an extraordinary drought, and terrible fires. Early in the year six dwelling houses, two saw mills, and several barns were burned in Scarborough ; six families were burnt out in North Yarmouth; and in every direction ex- tensive fields were destroyed by the flames and laid open by the destruction of fences. Even the cattle did not escape the violence of devouring fire. A prodigious quantity of the most valuable forest timber was also destroyed, and so much were the crops cut short that greater supplies than usual were necessarily imported for the people's support.
The existence of extensive marshes on the rivers lying eastward of the Penobscot, were well known, previous to these seasons of drought, and they had often been visited by the inhabitants of Maine, as necessity required, for the pur- pose of cutting the grass growing on their borders. During the years of '61 and '62, therefore, many excursions were made to the eastward to obtain this hay, for the support of cattle the ensuing winters. It was mainly for this purpose, that the autumn of 1762, ISAIAH FOSTER, ISAAC LARABEE, and a few others whose names are unknown,-all belonging to the settlement of Black Point in Scarborough-embarked on board of a large Whale Boat, on an expedition eastward .- Besides the principal object of procuring hay, another ob-
* Williamson.
19
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
ject, also, was to explore the places they visited for the pur- pose of setting up a lumbering establishment. For the fires before alluded to had destroyed a great portion of the pine timber lands in the vicinity of Scarborough; and being in the habit of lumbering more or less every year, they were not disposed to overlook the advantages which a new coun- try might afford for this purpose.
Our little exploring expedition, in their progress eastward, at length arrived at Machias, where they found hundreds of acres of marsh, covered with, to them, invaluable grass, which had never known the mower's scythe, and which was rendered doubly valuable to them from its scarcity at home. And here, too, their keen practical observation discovered a wilderness of untouched pine timber forests, overhanging a water power of almost unlimited extent, unoccupied, and at the head of tide water navigation. What more could our enterprising voyagers desire ? Was it surprising that their hearts should be light and joyous, and that they should re- turn animated by visions of future success and prosperity which naturally sprang up in their minds, when comparing the devastations at home, with these new regions of unoc- cupied water power, interminable forests of timber and ex- tensive marshes covered with grass ?
On their return the story of their voyage, and of the dis- coveries they had made, was soon told; and it may well be imagined, that under the pressure of the many misfortunes which had befallen them, not a few of the inhabitants who had suffered by the late extraordinary succession of calami- ties, listened with eagerness to accounts of a more favorable location-of a spot where the lumberman and the husband- man could find resources of wealth so abundant.
And an association of sixteen persons was accordingly form- ed during the ensuing winter of 1763, for the purpose of building a double saw mill at Machias, to be owned in as
20
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
many shares-and it was determined to commence opera- tions the following spring. The names of the associates in this undertaking to commence the first permanent English settlement at this place, are as follows :
Samuel Scott,
Sylvanus Scott, S
Brothers.
Timothy Libby, )
George Libby, Brothers.
David Libby,
Solomon Stone, l John Stone, Brothers.
Daniel Hill,
Japhet Hill, $ Brothers.
Isaiah Foster.
Westbrook Berry.
Isaac Larabee.
Daniel Fogg.
These, thirteen in number, were all of Scarborough, and all lived at Black Point. The remaining three of the com- plement of sixteen, were
Thomas Buck, from Plymouth, Captain of a coaster.
Jonathan Carlton, of Sheepscot, and
William Jones, of Portsmouth, N. H.
Jones was a merchant, and was not expected to go to Ma- chias, but formed one of the association on an agreement to furnish the infant colony with such supplies as might from time to time be needed, and to receive for the assistance he should thus render, one sixteenth, an equal share, with the other associates, of the mill to be built and all other privileges.
In the latter part of April of this year, 1763, our little company of associates, with the exception of Jones, embark- ed at Black Point, on board a small schooner, of which Capt. Buck, one of the sixteen, was master. Westbrook Berry and Isaac Larabee took with them their families, consisting of their wives and three children each. Besides the associ-
21
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
ates and the two families I have named, Joel Bonney, a mill- wright, and Wooden Foster, a blacksmith, were also among the number, having been engaged by the company to assist in building the mill, and making in all 25 persons, whose for tunes were based on the success of an enterprise requiring their utmost resolution and courage.
Their passage to Machias was long and stormy. At Towns- end they went on shore where the two women baked some bread for the passengers. On one occasion the vessel and cargo came near being lost. She struck on a rock when go- ing into a place, which our informant says, was called the "Hop-yard," to escape astorm. The same night the violence of the sea loosened a canoe which was lashed at the shrouds, and in falling, killed a cow belonging to Mr. Berry. On the 20th of May the vessel arrived at Machias, anchoring first at the Rim. As soon as the tide became favorable, they weighed anchor for the last time.
The day was one of gloom, for the rain fell in torrents, and the vessel by some accident striking on a rock near the Ellis Smith store, lay there till the next flood tide. This was sometime in the carly part of the forenoon. The passengers were obliged to land as the schooner heeled so much that they could not remain on board. They made a temporary shelter with a few boards, lodged against a birch tree which had been partly broken down. The vessel floated in the afternoon, and was taken into a little creek that ran out by the point now covered by the Bowles wharf. The passengers remain- ed on board for several days, till a clearing was made and a double log house built, where Front street now runs, in front ' of the old Inglee house. Mr. Larrabee, wife and children, occupied the other part, the men employed in building the ' mill boarding with them.
The mill-which was a double mill, and situated on the same site where the present mill Phoenix now stands on the
22
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
northern shore, was completed with all the despatch practica- ble, under the circumstances of a new settlement. It was not, we presume, finished with that skill and neatness which characterizes more modern establishments of the kind ; but it nevertheless rendered essential service to the company ; and before the season had closed, there were boards enough sawed to cover the log houses which were temporarily built for the accommodation of the eleven who had wives. Nine of the eleven-Larrabee and Berry having brought theirs at the commencement-removed their families from Scarborough in August. They were brought in a vessel commanded by Capt. Joseph Wallace, father of Col. Joseph Wallace who formerly lived at Harrington now Millbridge. He had been engaged to carry them from Scarborough, by one of the Lib- bys, and he took with him a supply of provisions with the intention of bartering them for Lumber ; but when he ar- rived at Machias but few boards had been manufactured ex- cept enough to supply the wants of the settlers, whom he found in a measure destitute. Capt. Wallace, however, sold his provisions and other articles to them, they engaging to furnish a cargo on his return the next spring, which was done.
During the year 1794, the inhabitants manufactured near- ly sixteen hundred thousand feet of lumber-which must be considered for those times, an extraordinary season's work. To be sure the people at that time had no great difficulty in procuring logs for their mill, and at something of saving too as to Timber rent, but it is rather surprising to learn that the timber which grew on the northern end of the "seven. acre," lots so called, should have been hauled in to middle river stream and rafted round to the mills, when, by hauling them scarce half a mile, they could have been brought to the mill pond.
The mill was divided, according to agreement, into sixteen shares. There was also a division made this year of the mill
23
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
or seven acre lots, so called. These, as is generally known, lie on the peninsula between the marsh on the south side of Middle River stream, and the north side of the river on which the mills are built. They are seven rods in width, running nearly across the peninsula. Of these lots there were eighteen ; laid out by the mariner's compass. Sixteen of them belonged to the several original partners of the com- pany. The other two were given to Joel Bonney the mill- wright and Wooden Foster the blacksmith, and the eleven partners who had wives built a small house on their respec- tive lots the same year.
During the year 1765, our little colony increased in con- siderable numbers, with every sign of future and long con- tinued prosperity. A reputation had gone abroad most fa- vorable to its resources. Many persons came this year, and took up farm lots as well as engaged in the lumbering business. Their names are as follows :-
Daniel Elliot,
Joseph Holmes,
Joseph,-better known as Deacon Libby.
Ebeneser Libby,
Benjamin Foster, afterwards Col. of the Militia.
Josph Sevey, afterwards a Captain.
Joseph Munson,
Joseph Balch,
Ezekiel Foster,
Joseph Getchell,
Benjamin Foss,-all of whom we believe were from Scarborough ;
John Underwood, from Kittery, who was the first reg- ular trader here,-and
Jonathan Longfellow, from Cornwallis.
In the spring of the same year (1765) the O'Briens, Elliot, Holmes, Underwood, and the two Libbys, just named, com-
24
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
menced a double saw-mill on the south side of the river, on the same site where the present Dublin mill now stands ; but it was not finally completed till the ensuing March. The families of most of the persons who came here this season were moved to the place in the fall.
Sometime in the summer of this year Capt. Ichabod Jones, a gentleman who had formerly been a ship-master then liv- ing in Boston having a strong desire to make a pleasure excursion to the eastward, chartered a coasting schooner for that purpose and put on board a quantity of provis- ions and other articles to trade with the inhabitants on the coast. On arriving at Mt. Desert, he heard of the set- tlement at Machias-that much lumber was made there, and he proceeded thither immediately. Here he disposed of his goods, loaded his vessel with lumber, and came to Machias again with additional supplies. On this second trip, he was invited by Col. Benjamin Foster, Wooden Foster, Samuel Scott, Daniel Fogg, Joseph Munson, and Joseph Se- vey,-who then resided on the East Machias branch of the main river-to unite with them and others in building a double saw-mill on the west bank of that river. Capt. Jones agreed to join them, and build one quarter. They accord- ingly got out a frame and set it up the same fall.
This mill was situated on the same site where the saw- mill Unity, supposed to have been named after one of Icha- bod Jones' vessels, now stands on East Machias river, just below the bridge on the western side. Capt. Jones made an- other trip the same season, bringing further supplies for his partners and others.
In 1766, most of those who built the first mill-part of the company of the original sixteen-took up farm lots also. In March of this year-after a passage of four days-Stephen Jones, nephew of Ichabod Jones, arrived at Machias. He is more particularly remembered in these days as Judge Jones,
25
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
having been appointed and acted as Judge of Probate, and a Judge of the Sessions after the Revolution. He resided here from that time, till July, 1822, when he removed to Boston where he died in 1826, aged about 88. In a letter which he wrote under date of Sept. 1, 1825, when he was nearly 87 years of age, he says "that he never made any pre- tensions to composition or to write grammatically, as he was taught neither when he was young, as his father was killed at Horton, N. S., when he was eight years old, and that he lived with his maternal grandfather, a respectable farmer of Weston, till he was sixteen years of age. He then went to Worcester to live with an uncle of his who was a joiner."- "Farmers' boys," he adds, "have no chance for schooling in the summer season of the year, and if, after harvesting and cider making is over, they can go to school until the farming business commences in the spring, and during those periods can learn to spell and read and write a little, they do very well. After I was nine years of age," he continues, "I would not let any boy in school, if he was ever so old, go before me in reading and spelling. Writing I never excelled in .- But age has impaired my memory so much that I find that I frequently misspell words."
The inhabitants this year, having failed two years previous in their application to the Government of Nova Scotia, for a grant of a township of land which should include their settle- ment, petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for the same object-but owing to some errors which are not stated, this application also failed. It was, however, renewed every year till 1770, when the township of Machias was granted, as will be hereafter noticed.
The winter and spring of 1767, was distinguished as a season of extraordinary scarcity. In the autumn previous, arrangements had been made for procuring the usual winter supplies; but owing to some neglect or accident, the vessel
4
26
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
engaged to bring them was frozen up somewhere on the coast and for a long time was unable to prosecute her voyage. Many a long and weary hour did the inhabitants watch for her return. On her they had not only relied for their family supplies, but for such further articles as would enable them to pursue their customary employment of hauling logs for their mills during the winter, on the success of which their prosperity for the ensuing year entirely depended. Days and weeks passed in gloomy and disheartening succession- the eye became weary with watching and the heart more sad by each hours' delay. The husband and father, as the scanty and meagre fare is placed upon his table, becomes daily more and more anxious for the morrow-while the wife and mother, with woman's true courage and heroism, calls up new sources of comfort and consolation in the fortitude and self-possession which she displays. To one, the future is a cloud of impending darkness and gloom-to the other there is a brightness beyond, that cheers and sustains her under the most appalling calamity.
One who participated in, and remembered their suffering's has stated to me that she had prepared many a meal from pota- toe sprouts, clams, and a little flour which she had saved for starch. Of other families it is stated that the fathers in many instances were so reduced in strength from the meagre quality of food, that they had scarcely the power to dig for the cels and clams on which they solely depended for sub -. sistence. Indeed the deprivations of the people at that time: were not less than those of the earlier settlements of other portions of New England, when on one occasion a good man, calm and resigned amid the distresses of himself and those around him, invited a neighbor to a dish of clams, and after dinner returned thanks to God who had "given them do suck of the abundance of the seas and of the treasures hid in the sands !"
Those who were more robust, attempted to support them-
27
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
selves and their families, by hunting for moose and deer .- But from their ignorance of the art, this mode was not less precarious than the others-and besides, in some instances, long continued want had disabled them from enduring the fatigues of a long hunt. By some, this was called the "clam year,"-by others a season of "Poverty-times."
In this uncertainty and destitution, the people remained for nearly two months. But relief came at last. Capt. Jones, who seems to have taken a strong interest in the welfare of the place, hearing that the vessel which had been engaged to bring them supplies was prevented from coming, and well knowing from his acquaintance with the condition of things here, that the inhabitants must be in needy circumstances, despatched a vessel to the place, with provisions and other necessary articles, which afforded the most timely and grate- ful relief.
In 1768, Capt. Jones, Jonathan Longfellow, Archelaus Hammond, Nathan Longfellow, Amos Boynton, John Under- wood, and some others built a double saw mill on the island in the Falls, where the Rock mill now stands. A single saw mill was also built the same year by Joseph Getchell and others who lived on the north side of Middle River, at the outlet of the pond now known as Bowker's Lake. Jonathan Longfellow was this year appointed a Justice of the Peace, being the first civil officer commissioned east of the Penob- scot river.
In 1769, a militia company of nearly one hundred men was formed. Stephen Jones was chosen Captain, Benjamin Fos- ter, (afterwards Col.) Lieutenant, and Sylvanus Scott, Ensign. Jones' commission is dated August 7, "in the ninth year of the reign of his majesty George the third," appointing him a "Captain of a military company of foot, at a place called Machias, in the Regiment of Militia in the County of Lincoln, whereof Thomas Goldthwaite is Colonel." The
28
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
commission is signed by Thomas Hutchinson, then Lieut, Governor of Massachusetts Bay.
The inhabitants at the close of this year, 1769, again pe- titioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a grant of a Township of land. Their Petition is as follows :
Province of the Massachusetts Bay.
To his Excellency, Francis Bernard, Esq., Captain General and Governor-in-Chief: The Honorable the Council and Hon'ble House of Representatives of the Prov- ince aforesaid in General Court assem- bled at Boston :
The subscribers, inhabitants of a place called Machias, (great part of whom have served his majesty in the late wars,) Humbly shew :
That they, with their families, according to the King's proc- lamation, went upon and took possession of a tract of land called Machias, bounded as follows, viz: Beginning at a dry rock at a place called the eastern bay near the house of Mr. Samuel Holmes and extending north 10 degs. W. 10 miles ; then W. 10, S. 8 miles ; then S. 10, E. ten miles, then E. to N. 8 miles to the first mentioned bounds ;- and they have made considerable improvements thereon, apprehend- ing the same to be crown lands. But so it is, may it please your Excellency and honors that said tract of land falleth within and belongs to this Province.
Now may it please your Excellancy and honors, as it was through the ignorance of your Petitioners, they thinking the land belonged to the crown, and as they have been at great costs and pains in clearing and making improvements, on the tract of land aforesaid, if they should be dispossessed thereof, it would be the means of ruining them and their faunilies.
Your Petitioners would also represent to this Honorable
29
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Court, that they are about seventy-four in number, and are without the common privileges other people within this Province enjoy, having no Gospel minister, schoolmaster or any officers whatsoever, which is absolutely necessary for the peace and good order of any people ; and as they are willing and desirous to pay their proportion of the Province expense, as they become able, your Petitioners therefore humbly pray your Excellency and honors would be pleased to take the premises into your wise, serious and compas- sionate consideration-and make them a grant of said tract of land which will prevent the ruin of so many families ; and also incorporate them into a town, or otherwise invest them with authority sufficient to choose town officers, or other- wise relieve them, as you in your known wisdom and good- ness shall think best.
And as in duty bound shall ever pray.
Stephen Jones, Jonathan Longfellow,
Abial Sprague, jr., Sarah Libbee, widow, Solomon Stone,
Isaiah Foster,
William Curtis,
George Libbee,
Jeremiah Jenks,
Reuben Crocker,
Benjamin Foster, jun. James Dillaway, George Scott, Samuel Scott, Joseph Sevey,
John Underwood, John Wheland, Ebenezer Libbee, Joseph Dubisont, Timothy Libbee,
Wooden Foster,
Arthur Dillaway,
Job Burnham, Gideon O'Brien,
Aaron Hanscom, Benjamin Stone, Jones Dyer, John Crocker, Samuel Libbee, George Sevey,
Samuel Burnham, Ezekiel Foster, Joseph Getchell,
Ezekiel Foster, jun., Benjamin Foster,
Jacob Libbee,
30
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Obadiah Hill,
Henry Griffith,
Isaac Larrabee,
Archelaus Hammond, Samuel Hill,
Sylvanus Scott,
Japhet Hill,
Joseph Libbee, Nathan Longfellow,
Jonathan Berrie,
Enoch Sanborn,
Solomon Meserve,
David Libbee,
John Berrie,
Jeremiah O'Brien,
Reuben Libbee,
Samuel Kenney,
Jacob Foster,
Ephraim Andrews,
John W. Foster,
Joseph Holmes,
Daniel Hill,
Samuel Rich,
Thomas Libbee,
Joseph Munson,
Ebene er Fitz,
Isaiah Libbee,
John Scott,
Samuel Holmes,
Benjamin Holmes,
Jonathan Carlton,
Benjamin Getchell,
Stephen Parker,
John C. Jones,
Bartholemew Bryant,
John Bohannon,
Jonathan Woodruff,
Samuel Stewart,
Daniel Stone,
Ichabod Jones, Morris O'Brien.
Abial Sprague,
being eighty persons in all.
Upon this petition, the General Court granted the tract as described in the application, on the 26th April, 1770, on the following conditions,-namely :- "That the petitioners canse a plan of the township to be taken by a surveyor and chairman under oath before the first day of January 1771- that within six years after they should obtain his majesty's approbation of the grant, unless prevented from so doing by War, they should settle the township with 80 good protest- ant families, build 80 houses, none to be less than eighteen feet square and seven feet stud,-clear and cultivate five acres of land on each share fit for tillage or mowing-that
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.