Old Foxcroft, Maine : traditions and memories, with family records, Part 5

Author: Lowell, Mary Chandler, 1863-1949
Publication date: 1935
Publisher: Concord, N.H. : Lowell
Number of Pages: 552


USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Dover-Foxcroft > Old Foxcroft, Maine : traditions and memories, with family records > Part 5


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Double letters, or two sheets, double the above rates Triple three " , triple 6


Packets or letters composed of four or more sheets, quadruple the above and so on in same proportion.


William and John Stedman, brothers, and Lloyd Andrews came in from Hebron, the Stedmans commencing an opening on the lot #6 in the 5th range and Andrews on a small piece on the east side of lot #7 in the same range. Young Andrews and Miss Lovina Stedman, sister to William and John, were engaged to be married and while he (Andrews) was busy making a clearing, Miss Stedman sent him some apple seeds. He planted them for her and tradition has it that quite a nursery re- sulted. So large did the orchard eventually become that several others in the neighborhood of the Four Corners became off shoots. A few of the old trees are still standing, I am told.


In the fall of 1821, John Stedman returned to Hebron for his wife, Patience (Sewell2) and young son, John Sewell Stedman and Andrews accompanied him to be married to his sister, Miss Lovina Stedman on Feb. 28, 1822. On Nov. 12, 1822 to Mr. and Mrs. Andrews was born a son, Seth Dean and on Aug. 20, 1824, a daughter, Angelina. Mrs. Andrews died in 1826 and Mr. Andrews disposed of his property to John Bradbury and with his children returned to Hebron.


Two brothers from Minot, Asaph and Azel Howard came in 1822, commenced clearings and erected houses,-Azel on the farm later owned by Charles Bolton and still (1935) in the family and Asaph, on the farm · known as the Marshall place, later owned by Charles Foss.


The above young men were sons of Asaph Howard, Esq. of Minot who was the great, great, great grandson of John Howard who first settled in Duxbury in 1640. But in 1651 he moved to Bridgewater, of which he was one of the proprietors and first settlers and where his descendants, many of them, still reside. The young men who settled in Foxcroft became interested and prominent citizens of the town and remained many years.


In 1820, Nathaniel Chamberlain purchased of John Towle lot Num- ber 11 in the 2nd range in Foxcroft, and moved his family there. It is now remembered as the Jacob Sprague farm, near the corner where the road leading to Sebec Lake at Greeley's Mills crosses the well known "Center" road.


Nathaniel Chamberlain Esq., as has been noted was a carpenter and cabinet maker. Always was he employed to frame the more compli- cated structures in town especially the bridges along the Piscataquis, known as "X work." The older, larger and better houses, in town, are specimens of his work, -- many of his architecture,-and the granite and stone foundations, hand hewn and wooden pinned sill work, are marvels of his skill.


It has been recorded of Mr. Nathaniel Chamberlain that he was a man of good natural abilities and of fair education, for the times, and


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soon obtained a notoriety in the growing community. He was early appointed a Justice of the Peace for Hancock County, the first man thus honored. He was quite a genius, skillful in argument and a ready public speaker with a keen blade of sarcasm. Such an individual must have been an entertaining character, and from a wide range of anec- dotes extant regarding him, I select the one relative to his sobriquet of "Old Cat."


I have often heard him referred to with that "handle" and I once asked Esq. Holmes what it meant. He told me that it was in no way disrespectful or from lack of esteem; rather a facetious appellation, because of his sagacity, shrewdness and sharpness in solving human nature. Esq. Holmes further stated that when he had a difficult and intricate case in Court he had preferred the assistance of Nathaniel Chamberlain to any lawyer. He was a decided and active politician.


It was not my thought when I started this chronology as a "bit of Old Foxcroft" to extend it much beyond the period when Maine be- came a state, but a survey of the scenes which mirrored the early struggles of our hardy pioneer men and their most estimable wives, and who did so much to shape the destinies of our beloved town only stimulated and nurtured my desire for a fuller picture.


As I gazed upon the cradle in which was lulled to sleep the one, who was for so many years the proprietor of our homeland, and upon the bed in which, as guest, he slept, in his more mature years; the table, linen, dishes, silver and cutlery from which he ate; and upon the very chairs in which Mrs. Carpenter, Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Loring sat during the noon hour between the morning and afternoon sermons of Parson Sawyer in Garland; or as I passed the slabs of slate in Rural Grove Cemetery, so suggestive of the valiant lives of Joel and Sarah (Jones) Pratt and their esteemed family; or stood in the spacious yard of the Salmon Holmes Farm and drank in Nature's fascinating pan- orama,-the spots of shaded woods, the rolling fields walled in by rocks, silently telling of hours of patient toil, the quiet Piscataquis winding its way to the sea, and above and beyond all the majestic grandeur of old Katahdin, an urge was upon me.


With reverence do I point out that much of "Old Foxcroft" was opened and homes established by descendants of many May Flower passengers. That the first trees were felled by a grandson in the fourth and fifth generation of John and Priscilla Alden and William and Alice Mullins; that the wife of one of the members of the first Board of Selectmen, as well as the wife of the first minister, were descendants of Dep. Gov. Isaac Allerton and Mary Norris Allerton, Henry Sampson and John Tilly and wife. That our first highway surveyor received his bent for barns and good roads from Francis Cooke and the Chiltons;


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that the wife of our first sheriff inculcated in his mind a desire for peace inherited by her from Elder Brewster; that the quiet dignified Precep- tor of the first school in the Academy building looked to Richard Warren for his grave bearing and to Edward Winslow for his litigious profession; while the first keyed instrument in town was fashioned by the hand of one whose ancestors were Thomas Rogers and Stephen and Elizabeth Hopkins.


Truly it is an inborn element of human nature to recall and record the wisdom, virtues, achievements and thrift of one's family and friends. And in those early days where all, or nearly all, were related by ties of blood, or in-law, pride centered in each and of each. To honor and so recite the splendid successes of those noble men and women must be an incentive to those who shall follow to make a record that can be cherished by generations yet to come.


As we today speed over these picturesque hills in our modern motor driven cars, or glide along these quiet valleys in luxurious trains, drawn by the snorting steed of steam, shall we not try to visualize the rough 'bridle paths over which men picked their way, with heavy loads on shoulders to the grist mills, for the daily sustenance; or the horses and oxen that drew the lumber upon shafts and dragged the heavy logs from which the homes were evolved?


Because our pioneers did not decide upon the village form of settle- ment and first erect a chapel is no criterion that the strict Pilgrim prin- ciples of their "forebears" were forgotten or ignored. That they were a moral, upright, honest, spiritual minded people we have no reason to doubt. Rather, we have every proof to believe.


AN AUSPICIOUS AWAKENING


But the year of 1822 was for "old Foxcroft" the most auspicious, perhaps, of any in its history. Two thoroughly educated men, broad of mind, unselfish in disposition, warm hearted and public spirited did more for the vigorous growth and real advancement of the town than any who have followed.


Rev. Thomas Williams, affectionately known as "Parson Williams," was born in Weymouth, Mass. March 11, 1787, the son of Rev. Simeon 5 (Richard1 of Taunton) and Anna Williams of Raynham. Rev. Simeon Williams was graduated from N. J. College in 1765, and ordained as pastor of the 2rd Church in Weymouth Oct. 26, 1768. For fifty years he was the beloved pastor,-his first and only pastorate. At the close of fifty years of service, he asked the church to release him. Instead, they furnished a colleague. The next year he died, in his 77th year of age, and 51st as pastor.


On Nov. 2, 1812 Rev. Thomas Williams and Miss Sarah Cushman were married in Taunton. Miss Cushman was in the sixth generation of descent from Robert Cushman, and Henry Sampson of the May Flower passengers. She was also a second cousin of Mrs. William Thayer (Polly Cushman) of Foxcroft whose May Flower ancestry was the same.


Thomas Williams was graduated from Brown University, Provi- dence, R. I., in 1809. Soon after his marriage he became pastor of the Brewer Congregational Church. While there he formed the friendship; of Rev. John Sawyer of Garland, through whom he became interested in the new town of Foxcroft. In 1820, he commenced visiting the place and conducting services at stated periods. The members of the Garland Church residing in Foxcroft, Dover, Sangerville and Guilford decided to ask to be set off as a distinct church. They voted to extend a call to Rev. Thomas Williams to become their pastor, and petitioned the town for concurrence; and also that the minister's lot, with entire income of the ministers' fund, should be allowed to Mr. Williams. Their petition was fully concurred in.


Mr. Williams accepted, and, in 1822, moved his family to his new home, the present Fred Chandler farm. With his wife, the family con- sisted of, --


Thomas Crocker born in Brewer Mch. 21, 1814


Theodore Strong ٠٠


Mch. 27, 1815


July 26, 1817


George Cushman Ann Sarah


Jan. 29, 1821 (Died in Foxcroft


May 23, 1827)


Harriet Sophia


Foxcroft May 12, 1823 d. Aug. 19, 1823.


Marcy Shimer


4


4


Oct. 2, 1824


Elizabeth Selina


66


Jan. 12, 1826


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With so small competency, and large family, Mr. Williams' greatest problem was how to keep the verbal wolf from the door, and educate his large and growing family. He accepted missionary aid; and serv- ices rendered by him in Sangerville and Sebec, returned him additional assistance. He was a valued and valuable co-worker with James S. Holmes in his effort to establish Foxcroft Academy. Mr. Williams was sorely missed when he gave up his pastorate and moved to Minot Maine.


James Stuart Holmes, (Capt. James5,-John1) was born in that part of Hebron Maine, now Oxford, in Oxford County, on Nov. 13, 1792. He was the oldest of a family of nine children, eight sons and one daugh- ter, of Capt. James and Jerusha (Rawson) Holmes. Job Holmes*, a Revolutionary War soldier had, in 1786, purchased land of Mr. Shepard in Shepardsfield, District of Maine, for himself and sons John, Thomas and James; and to Oxford, Capt. James and his bride travelled on their wedding journey.


James S, attended the town schools, and Hebron Academy, where he completed his preparation for college; and was graduated from Brown University at Providence R. I. in 1819. Among his classmates was Horace Mann, the well-remembered educator, whose friendship con- tinued through life. On leaving college, young Holmes at once com- menced the reading of law, in the office of Hon. Enoch Lincoln at Paris Hill. Later, Mr. Lincoln became the Governor of Maine. While he was in Mr. Lincoln's office he frequently visited Portland, where he was always a guest, in the home of the Hon. Stephen Longfellow, a life long friend. At this time Mr. Holmes enjoyed also the acquaintance of the son of the house, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This friendship con- tinued through Mr. Holmes' life and in 1878, a little more than a year before his death, Mr. Holmes was a guest in the poet's house in Cam- bridge Mass. In 1822, after admission to the Bar, Mr. Holmes settled in the new town of "Old Foxcroft", where his brothers, Capt. Salmon and Lt. Cyrus, were preparing their homes. His office was about on the site of the Chase and Kimball filling station; while waiting for cli- ents he taught in the old town house, for one term, a school of high school grade, with the hope that he might interest the citizens, to the extent of asking for an act of incorporation, by the Legislature the next winter, as Foxcroft Academy. In this he was successful, as well as ob- taining with it a small grant of land. A board of Trustees was named, of which he was chosen secretary, with Daniel Wilkins of Charleston as President, and Samuel Chamberlain, Treasurer.


In the Academy he always took great interest and never, until the last year of his life, when too feeble, had he failed to attend an examina- tion of the students; or any meeting of the board of Trustees.


"Mr. Holmes had a very large and lucretive law practice for about twenty years; and while in direct competition with men eminent for legal learning as well as forensic talent "men who were all intellectual giants,-yet he was regarded as the peer of the ablest."


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When in 1838, Piscataquis County was set off from Penobscot and Somerset, it brought about radical changes in the legal business, intro- ducing new men with new methods, and narrowing the field of labor. Gradually, Mr. Holmes retired from active court practice, giving atten- tion to Chamber work. A natural scholar, and enjoying the deep penetrating processes of the student, he continued to delve in philo- sophical research, and to cultivate his classical taste,-reading Latin and Greek to the close of his life.


As a child, I took great delight in helping the "old Squire" with his morning and evening chores; about his garden in summer, and shovel- ling paths in winter. In those days, our Boston papers came in on the stage via Dexter, reaching here between ten and eleven o'clock in the evening. It was one of my "pieces" in the household machinery, to get the mail before a seven o'clock breakfast. I always brought the "old' Squire's" mail along too. When I reached the advanced age of nine years, my grandmother decided that it was time for me to com- mence "to cultivate the classical taste" and, bringing out the Latin grammar and reader, she so informed me, and mapped out my lesson.


Each evening found my grandmother and myself, in one corner of the living room engaged in classic discourse! When the stage of Caesar's Gallic Wars arrived, I inclined to add to the course, one of argumenta- tion, insisting that Caesar was much more a general than a statesman. My grandmother differed; and for a time encyclopedias and Roman histories were valuable adjuncts to my Latin course. One day I broached the subject to 'Squire Holmes,' who in his most severe pro- fessional tone, asked,-"Who has been teaching you?" I replied with- out hesitancy,-"My grandmother."


"Well, young lady, you go over and say to your grandmother, that Esquire Holmes presents his compliments to Mrs. Chandler, and con- gratulates her upon the superiority of her work.".


"But 'Squire Holmes,' I can't remember that long sentence and all those big words."


I can hear this minute, his chuckle, and see the twinkle in his eyes, as he said, "Well, repeat it to me several times, and then run."


After that, our conversations on Foxcroft history widened, to in- clude Roman history; and sometimes I would try to induce my "best friend" to translate a little Latin for me, by way of help,-"That's your job, young lady, not mine!"


Mr. Holmes was greatly interested in the Order of Free Masons. After Chandler, the young Academy Preceptor came to Foxcroft, each joined the Penobscot Lodge in Garland.


In those early days, the highways were impassable to carriages and the two made the journey to Garland, a distance of ten miles over rocky paths, on horse back to attend lodge meetings. When in 1826, Mosaic Lodge in Foxcroft was started, Mr. Holmes was a charter member. "Mr. Chandler, having eyes for no young lady, except Miss Sally


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Wheeler of Garland" as Hon. A. M. Robinson once facetiously said to me, continued to attend the Garland lodge until his marriage to Miss Wheeler took place in 1830!


In 1829 Mr. Holmes brought Miss Jane S. Patten daughter of Mrs .. Polly Patten and sister of Abraham S. Patten the Dover merchant, to the little house on Lincoln St. as his bride. Later he had the house on Main St. erected and there he passed to the "Great Beyond" on Dec. 30, 1879.


James S. Holmes, religiously, was a liberal, though he and his family always affiliated with the Universalist Church, in Dover. Politically, he was a Republican,-"first, last and always" He had an intense hatred for Andrew Jackson, in which he was not alone, and an ardent love for Henry Clay. At the State election in 1879 he insisted that he be carried to the voting place "to cast his last vote for freedom." Fifty six years ago, and old Foxcroft has never seen his equal!


Among others who came so generously from France, in the French fleet, to assist our colonists in their struggle for independence, was one Jacob Lebroke (or La Bruque, as early records give it).


Born in Paris, France, a skilled tailor by occupation, he was trained to arms under Baron Steuben, and did valiant service for the American cause. At the close of his military career he married Miss Sarah Gard- ner and they settled in Pembroke Mass. Miss Cynthia Gardner, a sis- ter, became the wife of William Steadman (brother of John) who came here in 1822 and helped to clear the large farm at the Four Corners, so long in the Steadman family, now the property of John Miller.


The Gardner sisters were of the well known Gardner family of Massa- chusetts and Maine. In 1783 the James LeBrokes moved to Hebron, and later to Paris; and were among the pioneer settlers of old Shepards- field in the District of Maine. They had four children, James Jr. born in 1784, in Hebron,-Sarah, born 1787, in Paris,-Jacob, born in 1789, and Nicholas, born 1791, also in Paris.


The father, James, was killed by a fall in 1812. The mother lived to within four months of her one hundredth birthday.


In 1821, Jacob, the second son, married Martha, the daughter of Abner Jr. and Polly (Hilton) Foster. In the spring of 1825, Jacob Lebroke moved to Foxcroft, and settled on lot #5 in the 7th range, a short distance over the hill in "Dundee" from his uncle, William Steadman. The family consisted of the parents, an unmarried sister, Miss Sarah Lebroke and a son, Augustus Gardiner, born Feb. 9 1823. An older boy, Abner Foster, born in the winter of 1821/2, died in 1824. The children born in Foxcroft were,-Mary Foster, born Dec. 23, 1825, later the wife of Erastus Harmon; James H. born 1827 and died 1840; Sarah A. born July 9, 1831, later the wife of William Gilman, son of Mr. David Gilman who purchased the Daniel Buck farm; George L. born Aug. 12, 1833 and who, for many years lived on the farm formerly owned by David Moulton, Esq .; Charles H. born in 1835 and died 1840;


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Thomas S. born Sept. 2, 1837, settled in California; Jacob N. born Jan. 17, 1841, settled in Foxcroft; Eugenia A. born Sept. 14, 1845, later the wife of William T. Pollard. They resided for a time in Portland Maine; later returning to "old Foxcroft" they purchased the house on Lincoln St. so long the home of her brother, Hon. A. G. Lebroke. Mr. Pollard, familiarly known as "Capt. Tim" was one of Maine's best known guides and wardens for many years.


On Dec. 18, 1825, a deed of lot #5 in the 7th range, passed from Amos Morse to "Sarah Lebroke, a single woman, and Martha Lebroke the wife of Jacob Lebroke." Miss Sarah Lebroke had for many years been a valued school teacher in Oxford County, but when her brother de- cided to make a home in far-away Foxcroft, she came with him. The brother's family increased rapidly and Miss Sarah was a much needed and esteemed member. She was the children's first teacher ; indeed, in the summer of 1825, Miss Lebroke taught the second school to be held in District #5, or Foxcroft Center, as it was beginning to be known. The school was in a.barn near the house of Charles Harmon. The first term had been taught, in the preceding winter, by Samuel Palmer of Sebec, in the house of Noah Hersey.


With so large a family and back there on the hills of "Dundee", starvation's wolf troubled the Lebroke family more than the animal wolf, and the struggle made by them was intense. They however, had a comfortable framed house, and the children attended school. The two terms a year, provided by the town, did not satisfy young Au- gustus, the eldest child. His daughter, Hattie and I were playmates, and I recall his stories to us,


"After the chores were done, Aunt Sally drew a table to the corner of the room, candle lighted, and with knitting in her hands sitting in front of it, we children spaced around it so that we could not whisper, seated on birch logs, standing on end, cut to a comfortable size for each. Our books were very worn, but so eager were we for their contents, that we were more than careful of them. One day father said, that if we chil- dren could pick more berries than Mother could use, I might take some to the village to sell, as I was old enough, thirteen, to go alone. It was a long walk across to the Sebec Lake road, then over the Brawn hill and down North St. When I reached Bradbury' and Herring's store, a lady asked me what I had in my pail; I replied, 'berries' and re- moved the nice white birch bark Aunt Sally had fitted over the top. The lady asked how much I expected to get for the pail full and I told her; then she said, 'come to my house with me I will take them'; and girls, you may believe, that I never expect to be so happy, as I was, when I heard those words. She asked me to come in: and first, she went in to her pantry. When she came out, she had a tray with a large glass of milk, and a plate of pancakes and some maple syrup, and she said that I was to eat all that I could. She emptied the berries, gave me the money, and was talking to me when I opened a book. I asked the lady if she would read to me. She read Bryant's 'Forest Hymn.'


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OLD FOXCROFT


I asked, if I might learn it right then and there, to repeat to the folks at home. She replied, 'You may take the book home!' I learned the 'Forest Hymn', all of it, walking up those hills and repeated it at the dinner table!


"Then Aunt Sally said: 'if I could learn that poem coming up the hills, I could learn lessons going down and I would better work a little harder, save my money and go to the Academy.'


"Yes, Aunt Sally, Mrs. Chandler told me to step into Esq. Chandler's office some time, and talk with him about the Academy, and I'm going to."


In those early days a reciprocal custom prevailed in the frontier towns, of allowing scholars who wished for increased "schooling", to pay tuition for a certain number of weeks in an adjoining district, even though that district be in another township.


As a youth, Augustus Lebroke took advantage of that custom, work- ing hard to earn the tuition, either in raising sufficient wheat, picking berries or employment off the farm, and so got three terms a year. Over the hills, barefooted, to attend school in Sebec; later up very early to help with the chores, then learning his lessons, rehearsing, as he walked, his school declamation, or his part in Lyceum debate, at the Academy. Then came teaching, and a most successful teacher he proved himself, and while teaching he read law, directed by the master mind of Esq. Holmes.


In 1849, the gold fever raged, and young Lebroke spent several years in California. Returning to New England, he completed his law stud- ies, in the office of Hon. Charles P. Chandler of Foxcroft, and Hon. A. W. Paine of Bangor. On Feb. 26, 1857, on motion of Mr. Chandler, he was admitted to the bar to practice in the courts of Maine; and im- mediately he entered upon his chosen profession in Foxcroft.


Illustrative of Mr. Lebroke's filial devotion and warmth of family feeling, I would picture the young man's preparation for a home of his own. When in 1854, Mr. Lebroke first married, the old home had been broken up; he purchased the old house, had it taken down, hauled to the village and rebuilt. There he first lived in a home of his own. The house, I remember as the George Colcord house, near the old Campground.


A letter from my grandfather in 1856, to my uncle, then in Harvard Law School, is before me. He wrote,-"I am gratified that I am able to tell you, of the splendid work Lebroke is doing on the stump, for the Republican party. He is a very popular speaker, enthusiastic, logical, clear-cut and withal, appealing. He entertains with debate, pro and con, interspersed with amusing stories,-thus holding the interest of his audience. . I am much pleased with his success."


Mrs. Abby Jane (Gage) Lebroke died, and in 1862, he married Miss Sarah J. Hayes; and because his professional work had so increased, he felt obliged to live in the village. They therefore moved to the house


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now occupied by his nephew, Charles Pollard; and the building west of the house was built by Mr. Lebroke, within my memory, for his office.




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