USA > Maine > York County > Buxton > One hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Buxton, Maine : held at Buxton lower corner, August 16, 1922 : with additional history > Part 3
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And history which is too little appreciated, written by our own townsman the late Joel M. Marshall, gives you accounts in full.
Time is up, I will close, I cannot offer Toast for it would neces- sarily be "Dry Toast," but I will offer this sentiment:
Buxton, the dearest spot to me on earth, the place where the sun shines the brightest, the moonbeams fall the softest, the birds sing the sweetest, and the flowers are the most fragrant, where our young men are the bravest, and (it is said) our girls kiss the sweetest, Long may SHE endure!
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LETTERS
STATE OF MAINE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR AUGUSTA
June fifteenth, 1922.
Dear Mr. Sargent:
It is very kind of you to ask me to come to Buxton on the sixteenth of August next and I shall keep your invitation in mind. Just at the present moment, however, I am not able to make a definite arrangement as my plans for August are not yet formulated. I assure you, however, that I should enjoy being with you and will make an effort to come, although I should not want you to consider this a definite acceptance.
I thank you and the members of your committee for your cordial invitation and later on will communicate with you.
Cordially yours, P. P. BAXTER Governor of Maine.
To Rev. Charles F. Sargent,
Buxton, Maine.
GOVERNOR SENDS MESSAGE OF REGRET TO BUXTON PEOPLE
BUXTON, Aug. 16 (Special.) -Among the greetings received at the anniversary exercises held at Buxton Wednesday was the following from Governor Baxter:
"Give my regrets. I can't attend the Buxton One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary, but I should enjoy being with you. Ex- tend my gratification to the people and say I wish every town in Maine an old home day and reunion each year. I hear you are having a most enjoyable time.
(Signed) PERCIVAL P. BAXTER."
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New York City, N. Y., Aug. 4, 1922.
To the citizens of the town of Buxton; to her veterans of the World War, my beloved comrades; to her teachers whom I highly respect and her students for whom I bespeak kind en- couragement; to the members of her churches and her fraternal societies who have done so much good; to her fathers and moth- ers whose opportunities are so great and whose responsibilities are so magnificent; to her children who have in their power her future advancement; to her people whom I love; and especially to the boys and girls with whom I went to school in days gone by and in whose success and happiness I am ever interested:
I send you, sons and daughters of Buxton, my kindest greet- ings on your celebration of the One Hundred Fiftieth Anniver- sary of the town and offer the following sentiment:
ALL HONOR to the splendid men and women who, in the Providence of God, by industry, thrift, intelligence, kindness and honesty, established the town of Buxton and worked valiant- ly for her advancement.
ALL ENCOURAGEMENT AND COOPERATION to the men and women, the boys and girls of today, who are adding to her hap- piness, advancing her religious, educational and fraternal work and upholding her high standards of righteousness and truth.
ALL WELCOME to the future generations and to those who may come to dwell with the splendid people of the town of Buxton; may they in a spirit of Christian patriotism promote the best in- terests of the town and continue the work in which loyal and de- voted men and women have been so long engaged.
Very respectfully, LOREN M. HARMON.
Los Altos, Calif., July 31, 1922.
MR. ERNEST W. CRESSEY,
Buxton, Maine.
Dear Sir and Fellow Townsman:
I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your kind invitation to
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Mrs. Hopkinson and myself, to attend the One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Buxton, our birthplace.
We had the pleasure of attending the One Hundredth Anni- versary together with our month-old daughter, now Mrs. Ethelyn J. Muzzy of Spokane, Wash., and it would give us great pleasure to be with you at the proposed celebration. We have wandered far from the old home town and have known many changes and experienced, like others, many joys and sorrows, but there always remains in our hearts soft spots of affection for the old historic town and for old friends and acquaintances. We predict a suc- cessful and an enjoyable occasion and we hope to receive a de- tailed account of the same.
May peace and prosperity rest upon and abide with all the people of Buxton is the earnest wish of
MR. AND MRS. E. B. HOPKINSON.
Milwaukee, Wis., August 9th, 1922.
MR. ERNEST W. CRESSEY,
Corresponding Secretary of the Committee for the One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of the Town of Buxton, Maine.
Dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your favor of the Ist instant, asking me to write a letter to be read at your celebration on the 16th of this month, and I am reminded of a Bar Mills story that my father used to tell.
In the days when Ellis B. Usher was active in the sawmill busi- ness, he also ran a store. There was a big fireplace in the store, around which the village men folks used to congregate on winter evenings to discuss the important questions of the day.
One evening, quite late, but two of these customers were left;
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"Joe," on one side of the fireplace, "Ben," on the other. After some minutes, "Ben" broke the silence with:
""'Joe' goin' home bymeby, putty soon, when ye git ready?" "Joe" deliberated, then answered, slowly ---
"Yaas, bymeby, putty soon, when I git ready!"
"Ben" pondered a moment or two silently, then broke out with :
"Waal! ye ain't agoin' t' be a blamed bit contrairy 'bout it, be ye?»
I am in "Joe's" frame of mind. I don't wish to be "contrairy," and am somewhat at a loss as to know how to make myself wel- come.
I cannot go much beyond talking about myself and my own kindred, but even in doing that I may, possibly, establish relation- ships to the old town that will surprise the present generation.
The name "Usher" was in this town as early as 1792, borne by Ellis B. Usher's uncle, Zachariah, who was a tavern keeper, and licensed to sell rum. Such a license was, in those days, considered an evidence of good character, and few were granted.
On the other side of my house, my mother was a grandchild of the Rev. Paul Coffin and Mary Gorham. He settled here in 1761, as the first regular pastor of the First Church of Christ, and was the man who gave Buxton its name.
Mother's Woodman kinsman built the first frame house in the town, at Pleasant Point, in what is now the Woodman Reserva- tion, the entrance to which is on this side of the river, near the Salmon Falls Bridge.
Capt. Daniel Lane, my great-great-grandfather, was the first man to join Paul Coffin's church. And so I might go on, but it will suffice to say that all the Ushers, Woodmans, Coffins, Lanes, Merrills and Bradburys of this neighborhood, who are descended from the early settlers, are my kindred in some degree, and each and all of my early progenitors, who first came to this neighbor- hood, first settled in Buxton, including my grandfather, Ellis B.
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Usher, and my great, and great-great-grandfathers of the Lane family.
Now comes the drop. I am, so far as I am aware, the only one of the Ushers, or Lanes, or Woodmans of my generation left who was born among you. Seventy years ago last June I first saw light in the home of Capt. Stephen Berry, in this village.
That will identify me, but it needs to be said, in excuse for all this personal rehearsal, that I was taken West by my parents in 1855. We settled in Wisconsin, and since then I have never been able to spend more than a week at a time in Maine.
This will explain the barrenness of my personal reminiscences of Buxton. But I am well acquainted with historic Buxton and know that my forbears here were men of character and conse- quence, and am proud of them, though some of my odd inherit- ances may be traced back to them as well as my pedigree.
For example: Colonel Isaac Lane raised four daughters and one son. So did Ellis B. Usher. So did my father, Isaac Lane Usher, and my only child is a daughter. Men in these families were al- ways in an hopeless minority .. As my dear "Gammy" Usher used to say of herself, we men have "lived a life of conformity!" Woman Suffrage, and woman politicians have no new terrors. We have all been trained.
I have always been a private citizen. I have been fortunate in never aspiring to public office, for my neighbors have acquiesced, with perfect accord. So the "new dispensation" of the Nineteenth Amendment will never unship my ambitions.
In another three months I shall have closed my 67th year in Wisconsin, and I am already stranded here, the only member of my immediate family that has not drifted back to New England.
I am loyal to my traditions and my kindred. I am proud to be a native of the town that is said to have sent more men to the front in the Revolution, in proportion to its population, than any town in New England.
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The Yankees of Maine and New Hampshire have followed the pine tree across this continent from St. Johns to Puget Sound.
They have taken fine old traditions of patriotism and constitu- tional liberty along with them, and today states beyond the Mis- souri River have more undiluted New England blood in them than most of the six New England States.
Maine still holds her own as to the old stock. I hope she will never forget the responsibility that fact imposes.
May she always be worthy of the proud traditions of this old town of Buxton, and may Buxton always have company and sup- port such as she had in the early days of the republic.
With the greatest respect for the town where I was born, and for its people, I am,
Very sincerely yours, ELLIS B. USHER, II.
A TRIBUTE TO THE SETTLERS BY EUGENE C. CARLL
Mr. President:
The teacher of history must repeat the same lesson to many classes, and while there is nothing new in Buxton history, some are here as a new class and all of us may profit by review.
History grows from day to day and no generation has a more remarkable history than ours. Try to think of it as what our an- cestors found on the front page of their morning papers, if they had any.
Buxton and Gorham were once a sort of soldier's bonus granted to Massachusetts soldiers who fought the Narragansett Indians. We became Narragansett Township No. I, and Gorham No. 7, thus giving us an origin unlike any other in the state.
The first date in our history may be said to be two hundred forty-seven years ago in 1675 when the General Court to promote enlistments voted that if "they played the man, took the fort, and
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drove the enemy out of the Narragansett Country, they should have a gratuity in land."
I was not asked for an historical address, but for a word of trib- ute to the Early Settlers. Turn again to the Resolve of 1675, "If they played the man," so it read, and they did play the man. There is no finer tribute, and the splendid record of Old Buxton was because its people were the kind who play the man.
Early events seem to have moved slowly. There was yet enough wilderness in Massachusetts to subdue. It was about a century after our coast towns were settled before it was possible to go on to the second tier back. It was over sixty years after the promise to the soldiers that an attempt at a settlement was made here. After the fall of Quebec, with its promise of peace, the settlement throve.
In 1790 there were 335 men in town, 91 dwellings, 156 barns, 3 gristmills, 7 sawmills, 1,084 head of cattle, and a crop of 9, 185 bushels of corn and grain.
As Buxton was settled by Massachusetts people we may proper- ly take a look at the mother Commonwealth. The early histories of Maine and Massachusetts are not alike. The grantees of Maine were faithful adherents of the Church of England and His Maj- esty's loyal subjects, while those of Massachusetts were dissenters in religion, and from the first, stiff-necked and rebellious subjects of the King. I refer to a period far back of the Revolution. By that time matters had so developed that all thirteen states were united.
While our schools and patriotic orders do well to glorify the great Revolutionary period, it may be that the history of Colonial times is being passed over too lightly. From 1620 to 1776 were one hundred fifty-five years, and from then to this time one hun- dred forty-seven years. Bunker Hill and Lexington were about half-way points in our history, and in that first period our own folks made possible what has followed.
It has been claimed that the literature of New England has
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so idealized her patriots that they appear unduly pre-eminent in American history. We deny that, but rejoice that her sons lead also in letters.
With such ancestors as ours in mind Longfellow wrote "The Ship of State,"
"We know what master laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast and sail and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers spoke, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope."
Whatever may have been the right in the bitter colonial con- troversy between Maine and Massachusetts, now happily in the dim past, it is a fact that the particular stock that settled Narra- gansett No. I, to whom we pay tribute today, were fighting sons of Massachusetts; Massachusetts bred and trained, stiff-necked Puri- tans, who had for a hundred years esteemed their colonial charter above royal authority, who had nodded approval of the execution of Charles the First, who had supported Oliver Cromwell and been liked by him. They had resisted Charles the Second, and on the first report of opposition to the bigoted James had turned out the Royal Governor and returned that ancient Puritan, Governor Simon Bradstreet, the Nestor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, to the chair made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Those were ancient days. You, who love the stories of Dumas, should remember that our early history was in the days of "The Three Musketeers," of the Great Cardinal, when Buckingham de- clared war for the love of a woman, when powerful Spain dis- puted our right to be in North America, when France in her glory, and the great Jesuit Order, were allied with American savages for the extermination of that thin line of England in America which, when not opposing the Mother Country herself, was fighting her battles here.
And blood will tell. From such ancestors came the fact that
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Buxton contributed more soldiers, in proportion to her population, to the Revolutionary armies than any other town that was then Massachusetts. In all following wars her sons have done credit to the stock from which they sprung; to repeat the words which may well be my text today, "they have played the man."
It is well to recall these facts of our Colonial and Revolutionary glory and our early prosperity. In these days of transformed conditions we should not fail to tell the coming generations of their stern virtues.
We regret that so many left our good town, but what can you expect? When Englishmen had crossed the seas in shallops, founded a great state, and had later sent their sons to subdue more wilderness here in Maine, could you expect the grandsons to settle content on what their fathers had won? No sir, not so. The spirit of high adventure yet remained. Far, far they went. They still sought the high emprise; ever pioneers, until there was no more frontier. And it meant the greatest good for all. Every- where they planted Puritan ideals, something of the New Eng- land spirit, ability to think straight, and to make our institutions nation wide.
At this point I had finished my paper, but the Rev. Mr. Sargent suggested a word in memory of some of Buxton's sons who have contributed so much for the preservation of our history and who, if living, would find no greater pleasure than to take part in these exercises.
But his suggestion first calls attention to the minister himself. The grant of the township provided for the settlement of a "learned orthodox minister." We have kept the faith, in that respect, according to the grant. In the Rev. Charles F. Sargent we have not only a learned, but a greatly beloved orthodox min- ister. We idealize Rev. Paul Coffin, our first settled minister, but know that modern times well maintain the spirit of the early tra- ditions.
I appeal for more interest in local history and genealogy in
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schools, societies, and as home study. Young people should learn from the old folks who their ancestors were and what they did, and write it down for future generations. Some day it will be considered as interesting to know the pedigree of a child as of a bull calf.
When such interest is developed we shall thank a few of the fathers who did so much to keep the records.
Among those who have first thought today is Capt. W. F. Good- win, author of Goodwin's Narragansett, the most extensive and complete documentary publication for our town that any town has been favored with. An edition of but 29 1 copies, privately printed in 1867, this is a rare book, one of the most desirable Maine items of the collector or the student.
Joined with Captain Goodwin in the publication of Goodwin's Narragansett was the Hon. Cyrus Woodman. He did much for the native town he loved and his name is forever on her roll of honor.
The late Joel M. Marshall, Esq., was untiring in his interest in Buxton history and ancestry, and we have also to thank Rev. G. T. Ridlon, author of "Saco Valley Settlers."
We have traced our fathers back to Massachusetts. We can follow that same old breed back to England itself, back to the days of Magna Charter, back to the dawn of human freedom, and their story is the story of human liberty itself, written in English laws, permanent in the institutions of all states and na- tions that use the English tongue, the only hope in today's dis- tracted world.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS BY ERNEST W. CRESSEY
Mr. President and Citizens of Buxton:
A Petition of Amos Chase & others, Inhabitants of, or Proprie- tors of Lands in the Plantation on the East side of Saco River,
lim
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in the County of York, called Narragansett number one - setting Forth - That upwards of Sixty Families are settled there, but that they labour under great difficulties and discouragements by means of their not being Incorporated into a Town -and Pray- ing that the said Plantation may be erected into a Town according to the bounds and limits mentioned in the said Petition. (April 13, 1772.)
(FROM MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES -FACSIMILE.)
An Act for Incorporating the Plantation called Narragansett number one in the County of York into a Town by the name of Buxton.
Whereas it has been represented to this Court that the planta- tion called Narragansett number one lying on the East side of Saco River in the County of York is competently filled with Inhabi- tants who labour under great difficulties and discouragements by means of their not being Incorporated into a Town.
Be It Therefor Enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives That the said Narragansett number one bound- ed Southeasterly at the heads of Bideford and Scarborough, Southwesterly by Saco River, Northwesterly by Pearson Town so called (Standish) and northeasterly by Gorham, be and hereby is Incorporated into a town by the name of Buxton and that the Inhabitants thereof be and hereby are invested with all the powers, privileges and immunities which the Inhabitants of other Towns in this Province by Law enjoy.
And Be It Further Enacted That Jeremiah Hill Esqr be and hereby is directed to issue his Warrant to some principal Inhabitant of said Town requiring him to warn the Inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as shall be therein set forth, to chuse all such Officers as Towns are by Law impowered to chuse in the month of March annually at which said Meeting all the then present Inhabitants shall be admitted to Vote.
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July 9, 1772 -This Bill having been Read three several times in the House of Representatives - Passed to be Enacted
THOMAS CUSHING SPKR July 9, 1772 -This Bill having been read three several times in Council - Passed to be Enacted
THOS FLUCKER SECY
July 14, 1772-By the Governor I Consent to the Enacting of this Bill
T. HUTCHINSON.
FIRST TOWN MEETING WARRANT
York ss.
Buxton, May the 6th, 1773.
To John Nason, one of the Principle Inhabitants of Buxton in the County of York, Greeting:
Whereas in and by an act of the Great and General Court of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay made and passed in the thirteenth year of His Majesty's Reign that place called Narragan- sett Number One in the County aforesaid was Incorporated into a Town by the name of Buxton and the subscriber by said act be- ing impowered by his warrant to direct one of the principle in- habitants of said town to call a meeting of the inhabitants thereof qualified by law to meet in town meetings for them to choose town officers and to transact anything that may be done at town meet- ings.
In His Majesty's Name you are therefor required to warn said inhabitants to meet at the Meeting House in said Buxton on Mon- day the twenty-fourth day of May instant at ten of the clock in the forenoon then and there to act on the following articles, to wit -
I. To choose a Moderator to regulate said meeting.
2. To choose a Town Clerk and Selectmen.
To choose all officers by towns to be chosen. 3.
To raise money to pay the Reverend Paul Coffin's salary 4. and other town charges.
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Given under my hand and seal this 6th day of May in the 13th year of His Majesty's Reign.
Anno Domini 1773 JEREMIAH HILL, Justice Peace [SEAL]
York ss.
Pursuant to the above warrant to me directed the inhabitants of our said town are hereby warned in His Majesty's Name to as- semble themselves at the time and place and for the purposes in said warrant mentioned.
May the 6th 1773. JOHN NASON.
A true entry of the above warrant.
Attest: JOHN NASON, Town Clerk. May 25, 1773.
BUXTON, MAY THE 24TH 1773.
Pursuant to a warrant recorded on page first the inhabitants of Buxton have met at the Meeting House on Monday the 24th of May instant and have acted on the following articles, to wit -
I. Chose John Hopkinson Moderator to regulate said meet- ing, sworn.
2. Chose John Nason Town Clerk, sworn.
3. Voted by the inhabitants to choose but three Selectmen.
4. Chose Samuel Merrill, John Kimball, John Smith, Select- men, all sworn.
5. Chose Samuel Leavitt Constable, sworn, (& Collector)
6. Chose John Kimball Town Treasurer, sworn.
7. Chose William Bradbury & Isaiah Brooks Tithingmen.
8. Chose Capt. Joseph Woodman, Matthias Ridlon and Jo- seph Leavitt Surveyors of the roads, sworn.
9. Chose John Woodman, John Nason, Richard Palmer & John Smith, Surveyors of boards, sworn.
10. Chose Richard Palmer, Hog Reave, sworn.
II. Chose Ephraim Sands & Richard Palmer, Fence Viewers.
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12. It was moved to see if they would vote the Rev. Paul Cof- fin's salary, passed in the negative.
I 3. It was voted to raise fifty pounds lawful money to defray town charges.
14. It was voted to raise fifty pounds lawful money to be laid out on the roads.
I 5. It was voted to give to each man to work on the roads three shillings & four pence per day, he boarding himself, and two shillings and eight pence per day for one yoke of oxen. The above is a true entry of the above meeting.
Attest: JOHN NASON, Town Clerk.
Buxton was incorporated the seventeenth town in Maine, and named at the suggestion of Rev. Paul Coffin. This town was named for Buxton, Derbyshire, England. Bonny Buxton's history goes back to those early centuries of the Christian Era when the Romans occupied Britain, and as a resort in the days of the Caesars. It is noted for the medicinal qualities of its thermal springs, and is one of the most fashionable places of health resorts in the world. It was visited by the nobility in the days of Queen Elizabeth. In 1573 Mary, Queen of Scots, visited the Buxton springs for the benefit of her health. During her last visit in 1582 she wrote upon the glass in the window of her room -
"Buxton, whose fame thy milk-warm waters tell, Whom I, perhaps, no more shall see, farewell !"
More recent royal visitors have been King Edward and Queen Alexandra in 1907; and Princess Victoria in 1912 took a three weeks' course of treatment with marked success.
At the time of the incorporation, this town was practically a wilderness with only a few clearings the pioneer settlers had made. Some roads had been laid out and surveyed, but they were rough and not suitable for joy rides. Many of the settlers were now liv- ing in frame houses instead of log huts, as they had built sawmills and could now saw their logs into boards and timber.
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The church at Buxton Lower Corner was the first and only church in town for about forty years. It was organized in 1763 with seven charter members. Rev. Paul Coffin was the first settled pastor after preaching two years, beginning in 1761.
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