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 9
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BOOTS AND SHOES
Capt. Joseph Davis made cowhide footwear at Buxton Center in the building now occupied by Narragansett Lodge, K. of P.
Nathaniel Came had a similar factory at Salmon Falls. We remember our first copper toed boots, how we tried to grease them into pliability, with the boot-jack at hand to pull them off and sometimes all our strength to get them on. Over the thick woolen stockings our mothers knit, with trousers tucked into legs, we tramped to school and to play, hunted, trapped and fished, did our chores and at an early age became good farm help. Sum-
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mer and winter old and young, over the entire countryside, were shod with locally made boots.
Styles change, and the industry died, but for a long time it was a substantial item in the support of the town. It was hand work except that there came along the sewing machine for sewing the legs. Soles were pegged on and we boys used to like to watch Enoch Davis and others run the pegs through the mouth, hand, hammer and lips all keeping time.
LAND PLASTER
Before the comparative recent invention of commercial ferti- lizers potatoes were planted on land plaster -ground gypsum. Good crops were produced on it and it was not expensive. It was ground in large quantities at the Berry Mill at Bar Mills and at the Moderation Mill, which the last owner, Howard M. Davis, operated until 1906.
MARKETING
Butchering and marketing supported many more country fami- lies than at the present time. Before the days of sending milk to Boston most of the farmers went to Portland weekly with their stuff and many found a good living picking up cattle, veal and lambs, which were then plenty, along with butter, eggs and produce.
At Thanksgiving and Christmas we all went. The turkey crop was a source of considerable revenue to our people. We backed up our teams where the armory now stands, and it seemed that all Portland came to buy. The horse was put into Holland's baiting stable where we paid ten cents and fed him what we brought from home. We mostly ate lunch out of a butter box filled at home, but some would go to Old Gills and pay fifty cents for dinner. Plenty of meals were served then for a quarter, but it was the custom at that well known place to set big platters of all kinds of meat and fish, steaming hot, right on the table for
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all to help themselves. As the market men had been up since near midnight, driven in the cold ten to twenty miles, sold out, and perhaps taken something for an appetite, it was fortunate for the esteemed William Gill that food was cheap.
Sometimes we went to Gibbs place on Moulton Street. There we got a big chunk of cod, right from the wharf, fried swimming in pork fat that had been trying out all the morning. Fat and scraps were served with the potato and fish, price fifteen cents. Pie and coffee got the bill up to a quarter, but it must be under- stood that we were not constantly as extravagant as that. Mostly we carried our lunches.
VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS
There was much blacksmith work, with slings for cattle at every corner. Wheelwright shops were numerous. Perez Waterman had a water power wheelwright mill at Duck Pond where several men were kept busy. Mention of P. Waterman is a reminder of another sort of job-teaching singing schools. He and Elijah Owen, Orin Berry, Leonard Parkhurst of Gorham, and others did their best at it, but we did not all become singers. However, someone had to see the girls home.
Brice .... Ling must have been a well known trade as shown by so many brick houses in town and that there were good stone masons is shown by the old arch bridge at the foot of what was once known as Deckers Hill, now Owens. England, as seen in illustrations, has many such arch bridges and the trade was evi- dently brought by our English ancestors.
COAT SHOPS
The most important business in Buxton and in quite a part of rural Maine was the manufacture of clothing, then spoken of as sale work. It was started by the late Samuel Hanson of Buxton. He developed a large business and accumulated what was prob- ably the largest fortune ever acquired by any Buxton man from
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BUXTON HIGH SCHOOL, NOW SAMUEL D. HANSON HIGH SCHOOL, BUXTON CENTER. 1912
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business done in town; while better than his financial success was the great love of his townspeople, his kindly personality and sterling character.
From Buxton the business spread over the state. Besides the Hanson shop at Buxton Center there were two at Spruce Swamp (Groveville), one at Clemmons Corner (West Gorham), and two at Gorham Village where Edward Harding, who still lives there, was one of the largest operators in Maine. Coat carts, so-called, from all the shops drove through Buxton and other towns in com- petition for the labor of the families working at the business in their homes, and nearly all were so engaged.
One shop was an exception, as Almon H. Cressey at the Swamp, who did only fine work, confined his business to the shop, where he had from twenty to thirty employees.
Ansel W. Hanson, a native of Buxton and a nephew of Samuel Hanson, has permitted the use of the following extracts from a personal letter.
"With Aunt Alice's death the last one having a personal work- ing knowledge of the very beginning of the coat industry passed away. The first lot of coats came to Buxton in a trunk - from Boston to Portland by boat, to Buxton by team, and grandmother Hanson and her girls made them in the house. Grandfather Hanson was a very skillful tailor and acted as instructor assisted by Aunts Alice and Almira. Later on coats were given to other families to make.
"Meanwhile requests for coats were coming in from all parts of Buxton and from adjoining towns, and uncle Sam thought the outlook sufficiently promising for him to give his whole time to it.
"His brother Ansel bought Elden's store and carried a general line. The name of the village was changed from Elden's Corner to Buxton Center. A room over the store was made into a work shop and the family started what might be called a school in coat making. Later a two story addition was built.
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"Perhaps the coat industry had the most marked influence on the town, lumber coming next. The coat industry gave employ- ment to every member of the family large enough to run a sew- ing machine or pull basting threads. Reuben Murch, the book- keeper, once said he had over 1200 names on the women's ledger.
The business was at the peak I think, about 1865-68. All war contracts were filled and every returning soldier seemed to want all the civilian suits he could pay for. It continued fairly profit- able for some years when cheap colored labor at Baltimore dealt the first blow. That was followed by heavy immigration which the mills could not absorb, and the establishment of sweat shops in New York, Chicago and other large centers. It finally became unprofitable and stopped.
"For years the relation of Samuel Hanson to his help was like that of a father to his family. I think it conservative to say that after he had attained an assured standing in the business world, at least a half of those whose parents had worked for him went out of Buxton backed by his influence or his pocket book, often both. He was glad to have them come to him and it was as much a part of his success as was his wealth.
"A writer on the social conditions of the times stated that Bux- ton had better furnished homes, better schools, better church sup- port than most towns, and more boys and girls given higher edu- cation on account of increased earning capacity afforded by the coat shops."
INDUSTRIES ON THE SACO
Buxton joins Standish, Hollis and Dayton in the villages de- veloped by the water powers. The best account of them is found in The Water Powers of Maine, by Walter Wells, Superintend- ent of the Hydrographic Survey of Maine. This survey was or- dered by the Legislature in 1867, and the report printed in 1869.
The information from Buxton and adjoining towns came from the Selectmen, based upon a survey by Daniel Dennett, Esq., of
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Buxton. Reading this report reminds us that the greatest loss of the Saco Valley was the loss of its great expectations. Until the discovery, within our time, of methods for transmission of electric power it seemed certain that this must become a great industrial section; that business must come to the water power. Now the power is carried to the business and soon a few men with an oil can and a monkey wrench will constitute the only payroll on the upper Saco.
Mr. Dennett reported of Bar Mills: "There are eleven saws capable of sawing at least 11,000,000 feet of lumber. In con- nection with the sawmills are several heading machines and ma- chines for box shook. In addition to the foregoing there are a gristmill and a plaster mill.
Dennett said of Moderation Falls (West Buxton): "Within two miles are two large brickyards. The power is now partly im- proved by two woolen factories, two double sawmills, single and gang saws, capable of 11,000,000 feet annual. There are besides four machines for box shooks, two shingle mills, several heading machines, one grist and one plaster mill." From Bonny Eagle he estimated 5,000,000 feet, and Salmon Falls 4,000,000, mak- ing a total of 31 M. feet to be shipped from the two railroad sta- tions in Buxton. Oxen then furnished the motive power, and it required quite a force of men for driving teams and loading cars.
In addition to the Saco powers he reported two powers at Bog Mills with grist, lath, shingle and furniture mills, and two on Little River -Leavitt's mill, grist, stave and shingle, and Ward's carriage shop. In addition to the above there was once a mill privilege at what was then known as Decker's Hill, now owned by W. C. Waterman, where the ancient arch bridge still stands, and a small power where Perez Waterman had a mill at Duck Pond. There was a sawmill near the mouth of Haines' Meadow Brook before any were erected at Bar Mills or Moderation.
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EARLY PROMINENCE OF BUXTON
The student of local history cannot fail to note the relative importance of Buxton in the early history of Maine.
From a survey of Maine by Moses Greenleaf, 1829, is shown the amount of money raised for the support of schools in 1825:
Population
Raised for Schools
Buxton
2740
$1500
Saco
3000
I 507
Brunswick
3300
I 500
Portland
9890
4000
Gardiner
2600
I 500
Hallowell
3400
I 500
All other towns in the state raised less than $ 1, 500.
The census of 1920 shows that Buxton produced 9,674 bushels of Indian corn which was more than any town except two. Bux- ton grew 3,539 bushels of oats which was more than any other town except one. The town had 528 oxen and only seven towns had 500 or over. In cows, sheep, tons of hay and acres of pas- ture we were among the first.
That old time agricultural census of Maine gives one a most favorable impression of the possibilities of the town for farming. Certainly the town has declined in population, but when we take into account the great decline in industrial pursuits referred to in this article, together with the competition of the cities and the lure of the great country outside our borders, in its remarkable development, perhaps the wonder is that our decline has been no greater.
The same good land is here. Its possibilities, under modern methods, are greater than when our people led the state a hun- dred years ago. We have the best market in the state. The cities of Westbrook, Portland, South Portland, Saco and Bidde- ford and the great summer populations of Scarboro and Old Or-
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chard beaches are all within a radius of ten to fifteen miles. The largest part of Maine's population is next door neighbor to our farms by truck.
Finally, let us comfort ourselves with the thought that we are blessed with conveniences and the things that make life comfort- able, that the old timers never dreamed of.
ITEMS FROM G. T. RIDLON, SR.
In going over our article with this eminent author and Nestor of local historians, he mentioned something that but few re- member. It was the story of Robert and Eben Wentworth of Buxton Center who made the old tall clocks some hundred years ago that are now so much sought by collectors. They made both wood and brass clocks. They had a brass foundry and cast the brass disks which were cut into gear wheels with files, also the ornamental brasses for clocks and furniture. Sleigh bells were cast by them. They were fine cabinet makers, putting rich inlaid work into the cases. The name R. & E. Wentworth was burned into the inside of the cases.
The late E. P. Wentworth, many years Superintendent of the State School for Boys, then known as the Reform School, was the last Buxton representative of that distinguished family, the Royal Governors Wentworth of New Hampshire whose names both Longfellow and Whittier have sung.
THE SIEVE MAKER
A unique trade was that of Sandy Sinkler (Sinclair), the little Scotchman of Salmon Falls, who made hoop and hair meal sieves, then called riddling sieves. Sandy made a discount in price to the buyer whose horse's tail furnished the hair for the sieve.
THE LYCEUM
It has been said that although the present age has more interest in "keeping up with Lizzie," there was a time when our young
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people were much interested in keeping up with Daniel Webster. Oratory and debate have less attraction than in the days when Webster was an inspiration to the boys of New England, although as the debating teams in our colleges continue such interest that the ocean is crossed and Bates of Maine meets Oxford in debate, there is evidence that this important feature of mental develop- ment is being wisely fostered.
There is in Buxton an old book, the first page inscribed with many a flourish and curleycue of ornamental penmanship; giving
RECORDS OF THE BUXTON DEBATING CLUB, BUXTON, ME.,
ORGANIZED SEPT. 24TH, 1851.
Preamble.
Believing as we do that many and great benefits arise from the practice of public speaking, that it increases thought, enlarges the understanding, that it aids materially in disciplining the mind & developing the intellectual powers, that it gives us a more thorough knowledge of ourselves, as of others; and being desirous of avail- ing ourselves of all educational advantages held out to us, we therefore unite under the following
Constitution.
This Society shall be called the Buxton Debating Club.
Five articles of the Constitution and eleven By-Laws follow.
Regardless of its constitutional name it was known as the Spruce Swamp Lyceum. With several breaks and reorganizations, the records continue until 1875 when the organization of Buxton Grange caused the Lyceum to be discontinued.
The first meeting was called to order by P. R. Hall and officers elected as follows:
President T. S. Chase
Vice President T. E. Harmon
Secretary G. C. Brooks
Treasurer
Geo. Carll 2d
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Committee on resolutions: J. A. Harmon, P. R. Hall and C. H. Watts. Voted to have a paper, The Literary Budget, to be con- ducted by the ladies.
Question for discussion at the next meeting: Resolved that the mechanic is of more benefit to the public than the farmer. This question was decided in the negative.
The society held weekly meetings until the following May. The following are some of the questions discussed.
Resolved: That the American Indian is entitled to more sym- pathy than the African Negro or his descendants.
That the present Liquor law of Maine is justifiable and that its enforcement will tend to promote the temperance cause better than any other means. The disputants were G. C. Brooks and Horace Harmon, affirmative, and William Carll and Oliver Lib- by, negative. Decided in the affirmative by a majority of nine.
That the works of nature are more to be admired than the works of art.
The report of the meeting of November 17th reads as follows: Met agreeably to adjournment. , In the absence of Geo. Water- man, C. G. Brooks and William Libby, disputants, the Chair ap- pointed T. S. Chase, J. A. Harmon and P. R. Hall to fill the va- cancies.
Proceeded with the following order of exercises, adopted at the previous meeting, viz. (vide supra). The question, Resolved: That Intemperance is a greater evil than slavery; was decided in the affirmative by the casting vote of the Chair.
Other resolutions through the winter are of interest, showing some of the things people were then thinking about.
Resolved: That the reading of fictitious works injure the mind. Decided in the negative.
That Woman exerts a greater influence over society than man.
That marriage tends to promote the happiness of mankind.
That the liar is worse than the thief.
That dancing is foolish, demoralizing and injurious to health.
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That the rumseller deserves severer punishment than the high- way robber.
In December the following was introduced: Whereas-this Lyceum and its members have been judged by others, self defence and justice demand a reply by the discussion of the following:
Resolved: That the manner in which the religious meetings have been conducted in this vicinity will tend to promote and strengthen their cause. Disputants, Horace Harmon and George Carll, 2d, affirmative; S. D. Hobson and T. E. Harmon, nega- tive. Remarks were made by D. S. Knight, P. R. Hall, William S. Adams and Jonathan Clay. Decision to affirmative.
From February, 1851, to March, 1856, no meetings are re- corded. On March 14th the record says: Members of the Bux- ton Debating Club met and organized a Club for this spring. Lot L. Harmon was made Chairman. (Harmon was in Buxton as a school teacher, later he was Rev. L. L. Harmon, a prominent Free Baptist preacher.)
Andrew Whitney was made President, J. C. Brooks, Secretary.
The question announced for discussion at the next meeting was: That the Liquor Bill reported by Mr. Barnes would be more beneficial than the present Maine Law. Decided in negative.
Mr. L. L. Harmon was assigned to the negative of the ques- tion, but was absent. A story of that time related that he wrote to a deacon of a neighboring town that he would hold divine service with him the following Sunday and wrote to a young lady of the town that he would call on her Saturday evening, but he changed the envelopes, and the result was two embarrassed ex- planations.
Here is a subject that ran two meetings. That the condition of the poorer classes of Europe is more to be deplored than the con- dition of the African slave of the United States. Sometimes the voting was on the merits of the argument, but this was taken on merits of the question with four majority to the negative. That
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ROGERS FIBRE CO., BAR MILLS, ON SACO RIVER
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Town of Buxton, Maine
question has been settled, but the next meeting had one that is still with us.
Resolved that Law ought not always be enforced. The next one may also be still debateable. That a change of affection is not a sufficient cause for a breach of promise. Vote negative.
After May, 1856, no meetings were held until February, 1857, when Daniel Brooks was President; George S. Adams, Vice Pres- ident; John C. Brooks, Secretary; Leonard C. Harmon, Treas- urer; George B. Carll, Horace Harmon, Daniel Brooks, Com- mittee.
The record runs into 1858 when two pages are missing and there is a skip to 1860. In this period some questions of the time came up. Resolved that the Fugitive Slave law is unconstitution- al, inhuman, unjust, and should be forthwith repealed. Voted yes. That the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was just and salutary in its effects. Vote negative by eight majority.
Resolved that the rumseller is a greater curse than the rum drinker. Other topics: dancing, law enforcement, novels, and women.
Records of April, 1860, give Alonzo Strout, President; B. F. Ayer, Secretary. Question: That the acquisition of Cuba would be beneficial to the United States. Affirmative, G. B. Carll, Wil- liam Webster; negative, Horace Harmon, E. H. Norton.
On April 23, 1860, this question, so soon to be submitted to great armies, was taken up. Resolved that the Union ought to be abolished. Also considered the hanging of John Brown.
After a summer vacation the Club met August 11th, 1860. Alonzo Strout, President; John Waterman, Vice President; Os- man Webster, Secretary.
On August 18 discussed this: That the success of the Demo- cratic party would more endanger the Union than the success of the Republicans in the year 1860.
On August 22 more politics; Voted to discuss which of the four political parties is best.
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Douglass Democrat, by D. M. Phillips;
Breckinridge Democrat, T. G. Chase;
Lincoln Republican, J. M. Marshall; Bell Union Party, Horace Harmon.
This was decided in favor of the Douglas Democracy.
Three more evenings were on the burning questions of the day. That no more slave states shall be admitted into the Union. That a dissolution of the Union would be more disastrous to the North than to the South.
On December 21, 1860, they Resolved: That the Constitution of the United States should be so amended that any state can se- cede at the will of her people and with her proportionate division of the public property. Decided in favor of the affirmative by a majority of twenty.
After this amazing action they rested on national affairs and considered the influence of the orator and the poet.
Civil war caused the Lyceum to be discontinued. Regardless of how they voted on dissolving the Union, they fought against it and won. No more meetings were held until October, 1874, when it was revived. L. C. Harmon (Len), was made President ; E. C. Carll, Secretary; Horace Harmon, Elias Sanborn, Samuel A. Hill, Committee.
Rev. W. J. Twort opened the meeting by prayer. Mr. Twort, a young Englishman, was then in the beginning of his career as a great Free Will Baptist minister. He preached several years at the Second Free Will Baptist Church, now vacant. He was one of the founders of Ocean Park. His last ministry was at Haverhill, Mass.
This later Club talked on Capital Punishment, Influence of Women, Evils of Tobacco and Cider, Women's Rights, The com- parative merits of C. Columbus or G. Washington, Whether Pharaoh was justified in his treatment of the Israelites, and others. In a mock trial Luther Waterman defended himself in a breach of promise suit brought by Mrs. Webber (Ed. Webber) ; Robert
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M. Hill for plaintiff, S. A. Hill for defendant. Rev. W. J. Twort, judge presiding.
The last recorded meeting was February 6, 1875, by Albert Murch. Secretary Miss Fannie Waterman is mentioned as at head of a list of Editresses of the Paper. All who now remember the old Lyceum will recall the excellence of her papers. Perhaps Buxton never produced her equal as a scholar. Finishing her ed- ucation in Europe, she made a record as a scholar and a teacher in leading New England schools of which her native town may well be proud.
Of the many names of former residents who took part in the Lyceum some became prominent, and the list is of the character that made New England great. Very few of them now live.
WEST BUXTON LITERARY CLUB
There was for some time a Literary Club at West Buxton com- posed of leading men and women of that part of the towns of Buxton and Hollis. While the Lyceum was for the public, and filled schoolhouse and hall to capacity, the Moderation Society was a select company, meeting in homes.
In 1879 Rev. George W. Howe was President and Charles E. Weld, Esq., the Literary Critic. The winter was devoted to Shakespeare and Scott. It was a most delightful company of people of culture. Squire Weld used to read selections from Burns in a way that Sir Harry Lauder would approve. These, too, are about all gone.
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary INDUSTRIES IN THE TOWN OF BUXTON
BY GEORGE E. SAWYER
Among the many and varied industries of the town of Buxton, for Buxton's early history shows that it was self-supporting, may well be mentioned the footwear of its inhabitants and as a fair sample we will mention the Orin Edgerly Tannery and Shoe Shop.
The tannery was operated by one Joseph Rankin at first and was conveyed to Samuel Edgerly in 1808. This tannery had at least fifteen pits for bark, lime, and other things used in the busi- ness. The barkhouse still stands but the bark grinder has been removed.
All kinds of hides were tanned, including the skins of wood- chucks. The latter being used for lace leather, thongs for snow- shoes and buckskins, which were worn by men at that time as leg boots were unknown, shoes being worn instead.
Samuel Edgerly not only tanned and dressed the leather but made it up for the people, both coarse for the menfolks and also fine for the women and children. The old shop is still standing in which at one time six men were employed. Several of the original shoe benches with tools and the original lasts over which the old style shoes were made, still remain.
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