Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary, Part 2

Author: Ridlon, Gideon Tibbetts, 1841- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Portland, Me., The author
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Maine > Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary > Part 2
USA > New Hampshire > Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary > 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).

PLAISTED FAMILY, 1121

LANE FAMILY, .

873

RANKIN FAMILY, 1123

1.KANITT FAMILY.

881

RENDALL FAMILY.

1 KWIN FAMILY.

REDLAND FAMILY. 112;

LORD FAMILY.

RUMERY FAMILY. 1126

MACARTHUR FAMILY,

SANDS FAMILY.

1133

MACDONALD FAMILY,

SAWYER FAMILY. 1137

MANSFIELD FAMILY. 901

SHIRLEY FAMILY. 1146

MANSON FAMILY, 902

SMITH FAMILY. . 1147

MARR FAMILY, .

:03

SPRING FAMILY, 1150

MARTIN FAMILY,

STACKPOLE FAMILY. 1152

AH KENNKY FAMILY. 913

STANLEY FAMILY. 1153

MEANS FAMILY. .

STAPLES FAMILY. 1159

NEEDS AND MIKADS.

925

STEELK FAMILY. 1160

MESERVE FAMILY.

SWAN FAMILY. . 116]

MERRILL FAMILY. 930

SYMONDS FAMILY. 1162

MERRIFIELD FAMILY. 226

SAUNDERS FAMILY, 1162

MILLIKEN FAMILY.

TIBRETTS FAMILY, 1162

MITCHELL FAMILY. 106

TOWNSEND FAMILY. . 1168

MONEN FAMILY. . 1070

TOMPSON FAMILY. 1174

MULVEY FAMILY. 1074

TOWLE FAMILY. . 1177

NAKON FAMILY, . 1074

TRUR FAMILY. 1181

NEWBEGIN FAMILY. . 1028

TYLER FAMILY. . 1184

NORTON FAMILY. 10×3

USHER FAMILY. . 1187

O'BRIEN FAMILY. 1086

VAUGHAN FAMILY. 1192

UNGOOD FAMILY. 1087

WAKEFIELD FAMILY. 1196

J'ARKER FAMILY, 1000

WALKER FAMILY. 119G

PATTERSON FAMILY. 10.7

WARREN FAMILY. 1109

PRANK FAMILY. . 1102

WATTS FAMILY. . 120%

PENNELL FAMILY, 11033

WENTWORTH FAMILY, 1209

PENDENTER FAMILY. 1107

WOODSUM FAMILY. 1208

PIKE FAMILY, 1119

YOUNG FAMILY. . 1218

List of Illustrations.

PLATE VIEWS.

PAGE

MEMORIALS OF THE SOKOKIS INDIANS. 20

SACO FORT (1696), 33

BLOCK-HOUSE, 36

THE HOME OF BROTHER HUNCHCOME, 256 SAL SINGLETON'S QUILTING PARTY, 430

CLOCK-REEL AND SPINNEY,

BOOTHBY HALL, 467 .

FINE OLD DISHES,

MOUNT EDGCUMRE,

636

CARDING AND SPINNING,

MILLIKEN HOUSE,

959

PORTRAITS.

PAGE

. PAGE

G. T. RIDLON, SR. (Frontispiece)

LANCASTER HODGES

152

PROF. WILLIAM C. LARRABEE, LL. D., . 849 PROF. WILLIAM H. LARRABEE, LL. D., . 851

GEN. DANIEL BEAN AND WIFE,

460

REV. SAMUEL BOOTHBY, 490

CAPT. CHARLES W. BOOTHBY, . 497

PHILIP J. LARRAREE, ESQ., 855

SETH L. LARRAREE, EsQ., . 858

MANSON G. LARRABEE, 861

COL. STEPHEN BOOTHBY, .

505

HON. ROSWELL C. BOOTHBY, 507

EUGENE L. BOOTHBY, M.D., 509

WARREN C. BULLOCK, 548

LIEUT. JOHN H. CAME, 554

JOSEPH L. MILLIKEN, .

1014

GEORGE CARLL,

563

PELETIAH CARLL,

563

HON. JAMES A. MILLIKEN, HON. SETH L. MILLIKEN, .

. 1015

HON. WILLIAM G. DAVIS, . 601

CAPT. JAMES EDGECOMB AND WIFE, 660

WESTON F. MILLIKEN,

1017

WILLIAM H. MILLIKEN,

1018

EDWIN F. EDGECOMB, . 675

CAPT. NOAH HALEY, .

712

HON. ISAAC T. HORSON,

732

HON. SAMUEL D. HOBSON,

735

SETH M. MILLIKEN, 1021

1052

PHINEAS H. INGALLS, M.D.,

757

FRED E. MILLIKEN, 1053

1054

HON. WILLIAM LARRABEE,

794

GEORGE H. LARRABEE, M.D., . 804

HON. ELIAS MILLIKEN, GEORGE H. MILLIKEN, HON. JOHN D. MILLIKEN, .

1063

EPHRAIM LARRABEE, . 819

HON. CHARLES H. LARRABEE, . 831

REV. THOMAS G. MOSES,

1074

HON. WILLIAM F. LARRABEE, . 836

PROF. JOHN A. LARRABEE, M.D.,

837

ELIAS H. NEWBEGIN, .

1082

EUGENE S. PENDEXTER.

1116

JOHN H. LARRABEE, M.D .. 838

HON. JESSE LARRABEE,

842

ALONZO BOOTHBY. M.D . . CHARLES H. BOOTHBY, ESQ., 502

501

WILLIAM P. MERRILL, 943

JOHN B. MERRILL,

946

EDWARD F. MILLIKEN, 965

CHARLES H. MULLIKEN, 082

SAMUEL E. MILLIKEN, M.D.,

987

HON. DANIEL L. MILLIKEN, 1002

1016

CHARLES R. MILLIKEN, 1019

GEORGE MILLIKEN, 1020

CAPT. ADAM LARRABEE, .

793

HON. DENNIS L. MILLIKEN,

1056

FLANDERS NEWBEGIN, 1081

LARRABEE HOMESTEAD,

792

COLONIAL RELICS,

PAGE

PLAN OF FRYEBURG, . 153 .

ASHBURN HALL

468

A BUSY FAMILY,

HON. JAMES M. LARRABEE, 854

GEORGE H. BOOTHBY, . 500

The Saro River.

Forth from New Hampshire's granite steeps Fair Saco rolls in chainless pride, Rejoicing as it laughs and leaps Down the gray mountain's rugged side ; The stern, rent crags and tall, dark pines Watch that young pilgrim passing by, While calm above them frowns or shines The black, torn cloud, or deep blue sky.

Soon, gathering strength, it swiftly takes Through Bartlett's vales its tuneful way,

Or hides in Conway's fragrant brakes, Retreating from the glare of day ; Now, full of vigorous life, it springs From the strong mountain's circling arms,

And roams in wide and lucid rings Among green Fryeburg's woods and farms.

Here with low voice it comes and calls For tribute from some hermit lake; And here it wildly foams and falls, Bidding the forest echoes wake: Now sweeping on, it runs its race By mound and mill in playful glee;

Now welcomes with its pure embrace The vestal waves of Ossipee. - James G. Lyons. EATHEN NATIONS have worshiped rivers as divine and with offerings of wealth have sought to propitiate their seeming wrath. Along these mighty water-ways, which are the life-giving arteries of Nature's system, the most remarkable events in the world's history have transpired. Guided by the course of rivers the early explorers found their way, and along their borders the tide of immigration has been directed. From the mountains through which, with the unyielding axe of ages, they have cut a highway, deposits are conveyed to enrich the valleys below; they bring man food from the resources of the hills, and by com- merce, from lands afar. By their unceasing flow they have leveled the land where the skill of human engineers would prove unavailing.

How unequally puny man, with all his art, contends with the mighty force of rivers ! Increasing in volume, they npheave and bear away the most solid masonry; being diminished, they obstinately refuse to carry the burdens imposed upon them. Although man has harnessed the untamed waters to the chariot wheels of industry, and has made them, like an enslaved Samson,

THE SACO RIVER.

"grind at the mill." yet, when detained too long in artificial channels, they break down all barriers and rush with impetuous fury to the lower levels of their natural pathway.

With what various changes of aspect gfeat rivers proceed on their way! Now trembling, foaming, and roaring in mad haste over the uneven pavement of the ragged defiles from which they emerge to pass with grand and meas- ured sweep between the alluvial intervales below. We observe the tortuous rapids, the clinging curves with which the passing waters embrace each jutting boulder, and the gentle transition to calm repose as they reach the unob- structed channel, and, like heated coursers flecked with foam, pass into the cooling eddies for rest.

To the beholder of natural phenomena there is a common propensity to invest moving water with the conscious power of feeling, while, to the thought- ful observer, it is impressively suggestive of lessons which involve the issues of human life. There is the natural effect of impending ruin, desperate resolution, andl fearful agony. When nearing the falls the waters become visibly agitated and seem to struggle backward in the extremity of fear before being hurled into the abyss below. Approaching the narrow gorge with its towering walls of granite upon which the sentinel pines lean forward to watch the coming conflict, the contracted stream, like a column of armed men, closes ranks for the final charge against the opposing bulwark. And the rocks mid- stream, that rise above the surface, seem to be tortured with supernatural dread and tling back with giant force the menacing waters.

Should the venturesome observer find a foothold upon the shelving ledge, and gaze downward upon the dark and impenetrable waters, he will be oppressed with a sense of profound gloom ; an unexplainable dread seizes upon him, an unearthly shudder passes over him. At a distance the river has the appearance of a corrugated band of silver laid down in the rocky chasm.

There are few rivers in New England that present a greater variety of formation along their borders, few environed by natural scenery more pictur- esque and beautiful, than the Saco. Its course downward from the mountains to the sea is marked by a succession of rapids of remarkable violence which alternate between the cataract, the whirlpool, and the deep, dark eddy.

How often, when sitting upon the mossy bank under the whispering pines. watching the ceaseless, unwearied flow of this stream, have we asked. " Ancient and majestic river, when and where hadst thou birth?" If invested with the power of articulate speech we might have heard thee respond in the language of sacred story: " Before Abraham was I am."

What mean those writers of European history who designate our continent as the "New World." and who beast that we have no antiquity! Had they perused the records out in our tables of stone, they would have learned that we have foundations as ancient as their own. What is the age of ivy-grown

THIE SACO RIVER.

cathedral, or crumbling stones of feudal fortress, when compared with the awful pillared structures reared by the architect of the eternal hills, or when measured by the vast chronology of creation! Storied Saco! Long before the yellow moccasin of the stealthy red man had pressed thy banks, or ever Naaman had bathed in the healing waters of Jordan; antecedent to the day when the bullrush basket containing the infant law-giver of Israel had been laid beside the sacred Nile, or the pyramids were founded; ere Noah had laid the keel of his ark, or Abel had offered sacrifice; aye, when the streams of Eden flowed through a sinless world and watered the gardens of Paradise, this unknown river of the Western hemisphere was cradled in the cloud-curtained security of the templed hills, baptized by the rain-giving heavens, and kissed by the benignant sunshine; yea, had marshalled its forces behind the embat- tled terraces of the north, forced a passage through the granite gateway of the mountains, and in the majesty of its strength had swept down from the table- lands on its hastening march to the ocean, demanding tribute from a hundred subordinate streams, unchallenged and unhindered. Upon these passing waters the leaves of unnumbered centuries had fallen, and the giant oak, conservatory of its own unquestioned chronology, had reached forth its wide- spreading arms and dropped its annual acorns into these uncrediting waters.

Across the placid coves the swimming otter wove his chevroned wake and reached his subterranean cell unharmed. Upon the untitled meadows the beaver, guided by nature's unerring law, summoned his industrious artisans and built the dome-like huts of his populous hamlet undisturbed. Into the miniature harbors the decorous wild goose convoyed his feather-plated fleet, and cast anchor for the night under the shelter of the woodland bank. Unheard by human ear, the clatter of the wandering kingfisher reverberated above the roaring waterfall, while the red-deer dipped his antlers, and cooled his flanks, in the shadowy coves. When darkness fell, the ambling bear came down the hank to drink; the lonely serenade of the loon mingled with the plaintive note of wakeful night bird, and the alternating scream of panther and howl of wolf passed as a challenge across the unhumanized solitudes from mountain to valley. While the graceful foliage of the overhanging hemlock was reflected upon the unruffled waters from above, the opulent cowlily launched her golden boat below. Upon the mossy log by the riverside the male grouse beat his rumbling reveille, while his mottled consort brooded her young upon the nest of pine boughs near at hand. Here, the graceful squirrel chattered as glee- fully to his mate as now; here, upon the spruce limb, he arranged his morning toilet and dropped his nutshell into the passing current; here, unheard by man, the multitude of birds sang the same measures carolled on creation's morn, and skimmed, on shining wing, the glimmering waters of the restless river.

In these vast solitudes nature's grand cathedral, whose terraced walls were the created masonry of the granite hills, whose lofty towers were the

THE SCO RIVER.

storm-splintered pinnacles that pierced the clouds, whose pillared aisles were capitaled and architraved with foliage work more exquisitely beautiful than marble touched by Grecian sculptor's chisel, whose organ notes were the voice of many waters that rose and swelled like the chorus of some mighty orchestra, softened and subdued by the mingling music of the chanting pines in the arboreal galleries above, had been erected.

Here, in the deep primeval forest, the brave aboriginal inhabitants searched for those medicinal treasures stored in the pharmacy of nature, and from these compounded the curative preparations for which the tribe has long been renowned. Here, upon the river bank, the Sokokis built his bark wigwam, upon these waters he propelled his beaded canoe of birch with noiseless pad. die of ash, and in the pellucid depths saw the reflection of his dusky form.

The adventuresome Vikings, reared in a land indented with intersecting vous, when they discovered our rivers upon which the tide ebbed and flowed. supposed them to be channels leading through the continent to some western sea, and with the contempt of danger and ambition for exploration charac- teristic of their race, boldly entered some of these broad estuaries in their long. narrow galleys and were soon astonished to find themselves confronted by a frowning waterfall. So the early mariners, who felt their way around our New England coast, and entered the mouths of our streams, sailed not far before having encountered impassable barriers. How true was this of the Saco! The topography of the country traversed by this river seemed designed to constitute it a chain of water powers nearly its entire length, and some of the most valuable of these are close to the seashore, linked with navigation.

The voices of the inland waterfalls were invitations to the enterprising colonists to arise and build; they told of latent power that might be used for the good of the inhabitants, and they were not long allowed to remain unim- proved. But for these mill privileges what might have been the condition of the Saco valley to-day! To them the thriving villages, the broad farms, and the populous towns, owe their existence. Along the banks by the trail of red man the millwright penetrated the timber-abounding forest: upon some ledige above the wasted waters he stood and formed his ideal of the initiatory foundation from which the mills and hamlets arose: and soon the workman's shout, the mallet stroke, and the ringing saw were heard about the falls. Houses were erected for the mill-men and a mansion for the owner; fields along the rich intervales expanded into broad and smiling farms, and thus our early settlements grew. Great boats were built with which to float the wares down the river, and noble oxen, tugging at the bow, moved the odorous lum- ber from the mill-house to the landings.

Gradually, but firmly, the materialized wave of settlement moved inland, up stream, and spread itself along the Ossipees, tributaries of the Saco, and from valley to valley, until cosy homes, surrounded by fruitful farms, nestled under the shadows of the granite hills of the north.

THIE SACO RIVER.

Science has found no golden key by which the phenomenal mystery involved in the movement of water within and upon the surface of the earth can be unlocked; this is one of Nature's secrets which she declines to unfold. Regulated by its own peculiar law, the floods of water obey their Creator's behest with as much regularity as do the bodies of the planetary system. But we are often led to inquire how the great reservoirs, elevated upon mountains, from which the rivers rise, are supplied with water. Some of these are supported at such altitudes that the law of gravity has no discovered part in filling them, and no season's rainfall could replenish them. Somewhere under the earth's crust, unheard by mortal ear, some potent enginery is forcing the water uphill into these mountain ponds, from whence they are thrown down into the river and carried to the exhaustless ocean.

In our Saco river we find a remarkable example of this action of water. Taking its rise from Saco pond, which is nearly 2,000 feet above the sea level, it drains the southwestern district of the White Mountains. The small stream passes through the Notch, falling 600 feet in the first three miles, and nearly as much more in the next nine miles. Along this distance it flows between lofty mountains, walled in by solid granite. At the west line of Bartlett the Saco is 745 feet above the ocean. In the next eight miles, to the mouth of Ellis river, its descent is abouty thirty feet to the mile. At the line between Maine and New Hampshire, the water of the Saco is elevated 400 feet above the high tide level.

The course of the Saco spans a distance of about 140 miles; it is a rapid and remarkably clear stream. Its head is in the western pass of the White Hills, while the Ellis river, which forms a considerable tributary of the Saco, rises in the eastern pass. After flowing in a southeast course for about thirty miles, receiving several streams on its way, it enters Maine across the line between Conway and Fryeburg; then, as if something had been forgotten and left behind, turns north and runs in that direction about fifteen miles, when Cold river pours its crystal and refreshing tribute into the wandering stream. The Saco then turns in a southerly direction, forming a great bend, and sepa- rates the towns of Brownfield and Denmark. In Fryeburg the river runs thirty miles and has formed, where once there was evidently a great lake, extensive and very productive intervales. In all this distance it progresses but four miles on an air line, thus forming a natural curiosity that has excited the wonder of many a visitor. In 1817 and 1818 a canal three miles in length was cut across about four miles below the extremity of the curve, which laid the river bed above entirely dry. Lovewell's pond, through which the Indians used to pass when journeying up and down the Saco, lies three miles below the canal. This whole district was early known as the Pequawket country. From this point, the river runs sixty miles in a southeasterly direction before its waters mingle with the tide. At the Great Falls in Hiram the stream plunges down seventy- two feet.

THE Sto RIPER.

Thirty miles from its mouth, the Great Ossipee contributes one-third of the Sun's water, this stream issues from Ossipee pond, eighteen miles Westward. Between this point at Cornish, and the incoming of the Little Ossipee at lamington, Steep Falls, twenty feet in descent, are formed. Passing onward to Bonnie Lagle Falls it then rushes madly down through a rock-walled channel to Moderation Falls, Bar Mills, and Salmon Falls, where it plunges down, boiling, roaring through a narrow defile cut deep in the solid rock. Below are Union Falls, thence the river descends to the head of Saco Falls. where it is divided by Indian Island, and on either side falls over a precipice forty two feet and mingles with the salt water of the bay. The view of the cataract on the Saco side is majestic and grand.

Sico river is greatly disturbed by freshets. The water frequently rises ten feet, and has reached the height of twenty-five feet, resulting in a great destruction of property along its entire course. In 1775 a stream called New river broke out of the White Mountains and discharged into the Ellis river: thence into the Saco, which was so enormously swollen by this avalanche of waters that mills, bridges, large quantities of lumber, and many domes- tic animals were swept away. Very destructive freshets occurred in 1814. when saw mills and bridges were taken bodily from their foundations and cartted down the mighty current. Again in 1843 there was a memorable rise in the river which nearly cleared its banks of mills, houses, and lumber. Some of the saw mills, chained to sturdy old oaks upon the bank, were car- ried away, the heavy chains being torn in pieces by the resistless flood.

Although the lands adjacent to the river have been nearly denuded of the grand old pines that once grew there, the lumbermen land their logs upon the banks, and the stream is the great highway, or rather water-way. over which the brawny, blue-shirted river-men "drive" them to the mills below.

Who that spent their early years on the Saco, that has fished along its banks, sailed upon its surface, bathed in its eddies, or listened to its murmur, can cease to look back with pleasure to those careless, happy days?

" Itail: haif again, my native stream. scene of my boyhood's earliest dream ! With solitary step once more I tread thy wild and sylvan shore. And pause at every turn to gaze t muin thy dark, meandering maze. What though obscure the woody source. What though amming the humble round ; What it no lofty, classic mame Gives to thy pouceful waters fame. stillean thy rural haunts impart A solace to this chastened heart."

The dothite Mountains.

HE "White Hills" are the birthplace of the infant Saco, and through their narrow gateway the tiny stream emerges into the warming sunshine and the "open ground." We have only sacred chronology by which to estimate the age of these North American pyramids, and no means of knowing when they were first seen by white men. In 1631 Thomas Eyre, one of the New Hampshire patentees, forwarded a letter to Ambrose Gibbons containing the following statement: " By the bark Warwick we send you a factor to take charge of the trade goods; also a sol- dier for discovery." Some of the early writers assumed that this "soldier" was one Darby Field, an Irishman, who discovered the White Mountains in 1632. This view is now discredited. The first successful attempt to ascend the mountains was made in 1642.

In his history of New England, Winthrop says, "One Darby Field, an Irish- man, living about Piscataquack, being accompanied by two Indians, went to the top of the White hill. He made the journey in eighteen days." Here we find ourselves on solid ground where tradition and history are in agreement. Darby Field was a real explorer, and left numerous descendants who settled on the bank of the river along whose course he made his way from Saco to the base of the mountains ; and these related again and again the story of their ances- tor's adventures at their fireside. He lived at Oyster river, or Dover, and on his return from his journey to these "crystal hills," he related that the distance from Saco was about one hundred miles, and we assume that he followed the river valley from that place. After forty miles' travel they found the ground to be ascending nearly all the way; and when twelve miles from the summit, found no tree nor herbage, but "low savins, " which in places they were enabled to walk upon. Their course up the steep ascent was along a ridge, between two valleys filled with snow, out of which two branches of the Saco issued, meeting at the foot of the hill, where they found an Indian town with about two hundred souls therein.

Another party, conducted by Richard Vines and Thomas Georges ascended the mountain. These also reported the existence of the Indian village on the bank of the Saco. From this settlement they ascended in wooded lands some thirty miles ; then upon shattered rocks without trees or grass about seven miles. These explorers reported a plain at the top of the mountain with an area of three

of four miles, covered with stones, upon this plateau rose a pinnacle about a mike in height, with a nearly level plain upon its summit from which " four great rivers look their rise." These men seem to have been bewildered by the grandeur of the spectacle and their vision became perverted.

In a book published in 1672, entitled " New England Rarities Discovered, " is an account of the discovery of the White Mountains in which exaggeration ran wild. Glowing descriptions of precious stones found there were given, and among the wonderful things enumerated that had been discovered were " sheets of muscova glass" forty feet long. The mountains were said to cover one hundred leagues in extent.

A party of explorers ascended the highest peak in 1725, and another in 1786. The last party was alarmed by what appeared to be the constant report of muskets but by investigation they learned that the noises were produced by stones falling over a precipice.

The " Notch" was discovered by a hunter named Timothy Nash, in 1771. This pioneer had retired from the settlements and made him a habitation in the wilderness. As the tradition runs, he climbed a tree upon one of the mount- ain sides to look for large game when he saw this defile south of him. He descended at once and turned his steps in that direction, passing through the granite gateway on his way to Portsmouth. In an interview with Gov. Went- worth he described to him what he had discovered, but His Excellency discred- ited the report. As Nash constantly and seriously affirmed that his statement was strictly true, the curiosity of the Governor was excited, and to test the veracity of his visitor he promised that. if he would bring him a horse through this mountain pass from Lancaster, he should be rewarded with a grant of land He was assured by Nash that this feat could and would be accom- plished : then he turned his steps northward. Securing the services of another bold spirit. Benjamin Sawyer, the two lowered the horse down over a precipice by a rope, and delivered him safe and sound at Portsmouth.

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Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary, Part 2

Author: Ridlon, Gideon Tibbetts, 1841- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Portland, Me., The author Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Ridlon, Gideon Tibbetts, 1841- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Portland, Me., The author
Number of Pages: 1424