Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary, Part 23

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 23
USA > New Hampshire > Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary > Part 23

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).

To other deserted farms we wended our way by stern ascent and slippery steeps; we paused about the voiceless remains of once comfortable homes, where the loving mother ceased not for many a year to sing her soothing lullaby, from the advent of her first-born to the last babe that climbed from the cradle. Upon these cold hearth-stones the cheerful evening fire-light daneed about the room and threw its mellow rays through the little windows to lure the passing traveler to a seat with the family group. To these homes among the hills Death found his way, and his captives lie imprisoned in.clus- ters of graves found in field and pasture. While meditating upon the times when these houses were standing we were impressed with the thought that here hope had birth and was cherished for a time, but grew feeble and died like those in whose breasts it had been kindled. Over these concave door- stones the weary farmer came to his noontide meal and for his nightly rest ; in the door-way he gazed upon the sombre hills that towered in rugged grand- eur around his humble home; here he watched the cloudy chariots of the storm as they were driven over the ragged pinnacles and listened to the thun- der-tread of the marshaled hosts that were swayed by the battle shock of the contending elements of the air, and shielded his dazzled eyes with outspread hand when the blood-red spears of light were hurled across the gloomy heav- ens; here the father fondled the sportive child upon his knee and looked down the pathway of time to the day when he might see it in dignified maturity. Upon these hard aeres the "struggle for existence " went on as the years flew past ; the cares, the sorrows, the heart-aches, the withering hand of disease did their inscrutable work and laid the parents' heads in their rock-bound graves; upon these the sons and daughters looked for a time, then turned away from the place of their nativity to seek a livelihood in the great, teeming world of chance.

It is only a question of brief time and these once productive farms, where nestled peaceful homes, will become covered with the aggressive for- ests, and the subdued verdure of field and pasture will give place to rank weeds and underwood.

We will now ask the reader to make a mental perambulation of the town to survey the numerous localities where some of the early settlers laid down their hearth-stones, but where the fires were long ago extinguished. Our

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starting point shall be the "old red mill," near the homestead of the late Caleb Clemons. Near by, on the Samuel Clemons place, lived Capt. John Lane, one of the three famous brothers from Buxton who commanded as many compa- nies in the war of the Revolution, in 1777. Not many years ago the cellar was washed away by the river. Passing over the railroad and up the steep ascent by the brook-side, we are near the site of John Ayer's mill, built about 1785. On the left-hand side of the road, about sixty rods below the house of Joshua R. Ridlon, we pass the cellar where once stood the house of William Brown, son of Moody Brown, the soldier of the Revolution, who was in the war of 1812. Proceeding northwesterly about fifty yards we may view the spot where John Ridlon once kindled his morning fire; thence onward around the foot- hill we pass, on the northwest side of the road, a spot on which the house of Abel Robbins stood. We have now reached the brow of the hill and see the ruins of the once extensive farm buildings of Capt. Artemas Richardson, on land owned about 1790 by John Clemons, recently the property of Caleb Clemons. Following down the hill on the line of an old road, and through a thick wood, we emerge upon the edge of the bush-grown field once plowed by James Eastman, the veteran soldier, of whom mention is previously made; thence onward to the spot where Elder James Fly used to spread his spiritual wings at his family altar and soar heavenward. His swarm of young Flys were named Abigail, Nancy, Eunice, Eliza, and James. As we proceed westward we shall stand by the caved-in cellar where Nathaniel Williams stored his winter supply of Shenangos, and about whose door-stone played his olive- plants, Joseph, Lavina, Aaron, Eli, Nathaniel, Lucy, and Eliza. Following on northwest we approach the Col. Aldric Clemons farm, where is the cellar dug by his father, Eli P., and the site of the early cabin built by his grandfather, John, Sr., 1780.

We have now reached the present road that passes through the " Notch " between the mountains, and will bear toward the northeast along the borders of the pretty Clemons ponds. Our first pause will be beside the old founda- tion of Fred. Howard's chimney, which will be on our right hand. We hasten past the blackened ruins of the recently burned Adams house, and reach the spot where Joseph Howard once domiciled; this is on the right side of the highway, and a little way farther east may be seen the spot where one New- comb, as a new-comer, sat down by his hearth-stone. Proceeding on our way toward the railway crossing we pass, on the left, the cellar where John Pierce, son of John and Rebecca, stored his "garden sarse" and barrel of pork.

Near the Spring schoolhouse we will turn abruptly southwest, and on our way to the hill upon which Darius Lewis now lives shall pass, on the right, the spot where Jonathan K. Lowell roasted potatoes and husked corn. About a half mile west from the dwelling of Darius Lewis was the cellar where Mar- shall Lewis, who was killed in the war of 1812, settled. From the junction

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of the roads here we follow the route leading back toward Joshua R. Ridlon's and pass, on our left, the site of a house owned by Richard Heath (?). Close to James Ridlon's road we may pause and meditate on retrospective lines where Moses Lowell once ate his breed and cheese; and on the hill-side, some distance back from the road, in a northerly direction, will be found the place where John and David Tyler pillowed their weary heads long ago. Between the residence of Llewellyn A. Wadsworth, Esq., and the road leading from the Spring schoolhouse to that of Darius Lewis, was the cellar of Daniel E. Cross, a Revolutionary soldier, who sold to Capt. Thomas Spring in 1794. On the farm of Squire Wadsworth, a little below the house, is the spot where Daniel Boston built a house and carried the clay for mortar to build the chim- ney on his back in a basket from Saco river up the steep, long hill. He was one of the assessors in 1806. Only a few rods north we find indications of a house lot, and learn that Royal Boston once lived here. Westerly stood the house of William Morey. About a quarter of a mile east, now in the forest, may be very distinctly seen the foundation of a log-house, in which Winthrop Boston lived. On John H. Spring's place, still farther east, was once the habitation of Capt. Edmund Skillings.

We have now once more reached the road leading from the red mill to Joshua R. Ridlon's, and will climb the hill to the road corner near the Joshua Robbins house. Turning to the left we wind down the hill to the dismantled homestead where Lemuel Cotton lived. Looking up across the fields we see the spot where William Cotton, the old soldier, had his fields. Following along the line of an old discontinued road that was once the principal thoroughfare to Saco river, we come suddenly upon a clearing that is hemmed in on every side, where two early settlers had built their cabins; the first was where one Marriner cast anchor on dry land, and the stones of his chimney and the base logs of his house could still be seen. Just across the brook, upon a knoll, Benjamin Boston once smoked his pipe and toasted his shins.

We must now retrace our steps to the road near the red mill. Passing southeast down river, through the present village, we reach the place where Daniel Foster built his cabin and where he died in 1782. A little way down the river bank is the spot where Lieut. Benjamin Ingalls, the first settler, planted his home in the wilderness, say 1774. Between these last mentioned sites and the great fall, we pass the grave of Foster, who died first of the early settlers. We will now turn westward, and as we enter the road leading from the river-side over the hills to South Hiram, we shall pass, on the left, the old cellar-hole where Daniel Hickey once rattled his hoe among the stones; he had seen hard service in the Revolution, and with General Wadsworth was taken prisoner at Bagaduce, in 1781 ; a son of old Erin. When we reach the Wadsworth mansion, near where the old road came out from Benjamin Boston's, we may look upon the spot where William Pierce, son of John and Rebecca,

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who came from Baldwin, once lived. Over the long hill by the Capt. Samuel Wadsworth farm we pass, on our left, the spot where John Clemons sat down as early as 1790; and farther west, the cellars of George Hodgdon (still living), of Simon Brown, and of Moses and Aaron Gould, from whom the name "Gould place," was derived. There are some old graves in the forest near, where trees nearly a century old are growing, but the names of those buried there are unknown. A short distance southeast we stop at the old homestead where the Chase family, represented in Cornish, Baldwin, Standish, and Limington, have their annual reunions. Here also we find the cellar of James Dyer, a descendant of the Cape Elizabeth family, who was in the 1812 war, and another, where John and Charles Wentworth once lived.

Turning about, we proceed easterly toward Hiram Falls, and find, not far back from the river road, the cellar over which the house of Aaron Rand once stood. In the glen, westerly, Henry W. Barnes once lived. On the road from Hiram Falls to Cornish there is an old cellar where a red rose blooms annually, but no one can tell who lived there. Below are cellars where John Fly, William Gray, and John McLucas once settled. Some distance west of the last named, there are three or four old cellars, where several of the McLucas family lived; now there is no house in the neighborhood.

Carly Hills and Lumbermen.

OW shall I provide food for my family? This question was forced upon the attention of every pioneer; it involved the success or failure of his undertaking ; if it could be answered practically, hope was inspired and the arm invigorated for labor. The rivers and lakes were crowded with fish, the forests abounded with game, and mother earth was only waiting to be groomed with the plow and harrow to furnish a rich harvest of bread corn for the household.

One of the important adjuncts of the log-house was the samp-mill, other- wise the sweep and mortar. The first corn harvests were gathered from the burnt ground and reduced to coarse meal, called " samp," by this rude instru- ment. A venerable mother, whose years had nearly spanned a century, remarked that as soon as her father had made his log-house comfortable he made an excellent samp-mill, and that they often stood in the low door-way and saw women, their distant neighbors, coming through the beaten woodland paths with their aprons full of corn which they wished to crush for dinner. "And we gals used to enjoy listening to the boom of the old pounder."

To construct a samp-mill a large, hard-wood tree was cut off some dis- tance from the ground and the stump hollowed out with augurs, gouges, and hot stones until it had a capacity for a half-bushel of corn. About twenty feet distant a tall, forked post was firmly planted in the ground, at the top of which, connected by a strong hinge-pin, was a long, vibrating sweep; and from the small end of this was perpendicularly suspended a heavy pounder, called the "pestle," which was armed with a long handle so adjusted that two per- sons, one on either side, could work it up and down. The corn was poured into the capacious mortar and by a somewhat rapid succession of strokes, the momentum being accelerated by the rebounding sweep, the grain was crushed and prepared for the sieve of the waiting housewife. Although it required considerable muscular exertion to operate the sweep and mortar, it was a primitive necessity found useful in bridging the chasm between an empty meal-chest and a distant corn-mill.

A well-constructed samp-mill was often kept going, by the associated set- tlers, from the early morning till the sun went down, and its booming echo drove every wild beast to his lair in the far-away forest. In the absence of the men, robust mothers and their buxom daughters often worked at the sweep-

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handles, their toil accompanied by cheerful songs, and their cheeks made warm and ruddy by the healthful exercise.

But in a few years the increasing number in the household demanded a dwelling of more ample dimensions, the expanding grass fields and multiply- ing heads of live stock larger barns and out-buildings, and there must be some cheaper materials provided for building, as well as more practical methods for preparing their abundant grain crops for the table. These pressing needs of the pioneer proved to be the precursors of the first saw-mills and grist-mills in the colonies.

The early records indicate when and where the first mills were erected and set running. Saw-mills driven by water-power were in successful opera- tion in New England more than thirty years before an attempt was made to build one in the mother country. In a deposition by Francis Small when he was sixty-five years of age, Sept. 8, 1685, he states that he had lived in New England upwards of fifty-five years, and well remembers that Capt. John Mason sent into this country eight Danes to build mills, to saw timber, and to make potash ; that the first saw-mill and corn-mill in New England was erected at Captain Mason's plantation at " Newichawanock " upwards of fifty years before, where also was a large house. This saw-mill was built in 1631, and the corn-mill a few years afterwards. In 1632 a windmill was removed from Watertown to Boston, and that year a small vessel was dispatched from the settlement on the Piscataqua with sixteen hogsheads of corn to be ground there. Windmills were not superseded by water-power for many years, for in 1661 the selectmen of Strawberry Bank granted liberty to Captain Pendleton "to set up his windmill on Fort Point toward the beach, because the mill is of such use to the people."

From the time when the mills at Newichawannock, now on Salmon Falls river, had proved a success, petitions poured into the General Court, and into the hands of the local authorities, asking for privileges for running saw-mills and grist-mills; and from 1632 to 1732, a period of one hundred years, men- tion is made in early records of more than fifty saw-mills and twenty corn-mills within the present bounds of York county, Maine.

While these mills were first built to meet a requirement of the settlers, who contributed quite liberally of their money, grain, or labor for their con- struction, they soon multiplied for more mercenary reasons. The old docu- ments bear evidence to the fact that many of the first inhabitants in New England were adventurers looking for opportunities to embark in any enter- prise that promised a reasonable return for money invested. Some of these were men of education, possessed of considerable means and great business energy, to whom the old forest monarchs, that had stood the shock of our Atlantic tempests for centuries, became an irresistible temptation; indeed, these were so attractive that some of the learned clergy, who had been sent

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over to look after the spiritual welfare of their countrymen in the New World, became worldly minded as they went to meditate under the shade of the pine trees, laid aside their robes, and became builders and owners of lumber-mills ; a profitable "side-line" where they had no organized parish.

Many of the early merchants who came here to engage in trade with the settlers, to exchange English goods for peltry, soon went head-over-heels into the lumbering business.

In many instances when the General Court granted mill privileges they generously attached a valuable slice of timber land to "furnish said mill withal"; and in view of the practise of modern politicians, who advocate the doctrine that "to the victors belong the spoils," we are forced to inquire if these early guardians of the colonial domain received financial perquisites from their humble petitioners which made them more liberal of the public lands and water-powers.

The building of saw-mills in New England was not only a necessity for domestic use, but was encouraged by the British authorities because the manu- factured lumber was in great demand there, not only for the building of ships but for the finishing of gentlemen's mansion houses and public buildings. No country in Europe produced lumber of such excellence as that maufactured from the mellow old pines of New England; there was nothing known that would receive the carpenter's plane with the same grace of non-resistance. Visitors to the Old World have written with much enthusiasm of the rich color of the "old English oak" in the panel-work seen in some of the ancient mansion houses there; when, in fact, they were but praising a product of American soil.

The ownership of saw-mills was not confined to those who became resi- dent New Englanders. Wealthy capitalists on the other side of the Atlantic invested largely in timber lands and saw-mills here. Prominent among the London merchants who early became identified with the lumber trade, ex- changing English goods for merchantable boards, was one Richard Hutchin- son, " Ironmonger." As early as 1653 this man saw the advantages of New England as a seat of trade, and had employed competent agents here to look after his commercial interests on the Piscataqua. He engaged in trade with the first of the lumbermen at the mouth of the Saco river, and we find Lieut. William Phillips, the wealthy land owner of Saco, contracting to furnish this gentleman lumber at his saw-mills in that town .* Hutchinson not only engaged in importing manufactured lumber purchased by English merchandise from the millmen here, but invested in saw-mills in western Maine, as proved

* In 1680 merchantable pine boards were worth 30 shillings per thousand feet here; white- oak pipe-staves, 3 pounds per thousand ; red-oak, 30 shillings per thousand ; hogshead-staves, 25 shillings per thousand; Indian corn was 3 shillings, wheat, 5 shillings, malt, 4 shillings per bushel. Silver rated at six shillings and eight pence per ounce.

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by records which relate to his transactions with agents here who had not ren- dered a satisfactory account of the earnings of such mills, and gave bonds for their appearance in England to answer for "all their dealings and doings," and to pay all dues to date.

Another London merchant whose name has come down to us in con. nection with the New England lumbering business was John Beex. This merchant-adventurer owned several mills in what is now York county, Maine, and employed agents and attorneys here who sometimes collected more than a thousand pounds as revenue from his lumber business.

From the fact that saw-mills driven by water-power were not built in England for many years after they had been in operation here, we had sup- posed that such were an invention of our New England mill-wrights; but from the deposition before alluded to, it appears that such had been known in Denmark. Subsequent investigation proves that the Scandinavians were the originators of water-power saw-mills; that they had taken advantage of those remarkable waterfalls with which Norway and Sweden abound, centuries before New England was settled. There are ancient churches now in a good state of preservation in those countries finished inside with boards cut more than four hundred years ago.

Those Danish mill-wrights evidently came over with a meagre supply of tools for constructing even the wood-work of the saw-mills. The rude machin- ery was clumsy and rambling; the saw-gates, shafting, and gears were of wood, heavy and iron-hooped. The iron-work, such as cranks, journals, saw-straps, crow-bars, and dogs, were hand-forged by common blacksmiths from small bars of Swedish iron welded together to secure the requisite size and strength. In some of the early conveyances of saw-mills on the Saco river I find mention of the following appurtenances, the spelling as in the original: "Swipsaws," "doggs," "craws," "chaynes," "wheeles," "sledds," and "schidds." Among the tools enumerated were the following : "Borier," "frawe," "halberd," and "trewell."

The haul-up and tread-back "niggers" were not invented for more than a hundred years after saw-mills were running here. There were no "slips" connecting the bed of the mills with the streams by which they were propelled, over which logs could be drawn upon the mill-deck by the great chain ; they were all landed upon the mill-brow and rolled over skids to the carriages. When a board had been sawed, the log was run back in regular "tread-mill" fashion; that is, the millman mounted the "rag-wheel," and by walking upon strong pins inserted in the side of the rim for that purpose, reversed the revo- lution of the shaft by which the carriage had been propelled forward, and returned the saw-log to its former position, where it was set over for another board. This was a slow and laborious part of the millman's work, and we can only wonder why some more feasible and practical device had not been

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invented long before it was. The operation of the first power "nigger" created nearly as much astonishment as the original saw-mill itself, and the inhabitants from far and near went to see the "new-fangled critter" go. When this had been fairly tried, every saw-mill must have its "nigger." It is related that an old farmer walked ten miles to see one of these "tarnal mash-gag- gines " work, and after careful measurement of every part returned home, determined to put one up in a mill he had built on the brook near his house. His stock was hewed green from the forest and his tools were few and unsuit- able for his undertaking; his courage, however, was of the best quality. Having conveyed his timber to the mill, he began work and kept his own counsel. After many days of weary toil, he had his clumsy enginery in posi- tion. He then "slushed" the bearings and rails upon which the carriage ran, called in the neighbors, hoisted the gate, and the "thundering consarn " started. Away went the carriage toward the head of the mill, and never stopped till it was launched into the stream below. In the enthusiasm of the moment, while flushed with the certainty of success, and by watching the movements of the new machine, the owner forgot to unmash his gears, and the momentum received by the carriage on a slightly declining plane, well lubricated, carried it beyond its legitimate bounds, and left it in a shattered condition in the rocky bed of the stream.

This accident so exasperated the owner that the new appliance was torn out and thrown from the mill. In relating the circumstances in after years, he said all he did scarcely retarded the growth of the tree from which the great shaft and wheel had been made, and in winding up his story, he would spring upon his feet and with clenched fist declare that "the confounded old thing was so awfully crooked that it couldn't keep still, and crawled off down stream through the sand."

When we think of the construction of the early saw-mills and grist-mills in the wilderness of New England our fancy tempts us into a wide field of speculation. The mechanic from whose brain the plan was evolved must have been freighted with an infinite responsibility; his anxiety assumed a char- acter commensurate with the magnitude of his undertaking. Even if he was the proprietor in prospect, who was to take all risk upon himself, human curi- osity and personal inquisitiveness, then as now, would impel those who were in no way connected with the enterprise to intrude their opinions and ask a thousand impertinent questions calculated to annoy and harass all who were in any way identified with the new venture. For many months there were weary- ing days of toil, succeeded by wakeful nights of intensified thought. Aware of the tireless scrutiny of these meddlesome spectators, who have infested every community, the mental strain became greater as the culminating experi- ment drew near, and the final result must have been anticipated with feeling alternating between hope and fear. Every part was adjusted with the greatest

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possible care, and its operation surveyed with critical circumspection. The chain of connection between the great driving wheel, outside of the mill, and the terminal parts was traced link by link, and what was wanting in nicety of finish was supposed to be made good by the copious application of liquid lubricants.

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Saco Valley settlements and families. Historical, biographical, genealogical, traditional, and legendary, Part 23

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