USA > Maine > Oxford County > Fryeburg > The centennial celebration of the settlement of Fryeburg, Me., with the historical address > Part 2
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dark pool formed by the mazy windings of the stream, push- ing up the many ponds which first collect the waters of the radiating system of valleys north of us, and then add them to the Saco, trapping and hunting on their banks over a circuit of many miles, never obliged to leave his canoe but for a short distance, and quickly returning with new spoils. And so day after day gathering with easy labors supplies for weeks of in- dolent repose, he enters Lovewell's Pond, across which pad- dling his well-loaded canoe, he lands within less than two miles of his starting place.
Paradise of luxurious laziness ! valley of delights to the indolent red man ! Can it be that it encourages and entails any thing of the same spirit among his successors !
However this may be with the present dwellers here, our fathers of the early days of Pequawket, "the first of times" as one of them quaintly expressed it, were not allowed to suffer from any such enervating influences.
Hard work was before them, and most resolutely did they set about it. They were to change the wilderness to a fruit- ful field, and establish in the very lair of the savage, the insti- tutions of christianity and the comforts of civilized life.
During the summer of 1763, one Nathaniel Smith made his way through the wilderness with his family, and must be con- sidered the first settler of the town. There is in my posses- sion a lease granting him and his wife Ruth the half of Lot No. 15 during their natural lives, free of rent. Gen. Frye gives the Lease, Sept. 23, 1765, "For and in consideration of the good will and affection I have and do bear to my friend Nathaniel Smith, &c.," showing his estimation of the family. Their son Jonathan fell in Montgomery's unsuccessful attack upon Quebec, a man of indomitable courage. When Capt. Hutchings asked him, "What shall I say to your father and mother ?" "Tell 'em," said he, "that I wish I could have lived to whip the d-d Britishers."
In November of the same year, 1763, came four citizens of Concord, N. H., with their families, viz: Samuel Osgood, Moses Ames, John Evans, and Jedediah Spring; and to these 3
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is due the honor of being the pioneers of civilization in the valley. These men had spent the Summer in preparing as far as possible for their residence, and towards winter they brought in their families to make the valley their home.
David Evans, brother of John, and Nathaniel Merrill, two unmarried young men, formed part of the company. They camped one night in the woods, and the next morning found nearly six inches of snow on the ground-a cold welcome to the valley, almost as cheerless as the snowy shores of Ply- mouth gave the Pilgrim Fathers.
From the papers of the late Lieut. James Walker, (of the Island,) I gather the following particulars which he noted down directly from Mrs. Evans, as he states, "one of the first four families who came to this town, wife of John Evans. The women of these families and their children came here on horseback from Concord, N. H. There were at that time no settlements between Fryeburg and Sanford, a distance of sixty miles, and no bridges across the streams and rivers. They lodged in the woods in a camp one night, and forded the streams on horseback. When they came to the great Ossipee in what is now the town of Cornish, the river being high, they had one tall horse that could carry them over without swim- ming. In that way they all crossed the river in safety, after which they camped for the night. Mrs. E. says that in cross- ing the river she sat on the horse the strongest way!" (No time for squeamishness !)
Maj. Samuel Osgood, the leader of this pioneer party, oc- cupied the ground where now stands the Oxford house. Here was for years the centre and rallying point of the settlement. His son, Lieut. James Osgood, erected the present house in 1800. In Fryeburg's palmiest days as a thoroughfare to the Mountains in summer, and from the Coos country to Portland in winter, it was the most noted public house of the region. Among his numerous descendants, was the late Rev. Dr. Osgood, for half a century the pastor of the first church in Springfield, Mass., whose decease within the few months past,
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disappoints us of the presence of one of Fryeburg's most honored sons.
Moses Ames, who attained to the title of "Squire," built on the lot where the late Robert Bradley, Esq., lived. He be- came a man of some note, was Selectman, Representative to the General Court, &c. One of the first Board of Trustees of the Academy, he had the supervision of the beautiful build- ing during its erection in 1806, and as Mr. Bradley has said, " watched the driving of every nail, and saw that not one was wasted."
John Evans, in whose family was his brother David, made his home but a stone's throw from the street just below our place of assembling. A year or two after, he removed to the lot still occupied by his descendants, who claim that a part of their present residence was the first framed dwelling of the valley. In it was born the first male child of the settlement, the late Capt. William Evans, passing away eight years ago, respected and beloved, at the ripe age of 90 years. Longevity is a marked characteristic of the family. The mother, a sis- ter of Col. Thomas Stickney, one of Stark's Colonels at Ben- nington, a woman of rare fortitude and physical powers, reached 88 years. Mrs. Harmon, a daughter, 95 years. Mrs. Abigail Osgood, for many years the venerated mother of our village, 86. Mrs. John Stickney of Brownfield, 85.
Jedediah Spring, the last of the four, lived for a time near Mr. Weston's. He soon after removed to a lot across the river in Conway, and is not reckoned as one of the dwellers in the "Seven Lots." The family name has passed from the town, but in Brownfield, in Saco and Portland, it is characterized by determined energy and business enterprise.
Within two years of the first settlement, the two young men, Nathaniel Merrill and David Evans, who had so disin- terestedly lent assistance to the first comers, had each brought to the wilderness a wife, and with two other noted settlers, Capt. Timothy Walker and Col. David Page, constituted the "Seven Lots," a name which for many years designated the germ of our village. Capt. Walker occupied the lot first taken
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up by John Evans, traces of the cellar are still visible near Asa Charles, Esqrs'. He is represented by Dr. Paul Coffin, who came from Buxton on a missionary tour to the settlement in 1768, as having on the intervale adjoining, "forty acres, corn, grass and English grain which are all rich. Two or three tons of hay was cut on one acre," "improvements surpris- ingly large considering they have done most of the work in three years." *
Col. Page, for some years before removing to the other side of the river, lived near the head of the Main Street opening towards Portland, the ground now occupied by the Post Office. He, as well as Nathaniel Merrill, who built opposite the pres- ent Academy, had been of Rogers' rangers. Both had received wounds in the hard service. Both were men of note in the youthful settlement and in after days, Col. Page as a magis- trate, 'Squire Merrill as a Surveyor. Numberless anecdotes of their respective peculiarities and eccentricities have come down to us. Our space will not allow of their introduction.
In 1766 came Lieut. Caleb Swan, and with him Mr. William Wiley, both from Andover." They came from Newburyport to Saco by water, and were three days forcing their way up the river to Fryeburg, spending of course two nights with scarce any shelter in the woods, and crossing the Great Ossipee with much difficulty by rafts. They brought in three cows, a yoke of oxen and a horse.
Lieut. Swan had drawn a lot in the lower part of the town, but the difficulty of getting to it caused him to stop at what is now the Falls, then only a slight rapid in the river. Here he erected the first framed house in the town. On this ac- count and from its location as a kind of half-way house be- tween the two extremes of the settlement, (including parts of Conway,) it was a place of religious worship. Far better for the town had it been made its centre.
* See Dr. Coffin's "Ride to Pigwacket," in Maine Historical Collections, Vol. 4. The pictures given by the good Doctor of the first settlers, are graphic and amusing. Either their hospitality or the fertility and beauty of the valley greatly charmed him. He terms it "the desirable rural retreat," " that land of delights," &c.
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Lieut. Swan was a graduate of Harvard, a man of distin- guished ability. in College. His wife was Dorothy Frye a niece of Col. Joseph. He was an officer in the French war. His son, of same name, was Paymaster General under Wash- ington's administration. The strictest integrity was charac- teristic of both father and son, and we may add is an heir- loom in the family.
The winter of '66, and the summer following, mark the period of greatest privation and suffering in the valley. The inhabitants sent to Concord through the wilderness on snow- shoes for food. It was hauled on hand-sleds the whole dis- tance, 80 miles.
After planting, the next spring, four men were sent to Saco for supplies, expecting to be gone two weeks. When several days beyond the time had passed, the families met each even- ing at Maj. Osgood's to talk over their fate. One evening they had just concluded to send two men to search for the party, supposing they had been waylaid. "Hark," says one of the anxious company, and as they listened the faint sound of the paddles came through the still woods from Lovewell's Pond. It was bright moonlight, and they all hastened to the Pond, where was a joyful meeting.
The shoulders of the men were worn through the skin by the severity of their labors.
These were not the only instances in which resort was had to Concord on snow-shoes, and to Saco by batteaux to obtain supplies. At certain seasons the forests aided them, affording game, and the very tallest of hunting stories are told. But there were times when every resource failed, and for short periods they suffered for want of food.
Hitherto there had been but one family below Lieut. Swan's, that of Mr. Moses Day, the date of whose coming I have not been able to determine.
Mr. William Wiley, coming with the Lieut. in '66, settled the Jos. Colby place. The next year, '67, many families came. They were from Andover, Bradford, &c., Mass., and from Concord, N. H., met at Phillipstown or Sanford, from which
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place Col. Frye had taken the first steps for a road by felling the trees the whole distance.
Among the accessions of this year were John Webster, Aaron Abbott, Stephen Knight, Daniel Farrington, the Walkers,- Lieut. Isaac, Lieut. John, Ezekiel, and two Samuels,-and probably Benj. Russell, Eben. Day and others. Menotomy was about this time settled by families from Andover, among which were those of Simon Frye, Wm. Holt, and others.
Simon Frye, a nephew of Col. Joseph, was a man of rare prudence, honored as a deacon in the church, the first Repre- sentative to the General Court, and for many years Judge in the courts of the District.
Ezekiel Walker lived near the Centre by Bear Pond, and was the first Inn-keeper licensed by the town. 'Squire William Russell married his widow and occupied his homestead. He was a graduate of Harvard, familiar with the Latin to the last, also, a surveyor of high attainments in Mathematics. Many a boy, by the light of pitch wood knots in his large fireplace, was started in Arithmetic, and the brightest of them carried through the double rule of three. His was the first justice' court in the region, in which Dana and McGaw used to plead.
Daniel Farrington was one of Roger's Rangers, of great strength and courage, distinguished as a hunter. He hauled 400 lbs. of furs on a hand-sled to Concord to obtain supplies.
Lieut. John Walker was one of the notabilities of the town. He was at Fort William Henry, afterwards at the taking of Quebec ; came through the wilderness to the head waters of the Androscoggin and followed the river to Brunswick, nearly perishing with hunger. Many anecdotes are told of his intrepidity, immense muscular strength and genuine good humor.
It must be borne in mind that while Col. Frye is thus push- ing the settlement of his town towards the North and East, Capt. Henry Young Brown, from Haverhill, Mass., a man equally energetic, is occupying that part of the valley and some of the adjacent uplands, to the South-west.
The same misapprehension respecting the New Hampshire
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line, which carried the North-west corner of Fryeburg to Green Hill, made Capt. Brown's claim include a large share of Conway.
In 1768 some dozen families had made their homes on this tract, among whom were the brothers, Benjamin and James Osgood, from Concord, brothers also of Maj. Samuel at Seven Lots ; two Dollars or Dolloffs, father and son, and two or three Walkers. Capt. Timothy Walker of the Seven Lots, had at this time a saw and grist mill at the outlet of what is still called Walker's Pond, the same privilege now improved by Hon. J. T. Chase of Conway.
Capt. Brown occupied the fine bend in the river, a part of which still forms the farm of his great grandson, Joshua Os- good. He had built a residence near the spot where stands the farm house of Gov. Dana. Here he entertained Dr. Cof- fin during his missionary visit in '68, in a style that surprised and delighted the good doctor. He speaks of " Capt. Brown's high and clean room, which had five glass windows and was nearly half wainscotted. It struck me with pleasure at the entrance, as I doubt not it would any body else. Hence I called it Capt. Brown's Hall." At his cousin John Webster's, the doctor enters in his Journal, "Drank a fine dish of tea, well suited with wheat bread and pumpkin pye."
With such evidences of increasing luxury, we must consider the days of privation and suffering past !
At Capt. Brown's, good parson Coffin met another visitor, who accompanied him on his return down the river. This was Dr. Joseph Emery, a young physician who had been called from Canterbury, N. H., to attend a bad wound from an axe. He returned to Fryeburg, bringing with him as his wife, a sister of Mr. Fessenden, thus eventually securing to the town its first minister as well as first physician. Dr. Emery was the first to open a store in the settlement. It stood near Mr. J. 0. McMillan's barn. A daughter of Dr. Emery married Rev. Dr. Dana of Newburyport.
The first school was kept in the house of Lieut. Swan, two
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or three years after his coming, by Mr. William Frost. Birch bark was used for writing books. Of the pupils' proficiency we cannot judge, but it is more than probable that they shamed some of their descendants, enjoying far greater priv- ileges.
From the same house was carried to her burial the first person who died in the settlement, Naamah, a daughter of fifteen years. It was in April, 1770, and the corpse was hauled over the fences on a hand-sled.
The settlement is fairly commenced. It is in the full tide of its early prosperity. The dark and bloody ground of Love- well's fight, " Pequawket," which at every fireside along the Merrimac for nearly half a century had been a synonym for terror, has become as Dr. Coffin terms it, " a desirable inland retreat," containing some three hundred souls.
Our fathers had been trained in the observance of the Sab- bath. A meeting on that day was a necessity to them. Among others who aided by casual visits to supply this want, was Rev. William Fessenden, a graduate of Harvard in 1768. So pleasing was his address that he was unanimously called to be their minister. It should be stated that the church had been organized Aug. 28, 1775. Mr. Fessenden accepted the invita- tion, and was ordained Oct. 11, 1775. This must have been a good day in the valley, a high wedding day between minister and people, for in those times they took one another "for bet- ter or for worse, till death did them part." Cases of divorce were known, but were very unusual. By his rare combina- tion of excellences, in person, in character and in official la- bors, Mr. Fessenden retained the affections of his people to the last, dying as the minister of the town, May 5, 1805. The memory of Mr. Fessenden is precious. In his public duty as minister of the town, in his private relations as kinsman to some of his parishioners, and especially as the father of a large family, he was a model. Dignified in bearing, generous in spirit, hospitable to a fault, fearless and uncompromising in maintenance of the right, yet eminently courteous and for-
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bearing, he has left to his descendants that "good name rather to be chosen than much riches," He was highly favored in having as a ministerial neighbor, his friend and classmate, Dr. Porter of Conway. The two brother ministers were possessed of contrasted powers, which only served to bind them the more closely together. Dr. Porter was the man of ponderous logic. Mr. Fessenden was of a livelier fancy. The one ex- celled in reasoning, the other in persuasion; together they were like the two pillars of Solomon's temple, Jachin and Boaz, the strength and beauty of our forest Zion. Mr. Fes- senden was succeeded by Rev. Francis L. Whiting, whose min- istry, terminating in 1814, was not a very happy or successful one. For several years afterward Rev. Dr. Porter, having been dismissed from Conway, supplied the pulpit. And Oct., 1824, Rev. Carlton Hurd was ordained, whose ministry in all its burden of trials and difficulties, and in all its reward of intermingled success, is too recent to need lengthened remark.
We come now to the legal birthday of the Town, the date of its incorporation. Through a short minority of fourteen years it had attained a growth demanding full municipal priv- ileges. It was to have henceforth the management of its own internal affairs, and a voice in the public councils of the State.
It should be noted that the claim for such privileges is grounded on the fact of their having a minister, and the need of securing his proper support, the building of a meeting house, &c.
Their petition stating these grounds is granted by the Gen- eral Court, and the act of Incorporation passed Jan. 11, 1777 .*
Thus had we our birth in the perilous times of the Revolu- tion. It shows our fathers' calm confidence that through those dark hours they should emerge to a day of brightness, peace and joy. True heroism is it to move steadily on amid thick-crowding perils, assured that the bark which God has launched and freighted with the best hopes of man, He will guard and guide in safety over the troubled deep.
* For Act of Incorporation see Appendix B. 4
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This was the faith of our fathers. We are recreant to their memory, if we make it not our own.,
The first town meeting was called, by warrant, issued by Tristram Jordan, Esq., of Pepperelboro, and directed to Lieut. Samuel Osgood, notifying the inhabitants to meet at the house of Rev. William Fessenden, on Monday, 31st March, 1777.
At the first meeting, Richard Kimball was chosen Town Clerk.
Dea. Richard Eastman, Isaac Abbott, Nathaniel Merrill, Dea. Simon Frye, and Ezra Carter, were chosen Selectmen.
Richard Kimball, Moses Ames, Stephen Farrington, Ezekiel Walker, Benjamin Russell, Committee of Safety.
Rev. William Fessenden is voted a salary of forty-five pounds for his first year, beginning Oct. 11, 1775, also fifty pounds for his second year, beginning Oct. 11, 1776. His sal- ary to increase five pounds lawful currency, per annum, until it should reach seventy pounds, then to remain a stated sal- ary at that sum. Salary to be paid in Indian corn at three shillings per bushel, and rye at four shillings, for the first six years of his ministry, from Oct. 11, 1775.
A bounty is offered of one pound on each grown wolf.
The first recorded vote is to have swine go at large.
At a second town meeting, held the next month, April 17, a standard of prices is fixed for all commodities in common. use. The list opens with
" A day's labour of a man finding himself, in July or August, which is put at 3 s. 9 d.
" Being found as usual in the above months, 3 s.
And at other seasons in proportion.
Some of the home manufacturers of the times are brought to light in the price of
" Good yard wide Tow cloth 2 s. 3 d.
And meaner quality in proportion.
" Sugar, called maple sugar, manufactured in these parts, and of the best quality, 8 d.
" Good tobacco raised in this State, 9 d.
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" Good butter, 9 d.
" House carpenters and brick layers, per day, 4 s.
" Joiners, 3 s.
" While the poor shoe makers, for making men's and women's shoes, 2 s. 7 d.
and other shoes in proportion.
" West India Rum, merchantable, per gallon, 8 s. 10 d.
And 2 s. 3 d. per quart, and so on in propor- tion for lesser quantity.
" New England Rum, 5 s. 8 d.
And 1 s. 4 d. per quart.
The most noticeable article is Salt, per bushel, 15 s. 5 d.
The first license, for a house of entertainment, is given to Mr. Ezekiel Walker, April 15, 1777.
Not to occupy farther time with details of the town's action, let us group together items which will show the spirit of the times and the character of the people.
Our town was born amid the struggles of the Revolution. We are naturally anxious to know what part she bore in the progress of that long and trying conflict. Under Capt. Joseph Frye, eldest son of the Colonel, the men of the town had been frequently trained in the practice of arms, and at the very outbreak of hostilities, Col. Frye had been summoned to Cam- bridge to give the aid of his military experience in organizing the patriotic masses which held the British troops beleagured in Boston.
By the provincial Congress, he was first made a Brigadier, then a Major General, and put in command at Falmouth.
Early in 1776, he left the service on account, as some have stated, of ill health. There have been intimations that some difference with Washington, caused his resignation.
Two of his sons were officers in the service, Joseph, as Cap- tain, Nathaniel, a Lieutenant. The latter lost his hearing at the battle of Monmouth.
It was my hope to give a list of the men of Fryeburg, who
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served in the war of the Revolution ; but it has been beyond my power.
As the war wore along, the government was obliged to ap- portion to each town its quota of men to enter upon new ser- vice or keep good the armies in the field. In answer to re- peated calls, Fryeburg raises, successively, five men, two men, three men. And when the call comes, Dec., 1780, for seven to serve for three years or during the continuance of the war, the town, for the first time, asks a partial exemption, but votes to raise five instead of seven, and to allow eight Spanish milled dollars, per month, to each, exclusive of the pay received from the Continental Congress.'
But their public spirit was to be brought to a nearer and severer test. In August, 1781, the Indians from St. Francis made a descent upon Bethel, (then called Sudbury-Canada,) murdered three men, and plundering several families, started to return with three men as prisoners to assist in carrying the booty.
In the panic of the inhabitants, they sent to Fryeburg for assistance. The word came about noon and was spread at once on both sides of the river, with the call on every man to come at once with whatever arms he had, to the house of Mr. Nathaniel Walker. Before sunset the whole settlement was gathered there, and from the whole number twenty-three were selected, and hastily equipped for immediate service. Under the lead of Lieut. Stephen Farrington, who headed the little column on horseback, they plunged at once into the forest ; just as night closed in around them forded the Saco, and as the sun was rising over Bethel Hill, came in sight of the set- tlement. Stopping but a few moments for refreshments, they took the Indian trail, and with Sebatis as guide, followed it for miles up the Androscoggin. One of the captives here met them and endeavored to persuade them to return, represent- ing that the Indians would kill the other prisoners on the first intimation that they were pursued. But they would not yield the point so easily. Pushing on they came at length to_a piece of spruce bark pegged upon a hemlock, on which one of
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the prisoners had written a most urgent request that the party might not be followed, as it would be sure death to the cap- tives. Lieut. Farrington was still strenuous to pushi on and punish the red skins, but yielded at length to the men, whose unanimous voice was to return. They came back, buried one of the murdered men who had not before been found, stayed over night, and leaving a guard, the next day returned to Fryeburg.
For promptness and expedition, this night march into the forest will compare favorably with any thing done by com- munities in the Mother State at the Lexington alarm ; while there are circumstances which make it still more worthy of admiration. In the call to repel the British, the whole coun- try sprung to arms. From every quarter thronged the minute men, sure of each other's countenance and support, and fol- lowing their enemy in the broad day light. Here a little band, raised at an hour's notice, grope their way in the darkness, through a dense forest, directly away from all hope of assist- ance, and after a hard night's march, follow the trail of a hidden, wily foe that had marked his track with devastation and blood, and give up the pursuit only when convinced that it will be an injury rather than a benefit to those whom they would succor.
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