USA > Maine > Franklin County > Farmington > The history of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, 1776-1885 > Part 2
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When the first white man visited the valley is uncertain. Tradition tells us that its fertile lands were first made known to the outside world by a young man, captive to the
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
Indians. During one of the many raids which the Indians made on the Narragansett townships, a youth by the name of Knights was taken prisoner at Gorham and brought by his captors into the Sandy River country. His hardships and. privations were such that he deemed death in trying to escape more desirable than captivity. With nothing to guide him but the stars, he set out to make his way through the wilderness to his home. The perilous journey was suc- cessfully made, and, carrying with him such accounts of the beauty and fertility of the region from which he came, he- induced some of the bold spirits among his friends to explore the country for themselves. It is also said that a New Hampshire woman was once held as a captive by the Indians at Farmington Falls. Years after having gained her liberty, coming to the place to visit some friends who had settled there, she at once recognized the spot as the scene of her captivity by a peculiar spring from which she had been accustomed to draw water. How much truth is contained in these traditions it is difficult at this distance in time to determine. There is nothing inherently improbable in them, neither are there any facts to confirm them. Certain it is, however, that hunters and trappers had been accustomed to visit the valley long before it was explored for purposes of settlement. Among the earliest of these hunters were Thomas Wilson of Topsham and a Mr. Scott of Winthrop. It was under the guidance of Wilson that the first explorers came into the township. Attracted by the glowing descrip- tion given of the region by the hunters, a party from Tops- ham, consisting of Stephen Titcomb, Robert Gower, James Henry, Robert Alexander, James M'Donnell, together with Wilson, came to Sandy River in 1776 with a view of making a settlement. The party came up the Kennebec River in canoes as far as Hallowell, which was generally known at that time by the Indian name of " Bombahook." From Hallowell they proceeded on foot through the sparsely- settled district to Mr. Rumford Smith's, who had settled and built a log-house a little east of what is now known as Read- field Corner, but which was then Winthrop. Leaving Mr.
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
Smith's, the last house on the route, they proceeded by compass a west-northwest course, supposing this course would bring them near to what is now Farmington Falls, from which place they could readily find the "great inter- val," the object of their pilgrimage. But the course they took carried them too far east, and they struck the river near where New Sharon village is now located. There they crossed the river and continued along its northern bank some five miles to the southeastern boundary of the Tufts farm, now (1884) owned by the heirs of the late Peter Manter. Here they built a camp, and proceeded to make the necessary explorations to enable them wisely to deter- mine where and how they should locate their farms. They finally decided to begin at the southern line of the Tufts farm, and, using basswood bark as a substitute for a chain, they located six lots one hundred rods in width. After completing their survey, they divided the lands thus located between them by lot, and returned to Topsham to procure tools and provisions necessary to begin a chopping, under an agreement to return in two weeks for this purpose. At the time agreed the party ascended the Kennebec in batteaux to the mouth of the Cobbosse-contee Stream, which enters the river at Gardiner, and, carrying round the falls, followed the stream until they came to the Indian " great carrying-place," which leads to Winthrop Great Pond, now known as Lake Maranocook, which they ascended to South Pond, to a spot near where Winthrop village is situated. Thence they carried to the pond near Readfield Corner, thence up Bog Stream to Greeley's Pond, and, carrying a mile to Parker's Pond, they crossed the pond and carried from it to Norcross' Pond, which lies in the western part of Chesterville. Fol- lowing its waters into the Little Norridgewock and Wilson Streams, they came into the Sandy River near the falls. They arrived on their first visit the twenty-fifth of May. It was doubtless the last of June or the first of July when the first trees fell. Each man made a chopping on the lot he had drawn, and, after exploring the country more extensively than at their first visit, descended the Sandy and Kennebec Rivers to Topsham.
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
While the Topsham party was exploring the region, other persons were looking toward the Sandy River valley for a home; and hunters and trappers still made their annual visits. It was their usual custom to come in the early autumns and return to their homes upon the approach of winter. But in the autumn of 1779 two hunters from Win- throp, Stewart Foster and Ephraim Allen, came prepared to spend the winter. They encamped near the river some two hundred rods above where Fairbanks bridge now stands, on the farm familiarly known as the John Clayton farm. An . abundance of fur, including moose, beaver, otter, mink, and sable, rewarded their labor. In the spring they made a dug- out, and, putting their furs on board, went down the river to the Kennebec, and thence to their homes. They are the first white men known to have passed a winter in what is now Franklin County.
As from year to year up to the time the first families moved into the plantation, in 1781, several parties were taking up lands and making improvements in various parts of the township, an important question began to be agitated regarding the ownership of the lands and negotiations for their purchase. It was understood that the Kennebec pa- tentees claimed the lands in the plantation, but it was also understood that the boundaries of their patent had not been permanently defined. As the boundaries of this patent engrossed so much attention, and for so long a period, in the central part of the State, and were so closely interwoven with the first survey and settlement of Farmington, involving as it did the question of title to the lands, a brief history of this Plymouth or Kennebec Patent is here given.
Among the many grants of land made by King James I. was one given in 1629 to the Council of Devon in England, and by this council in the same year granted to William Bradford and his associates, who were themselves of the Pilgrims, " of all that tract of land lying in and between and extending itself from the utmost limits of the Cobbosse-con- tee, which adjoineth the River Kennebec, towards the West- ern Ocean and the falls of [Nequamkike (unknown)], and the
4
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
space of fifteen miles on each side of the said River Kenne- bec ;" and under this grant the Plymouth Company claimed the lands from the mouth of Kennebec River to Caratunk Falls, a distance of some one hundred miles. In 1640 Brad- ford and his associates surrendered this grant on the Kenne- bec River to all the freemen of the colony of New Plymouth. The Plymouth Company during its ownership never made any vigorous efforts to settle the land themselves. Al- though they built three forts as a protection against Indian incursions and sent magistrates into the territory, they were too feeble to govern and protect a distant colony. This Company, however, during its ownership and occupation, derived considerable yearly income from leasing the right to take sturgeon, salmon, and shad within the limits of their patent ; but difficulties surrounded them on every side, and, annoyed by the vexation which this property had given them, they sold the whole patent, in 1661, together with the additions which had been made to it by purchases from the Indians, to Antipas Boies, Edward Tyng, Thomas Brattle, and John Winslow for the sum of £400 sterling. The legal designation thereafterwards became the " Proprietors of the Kennebec purchase of the late colony of New Plymouth." The title to the patent thus acquired by the grantees lay dormant for a period of eighty-eight years from 1661 to 1749, when the heirs, devisees, and assigns began to take some steps to organize a company to promote the settlement of their patent ; but the question of boundaries was still unset- tled and vexatious. The controversy with Clarke and Lake, who claimed under Indian deeds, was settled in 1758, by which on the east side of Kennebec River the northern line of the present town of Woolwich was made the south boun- dary of the patent. The second elaim of the Wiscasset Company, also under Indian deeds, was finally settled by compromise in 1762. The third settlement was with the Pejepscot patentees, by which the northern line of the town of Topsham was made the south boundary of the patent, and the west line was to run fifteen miles from Kennebec River. This compromise between the respective patentees was made
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
in 1766. The fourth settlement was with the Pemaquid patentees, who claimed under a grant from the Plymouth Company. It was finally agreed between the Plymouth patentees and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that the north line of the patent should be the Wesserunset Stream, which joins the Kennebec a little below the village of Nor- ridgewock, and by subsequent arrangement and consent was made to include the whole of the present town of Norridge- wock. The patent as thus established extended from Merry- meeting Bay to and including the town of Norridgewock, and was about thirty miles wide, with the Kennebec River in the center, and included Bath and Phippsburg on the west side of the river, which were ceded to the Kennebec paten- tees by the Pejepscot proprietors in the compromise of 1762. The meetings of the Company continued to be held regularly from 1749 to 1816, when they sold the balance of their lands in Boston at auction in 1816, and the company dissolved.
The boundaries of the patent being now permanently established, the patentees and in fact every one supposed that the Sandy River township would fall within the limits of their patent, and, as very flattering accounts had gone forth of its brcad intervals, its deep and fertile soil and heavy timber, settlers were rapidly attracted within its borders. On the 17th of December, 1777, an association was formed at Hallowell between Topsham and Hallowell explorers, known as " the Proprietors of a township on Sandy River." The association afterwards became known as that of " Reuben Colburn and his associates." Mr. Colburn, who resided at Pittston, was regarded as a man of excellent business capacity. He came from Dunstable, Mass., and was the Major Colburn who accompanied General Arnold in his disastrous expedition to Quebec in 1775, being in com- mand of the company of carpenters who formed a portion of the invading forces. At another meeting of the associates, held July 28, 1778, at Amos Pollard's hotel in that part of Hallowell now Augusta, after the choice of a clerk, treasurer, and a committee of three, it being now understood at this meeting that the township of Sandy River would fall within
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
the limits of the Kennebec patent, this committee was instructed to open negotiations for a grant to Colburn and his associates of a township on Sandy River, the west line of which should be fifteen miles from Kennebec River and parallel thereto. It does not appear that the committee made any progress in obtaining the grant during the year ; and at another meeting of Colburn and his associates, also held at Pollard's hotel, on the 24th of May, 1779, the commit- tee was instructed to make further proposals to the Kenne- bec proprietors, and if possible to obtain the grant of the township.
It appears by an agreement made at Boston on the 4th of October, 1779, and by a subsequent amendment to this agreement made March 3, 1780, by and between James Bowdoin, Daniel Jeffries, James Hewing, and John Hancock on the part of the Kennebec proprietors, and by the commit- tee on the part of Reuben Colburn and his associates, that Colburn and his associates on their part should cause a survey to be made of the township of Sandy River by first taking the courses and distances between the angles of Kennebec River below the mouth of the Sandy River for a distance of some ten miles, and then to begin at the mouth of said river and run west by compass fifteen miles, and there make a corner, which is the northwest corner of the present town of Farmington, and was a basswood tree marked " K. 15 M." to denote that was fifteen miles west of Kenne- bec River. Mr. Colburn and his associates employed Joseph North, Esq., of Pittston, to make the survey, and his plan, now before the writer, is made upon an untanned sheepskin, and, although considerably tattered and torn, is still very legible, and thus describes the exterior boundaries of the township :
Beginning at the said basswood tree, being the northwest corner of the township; thence south two miles to a tree marked K. 15 M .; thence south 13º east three miles to a tree marked K. 15 M .; thence south 24° east three miles to a hemlock tree marked ; thence south 35° east two miles one hundred and four- teen rods to a hemlock tree marked K. 15 M .; thence north 67º
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
east one mile and one hundred and ninety rods to the junction of the Little Norridgewock with the Wilson Stream; thence down the stream to its mouth ; thence down Sandy River about half a mile to a maple tree marked ; thence north eight miles and fifty-six rods to a beech tree marked with a marking-iron S. R .; thence west five miles and two hundred rods to the place of beginning.
At the time of the incorporation of the town, the course bounded by Wilson Stream had been changed to north 49° east one mile and ninety rods, but now stands as originally surveyed by North. Stone monuments have since been placed at the several corners and angles of the town and on most roads crossing its exterior limits. Mr. North's plan bears the following certificate upon its margin :
This plan is made by a scale of 163 poles to one inch; the lots fronting on the river is 60 poles wide and one mile and one fourth in length. Those marked P. is for proprietors and those marked S. for settlers. This plan was made from a careful survey of the river.
JOSEPH NORTH, Surveyor.
PITTSTON, June 20, 1780.
It hardly seems possible that Mr. North could have accomplished the survey between March 3 and June 20, 1780, for he must during this time have taken the course of the Kennebec River and run the fifteen-mile line to the northwest corner of the township and thence around it ; he must have taken a careful survey of the Sandy River and lotted the township as delineated by his plan, and have done all this through an unbroken forest. But the explanation is that in lotting the township he did nothing more than to measure and mark the width of the lots on the river and possibly to run the range-lines, and then with scale and dividers made the plan submitted to his employers, leaving the side lines of the lots to be run in the future. There is a difference in the width of the river lots in the town which has been much discussed, but never explained. Very few of the river lots measure just sixty rods, for the proprietors' lots generally measure fully sixty-two rods upon the river,
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
while the settlers' lots measure two rods less, and one or more river lots measure seventy rods in width, while some others measure less than fifty. Mr. North by his plan numbers the river lots on the east side of the river by com- mencing on the northern line of the township with No. I, a gore lot, and thence consecutively to No. 51, at the south line of the township. On the west side of the river he began No. I, the first lot below the mill lot, which he marks M., and thence southerly to the Wilson Stream, ending with No. 22. Then beginning at the north line of the township with No. 22, he numbers consecutively to No. 48, ending at the mill lot.
That portion of the township not embraced in the river lots Mr. North delineated on his plan as surveyed into alter- nate lots of 200 and 250 acres each. The former are marked S. for settlers' lots, and the latter P. for proprietors' lots. He also located a 200-acre lot near the center of the town- ship for the first settled minister, and another lot adjoining of 250 acres for the use of the ministry, both of which are marked M. He also laid out a lot on the west side of the river on the mill stream 150 rods in width and 300 rods long, and also marked M., the same to be appropriated for the encouragement of building a saw and grist mill for the accommodation of the inhabitants. A goring lot on the east side of the river between lots 29 and 30 is also marked M., denoting that that was set apart for the first settled minister or for the use of the ministry.
Mr. North kept a field-book during his survey, carefully noting the generally topography of the township, the growth of timber, the quality of the soil, the courses of the streams and brooks tributary to the river, and returned this field-book together with his plan to the associates in June, 1780.
The survey of Mr. North was made in pursuance of the agreement completed March 3, 1780, between the proprietors of the Kennebec purchase and Mr. Colburn and his associ- ates, and was mutually satisfactory. The survey was rc- turned to the clerk of the Kennebec patentees, who very generously decided to admit all applicants for settlers' lots,
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
upon the condition that they should perform certain settlers' duties, to wit : build a house not less than twenty feet square and seven feet in the stud, clear five acres of land within three years, and actually live on the premises during three years, or, in case of death of the settler, his heirs or some one under them to complete the term of residence, he or some one under him likewise to reside on the premises seven years longer, and work on the ministerial lot or on a house for the public worship of God two days in each year for ten years when required by the committee of the proprietors or their agent. They also were to work two days in each year upon the public roads until the township should be incorpo- rated into a town : each settler likewise agreeing to submit in municipal affairs to the decisions of a majority, as ex- pressed at any public meeting called in pursuance of a code of by-laws which had been adopted. An arrangement was made by the settlers that a back settler's lot and a front settler's lot should constitute a right in the township, and they chose a committee to couple them according to quality and draw them by lot, which they did on the 17th of May, 1780. Certain settlers, however, who had commenced and made improvements on particular lots, were exempted from this mode of division, and permitted to retain the lots they had previously selected. The result of the division of lots was recorded in a book kept by the clerk of the associates for this purpose, and agreeable to a vote of the associates all conveyances of lots were to be recorded by their clerk in his book.
The first meeting of Colburn and his associates held in the township was on Oct. 15, 1783, at the house of Samuel Butterfield, where the meetings were afterwards held so long as they continued to transact business. At this meeting they chose Samuel Bullen moderator, Nehemiah Blodgett clerk, Peter Corbett treasurer, and Reuben Colburn, Samuel Butterfield, and Nathaniel Davis a committee who were empowered to employ a surveyor and complete the survey of the township as soon as practicable. The next meeting was held May 12, 1785, which was organized by choosing Samuel
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
Bullen moderator, Solomon Adams clerk, Peter Corbett treasurer, and Samuel Bullen, Solomon Adams, and Nehe- miah Blodgett committee for the year, who were instructed to settle with Joseph North and Solomon Adams for com- pleting the survey of the township. Samuel Butterfield, Church Brainard, and Solomon Adams were appointed a committee to dispose of lots on which the dividends had not been paid. This meeting adjourned to the first Wednes- day in March, 1786, when it was voted to make an assess- ment of one pound on each right for the repair of roads, to be paid in labor at four shillings a day. Seth Greeley and Church Brainard were chosen surveyors to see the money expended and make returns to the committee. Samuel Butterfield, Solomon Adams, and Samuel Bullen were chosen agents to obtain valid titles to their lots, but it does not appear that anything was done to secure the fee of the land until February, 1790, nor were any records kept of the cloings of the Associates. . In 1789 the long-pending and bitter controversy between the Kennebec patentees and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was adjusted. The paten- tees represented that they had granted large tracts of land to settlers to induce them to settle upon their patent, and had expended $150,000 in the erection of forts, buildings, etc., which had enhanced the value of the lands belonging to the State ; and they were therefore very unwilling to release the Sandy River township, but were finally forced to do so. The State, however, assumed the contract with Colburn and his associates, which contract is fully set out in a resolve of the General Court hereinafter recited. The State on its part ceded to the Kennebec proprietors a strip of land lying north of their patent, beginning at the northeast corner of the Sandy River township, thence running north one and one-half miles, thence cast parallel with the north line of the patent thirty miles, thence south one and one-half miles to the northeast corner of the patent, a territory equal to one and one-quarter townships. It also ceded the township of Plym- outh, six miles square, situated in the vicinity of Mooschead Lake, as a final adjustment of a vexatious controversy.
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
From 1776 to 1781, when the first families moved into the township, we have reason to believe that many persons visited the valley with a view to purchase or settlement, but who they were can only be conjectured. That Colburn and his associates were the foremost in these explorations we have reason to believe. It was December 17, 1777, that the association of the Proprietors of Sandy River Township was formed between Topsham and Hallowell parties. That Hallowell explorers visited the township in the latter part of 1776 or in 1777 seems therefore almost certain. Who these Hallowell parties were we have now little authentic means of knowing. Reuben Colburn was the leader, and associated with him, at an earlier or later date, were Samuel Bullen, Nehemiah Blodgett, Peter Corbett, Nathaniel Davis, David, Ephraim, and James Cowan. The following petition, lodged in the Secretary's office in Boston, is probably the earliest document extant relating to the history of Farmington. Its signers without doubt include the names of many of those who visited the township with a view to settlement.
To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Massachusetts Bay : -
Humbly Shows James Cowen of a place called Sanday River in the County of Lincoln that he and the persons whose names are herein Inserted have been making a Settlement up on said Sanday River and are very desireous of carrying the Same on with vigor and Industry and beg leave to suggest to your Honors that the opening the Wilderness and turning the Desert Into Wheatfields while it Supports Individuals is of great advantage to the publick and they therefore pray that your honors would Grant on such Conditions and at Such price as Justice and prudence shall (grant) to them the Said
James Cowen
Jonathan Whiting Adam Carson
James Craig
Ephraim Cowen
David McKnight Joseph Webber William Carson
George Cowen
James Springer
Eliab Shaw
Emerson Smith
Moses Airs
Jonathan Devinport
5
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HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
Seth Greeley
John Moore
Sargeant Bishop
Stephen Pooler
Samuel Perham
Levi Powers
John Shaw
Moses Wheeler
Moses Smith
Joseph Savage
Elisha Smith
John Caten Cookson
David Corley [?]
Gideon Gardner
Peter Poshard
Jedediah Kilborn
David Bailey Cowen
Abijah Fitch
William Cowen
James Hutchurson
John Stain
Edward Springer
Simeon Pain
Joseph Clough
Daniel Cotter
Phillip Straw
Jabez Clough
Isaac Cowen
Joseph Greeley
Josiah Mitchell
Nathaniel Philbrook
Samuel Boyd
Lewis Webber
Samuel Cowen
Daniel Starnes
Elias Taylor
Paul Wing
Robert Keneday
Joseph Brown
John Neal
John Aud [?]
Mijah Usher
Asa Barnes
Joshua Taylor
Edward Linnan
Ebenezer Bancroft
John Atkinson
Oliver Cobourn
Solomon Clark
Barnabas Baker
Nathan Weston
Nathaniel Weston
Caleb Weston
David Reed
Peter Batchelder
John Hopkins
Johnathan Gill
John Combs
John Adison
John Hanearson
a tract of land beginning on Sandy River aforesaid where it empties itself into Little Norridgewock River adjoining to lands claimed by the plymouth company and fifteen Miles West from the River Kennebeck and so extending up said Sandy River twelve miles holding the breadth of three miles on each side thereof or however otherwise your honors Shall bound it. And they will ever Pray &c.
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