USA > Maine > Franklin County > Farmington > The history of Farmington, Franklin County, Maine, 1776-1885 > Part 6
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71
FEDERAL TAX.
In the returns of this district made Oct. 1, 1798, the following list appears of persons owning dwelling-houses on lots not exceeding two acres in any case, of a greater value than one hundred dollars :
Zachariah Norton.
Ebenezer Norton.
Joseph Pease.
Polly Parker.
Ezekiel Porter.
Abner Ramsdell.
Moses Starling.
Hugh Stewart.
Aaron Stoyell.
Samuel Sewall.
Ebenezer Sweet.
Francis Tufts.
Stephen Titcomb.
Benjamin Whittier.
Thomas Wendell.
Benjamin Weathern.
Peter Corbett.
Enoch Craig.
John Church.
Enoch Coffin.
Benjamin Dielson.
Robert Eaton.
Joseph Fairbanks.
William Gower.
Jesse Gould.
Robert Gower.
Thomas Hiscock.
John Holley.
Lemuel Howes.
Benjamin Heath.
Samuel Knowlton.
Jonathan Knowlton.
Reuben Lowell.
Joseph Merrill.
Solomon Adams.
Samuel Butterfield.
Eliphalet Bailey.
Benjamin Butler.
Church Brainerd.
Supply Belcher.
Jonas Butterfield.
Abel Sweet.
The appointment of the Assessors, or the manner in which the assessment was made, was not satisfactory to all the people of Farmington, and party spirit began to be mani- fest. A warrant was issued for a town-meeting for Dec. 13, containing the following articles :
To see if the town will take into consideration the appointment of federal assessors and act thereon as the town thinks proper.
To see if the town will address his excellency the governor and council on any former or future appointments in the town.
To see if the town will take some measures to prevent their representative from a seat in the General Court next session or give him further instructions.
.
72
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
In accordance with the warrant the town assembled at the house of Moses Starling, Esq. The republican spirit was in the ascendant. Ebenezer Norton was chosen mod- crator. A written motion was adopted to the effect "that this town has a very high regard for the Federal government and its administration, though they are dissatisfied with the appointment of federal assessors in one district, which we impute to designing men and not to the government." It was furthermore voted that the selectmen be a committee to address the governor and council respecting former and future appointments in this town. When they came to con- sider the article in respect to their representative, it was thought best to choose a committee to wait on Supply Bel- cher, Esq., and consult him in regard to the matter. Hart- son Cony, Lieut. Moses Chandler, and Solomon Adams were detailed for this duty, and returned with a verbal report to this effect : "He sayeth he has the good of his constitu- ents at heart, and that he should not give a categorical ans- wer whether he should attend the General Court the winter session or not." Not having a "categorical" answer before them, they proceeded to poll the house in order to test the sense of the meeting upon the advisability of instructing their representative to stay at home. Forty voted for him to remain at home and not one voted for him to go. A com- mittee was then appointed, consisting of Hartson Cony, Lieut. Moses Chandler, and Ebenezer Norton, to take such measures as they shall think most proper respecting their representative ; and Moses Chandler was furthermore chosen an agent to proceed to Boston on matters respecting the representative, if the committee think proper.
A large body of the federalists kept sternly aloof from this meeting, and showed their disapprobation not only by their absence, but by a protest against the object of the meeting. This protest, duly entered upon the town books, reads as follows :
PROTEST.
We the subscribers inhabitants of the town of Farmington upon due consideration do hereby solemnly protest against the
73
LOCAL DISSENSIONS.
town proceeding to consider the articles in their warrant of the 28th of November 1798, and request that said protest be entered on the records of said town.
First : It is our opinion that the assessors under the law of Congress of the 9th of July 1798 ought not to receive any impedi- ment in the due execution of their office and we most cheerfully comply with and approve the measures of general government, and as far as in our power will use our endeavors to carry into effect the wise and well adopted laws of the Union; and from the con- versation of a number of persons we fully believe the town meet- ing calculated to promote opposition and dissension among the inhabitants and will bring the town into disrepute and disgrace, and has direct tendency to promote sedition,-and we further pro- test against acting on any of these articles ( excepting ye Ist, 4th, and 7th ) in said warrant as not calculated in wisdom or prudence nor consistent with the constituted government under which we live, and without any just cause or reasonable complaint.
December 10th 1798.
Supply Belcher.
Stephen Titcomb.
Enoch Craig.
Lemuel Perham.
Rufus Allen.
David Cothren.
Reuben Lowell.
Thomas Wendell.
Samuel Sewall.
Church Brainerd.
Benjamin Heath.
Abraham Smith.
Thomas Odell. Joseph Pease.
Joseph Norton.
Stephen Norton.
Abner Ramsdell.
Eliphalet Bailey.
Oliver Hartwell.
Ebenezer Sweet.
Samuel Bullen.
It was not often in these early years that the wind of federal politics blew dissension into these quiet camps ; but local politics were always a live issue. From the incorpora- tion of the town two factions were arrayed one against the other. The patriotic sons of Dunstable had in their veins the blood of the Puritans, and bore the remembrance of many a well-fought Revolutionary field. The men of Mar- tha's Vineyard, if of more obscure lineage, had defended their country on the sea no less valiantly than their brothers
74
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
on the land. They had braved not only the cannon of the enemy, but the terrors of the deep as well. Transferred to new and untried scenes, both parties claimed the right to rule by reason of valor displayed in many a bloody contest. On one side were the Butterfields, the Baileys, the Jen- ningses, the Perhams, the Woodses, the Goulds; on the other, the Nortons, the Holleys, the Stewarts, the Butlers; and many others by intermarriage with one side or the other were ready to hurrah for their chosen clan. In every town-meeting the struggle was renewed. Should the honor and emolument of public office go into the Dunstable or the Vineyard camp? But the balance of power was held by the outsiders. There were men from Augusta and from Dam- ariscotta and from Topsham, as well as from other places, who were perfectly willing to watch the contest and quietly take the offices. It was not alone at the polls that the con- testants tested their strength. In wrestling matches and lifting at heavy weights, in which the Vineyardites staked their fortunes on Elijah Norton and Cheney Butler, and the Dunstable men on Silas Perham and Jonas Butterfield, Jr., they each struggled for supremacy. Theological warfare was inaugurated. The Dunstable men were largely Universal- ists, and the Vineyard party Baptists,-and hot and heavy were the volleys of doctrine discharged around the winter firesides. It was not until the eighth year after the formation of the town that victory perched on the banner of the Vine- yard party, and they elected two selectmen. But it was a short-lived triumph. A sudden and swift revolution doomed the victors to the ranks, and matters went on as before. But the backbone of the controversy was broken, and in 1804 we find a Vineyard lion and a Dunstable lamb nibbling peaceably together at the public crib.
The early town-meetings were of serious importance to the towns-people. They were pure examples of undefiled democracy. The government was of the people and for the people and by the people. They delegated their powers to few committees or representatives, but upon all questions concerning public weal acted in their corporate capacity.
75
EARLY WARRANTS.
The articles of the carly warrants include subjects as diverse as the settlement of a minister and the care of straying cat- tle. To see what the town will do in regard to a standard of weights and measures ; to see if the taxes of A, B, and C be abated ; to see what the town will do in regard to letting rams run at large ; to see if the town will vote that town- meetings open at the time specified in the warrant ; to see what the town will do to regulate horses, swine, sheep; to see if the town will petition the General Court to have a lottery to build a bridge, and ferries- these are some of the subjects on which the citizens were called to deliberate.
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CHAPTER IV.
RECORD FROM THE OPENING OF THE CENTURY UNTIL THIE WAR OF 1812.
Growth of Town. - Mills. - First Meeting-House. - Center Meeting-House. - Bridges. - Aurora Borealis. - Dysentery. - Increase of Population and Wealth.
WHEN the year 1800 opened, it found Farmington already a thriving farming community. The population had in- creased to 942, and the valuation of estates to $58,652, or more than double the amount at the incorporation. The population was scattered over the whole area of the town, and a large portion of the lots were taken. Hardly more than a nucleus of the village was formed. At Farmington Falls, in addition to the saw and grist-mills owned by Jones and Knowlton, a fulling-mill had been erected by Jonathan Knowlton, who sold in 1797 to Jeremiah Stinchfield and a Mr. Stanley. The mill passed into Mr. Stinchfield's entire control in 1799. A carding-machine was also put in opera- tion at the same place during the year 1800, by Blake and Morrill. Thomas Whittier and Nathaniel Bishop opened a store about 1796. Their business was sold to Zachariah Butterfield in 1798.
At what is now Fairbanks, Jason D. Cony erected a grist-mill in 1794, in connection with Robert Jones, who owned the mill privilege. In 1797 or 1798, it passed into the hands of his brother, Hartson Cony, who put up a saw- mill near the site of the present mill. This mill was carried
77
FIRST MEETING-HOUSE.
away in the freshet of 1799. Although the principal mills were thus located in the upper and lower sections of the town, the site of the present village was marked as the future business center of the town. The old county road was located in 1793, under the hill west of the village, but in 1797 a new road was laid out, leaving the old road near where the railroad station now stands, following the course of Front and Pleasant Sts., and continuing northerly until it struck the old road on the Craig farm. In 1795 the Perham road was located, having the same course as the present Broadway, and running out to the eastern part of the town.
Trade was begun at the center in 1792, by Hartson Cony, who opened a store in a part of Mr. Church's log-house. In 1799, David Moore, from Groton, Mass., commenced business in Mr. Church's framed house, but the following year built a combined house and store on the present Pleasant St. This house, with Mr. Church's, Dr. Stoyell's, and Mr. Sweet's, were probably the only houses in the Center Village in 1800.
Dr. Stoyell established himself in his profession in 1794, and in 1800 Henry V. Chamberlain began the practice of law, both at the center of the town. As yet no minister was settled, although an article was each year inserted in the warrant for town-meeting to see if the town would raise a sum for preaching, but the article was as regularly dismissed. Through the enterprise of a few individuals, chiefly of Stephen Titcomb and Jonathan Knowlton, a meeting-house was erected at Farmington Falls in 1799. It stood upon the bank of the river on the present site of the Union school-house. No church organization was connected with it, although the individuals interested in building it were, for the most part, Methodists; and the Methodist class formed at a little before, had almost exclusive control of it. The building was, as may be supposed, a rude structure. It was built two stories high, with gable ends, and a porch on the eastern side. The outside was clapboarded though never painted, and the inside was never finished, nor furnished with pews. The upper story was not divided from the lower, nor were its windows glazed. The small boys of the period who
78
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
sat to listen to Parson Smith's discourses, sat on hard benches, but were partly compensated by watching the swal- lows fly about the unclosed beams. For the prophecy of old was fulfilled, and the sparrow found a house and the swallow a nest for herself where she might lay her young upon the altar of the Lord of Hosts, in this first rude sanctuary of our fathers.
Public worship was held in this house more or less until 1826, when the Union meeting-house was built, after which it gradually went to decay. The burying-ground formerly connected with it has been abandoned, and only one or two stones are left to mark its site.
CENTER MEETING-HOUSE.
As early as 1796, the question of the town's building a meeting-house in its corporate capacity at the center of the town, began to be discussed. In March, 1797, proposals for building such a house were received, and a vote of the town obtained "that the meeting-house be built according to the proposals produced at this meeting, and that it shall be built on Mr. Sheppar's lot, so-called, where the road turns to the river." Where Mr. Sheppar's lot was is not known, but it seems evident that no further efforts were made toward erect- ing the house on this spot, for at the town-meeting in March, 1800, we find that Moses Chandler, Solomon Adams, Ezekiel Porter, Church Brainerd, Jonathan Knowlton, Hartson Cony, and Jotham Smith, were chosen a committee to receive from Ebenezer Sweet and John Church, such proposals as they shall make respecting accommodations for the town to build a meeting-house; and in April, 1801, Benjamin Butler, Moses Starling, and Church Brainerd were chosen to draw up a plan for the house and to receive proposals for building the same. The plan presented by Benjamin Butler was accepted at the next meeting, and a committee of seventeen, consisting of Samuel Brown, Stephen Titcomb, Solomon Adams, Church Brainerd, Supply Belcher, Abiathar Green, John Holley, Zachariah Norton, Zachariah Clough, Moses
CENTER MEETING-HOUSE. ERECTED IN 1803.
79
CENTER MEETING-HOUSE.
Chandler, Jonathan Cushman, Thomas Odell, Ezekiel Por- ter, John F. Woods, Ephraim Butterfield, Timothy Smith, and Samuel Knowlton, was appointed to contract for build- ing the house according to Benjamin Butler's plan.
September 17, 1801, the committee presented the follow- ing report, which was accepted, and Supply Belcher, Hartson Cony, and David Moore, were chosen a committee on the part of the town to see the contracts executed.
The Meeting house committee met to receive proposals for building a meeting house at or near the center of the town and report as followeth : That Mr. Church Brainerd, Mr. Benjamin Butler and Mr. Eliakim Norton have agreed to build said meeting house according to Mr. Benjamin Butler's plan as accepted by the town in May last. The contractors agree to put up said house and finish the outside, all but glazing, in one year from this date and then receive two hundred and thirty dollars from the town, and in two years from the date to finish the house complete in the best Tuscan order and paint the house outside and inside with good handsome color, and underpin said house with good handsome hewn stones and put good door stones to the house, in short, the said house to be finished complete in every part for a further con- sideration of what money shall or may arise from the sale of all the pews in said house which is to be sold at a public vendue to the highest bidder or bidders in a town meeting duly warned for that purpose, provided it does not exceed three years from the date of this report.
SAMUEL BROWN, Chairman.
It does not appear that the town went forward to carry out this contract, for six months later, March 9, 1802, a voluntary association of individuals representing different religious denominations was formed for the purpose of effect- ing the erection of the long-desired house of public worship. The compact was as follows :
March 9, 1802. We the subscribers, desirous to unite and add to the respectability of the town Farmington, and sensible that this end can be accomplished in no way so well as by building a Meeting House for public and social worship near the center of
80
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
said town, do agree to form ourselves into a body politic, with a determined resolution to effect the building of such meeting house at our own expense, on such plan as the subscribers, at a meeting to be held for that purpose, shall agree upon.
Solomon Adams.
Church Brainerd.
Peter Corbett.
Eliakim Norton.
David Moors.
Elijah Norton.
Supply Belcher.
Rufus Allen.
Jason D. Cony.
Sanford Davis.
Samuel Butterfield.
Joseph Norton.
Moses Starling.
Jeremy Wyman.
Thomas Hiscock.
Jonathan Graves.
Henry V. Chamberlain.
Joseph Fairbanks.
Benjamin Butler.
Samuel Brown.
John Holley.
Oliver Bailey.
Jonathan Cushman.
Daniel Stanley.
Ezra Thomas.
William Lewis.
Thomas Wendell.
Henry Stewart.
Ezekiel Porter.
Aaron Stoyell.
Benjamin Butler, Jr.
Abraham Smith.
Ebenezer Norton.
Timothy Smith.
Andrew Norton. Elijah Butler. Eliphalet Bailey.
Ephraim Norton.
Ebenezer White.
Zachariah Norton.
Stephen Titcomb.
Abel Sweet.
John Church.
· Enoch Craig.
The name by which the society was known was "The First Meeting-House Society in the Center of Farmington," afterward incorporated, in 1822, as the " Proprietors of Center Meeting-House." Mr. David Moore, the treasurer, presented a plan for the building, which was accepted, and an auction sale of pews according to the plan was made to defray expenses. The total sum derived from this sale was $4,670, and the purchasers of the pews were as follows :
Eliakim Norton, No. I
Ebenezer Norton, No. 9
Broad aisle $100 100
Jabez Gay.
Zenas Backus.
Timothy Johnson.
81
CENTER MEETING-HOUSE.
Timothy Smith,
No. 25
Body
$ 85
Henry V. Chamberlain,
No. 17
75
Elijah Norton,
No. 32
Wall
80
Samuel Butterfield,
No. 10
Broad aisle
85
Zachariah Norton,
No. 2
66
85
David Moors,
No. II
66
105
Ezekiel Porter,
No. 3
66
105
John Holley,
No. 4
66
95
Timothy Pease,
No. 12
66
90
Joseph Norton,
No. 5
66
85
Zaccheus Mayhew,
No. 31
Wall
110
Henry Stewart,
No. 15
66
95
Enoch Craig,
No. 7
66
65
Jesse Gould,
No. 14
65
John Church,
No. 9
65
Jonathan Graves,
No. 8
60
Reuben Butterfield,
No. 19
70
Daniel Stanley,
No. 20
60
Andrew Norton,
No. 21
50
Edward Butler,
No. 13
65
David Cowen,
No. 12
66
55
Ezra Thomas.
NO. 10
66
55
Timothy Pease,
No. II
66
50
Abner Ramsdell,
No. 23
66
55
Bassett Norton,
No. 24
55
Solomon Adams,
No. 22
55
William Lewis,
No. 27
Body
65
Abraham Smith,
No. 19
60
Jabez Gay,
No. 32
66
50
Jonathan Cushman,
No. 24
50
Peter Corbett,
No. 21
66
55
Abner Ramsdell,
No. 28
66
'65
Ephraim Norton,
No. 2
Wall
105
William Lewis,
No. 14
Broad aisle
90
Oliver Bailey,
No. 5
90
Jason D. Cony,
No. 30
Wall
90
Abel Sweet,
No. 7
Broad aisle
75
Eliphalet Bailey,
No. 15
85
Silas Perham,
No. 16
66
75
105
Timothy Johnson,
No. 13
82
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
Aaron Stoyell,
No. 8
Broad aisle
$ 65
Ebenezer White,
No. 3
Wall
IIO
Nathan Backus,
No. 29
100
Elijah Butler,
No. 28
65
Moses Starling,
No. 18
Body
75
James Rowings,
No. 26
75
Rufus Allen,
No. 27
Wall
65
Aaron Stoyell,
No. 26
70
Church Brainerd,
No. 25
65
Benjamin Butler, Jr.,
No. 5
50
Stephen Titcomb,
No. 6
50
Aaron Stoyell,
No. 18
105
David Davis,
No. 17
95
Samuel Brown,
No. 16
66
95
Joseph Badger,
No. 20
Body
55
Jeremy Wyman,
No. 30
66
60
Thomas Hiscock,
No. 22
50
Hartson Cony,
No. 29
66
65
Zebulon True,
No. 23
5°
Stephen Titcomb,
No. 31
55
66
70
No. 4
As originally built, the church was sixty-five feet long and forty-five feet wide, and contained sixty-four pews on the floor. The wall pews occupied the four sides of the house save where the pulpit stood and the doors opened, and after the .nanner of the times were square, high-backed boxes, roomy enough to accommo 'ate the generous sized families of the period. The broad aisle extended from the pulpit to the west entrance, and the eight pews on each side of this aisle were the dearly-loved upper seats in the synagogue, and were as eagerly sought as in the days of the Pharisees. Mr. Scott's work on the pews was voted satisfactory by the com- mittee appointed to oversee it; and we can imagine the delight with which they viewed the fine workmanship which he had expended upon them. The clearest pine of most beautiful grain had been selected, fashioned into backs, sides, and doors, and adorned with panels. No paint con- cealed the natural beauty of the wood, and time was allowed
83
CENTER MEETING-HOUSE.
to add its tint of rich brown. Galleries ran around three sides of the building, supported by six Corinthian pillars. The singers, led by Squire Belcher, and accompanied by John Titcomb's flute, occupied the seats opposite the pulpit and led the congregation in Mear and St. Martin's. The pulpit was a structure most awful and imposing. It occupied a place on the east side of the house, on a level with the gallery. A long staircase led to it, and when once the minister was in, and the door shut, little could be seen of him until he arose to open the service.
Two porches of generous size stood at each end of the building, and an entrance was also made through a portico on the west side. When finished, this church was intrinsically a noble structure ; and, considering the condition of the people and the time in which it was built, the enterprise reflects great credit upon the town. Here, for nearly a third of a century, divine service was held on cach Lord's Day, and hither the people came to worship. In the winter the good dames brought their foot-stove, and in summer their sprays of southernwood, and upon the cushionless seats listened to the fervent appeals of their favorite preacher. Improvements on the building were made from time to time. A steeple was added on the south in 1827, and at that time the porches were removed and the entrance at the north end abandoned. Public worship was maintained by the different religious societies in proportion to their ownership, until the vañfous denominations erected meeting-houses of their own, when the meeting-house became abandoned as a church. Upon the organization of Franklin County, in 1838, the proprietors released their interest in the upper story to the county, when it was remodeled for a court-room. The lower part was rented for a town-house until 1880, and in 1884 the proprietors sold what further rights they possessed in the building and site to the county for $750.
An undertaking of even more magnitude and importance than the erection of this house of worship, was the building and endowment of the Academy in 1807. This labor, under- taken at a time of great financial depression in the country,
84
HISTORY OF FARMINGTON.
was one which strained the resources of the people to the utmost, and its successful accomplishment speaks volumes for the high character and purposes of these early settlers.
BRIDGES.
The pressing need of a bridge over Sandy River was one of the principal reasons assigned for the incorporation of the town. But no sooner was the town organized and the matter discussed, than it was found that local jealousy was so strong that the town could not agree upon the location of the bridge. Three bridges seemed to be required, and the town, unable to incur so heavy a cost in its corporate capacity, waited year after year until the necessities of the people should overbalance their local enmities. It was proposed to have a lottery to raise the funds necessary for the erection of a bridge, and the town voted in 1797 to petition the Gen- eral Court for the requisite permission. Nothing seems to have come of the attempt, and the people who were obliged to cross the river, continued to ford, to ferry in rafts or row over in boats. Owing to the unwillingness of the citizens to locate a bridge, the three first bridges were built by private subscription. The one first erected was built at the center of the town on a continuation of the Perham road laid out on the dividing line between the Church and Stoyell lots, across the river and thence northerly around the hill, intersecting the county road near the present residence of Cyrus A. Thomas. This bridge was built by Capt. Benjamin Butler, who contracted with Ezekiel Porter and Timothy Johnson, a committee in behalf of the subscribers to the building fund, to erect the bridge for the sum of $1000 to be paid upon its completion. Capt. Butler began its erection in 1805, and it was finished and made passable in 1808. It was considerably damaged by a freshet in 1812, and the town at a meeting held Sept. 25, 1813, voted to raise the sum of $150 to be appropriated for repairs. The bridge was again injured and rendered impassable by a freshet in 1814, and the road was so badly gullied upon the east shore that it was deemed advisable to abandon the site, and the old
85
BRIDGES.
structure was suffered to go to decay. The road across the interval, as well as the portion on the west side of the river, was discontinued in 1814. The second bridge across Sandy River was built at the Falls village in 1808. It was designa- ted as "Jeremiah Stinchfield's bridge," from the fact that he was a liberal donor to the enterprise. In 1813 the town voted "to accept Jeremiah Stinchfield's bridge, and that it become town property." A portion of it was carried away by the freshet in 1814, and was repaired at the expense of the town. In the great freshet of October 16, 1820, the bridge was completely swept away, and on the 6th of November following, a town-meeting was called for the pur- pose of taking measures to rebuild. At this meeting, held by adjournment, measures were adopted for erecting a bridge the next year, and a committee was raised for the purpose of meeting a committee representing the town of Chesterville with a view of more clearly defining the propor- tions of the bridge which the respective towns should build and maintain. This committee from the two towns, mutually agreed and determined "that the boundary line for building a bridge across Sandy River at the falls between said towns shall be eighty-five feet southerly on the road as laid out across said river, from the top peak of the ledge on the northerly side of said river," and this division has been scrupulously maintained to the present time. A new bridge was erected in 1821 by the respective towns, each building its part as assigned by the committee, the proportions being about two-thirds to Farmington and one-third to Chester- ville. This bridge was carried away by a freshet in April, 1827, and the Farmington part rebuilt the same year by Maj. John Russ. It was again carried away, in 1828, and again rebuilt by Maj. Russ. A high freshet which occurred in the spring of 1831 swept away the bridge, and in 1832 this town took measures, in connection with the town of Chesterville, to construct a bridge on the same site, but in a more thorough and permanent manner than had yet been done. Accordingly contracts were made for the erection of stone piers and abutments of split granite and for a covered
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