USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > The history of Norway: > Part 14
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
Perhaps the reader will wonder what so many folks in the Village live on; I will just tell what helps them some about living. Maj. Henry W. Millett kills and cuts up from 120. to 150 head of beef cattle, 40 or 50 round hogs, 150 veal calves, and from 600 to 1000 sheep and lambs annually, and
181
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
keeps his meat-carriage running sufficiently to supply the needy and destitute. And near Maj. Millett lives Josiah Munroe, a baker, who bakes up the good, little and great cakes, which the children love dearly-even the " children of larger growth." He uses from eight to ten barrels of flour per week, and sometimes more.
There are a number of blacksmiths in the town, several of whom are in the Village : E. G. Allen, Amos T. Murphy, Hosea B. Bisbee, Joshua B. Stuart, Sumner Hale, William Hayes, Dudley Woodbridge, P. D. Judkins. Amos T. Mur- phy now owns the same anvil and bellows used by the first blacksmith in town, Benjamin Witt. The bellows has been newly leathered several times, but the anvil is a hard- faced old fellow, and stands the blows well yet.
There are three watch-menders and jewelers near the cen- tral part of the Village, viz : Simeon Walton, old, honest, and experienced-he also rings the bell, and is always very exact about the time ; C. B. Coffin works in the same shop with Mr. Walton; and William M. Cushman, whose sign is near the apothecary store.
Then, for gentlemen's convenience, there is a barber, Jon- athan Blake, who shaves and tonsuyes in gentecl style ; and in a part of his shop sells confectionary, fruit, nuts, &c., making a pretty little business of the whole concern.
Loren II. Wrisley manufactures rifles, fowling-pieces, pis- tols, and many other things in his line; and all work gocs out of his hands in a highly-finished style.
Jeremiah Hobbs, C. W. Hobbs, and Alanson B. Watson, make pumps and lay aqueducts.
Thomas Higgins has an establishment at the head of the Village for working tin and sheet-iron.
In short, we have mechanics and workmen that can furnish almost any article, from a tin whistle to an omnibus, and even to a book, as this book is entirely of home-manufacture. The materials for the work had their origin in Norway ; the writer,
182
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
the paper-maker, the printer, and the book-binders, are all of Norway; and we earnestly hope to find a corresponding lib- cral patronage in the old town of Norway.
E. P. Fitz must not be overlooked among the other useful members of our little community ; he is a glazier, painter, and paper-hanger of the first order; his graining on inside finishing looks rich and beautiful, and he likes to be called on in his business line.
The town is well supplied with carpenters and house-join- ers ; the following are in and about the Village : Enoch L. Knight, Granville L. Reed, Richard Evans, J. A. Small, Lorenzo Hathaway, James S. Greenleaf, Stephen Greenleaf; Jr., Ansel Dinsmore, George Jackson, John Decring, Amos Ordway, George W. Sholes, Ephraim H. Brown, Otis F. Mixer, and George W. Mann, sash, door, and blind-maker ; in other parts of the town are, Col. Amos F. Noyes, Henry Small, Isaac N. Small, Samuel B. Gurney, Capt. J. Whit- marsh, Clark Knight, Lemuel Lovejoy, Thomas Lovejoy, Capt. Cephas Sampson, Theodore L. Lassell, Eben Marston, and some others who do common work when necessary.
I have said much about ornamental things, but just now permit me to refer to one very useful and profitable affair ; that is, Jonathan B. Smith's nursery of fruit trees. He has several acres covered with fruit trees, mostly of the apple kind, and probably has of all kinds nearly, or quite, half a million ; they are mostly budded or engrafted, of all ages and sizes, from the little pips of one year old, up to a handsome size for transplanting, and of the best standard kinds of fruit. He has raised them on purpose to sell; and now, gentlemen farmers, don't let this fine nursery grow up like a forest, and become worthless for want of a ready sale. But to encourage you to purchase some of these fine trees, I will tell you a little matter-of-fact story about apple trees. In the spring of 1815, I commenced on a new lot of land where I now live, and as soon as I had cleared and prepared land suitable for
183
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
such purposes. I sowed a small nursery ; and when the trees became big enough, transplanted some of them for an orchard, and sold the rest ; and have since then raised many thousands of trees for sale, and have continued to set more trees every few years up to the present year. I have engrafted all my trees except those set within a few years, and raise no fruit but that which is engrafted. My orchard now produces so many apples that I sell one hundred barrels yearly, and have enough for home use; and in fact, in my humble opinion, a farmer can not invest his money and labor in any way on his farm to so much profit as in the right cultivation of the apple. No State in the Union can produce so good apples for ship- ping as Maine ; and if the wheat erop should continue to fail us, we can easily raise our flour on apple trees. I am not a partner in Mr. Smith's nursery, but I wish to see our farmers awake to their own interests ; and as apple trees are my hobby which I ride every spring, you will pardon my notice of Mr. Smith's tree-garden. The writer has set sixty thousand scions within the last ten springs, besides his own, and never made a bad failure.
The printing business in Norway commenced on a small scale as carly as 1826. Asa Barton then commenced pub- lishing the "Oxford Observer" in this Village, (he had previously published a paper of the same title on Paris Hill, ) and from 1828 William P. Phelps was associated with him till April, 1829, when William E. Goodnow bought out the interest of Asa Barton, and the paper was published by Good- now and Phelps till October, 1830; at that time Goodnow bought out the interest of Phelps, and published the Observer till June, 1832, when the title of said paper was changed to the " Politician," edited by William A. Evans, to conform to the high state of political feeling then existing, on the eve of a Presidential election. The Politician was continued till April, 1833, when the establishment was sold to Horatio King, of Paris, who took it, with the "Jeffersonian " establishment,
184
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
to Portland, and the County was destitute of any paper till June, 1833; at that time Asa Barton commenced the publi- cation of the "Oxford Oracle," an independent paper, and having issued seven numbers, sold the establishment; and the " Oxford Democrat " was then started in Paris by George W. Millett, who continued its publication nearly eighteen years. In April, 1832, the "Journal of the Times," a small, inde- pendent, weekly paper, was commenced by William E. Good- now, and published about three months, but was then discon- tinued, from the fact of its interfering with the subscription list of the Politician. In March, 1830, a small, independent paper, called the "Village Spy," was commenced by Asa Barton, and in a short time discontinued for want of patronage. Asa Barton became an attorney some years before his death. The "Norway Advertiser," an independent family paper, was commenced by Ira Berry, in March, 1844, and subse- quently published by Ira Berry and Francis Blake, Jr .; and after the dissolution of the copartnership, by said Berry alone, again. The paper was then published by Edwin Plummer, then by Albert B. Davis and Cyrus W. Brown, then by Thomas Witt, and lastly by Mark H. Dunnell; he soon al- tered the name to the " Pine State News," but the pines are become so scarce in this vicinity, that it seemed to be rather lonesome, and finally was discontinued in Jan., 1851. In July, 1851, a new paper under the old name of the Norway Advertiser, printed on a large, handsome sheet, was estab- lished by Moses B. Bartlett, Esq .; it was subsequently purchased by George W. Millett, who now owns and publishes. the same, and has a handsome patronage. Up to the present paper, with the exception of the Politician, the Norway papers have been what, in common parlance, are styled neutral pa- pers ; but within a few months the Advertiser has shed its old neutral skin, and appears at this time in a democratic garb. This course, in my humble opinion, is about right, for I should think an editor and publisher, of any mind and tal-
.
185
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
ents must feel as though he were in a straight jacket, to be all the time catering for a set of nobodys and nothings, who do not belong to any party, but are ready to join any popular current which happens to be in the ascendancy. For myself, I always wish to be pretty certain about knowing to what particular genus every creature which I feed belongs, whether it be pig or puppy. I should have liked the paper full as well had it come out under whig colors ; but the editor and myself shall probably never quarrel about opinions, for he has as good right to enjoy and exercise his as I have mine ; but at all events, these papers of the neuter gender I don't think much of, except they are, in reality, literary papers. They remind me, too much, of the man who prayed, first to the Lord, and then to the devil, because he did not know cer- tain " into whose hands " he might hereafter fall.
Among other improvements in the town and Village, is a first-rate engine for extinguishing fires ; although it is desir- able to have but little use for it, yet should another calamitous. fire, like that of last fall, happen, we hope it may be instru- mental in saving much property from the devouring element. The two Village school-districts have become a corporate body for the purpose of procuring an engine, and the town very liberally voted to pay $500 towards the same; and we fer- vently hope that no tax-payer will ever have cause to regret the appropriation ; it is also hoped that the members of the engine company may never grow cold in their attachment to the "Oxford Bear."*
Late in the evening of the 29th of April, 1852, the house of Moses B. Bartlett, Esq., was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was instantly given, and in a few minutes the en- gine company with the " Bear " were on the ground; shortly afterwards the fire was extinguished, and the house saved. This was their first essay in squirting water at the "real
* The name of the engine.
.
186
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
element," and they were signally successful. May they long wait for another trial of their skill and prowess.
The " Norway Sax Horn Band " has been recently organ- ized, and bids fair to become celebrated for " discoursing sweet music." Such an organization is useful as well as ornamental, and was much needed on some occasions. Success attend the enterprise.
And now, almost last, but not least, is the Academy to be noticed. This institution is incorporated under the title of " The Norway Liberal Institute." The building is large and commodious, stands on a very dry and handsome elevation, open to a good, wholesome circulation of pure air, and seems every way fitted, under proper management, combined with a proper disposition in the students, to be a fine place for the acquisition of useful knowledge. It was opened in 1847, under favorable auspices ; in a catalogue for that year, I find the teachers were as follows : Ebenezer P. Hinds, Principal ; Jacob W. Brown, Vice Principal; John O. Coolidge, Charles HI. Nickerson, Silas S. Gifford, Lemuel Bourne, Assistants ; Isaiah HI. Baker, Teacher of Penmanship; Miss Mary F. Chase, Preceptress ; Miss Mary A. A. Additon, Teacher of Music; Miss Anne N. Deering, Teacher of Drawing and Painting. Number male students, 83, female, 91 ; total, 174. In 1848-49, the school was under the direction of J. G. Eveleth, Principal; Walter M. Hatch, Assistant; and Miss Nancy F. Shaw in the female department. In 1850, the school was taught by Mark H. Dunnell, Principal ; Thomas F. Barton, Warren F. Barnes, Assistants ; and Miss Cath- erine Woodman in the female department. Such other assist- ants were employed as were necessary for the instruction of the various branches required to be taught in the institution.
The institution has no permanent funds for its support, like many other, and older, Academies, but has to rely on its own earnings to support itself; and it is hoped that a discerning public will patronize this self-supported school as much; at
187
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
least, as they would one which has been endowed with funds by the State. And while thinking and writing on this sub- ject, I will at once euter my caveat against our Legislature's granting land or money to any incorporated literary institution. The reasons why they should not, are obvious to my mind. and I hope they will for the future be to the members of the Legislature. In the first place, as a general thing, the sony and daughters of the more opulent class enjoy, by far, the greatest advantages of such schools-as the poorer classes are not able to be at the expense of sending their children to schools of so high a grade ; and, furthermore, the rich are abundantly able to provide such schools without the aid of the State. I would not be understood as wishing to throw any impediment in the way of the education of our youth ; but contrary to that, I would open wide, and wider, the door for the education of the poor man's child, as well as the child of the rich man. If the State has anything to bestow for the encouragement of education, let it be granted towards the support of our primary schools ; in this way the benefits will reach all classes of the community, poor as well as rich. This would be acting a little in imitation of our Heavenly Father, "who causeth the sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." In fact, I think the best disposition that could be made of a por- tion of our State lands, would be to grant it for the purpose of raising a fund for aiding our primary schools. Doubtless some argue in this way, that our primary schools do not afford such advantages as they wish their children to enjoy ; very good; then send them to a higher school, but not at the ex- pense of the State. Furthermore, if our primary schools are not of so high a grade as some desire, then I say, apply the right remedy, and do something in a substantial way to raise them to the proper standard. For it must be obvious to every reflecting mind, that our primary schools are the great nurse- ries, from which are transplanted all those towering geniuses
188
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
which ornament our academies, colleges, the learned profess- ions, and halls of legislation, throughout our happy land. But I must stop this tirade, lest some should think that I am arguing the cause of education before our grave legislature ; and I fervently hope they will be assailed with stronger arguments than these on the subject hereafter.
The present teachers in the Institute are William D. Put- nam, Principal, and Miss Emeline F. Wright, Assistant. It is presumed that the advantages for students, male or female, at this institution, are equal, at least, to any similar institu- tion in this section of the country.
The town has a small school fund, the interest amounting annually to $13,70, which accrued from the sale of some land granted to the town by the legislature of Massachusetts, prior to our separation from that State. At the time of the dis- tribution of the surplus revenue, the writer believed it would be good policy for the town to convert the money into a per- manent school fund, and expend the interest annually towards the support of our primary schools ; a few others were of the same opinion, but the majority thought otherwise. Probably they made a very prudent calculation, as some are careful to see to the spending of all their earnings, lest the next gener- ation should not appropriate them to proper purposes. But such a fund would have been an honorable monument to have erected; and would have been productive of much benefit to posterity.
The whole amount of taxes assessed and paid in the town since its incorporation is as follows :
Highway tax, $94,151 98
Money tax, including State and County, 91,398 08
Total amount of taxes, - $185,550 06
Individuals in the town of Norway own about 230 shares in the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, which we hope will ultimately be beneficial to the business of the town and Vil-
189
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
lage. E. F. Beal, Esq., is one of the Directors, and has been since its commencement.
At the first establishment of the post-office in Norway, or soon after, the receipts in the office for one quarter amounted to 18 3-4 cents, (this was the very lowest extreme ;) the amount of receipts for the quarter ending June 30th, 1851, being the last quarter under the old law, was $195,05 1-2 cents ; and for the quarter ending March 31st, 1852, being the last quarter under the new law, $104,73. This is rather a wide contrast, but many other things have expanded in nearly the same ratio. The receipts in the post-office at North Nor- way are unknown to the writer, but probably are rather small compared with the Village office ; still it is a great convenience to the upper part of the town. Daniel Noble is post-master.
I must begin to think about drawing towards the close of this imperfect sketch, but before I do that fully, I must be indulged in making a few comparisons of matters and things, although comparisons are said, by some, to be invidious; but I will try and not hit any one hard if I can help it; and, furthermore, I do not mean comparisons about persons, but about things.
Half a century ago, our beautiful Village consisted of a rude corn-mill, a saw-mill, a blacksmith's shop, and one store, where was kept for sale, rum, molasses, sugar, (mostly maple sugar) a little tea and coffee, tobacco, salt, salt-fish, and a few other groceries ; a little calico, (oftentimes purchased by the pattern, say six yards to a pattern in those days) a little India cotton shirting and sheeting, a bag of cotton-wool, as it was then called, and other little etceteras to make up an assort- ment; and was finally a pretty good store for that day. There was no school-house in the Village at that time, and but two in the whole town. Houses small, poor, few and far between, with here and there a barn; and most of the new farms were dotted with a log house and log hovel, and many
190
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
with nothing but a rude hut to afford nightly shelter to the brawny laborer who was reclaiming the land from the wilder- ness. Roads were few and poor, and the vehicles of conveyance poorer. The new settlers generally had large families of half-clad, hungry children around them, and everything wore the aspect of poverty and want.
I hope no fastidious reader will sneer at the uncouth ap- pearance of our town while she was dressed in this simple and homely garb of childhood; for, even at that day, there was good promise that improvement in the circumstances of life, conveniences, manners, and morals, would succeed those days and years of poverty and privation. Now some one, perhaps, will ask, what were the grounds of hope for improvement in that dark time ? I will tell you. There were many hard hands, stout arms, and courageous hearts, not only in the fields and woods, but in the houses also ;- hearts that did not quail at a little hardship. The fathers wickled the axe, the handspike, the crowbar, shovel and hoe, with all the other implements necessary for new farming, and also all the imple- ments necessary for the mechanical business of the times ; the sons followed in the footsteps of their fathers. The good mothers were well acquainted with the dish-kettle, the frying- pan, the churn, and cheese-tub, and almost daily and nightly furnished sweet music on the spinning-wheel and loom; the fair daughters did the same. And it is not at all surprising to a careful observer, that such causes should produce a great and important change in the lapse of half a century.
But where, now, let me ask, are the first founders of our town ? Where the Rusts, the Cummingses, the Eastman, the Stevenses, the Hobbses, the Bartletts, the Parsonses, the Witt, the Milletts, the Smith, the Woodman, the Pikes, the Her- ring, the Noble, the Fuller, the Meriam, the Bennett, the Uptons, the Foster, the Holt, the Noyeses, the Sheds, the Farrar, the Reed, the Crocketts, the venerable Ames, with a host of other equally venerable and meritorious names, who
191
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
bore the heat and burden of the day in the settlement of this town and Village ? Alas ! they have gone to that spirit land, from whose bourne no traveler returns ! Let us erect a mon- ument of gratitude in our hearts to perpetuate the remembrance of the founders of this our beautiful town, who so nobly bat- tled with hardships, toil, and sometimes hunger and cold, in subduing a willerness, that they might leave to their poster- ity a land flowing with milk and honey. And may posterity learn wisdom and prudence from their departed ancestors, covering with the mantle of charity their faults and frailties, if any they had, and imitating and multiplying their praise- worthy acts.
Now, let us take a careful view of the advantages, improve- ments and conveniences which we enjoy, and see if we, as a community, have not a little ground for an honest pride ; and cause for great thankfulness for our present situation and prospects, when compared with former times. For by the long-continued practice of industry and economy, our town and Village have made rapid advances in agricultural improve- ments, in buildings, in mechanical business of almost all kinds, and in the mercantile line. We have now no less than four- teen school-houses, a splendid academy, five meeting-houses, twelve or fifteen stores, ten or more blacksmith's shops, two iron-founderies, seven saw-mills, two grist-mills, clapboard, shingle, and lath-machines, plough manufactory, one large carriage manufactory, beside several smaller ones, goldsmith's and gunsmith's shops, milliner's and dress-maker's shops, (and fine fingers to do up these matters in elegant style, ) large shoe and boot establishments, besides many other smaller establishments for the accommodation of different parts of the town, a large furniture warehouse, a printing-press and weekly newspaper, (which, by the way, does up things pretty well. ) a large paper-mill of the latest improvement, an extensive tannery, apothecary and barber's shops, a book-bindery. card- ing and clothier's mills, and tailors to work up the cloth in as
192
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
good as Boston or New York style, two post-offices, three attorney's offices, all ably filled, three regularly bred physi- cians, all in deservedly high repute, dentists occasionally, (I may almost say continually) and patent medicines almost anywhere, a splendid hotel in the Village, with a gentlemanly landlord, a baker and butcher to supply the daily wants of the hungry, besides many other things necessary and con- venient.
And now, after seeing you all so well provided for, I must commit you to the care of a kind Providence, and bid you adieu, fondly hoping that the next half century will be as productive of improvements in the condition of the town as the preceding half has been. If any should think that I have rated things on too low a scale, they must impute it to my dull apprehension ; and if too high, the citizens of the town must strive to come up to the standard.
193
HISTORY OF NORWAY.
RECORD
Of deaths in the town of Norway, from 1820 to 1852, as kept, and kindly furnished by Mrs. MERCY A. WHITMAN.
1820.
May 2, Mrs. Mary Cleaves, aged 92 years. June 21, Solomon Smithi, 23, 'fits. July 12, Maj. Jonathan Cummings, 42, suicide. Aug. 23, Judith Ayer, 2, fever ; 25, Capt. Henry Rust, 59, consumption ; 30, Edwin P. Reed, 2, dys- entery. Sept. 8, Mrs. Whiting, 32; 10, Martha C. Tucker, 8 months; 26, Asa Lovejoy, jr., 47, consumption. Nov. 20, Child of J. Dolley, 7 months. Dec. 24, Mrs. Tubbs, 68; 26, Miss Martha Davis, 65, fever.
1821.
Feb. 5, child of Anjier Tubbs, 17 months; 21, child of William Twombly, 5 months. March 17, child of James French, jr .; 27, Mr. Peter Everett, senior; one of the carly settlers, and a native of France ; he came to this country previous to the revolution ; 27, child of John Case, 17 months. Aug. 25, Martha Twombly, 3, dysentery. Sept. 15, Mrs. Churchill, 25, consumption. Oct. 29, child of Mr. Lord, 3 weeks. Nov. 7, Emma Stevens, 38, consumption.
1822.
Feb. 2, child of John Case, 18 months, fever; 24, Mrs. Bartlett, 43, mortification. March, child of Joseph Small, 17 months ; 26, Mrs. Sarah Eastman, 71, rheumatic con- sumption. April 23, Capt. Ward Noyes, 50, fever. May 7, Widow Bartlett, 65, apoplexy. Dec. 10, Joseph Frost, 18, scrofula ; 10, child of Joseph Shackley.
1823.
Jan. 2, child of S. Emery, 6 weeks. April 1, child of Thomas Judkins, 18 months ; 2, child of William Reed, 4 weeks ; 14, Mrs. Moses Houghton, 42; 22, child of J. Rowe, 10. July 10, child of Mr. Howe, 7, fever. Aug. 9, Mr. Enoch Merrill, 80; came to Norway in 1802; 26, child
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.