USA > Maine > Oxford County > Waterford > The history of Waterford, Oxford County, Maine, comprising Historical address, by Henry P. Warren; record of families, by Rev. William Warren, D.D.; centennial proceedings, by Samuel Warren, esq > Part 3
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tlements. At that time there was considerable lum- bering done in the coast towns. June, 1785, he came with his wife, who was from Norton, Mass. They suffered great hardships on the way. Their house- hold goods were brought from Stevens Brook on the backs of those who helped them in; for at this time the Scoggin trail, a mere bridle path, was the only road into Waterford.
They were disappointed in a house and provisions, which they had bargained for. So Mr. Hor built a hut of hemlock bark, and this was their only shelter for two years. They had not even a cow. Their nearest neighbors were three miles away, the Ham- lins, who lived south of Tom pond. During six weeks of winter this family saw no human beings but themselves and no animal but a dog. When they wanted meal they had either to back the corn
1 L. 5, R. 9.
43
PHILLIP HOR, SAMUEL WARREN, AND OTHERS.
twelve miles to Stevens Brook, or go out and get a horse, which occupied a day, take the grist to mill, which occupied another, and the third day return the horse. Mrs. Hor was for some time the only woman in the plantation in full communion with the church.
In 1785 and 1786 there came in Nathaniel1 and John Chamberlain,2 Thaddeus Brown3 of Harvard, Mass., Asa Johnson 4 of Templeton, Mass., John Atherton," Josiah Proctor 6 of Acton, Mass., Eber Rice7 of Northborough, Mass., Samuel Warren 8 of Harvard, Mass., and Jonathan Barnard, who after- ward moved to Bridgton. Most of these settlers came without their families.
Pardon me if, in this early history of Waterford, I tell the story of the first ten years of the life of my grandfather, Major Samuel Warren. I tell it because it is more familiar to me than is that of the men who settled here with him. I tell it, too, because in its main features it must be similar to the life led by all of them. His father, William Warren, was drowned in the Kennebec below Norridgewock, in 1774. He was the first settler of that town. He left a large family of children in comparative pover- ty. The widow and her children returned to Massa- chusetts after his death. As soon as Samuel was old
1L. 2, R. 3. 2 L. 6, R. 7.
5 L. 6, R. 4. 6 L. 6, R. 11. 7 L. 7, R. 12.
8 L. 8, R. 7. 4 L. 10, R. 8. 8 L. 4, R. 12.
44
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
enough he went back to the Kennebec and learned the coopers' trade; he followed his trade when he could get work, and fished when work was dull.
At the age of twenty he bought of John Cham- berlain, one of the proprietors of Waterford (a chance acquaintance that he had made while work- ing on the Kennebec), the right to eighty acres of land, being allowed his choice between the lot on which he afterward settled and that afterward purchased by Eber Rice, Esq. He ran in debt for his land, paying for it fifty cents an acre. With characteristic caution he ventured at first to buy but half a lot. He came to Waterford across the country from the Kennebec guided by his pock- et compass. Late one afternoon he reached the top of Beech hill, above the Bryant farm. Climbing a tree to get his bearings he took in the prospect, and beautiful as that view is to-day, how much grand- er must it have been one hundred years ago! Be- fore him lay that grand amphitheatre of mountains, some sixty peaks in all, stretching from the mount- ains of the Umbagog region on the north to the Ossi- pee range on the south, all clothed with the modest yet rich garment that kindly Nature gave them, ex- cept where some bald granite face peered through the green robes that enswathed it. Stone, McWains pond, and the Kezars flashed like diamonds below him, while Long pond stretched out a thread of sil-
45
PHILLIP HOR, SAMUEL WARREN, AND OTHERS.
ver toward great Sebago and the sea. A hundred smokes curled up from Stevens Brook, Otisfield, New Suncook, Oxford, and Cummings Purchase, but the gashes in the forest were so slight that he could not see them. A virgin forest unscarred by fire kindly clothed every hill, hiding all physical deformities. Just as he was descending the tree he spied smoke curling up from the foot of the mountain. A pioneer had settled on the spot where Samuel H. Warren now lives. Taking the direction from his compass he started for it; that night he spent in the pioneer's cabin. The next day he examined his lot, and was satisfied that soil which could bear such beeches and rock maples must have virtue enough in it to grow good crops of corn. Opposite him, where Cyrus Green now lives, had settled a man by the name of Barnard, who afterward moved to North Bridgton.
The first year he cleared some fifteen acres on the north-east corner of his farm, living in a little hut made of bark. His corn he bought at Bethel Hill, fourteen miles away ; this he " backed" home. He sowed his land that fall with rye, and went back to the Kennebec ; he worked at his trade all winter, taking his pay in alewives. These he loaded on a bateau and with them started for Portland from be- low Norridgewock. A head wind met him at Merry- meeting bay. Nothing daunted he boldly pushed across the angry waters, just escaping shipwreck.
46
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The alewives he sold in Portland, and with the mon- ey purchased clothing. He returned to his little clearing and provided himself with food and a few comforts. He made a bedstead of spruce poles, a bed- cord of elm peelings; he brought a bed-tick with him and filled it with straw, which he purchased from his neighbor across the road. That year he in- creased his clearing. Late in the fall he returned to Norridgewock and spent the winter. During these two years his food consisted of corn-cake, wild berries and game. On his return in the spring of 1788, he found that Lieut. Thomas Green of Row- ley, Mass., had bought the lot occupied by Mr. Bar- nard, and was settled there with eight children. From that time he boarded with them until he mar- ried Mary, the eldest daughter, in 1794.
In 1788, just fourteen years from the time that he reached Waterford penniless, he built and finished the two-storied, square house now owned and occupied by his son, Daniel Warren, and a barn 30 by 70, and paid for them as soon as they were finished. How did he do this ? Soon after he came to Waterford he foresaw that there would be in a few years a demand for a brick mason, to lay chimneys in the new houses that would inevita- bly be built; so he learned how to make and lay bricks, and for years he worked at his trade when- ever occasion offered. He built nearly all the chim-
47
PHILLIP HOR, SAMUEL WARREN, AND OTHERS.
neys in Waterford, and in parts of Lovell and Alba- ny. Old men tell me that after a hard day's work at brick laying, working from sun to sun, he would return home, eat his supper, and then if there was sufficient moon spend the evening piling or burning piles. Winters he worked at his trade as cooper. That was the way the pioneers of Waterford who succeeded worked. What cared they for misshapen hands and bent frame! They had in their eye and bearing that magnificent pride that is born of honor- ble success. The story of his energy and sacrifices is the history of all the old-fashioned, two-storied houses and big barns that were built seventy-five years ago in Waterford.
Lieut. Green 1 was followed by quite a colony from Rowley, Mass. Deacon Stephen Jewett 2 and his sons, Nathan3 and Ebenezer,4 Moses Hobson 5 (who worked for the deacon in Rowley), Jonathan,6 Samuel7 and Josiah Plummer8 (Samuel came first), Joshua,9 Eze- kiel,10 Samuel " and Humphrey Saunders,12 Daniel 18 and David Chaplin.14 Some of these men had served under Lieut. Green in the French and Revolutionary wars.
Throughout this address, in a note, L. and R. against a party's name refer to the Lot and Range on which they lived.
1 L. 4, R. 13. 2 L. 6, R. 13. 3 L. 5, R. 13. 4 L. 6, R. 13.
5 L. 6, R. 13. 6 L. 6, R. 9. 7 L. 5, R. 8. 8 L. 5, R. 7.
9 L. 6, R. 11. 10 L. 6, R. 9. 11 L. 6, R. 10. 12 L. 1, R. 11.
13 L. 6, R. 12. 14 L. 3, R. 12.
.
)
48
HISTORICAL ADDRESS. -
The north-west part of Waterford was for a long time called " Rowley," and the old Lovell road from North Waterford as far as the Lovell line was called "Rowley street." The road from North Bridgton to Waterford Flat was the first built in town, probably about 1787. It ran near the old Scoggin trail from the head of the pond to the old Methodist meeting- house, thence through what is now Waterford City to Waterford Flat. This road was the thoroughfare over which the early settlers of Waterford, Oxford, and Sudbury Canada came into the wilderness; and over it our fathers went out to purchase supplies of Capt. Kimball at North Bridgton, or to mill at Stevens Brook.
The exact date of the coming of the settlers from Rowley I cannot determine,-except Lieut. Green, Samuel Plummer, and Moses Hobson,-probably about 1790. Their coming and that of Eli Longley 1 of Bolton, Mass., in 1789, and Eber Rice 2 of North- borough, Mass., led to the building or rather cutting out of the first road through Waterford. This, rougher than a modern logging road, left the Scog- gin trail at Waterford City and ran to the Flat by the old road, thence over Plummer hill, back of Joshua Saunders' and William Kilborn's to a point half a mile east of Peter E. Mosher's, thence straight
1 L. 6, R. 6. 2 L. 7, R. 10.
49
PLANTATION ROADS.
to the Scoggin trail below Samuel H. Warren's. It was built in 1788 or 1789.
The coming of Solomon Stone1 and Deacon Nurse 2 of Bolton, Mass., about 1790, and the demand for a road to Oxford (for settlers began to come into Ox- ford in 1784), led to the building of what used to be called the Albany road. It extended from the Flat by Solomon Stone's and Deacon Nurse's, across to the Moses Bisbee farm, thence into Albany. This road was built about 1790.
The growing settlements on the three tiers after- ward set off to Cummings Purchase (Norway), and the coming of Asa Johnson3 and Thaddeus Brown,4 led to the building of what is now called the old road to Norway.
The coming of Samuel Warren, Lieut. Thomas Green, Daniel Chaplin, and Humphrey Saunders 6 from Rowley, together with the growth of New Suncook (Lovell), which was settled in 1777, com- pelled the building, about 1800, of what is called the Sabattis road, which left the Scoggin trail near Sam- uel H. Warren's, and followed what is called the old Lovell road over Sabattis mountain to the head of great Kezar pond. This was built about the year 1800.
These roads and all the roads in Maine were for
1 L. 8, R. 9. 2 L. 8, R. 10.
8 L. 10, R. 8.
4 L. 8, R. 7.
5 L. 3, R. 12.
6 L. 1, R. 11.
:
50
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
years rude affairs. The journey of our fathers from Massachusetts to Waterford involved innumerable discomforts. Some came in coasters as far as Port- land, then through Gorham, Standish, and over the lakes to the head of Long pond. Others toiled over the wretched road which ran through Flints- town and Bridge-town, on horseback, in ox-carts, and more often on foot. Whenever it was known that a settler was coming in or going through to Ox- ford or Sudbury Canada, the people turned out en masse with oxen or horses and helped them along; and if there were not enough of these they did not hesitate to use their own stout shoulders in carrying his scanty baggage. But our fathers were poor men, and it was little they brought with them into the wilderness.
Until Eli Longley opened his store at the Flat in 1801, the people bought the few groceries and dry goods that they must have from those who had taken produce to market in Portland, and brought back a few goods in exchange. John Chamberlain, who built the house opposite the old meeting-house, Dr. Cummings, who lived in the house now occupied by Rev. John A. Douglass, Benjamin Sampson, who lived near Sampsons pond, all kept a few necessary articles in their houses. The people also bought some goods at North Bridgton and Stevens Brook.
51
RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES.
But the wants of the people were few, and a very scanty supply of goods met all their demand.
Until about 1790 all boards were hauled in from Stevens Brook, and all corn was ground there or at Bethel Hill. About that time a saw-mill was built near the mouth of Bear brook, just west of the house of Josiah Monroe. A grist-mill was built about the same time on the spot now occupied by Stanwood's bucket factory. Jacob Gibson, better known as "Cam" Gibson, built the saw-mill; Ezra Jewell the grist-mill. This saw-mill was a great con- venience, as the people soon after began to build frame houses. Mr. Jewell built two or three years later the first frame house in Waterford, close by his mill.
During these early years the people were natur- ally deprived of church, school, and social privi- leges to a very considerable extent; they made up for the loss as best they could. They depended, in part, for religious instruction on the benevolent labors of ministers settled in the older towns of Maine and New Hampshire, who made occasional missionary tours1 through Oxford and Kennebec
1 Some of the best fragmentary history of Maine that we have are the diaries of these missionary ministers. Especially rich is that of Rev. Paul Coffin, D.D., of Buxton, who made repeated tours through western Maine. He found the people much more given to religious disputation than to earnest living. A new country, with its unsettled habits of life and thought, is a paradise for zealous, willful sectarians.
52
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
counties-the "new country" so called. Among these were Revs. William Fessenden of Fryeburg, Marrett of Standish, Nathan Church of Bridgton, and Robie of Otisfield. No one was more beloved than Father Hidden of Tamworth, N. H. Socially a favorite, an eloquent speaker, his labors were greatly blest. In the records of the old church I find the following entries : "Sept. 1, 1793, Joseph and John, sons of Stephen and Mary Sanderson, were baptized by the Rev. Mr. Little of Wells, while on a mission. Oct. 1, 1797, Sarah, daughter of the same parents, baptized by the Rev. Mr. Fessenden of Fryeburg. Oct. 25, 1799, Charlotte, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Thompson of Standish (on Charles Hayes' account), by Rev. Mr. Marrett."
Meetings were for the most part held in the sum- mer and irregularly; sometimes in a barn, often out of doors. During cold weather deacon meetings were occasionally held in private houses; often at Eli Longley's log house, a sort of hotel, half-way be- tween the Flat and Rev. Mr. Douglass', on the lower side of the road. As many of the early settlers were Christians, members of churches in Massachu- setts, doubtless their influence was considerable in maintaining religious life among these independent and somewhat irreligious men. It is certain that the religious life of the people was low at this time, for among the weightiest reasons that urged our fathers
53
SCHOOLS AND SOCIAL LIFE.
to adopt a town government was this, "that their children were growing up wild and uncultivated."
There were no schools supported by public tax. Private schools were held in different houses a few weeks in the year. Still the demand for them was not pressing in the earliest history of the town, as most of the settlers were young people, and were not married until just before or soon after their coming to Waterford.
Social opportunities were greatly restricted. Mrs. Thaddeus Brown was in town six months before she saw a woman. There was much visiting from camp to camp by the early settlers, the visitors traveling by spotted lines. Except to the very poor, whose sufferings made it impossible for them to enjoy the novelty of the situation, this life, with its makeshifts, its droll surprises, and above all its possibilities, had great fascinations.
The log house, the home of all, was rude, but warm in winter and cool in summer. No blasts of death came from air-tight stoves to stupify and kill, but generous fire-places rather. These ventilators left the air clean and pure, if sometimes rather cold. Furniture was a matter of simple convenience, else of little consequence ; a rough table, a few blocks of wood for chairs, and a settle were all at first. The
54
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
land was rich. The best ridges bore generous crops for half a generation. Even hemlock plains, if tickled with the hoe and not tickled too often, would laugh a harvest. Chintz bugs, weevils, Col- orado beetles, middle-men, and all the other parasites which so harass the farmer of to-day, were not then. Clothing was expensive, and the girl who was fortu- nate enough to own a calico dress was an object of envy. Calico was from fifty to sixty-five cents a yard, and five yards made a dress pattern.
The people were eminently social; this was nat- ural. One hundred grown-up strangers, representing at least fifty towns, were suddenly thrown together. Each had his own past history and the history of his locality to tell the other of; and fifty localities in eastern Massachusetts, seventy-five years ago, on account of the absence of newspapers and books, represented more social and historic traditions than would the same number of places to-day, one hun- dred times as far apart.
Then there was well-nigh perfect equality. Each owned simply himself. The new start that all were making fired even the most sluggish; but nature, in time, asserted herself. The shiftless in Massachusetts were shiftless still ; the low were low still, and each went to his own social place. But the new experi- ences of pioneer life, the privations and successes, were all unfailing sources of kindly neighborhood talk.
1
55
POSTAL FACILITIES.
Postal facilities then were greatly restricted. I find that in May, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts established a general post-office in Cambridge, and appointed postmen to ride on the principal routes ; among others as far east as George- town in this State, at the mouth of the Kennebec river. Joseph Barnard was the post-rider between Portsmouth and Falmouth-town.1 There were three post-offices provided for Maine,-at Wells, Falmouth Neck, and Georgetown. The mail was carried once a week. Mr. Barnard did not average to carry for years more than four or five letters each trip. In 1783 the whole number of letters sent from the Falmouth post-office was but fifty-seven.
January, 1787, Mr. Barnard, the old post-rider, put on a stage-carriage drawn by two horses between Falmouth-town and Portsmouth. This was the first attempt to carry passengers in this State by public conveyance. Mr. Barnard advertised to leave Portsmouth in the morning, reaching Arundel 2 the same day, Broad's tavern (Stroudwater 3) the second, Falmouth Neck the morning of the third. The dis- tance from Portland to Portsmouth was less than sixty miles. One can judge from the length of time -more than two days-the condition of the roads. Until 1784 the only mail route between Boston
1 Portland. 2 Kennebunk. 8 Deering.
56
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
and the east was over the coast road, by way of Sa- lem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, York, Falmouth- town, and Brunswick, to Georgetown. The distance from Boston to Falmouth-town at this time was 11870 miles. In 1784 another mail route was es- tablished from Boston, through Andover, Haverhill, Exeter, and Dover, to Wells, there joining the route I have just mentioned. In 1785 the mails were car- ried to Hallowell and Norridgewock. In 1788 they were carried from Georgetown to Wiscasset, Blue Hill, and Gouldsborough, and in 1789 to Machias.
The mail routes were not much extended for the next ten years." In 1793 the post-offices in Maine were at York, Wells, Biddeford, Portland, North Yar- mouth, Brunswick, Bath, and Wiscasset. In 1797 there were thirteen: at York, Wells, Kennebunk, Berwick, Waterborough, Biddeford, Portland, North Yarmouth, Brunswick, Bath, Hallowell, Wiscasset, Norridgewock, and Passamaquoddy. In 1798 a post- office was established at Fryeburg; about the same time, or a little earlier, one at Bridgton and Paris. Previous to that time Oxford county depended upon
1 In 1785 a road was opened from Falmouth-town to Upper Coos, through New Gloucester, Bakers-town (Poland and Minot), Shepard -. field (Hebron), No. 4 (Paris), Sudbury Canada (Bethel and Hanover), Shelburne, N. H., to Northumberland; in 1805 from Fryeburg through the White Mountain Notch to Upper Coos. About the same time a road was opened from Portland to Bethel by way of Windham, Raymond, Bridgton, Waterford Flat, and Hunt's Corner (Albany).
57
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
the courtesy of the postmaster at Portland for any mail matter. He sent it into the back country by any responsible person who happened to be in Portland.
There is no written record of the plantation meet- ings of Waterford. They were held at Eli Longley's log house, at Dr. Cummings', and John Chamber- lain's. Of these meetings tradition has but one voice, and that is that they were-to state the case mildly-very turbulent. The rights and duties of a plantation, if well defined by law, were but poorly understood by the majority of the people; at best these powers were limited. Our fathers had grown up under town government, and naturally made awkward work of regulating themselves by the makeshifts of plantation law. The shiftless and mean prevented all taxation save for road building, and but little was spent for that.
The inconveniences and evils of plantation gov- ernment led our fathers to petition for incorporation Dec. 19, 1795. They were unanimous in this wish, although they could not agree as to details. The main point of disagreement was the location of the meeting-house, which was also to be used as a town- house. Naturally each section wished to avoid the hills in the center of the town as much as possible. 5
58
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The three tiers of lots afterward set off to Norway were at that time a part of the plantation of Water- ford, although they were but scantily settled. There were no inhabitants in Bisbee-town,1 and but few along Crooked river below.
If the meeting-house was located at the geograph- ical center of the town, it would be built near where Mr. Thaddeus Brown now lives, lot 8, R. 7; but that would compel the people in the north part of the town to climb the Rice or little Beech hill,-quite a climb whichever way you take it. This they were unwilling to do. No recourse remained but to change the geographical center of the town. There- fore a petition was prepared and sent to the General Court, then in session, praying that the town might be incorporated with three tiers of lots set off to Cummings Purchase (Norway). This would make lot 6, R. 7 the central lot, and naturally locate the meeting-house there. The people in the north and west parts of the town favored this, as did those liv- ing in the Plummer neighborhood. The south part of the town was willing to compromise by locating the meeting-house on the Flat, where Mr. Porter now lives; to this the north part of the town would
1 Bisbee-town includes the north-east part of Waterford. It was set- tled about 1825 by the Bisbees, who came from Sumner, Me.
59
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
not consent. With this statement, the petition and counter petitions explain themselves.
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled, January, A.D. 1796.
The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of the plantation of Waterford in the county of York, humbly showeth, that settle- ments began to be maide on this plantation about nine or ten years ago, that we have at this time upwards of sixty families, that your petitioners, like other plantations in similar circumstances, labor under many inconveniences for want of an incorporation, in par- ticular the public worship of the Deity, schooling our children, who are in danger of growing up wild and uncultivated, to the great grief of those of us who are parents, and also for want of roads, etc., etc. For these reasons and others that might be men- tioned, we pray your honors that we may be incorporated into a town by the name of Waterford, according to the plan herewith exhibited, saving and excepting the three most eastermost tiers of lotts from north to south, which tiers of lotts with the settlers that are on any of them, it is our prayer that they may be set to and incorporated with the settlers of Cummings Purchase and others that may be incorporated with them, and in this last request we have no doubt but that they will join with us, as it will be much more convenient for them to be connected with the settlers on Cummings Purchase than with the inhabitants of Waterford, or otherwise relieve your petitioners as you in your wisdom shall think proper, and we as in duty bound will ever pray.
WATERFORD, Dec. 19, 1795.
(Signed) Nathaniel Jewett, Ebenezer Jewett, Seth Russell, Samuel Sampson,
Stephen Jewett, Ezekiel Sanders, Samuel Warren, William Warren,
n
60
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
David Whitcomb,
Thomas Green,
Stephen Cummings,
Daniel Green,
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