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 4
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Eleazor Hamlin, John Chamberlain, Hannibal Hamlin,
Daniel Chaplin,
Abijah Warren,
Benjiman Sampson,
Isaac Hor, John Hor,
Samuel Plummer, Nathan Jewett,
Abram Hor,
Phineas Sampson,
Joshua Sanders,
Jonathan Houghton.
Phillip Hor,
Israel Hale,
Ephraim Davenport,
Samuel Brigham.
Richard Brigham,
The Senate and House, Jan. 27, 1796, referred the petition to the Committee on Application for Incor- poration of Towns, to hear the parties and report. An order was sent to the assessors of the plantation of Waterford to appear and show cause, if any, why the petition of Stephen Jewett and others should not be granted. To this was sent the following reply :
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives in General Court assembled.
Agreable to an order of the Honorable Cort of the 26th of Janu- ary last, dyrecting the inhabitants of the plantation of Waterford to appear and show cors, if any they had, why the petition of Stephen Jewett and others praying that the plantation of Water- ford might be incorporated by the name of Waterford, with the exception of the three most eastermost tears of lots, might not be granted. The inhabitants of the plantation aforesaid, being met in plantation meeting on the 29th of September last, voted by a ma- jority of said meeting that Africa Hamlin, Malboro Kingman, and Nathaniel Chamberlain be a committee to remonstrate against the
.
61
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
prayer of the said petitioners in behalf of a majority of the inhab- itants of said plantation.
A true copy of the minutes.
AFRICA HAMLIN, Clerk of Plantation.
We the undersigned, being chosen as a committee to remonstrate against the above-mentioned petition, do offer the following rea- sons as our objections against the said prayer.
1st. Because the roads happily convean the present center; whereas by making a new one it will be inconvenient on account of ponds, etc., etc.
2d. Because a river running through said plantation will cause the inhabitants to make and maintain two extensive bridges, with little more than one tear of lots opposite said bridges adjoining the above-mentioned tear of lots.
3d. Because there are three public lots that will become amena- ble to taxation if transferred.
4th. Because the signers of the above-mentioned petition living in the west and north-west parts of the plantation wish to get rid of one-fifth part of the plantation for no other cause than to con- vean themselves with the public buildings hereafter to be erected, whereas they do not own one inch of the settling lots in the three tears of settling lots, and the owners of one hundred and eighty- two lots of land are opposed to the prayer of said petition.
5th. Because the inhabitants living on the three tears of lots are opposed to being set off.
6th. Because the owners of the soil of the three tears of lots own farms and other landed property in said plantation, and we pray that they may not be separated. These being our reasons, which we conceive will be ample sufficient to prevent the above- mentioned prayer from being granted. We however gladly submit them to your honors' better judgement and as in duty bound will ever pray.
WATERFORD, Oct. 27, 1796.
Com. AFRICA HAMLIN, NATH'L CHAMBERLAIN, MALBORO KINGMAN.
62
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
With this protest was sent the following petition :
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth aforesaid in General Court assembled.
Your petitioners, being the inhabitants and non-resident propri- etors of the plantation of Waterford in the county of Cumberland,1 beg leave to inform your honors that there is between fifty and sixty families in said plantation; that the inhabitants labour under many inconveniences for want of proper authority to raise money for the support of schools and various other purposes to promote the peace and prosperity of the plantation. Your petitioners there- fore pray that the inhabitants of said plantation may be incorpor- ated with the privilege of a body politick, reference being had to the confirmation of the grant of the town for the bounds of the same and as in duty bound will ever pray.
PROPRIETORS AND INHABITANTS.
John Nurse,
David McElwain, Joel Atherton,
Colman B. Watson,
Thaddeus Brown,
David Hammond,
William Brown,
Abijah Swan,
Ephriam Chamberlain,
Jonathan Longley,
Malboro Kingman,
John Atherton,
Africa Hamlin, Moses Stone, Asaph Brown,
Daniel Barker,
Jacob Gibson,
Jonathan Robbins,
John Holland,
Phineas Whitney,
Oliver Hale,
Abijah Brown, Abraham Conant,
Eli Longley, Silas Brown, Solomon Stone, James Chamberlain,
John Stevens,
Stephen Sanderson,
Francis Gardner,
Reuben Whitney,
Jotham Johnson,
Isaac Smith,
James Kendall, jr.
Nathaniel Chamberlain.
1 The use of Cumberland instead of York was doubtless a slip of the pen.
63
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
Read and concurred in by House of Representa- tives Nov. 17, 1796.
To this the original petitioners sent the following answer :
To the Honourable Senate and Honourable House of Representa- tives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General Court assembled, November A.D. 1796.
The memorial of us the subscribers, inhabitants of the planta- tion of Waterford, humbly showeth that a plantation meeting was held by the inhabitants of this place on the 29th of September past. It was voted in said meeting that the inhabitants do not consent to have any part of their plantation annexed to Cummings Purchase, consequently a remonstrance was ordered to be pre- sented to your honors against a former petition presented by your memorialists, praying that this plantation might be incorporated, exclusive of three tears of lots on the east part, which lots we pray might be annexed to Cummings Purchase. The business of said meeting was transacted under the assumed appelation of a majori- ty of the inhabitants, but your memorialists beg leave to observe that the business of said meeting was huried on in an uncommon manner; the people had not collected when the vote was taken, persons were allowed to vote that were not inhabitants of the plantation, consequently a small majority was obtained. Your memorialists humbly concieve that such a mode of proceeding was as contrary to law as it was void of justice. Your memorialists beg leave further to observe that considerable contentions have arisen in this place respecting a spot on which to erect a meeting- house. A respectable number of the principal inhabitants that were opposed to each other mutually agreed to chuse a disinter- ested committee from other towns to determine on the spot where to erect a meeting-house. The committee was accordingly chosen, consisting of three gentlemen, viz., Moses Ames, William Swan, and Josiah Pierce, esquire. They met and acted on the matter and their report was that Davenports hill so called was the most suitable place for a meeting-house as the town was then situated.
A
¥
64
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
We beg leave to inform your honors that the above-mentioned hill is the most central place of the inhabitants now and in our opinion ever will be, and if a former prayer is granted by your honors re- specting three tears of lots being annexed to Cummings Purchase, it will be within a few rods of the center of the town. These things your memorialists can abundantly prove if further proof is necessary. We beg your honors to take these matters into your consideration, and do as your honors should think proper and we as in duty bound will ever pray.
Eleazer Hamlin,
Stephen Jewett,
Phillip Hor,
Ebenezer Jewett,
Abram Hor,
Samuel Warren,
Ezekial Sanders,
Richard Bryant,
Humphrey Sanders,
Samuel Sampson,
John Hor,
Samuel Brigham,
Joshua Sanders,
Asa Case,
David Whitcomb,
Benjiman Flint,
Seth Ramsdell,
Darius Holt,
Isaac Hor,
Lemuel Shee,
Samuel Plummer,
Daniel Chaplin,
Nathaniel Jewett,
Abijah Warren,
William Warren,
Benjiman Sampson,
Nathan Jewett,
Thomas Green,
Stephen Cummings,
Daniel Green,
Hannibal Hamlin,
Thomas Green, jr.
Phineas Sampson.
Read and concurred in by House and Senate Feb. 3, 1797.
Feb. 14, 1797. The standing committee of both houses for the incorporation of towns reported that the petitioners have leave to bring in a bill of incor- poration, excepting the three easternmost tiers of lots in said plantation.
65
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
March 2, 1797. An act of incorporation was passed. It read as follows :
AN ACT to incorporate part of the plantation called Waterford, in the county of York, into a town by the name of Waterford.
SECT. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That all that part of the plantation aforesaid which is con- tained within the following bounds, viz., beginning at the north- westerly corner of Otisfield, thence running north, 65 degrees east, twelve hundred and seventy rods, by said Otisfield to the di- viding line between the third and fourth tier of lots, westerly from the easterly side line of said Waterford; thence north, 25 degrees west, on the dividing line between the said third and fourth tier of lots to the north-westerly side line of said Waterford; thence south, 65 degrees west, 640 rods, on a new township called Oxford to a stake and stones; thence south, 65 degrees west, 650 rods, to a stake and stones; thence south, 65 degrees west, 340 rods, to a stone set in the ground; thence south, 25 degrees east, 160 rods, to a stone in the ground; thence south, 65 degrees west, 315 rods, to a stake and stones standing in the easterly side line of said New Suncook; thence south, 25 degrees east, by said New Suncook, . 2,020 rods west, to a pine tree, the south-westerly corner of said Waterford, which is the south-easterly corner of the aforesaid New Suncook, standing in the northerly end line of Bridgton aforesaid; thence south, 25 degrees east, 100 rods, to the first bound, together with the inhabitants thereon, be and hereby is in- corporated into a town by the name of Waterford; and the said town is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, and im- munities which other towns in this Commonwealth do or may by law enjoy.
SECT. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that Simon Frye, Esq., be and he hereby is empowered to issue his warrant to some suitable person, inhabitant of said Waterford, requiring time to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at some convenient time and place, for the purpose of choosing
66
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
all such officers as towns are required by law to choose, in the month of March or April annually.
The plantation history of Waterford covered a space of twenty-two years, from 1775 to 1797, or for statistical convenience from 1775 to 1800. During this time the growth of the State and county was very rapid, as will be seen by the following table, which gives the population of each at different dates between those years until after 1820. The following and subsequent tables are taken from Greenleaf's Survey of Maine.
Counties. 1
1775.2
1777.2
1784.2
1790.
1800.
York,
15,000
15,908
19,909
27,560
34,284
Cumberland,
12,000
13,476
15,621
23,481
31,898
Lincoln,
9,000
12,916
20,791
18,608
27,998
Waldo,
2,432
6,695
Hancock,
5,763
8,947
Washington,
2,526
4,536
Kennebec,
9,105
17,995
Oxford,
3,333 8
9,896
Somerset,
2,146
5,509
Penobscot,
1,154
3,009
Total,
36,000
42,400
56,321
96,108
151,719
1 The numbers in this table previous to the year 1790, assigned to York and Cumberland counties, include also all which at that time were settled in the present county of Oxford and a part of Franklin county; and those assigned to Lincoln include all the residue of the State. At and after the year 1790, the numbers express the population of the towns and planta- tions which in 1820 formed the respective counties, without regard to ex- tent at the time of enumeration.
2 The population these years are estimates.
8 Oxford county at this time included the towns of Jay, Livermore, and Turner. These towns are included in Oxford county in making up the county population, but excluded from the list of towns. In all town lists I shall give only those towns that are now included in Oxford county.
67
INCORPORATION OF WATERFORD.
The double line of incorporated towns on the coast between the Piscataqua and Penobscot bay in 1775, had now reached an average width of ten,1 with a wide fringe of flourishing plantations behind them. Between the Penobscot and St. Croix there was now an average width of two incorporated towns. The number of towns had increased from thirty-four to one hundred and thirty-six. Oxford county, which McWain twenty-five years before had found a wilderness except at Pequawkett and Sudbury Canada, now contained twelve incorporated towns and as many large plantations. Between the same dates the population of the Province of Maine had increased from 36,000 to 151,729, a gain of more than four hundred per cent in less than one generation. This great increase was largely due to immigration.2
Greenleaf estimates the yearly increase by immi- gration between 1775 and 1800 to have been 2,600, or in the aggregate 47,112. The bulk of these im-
1 Here and there among these towns were large plantations which for economic or other reasons had delayed incorporation.
2 Massachusetts and Connecticut swarmed for forty years after the close of the Revolutionary war. Between 1782 and 1820 Massachusetts lost by migration 288,546 of her population, Connecticut 237,659. Most of the emigrants from eastern Massachusetts, between the first date and 1810, settled in Maine and New Hampshire; those from the western part of the State in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. The Connecticut emigrants between the same dates went to Vermont and the Middle States for the most part.
68
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
migrants came from eastern Massachusetts, and were for the most part adult males and females.
The old towns of Oxford county received their population direct from Massachusetts, the newer by migration from the older either in Oxford or Cum- berland counties. The rule will hold good in our county, that the more direct the population of a town came from Massachusetts the higher the civili- zation of that town has always been. It was this wholesale migration from Massachusetts and Con- necticut into northern New England after the Revo- lution, that made the institutions and character of northern and southern New England homogeneous.
The following table gives an incomplete yet in- teresting statement of the population of the towns in Oxford county in 17901 and 1800.
Albany (Oxford),* settled 1784, incorporated 1803, 1790 1800
69
Andover (E. Andover), settled 1780, incorporated 1804, 22 175
Bethel and Hanover (Sudbury Canada), settled 1773, in- corporated 1796, 100 616
Brownfield (Brownsfield), settled 1765, incorporated 1800, 250 287
Buckfield (Buck-town or No. 5), settled 1776, incor. 1793, 453 1002 Dixfield,* settled 1795, incorporated 1803, 137
Fryeburg and Stow (Fryeburg-addition, Pequawkett), settled 1763, incorporated 1777, 547 734
Gilead (Peabodys Patent),* settled 1780, incor. 1805, 88
1 The towns starred made no returns of population; with the excep- tion of Paris they could have had but a handful of settlers each. The population, not enumerated, could not have exceeded 500 either year.
69
LIST OF TAX PAYERS, 1797.
Hartford (East Butterfield),* settled 1783, incor. 1798,
243
Hebron and Oxford (Philips Gore), settled 1776, incor- porated 1792, 530
981
Hiram, settled 1780, incorporated 1807,
192 203
Lovell and Sweden (New Suncook),* settled 1777, incor- porated 1800, 202
Newry (Bostwick),* settled 1781, incorporated 1805,
92
Norway (Rustfield, Lees Grant, Cummings Purchase), settled 1781, incorporated 1796, 448
609
Paris (No. 4),* settled 1779, incorporated 1793,
844
Porter (Portersfield),* settled 1784, incorporated 1807,
272
Rumford (New Penacook),* settled 1777, incor. 1800,
262
Sumner (West Butterfield), settled 1783, incor. 1798, 189 330
Waterford,1 settled 1775, incorporated 1797,
150
535
TOWN HISTORY.
1797-1820.
The following is a list of the tax payers in Water- ford at the time of its incorporation, the lot and range on which each settled, and the names of the parties now owning or occupying them.
Names.
1797.
1875.
Joel Atherton,
L. 9, R. 2.
Jonas Atherton.
John Atherton,
L. 9, R. 2.
66
John Atherton, jr.,
L. 6, R. 4.
John Atherton.
Samuel Brigham,
L. 2, R. 9.
- Manson.
Asaph Brown,
L. 5, R. 5.
N. of Mr. Stanwood's.
Abijah Brown,
L. 3, R. 5.
George K. Hamlin.
1Waterford had fourteen polls in 1786. Reckoning five inhabitants to a poll, this would make a population of seventy.
-
3
70
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Adonijah Brown,
L. 3, R. 4.
Capt. L. Houghton.
John Brown,
L. 9, R. 8.
Thaddeus Brown,
L. 8, R. 7.
William Brown,
L. 8, R. 7.
Silas Brown,
L. 7, R. 7.
Daniel Barker,
L. 2, R. 4.
Daniel Barker, jr.,
L. 2, R. 4.
Joseph Barker,
L. 2, R. 4.
I. S. Cheever. John N. Baker.
Daniel Chaplin,
L. 3, R. 12.
Misses S. & H. Chaplin.
David Chaplin,
L. 6, R. 12.
Dr. Stephen Cummings,
L. 6, R. 7.
Mrs. Eunice Conant,
L. 5, R. 5.
Ephraim Chamberlain,
L. 9, R. 9.
Nathaniel Chamberlain,
L. 2, R. 3.
Eleazer Hamlin.
John Chamberlain,
L. 6, R. 7.
William Kingman, jr.
Ephraim Davenport,
L. 6, R. 7.
Charles L. Plummer.
Josiah Dudley,
L. 4, R. 1.
Pine Grove House.
Samuel Farnsworth.
Lieut. Thomas Green,
L. 4, R. 12.
Cyrus Green.
Daniel Green,
L. 4, R. 12.
Jacob Gibson,
L. 4, R. 4.
J. S. Grant.
Oliver Hale,
L. 4, R. 5.
Mrs. C. Perley.
Israel Hale,
L. 5, R. 5.
Thomas Swan.
Benjamin Hale,
L. 1, R. 4.
Eleazer Hamlin.
Hannibal Hamlin,
L. 8, R. 4.
D. Purington.
Eleazer Hamlin,
L. 5, R. 7.
Rev. Mr. Kendall.
America Hamlin,
L. 3, R. 3.
Charles Hamlin.
Africa Hamlin,
L. 6, R. 4.
Charles Jordan.
David Hammond,
L. 10, R. 3.
- - Fogg. - - Stearns.
Jonathan Houghton,
L. 7, R. 2.
Abram Hor,
L. 4, R. 9.
Philip Hor. 66
Philip Hor,
L. 4, R. 9.
Isaac Hor,
L. 6, R. 12.
A. Allen.
John Hor,
L. 6, R. 12.
T. Kilborn.
A. K. P. Kimball. Thaddeus Brown.
A. K. Cross.
A. W. Hale.
66
Edward Baker,
L. 11, R. 3.
Rev. John A. Douglass. West of Mr. Stanwood's. A. Kimball.
Zechariah Fletcher,
L. 9, R. 3.
J. Fogg.
71
LIST OF TAX PAYERS, 1797.
Capt. Stephen Jewett,
L. 5, R. 13.
Nathan Jewett,
L. 5, R. 13.
Lieut. Ebenezer Jewett,
L. 6, R. 13.
Nathaniel Jewett,
L. 6, R. 13.
Widow Sally Jewell,
L. 5, R. 5.
Stanwood's Bucket Fac- tory.
John Jewell,
L. 7, R. 8.
Where the town farm is.
Asa Johnson,
L. 10, R. 8.
J. Chadbourne.
Malboro Kingman,
L. 10, R. 7.
Benjamin Pride.
Lebeus Kingman.
Joseph Kilgore,
L. 7, R. 4.
Calvin Hamlin.
Benjamin Kilgore,
L. 7, R. 4.
Andorus Kilgore.
Eli Longley,
L. 6, R. 6.
Dr. Shattuck.
Jona Longley,
L. 4, R. 4.
Under Bald Pate.
David Mc Wain,
L. 10, R. 5.
Solomon Hall.
Ebenezer Moulton,
L. 2, R. 6.
Josiah Willard, J. C. Pike.
John Nurse,
L. 8, R. 11.
Samuel Plummer,
L. 5, R. 8.
George W. Plummer.
Seth Ramsdell,
L. 6, R. 9.
William Plummer.
Eber Rice,
L. 7, R. 10.
C. Rice.
Jona Robbins,
L. 5, R. 6.
Jeremiah Robbins,
L. 5, R. 6.
James Robbins,
L. 5, R. 5.
Frank Chute, Wm. Mon- roe, W. A. Monroe.
Mrs. Betsey Sanders,
L. 6, R. 7.
Amos Sanders.
Ezekiel Sanders,
L. 6, R. 9.
Freeman Horr.
Humphrey Sanders,
L. 1, R. 11.
C. Kneeland.
Samuel Sanders,
L. 6, R. 10.
Freeman Horr.
Stephen Sanderson,
L. 2, R. 5.
William Haines.
Phineas Sampson,
L. 6, R. 8.
Eben Plummer.
Benjamin Sampson,
L. 5, R. 11.
Samuel Sampson,
L. 6, R. 9.
Joel Plummer.
Josiah Shaw,
L. 3, R. 6.
J. M. Shaw.
Jonathan Shaw.
Thomas Sinclair.
y
Samuel H. Warren. Peter E. Mosher.
Farnum Jewett. 66 66
Stanwood's Pasture. 66 66
72
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Isaac Smith,
L. 5, R. 5.
Luther Houghton. - Everett.
Solomon Stone,
L. 8, R. 9.
Moses Stone,
L. 9, R. 4.
Sumner Stone.
Joel Stone,
L. 8, R. 9.
John Everett.
William Stone,
L. 9, R. 8.
Andrew Kimball.
Simeon Stone,
L. 9, R. 4.
Sumner Stone.
Elijah Swan,
L. 8, R. 4.
Henry Young.
Samuel Warren,
L. 4, R. 12.
Daniel Warren.
William Warren,
L. 2, R. 11.
Henry Jewett.
Abijah Warren,
L. 3, R. 11.
Isaac Jewett.
Coleman Watson,
L. 8, R. 8.
Edward Hilton.
Eliphalet Watson,
L. 8, R. 2.
Jona. P. Howe.
David Whitcomb,
L. 2, R. 6.
Samuel S. Watson.
James Wright,
L. 1, R. 4.
George Learned.
The valuation of the town in 1800 was $29,395. The following is a list of the live stock owned in town that year.
Horses, . £
79
Colts, two years old,
8
Colts, one year old,
13
Oxen,
118
Cows and three year olds,
298
Cattle, 2 years old,
102
Cattle, 1 year old,
115
Two years later the number of dwelling-houses was 107. Of these six were two-storied, eighty-six were low-framed or one story, and fifteen were log. There were but one or two finished houses in town. There were eighty framed barns. This is a good record for less than twenty years of work. It must be borne in mind that McWain was the only settler in Waterford until 1784.
73
PHYSICAL FEATURES: ORIGIN OF NAMES.
Waterford when incorporated (and no change has been made since in its boundary lines) was seven and one half miles long, and six and three-fourths wide. It contains 50.625 square miles, or 31,775 acres, 1,734 of which are included in ponds. The course of the town lines is 22° 30' west and vice versa. Its latitude is 44° 8' north; its longitude is 78° 35' west from London.
Waterford lies among the foot hills of the White mountain chain; it is the last town among them to the south-east. The great physical feature of the town is Beech hill1 with its numerous peaks. This hill includes all of Waterford north of Moose, Bear, Tom, and McWains ponds, and west of Crooked river. The western slopes of this hill lie in Lovell and Sweden. Its different peaks are known as the Beech, Howard, Jewett, Proctor, and Rice hills.
Beech hill gained its name from its heavy growth of beech. This was not a very common wood in Massachusetts; naturally it attracted the attention of the early settlers. The different peaks are all named after the first settlers who owned them.
The north and east sides of Beech hill have a deep soil ; but on these slopes the hill is "iron-sided." In
1 I follow the geological rather than the traditional or local view, in grouping all the hills north of Tom pond and west of Crooked river as peaks of Beech hill.
6
74
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
spite of this there is no more profitable farming land in Waterford if it is patiently worked. It is well adapted to orcharding, and for the most part makes excellent pasturage. The south and west sides of the hill are much less rugged than the other slopes. There are no better upland farms in Oxford county, and certainly none more beautiful for location, than those in West Waterford and along the Plummer ridge. The lowlands in the extreme northern part of the town and along the Crooked river are made up of plain and meadow, the one good land for crops the other for grass.
Besides Beech hill the town contains several smaller mountains. Bald Pate was so named by the early settlers because its top, when the town was settled, was entirely denuded of trees; a fire had just swept over it.
Mt. Tire 'm is said to have received its name from the expression used by the Indians when climbing its steep sides, "tire um Injuns." Hawk mountain was named by some lumbermen from Westbrook, who were "masting" at its foot, nearly a century ago. They saw a large hawk fly over it and so gave it its name. Bear mountain was so called because a bear was killed while attempting to swim the pond at its foot. Temple hill was so named because many of the early settlers came from Temple, Mass. Below the chain of ponds that cross our town lie beautiful
75
PHYSICAL FEATURES: ORIGIN OF NAMES.
ridges. No fairer slopes than these can be found in Maine.
In the valleys at the foot of Beech hill lie eight of our ten ponds, the pride of our town. The largest covers 484 the smallest 40 acres-1,734 in all. It would be hard to find an elevation of any considera- ble importance in Waterford from which a number of these ponds are not in sight.
The origin of the names of some of our ponds is doubtful. I give the traditions for what they are worth. The Kezar ponds (and what is called Chap- lins pond is properly one of the Kezars) were named after a celebrated hunter by the name of Kezar, who haunted that net-work of ponds-Kezar pond in Fryeburg, upper Kezar pond in Lovell, and the Ke- zars in Waterford. Doubtless the Kezars and Chap- lins ponds, together with the meadows of Daniel Warren and George Green, were a great pond until Nature burst the granite dam at Kezar Falls, and converted a single fall into what is now a beautiful cascade.
Pappoose pond is said to have been so named by the Indians, because a pappoose was drowned there before the whites came to Waterford. This may be true, as the first settlers found an Indian opening just east of the pond, as well as one near Prides bridge. McWains, Bog, Island, and Duck ponds gained their names for obvious reasons.
,
76
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Thomas pond is said to have received its name from Thomas Chamberlain, who, when chased by the Indians, hid under a shelving rock on the south side of it. This rock is half out of water in a dry time. Tradition also says that this was the Chamberlain who killed Paugus in the Lovewell fight. I may here state that the Chamberlain family was always freely drawn on by our fathers when it was necessa- ry to find a hero in Indian skirmish or legend.
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