USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Sheepscot > The history of ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle [Me.] including early Pemaquid, Damariscotta, and other contiguous places, from the earliest discovery to the present time, together with the genealogy of more than four hundred families; > Part 19
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Newcastle > The history of ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle [Me.] including early Pemaquid, Damariscotta, and other contiguous places, from the earliest discovery to the present time, together with the genealogy of more than four hundred families; > Part 19
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Oct. 4. Daniel Waters is chosen a Delegate to repre- sent Newcastle in a Convention, to be held at Hallowell, on the fourth Tuesday of October, to take into consideration the expediency of dividing the County of Lincoln into two Counties and where the dividing line shall be. The Act became a law, Feb. 20, 1799.
April 2. The subject of the road from near the Meeting house to David Somes' barn, being again introduced into town meeting, a committee of three was appointed to pro- veed and lay it out, as other surveys had proved unsatis- factory. Nov. 5. The road from Damariscotta Toll Bridge to the town road, is again up in town meeting ; and a com- mittee is appointed. The road was finally accepted Sept. 24, 1799.
1799. John Taylor agrees to support Mary Laiten, this year for two shillings, eleven pence per week. Collection
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Districts were established at Bath, Wiscasset, Waldoboro, and seven other places in Maine. April 1. Town voted to lay out a road from Damariscotta Pond to the Salt water below. James Kavanagh gave the land. This effort proved successful ; previous ones had failed. A landing place was also secured. Accepted Sept. 24.
1800, April 7. The town is asked, but refuses, to peti- tion the General Court for liberty to build a bridge across Dyer's river, at or near the point on Dyer's Neck. May 10. The town is again desired to take action for building a bridge at the same place, but they decline for the present. June 3. Philip Maree, wife and children, laborer of Dresden ; Moses Craig, laborer, wife and chil- dren, of Pownalboro ; and Charles Rundlett, shipwright of Pownalboro, with his wife and children, are ordered to leave the town in fifteen days ; they not having obtained the town's consent to live in it.
The Selectmen were directed to "go round to the people's houses" to take the valuation. Prices allowed by the town on the highway -- $1.00 per day for a man ; fifty cents for a yoke of oxen ; fifty cents for a plough ; twelve cents for a cart.
Job Averill, one of the first settlers in Alna, lived where Eben Averill now resides. The mountain above his house was called " Job's mountain " from him. He owned from the Falls to Alna Meeting house, and settled his children at several points, up and down, on this tract. A Garrison was erected there for the use of the inhabitants.
Great disputes, in subsequent years, arose about titles, and proprietors frequently disturbed and distressed the settlers. Sometimes the settlers yielded to their demands by paying them ; and, at other times, the claimants were resisted and roughly handled, by the occupants.
In 1800 one Truman* an agent for the proprietors, who
* Mrs. Woodbridge and others.
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had made himself obnoxious to the settlers, was riding along, when five men disguised by a black liquid on the face, caught him, stripped him, whipped him with a thorn- bush and then, it is said, cut off his ears and let him go. In his nearly naked condition, he ran down to Mr. Moses Weymouth's who resided where Gen. Weymouth now does, and entered the house for safety. Mr. and Mrs. Weymouth were gone from home, and there was no one in the house but Hannah Averill, a daughter of Job, a maiden lady, and sister of Mrs. Weymouth. Taking fright at the strange and bloody sight she instantly fled, without paying any attention to the wants and woes of the wounded and the lame. Trueman helped himself to some clothes, and then started for Wiscasset. The perpetrators were afterwards prosecuted with indifferent success. One of them went to sea but never returned.
Job Averill was once taken and carried to Canada by the Indians.
1801. April 6. An unsuccessful attempt was made to induce the town to build a porch to the Meeting house. Ephriam Taylor bids off Polly Laiten for twenty-five cents a week. For Representative to Congress, Orchard Cook had thirteen votes and Dummer Sewall five.
There is no subject perhaps that occasions more interest, awakens deeper feeling, or elicits warmer debate in a town, than that of roads. It would be a matter of interest to write the history of one road, taken from its inception, and carried through all the various stages of individual and town action, till the last furrow of the plough upon it is turned, the last shovel full of dirt is thrown, and the sur- veyor pronounces it " done." Men go about as if the weight of a kingdom was resting upon their shoulders, they debate as for their lives - and they contend as though all the powers of Rebeldom, were arrayed against them. For a few feet of land, men could scarcely struggle harder if they were in the seas and were lustily calling for help.
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They speak and they reply ; get excited and get calm ; speak and get excited again ; and again reply and become calm ; till hours are consumed, months have come and gone, and years have glided away.
Instead of coming together and calmly consulting and considering what the public good requires, the moment the subject of a new road is named or the alteration of an old one, opposition is sure to be raised somewhere. Either one man will lose a few feet of land, or some of his wood must be cut down, or the travel will be taken from his front door, or his neighbor, whom he does not like very well, is going to be benefitted by it, or, he is not going to have damages enough, or somebody else is likely to have more damages than he thinks the town able to pay, or, it is going "right straight" through his mowing land or wood lot ; or, but reasons multiply and I stop them-he is opposed, mightily opposed, opposed all through and con- tinnally opposed to the measure. He wakens up opposi- tion and oftentimes succeeds in defeating important enter- prises, or delaying good ones.
Thus it was with that road which extended from Damar- iscotta Pond to the Woodbridge neighborhood. At one time we thought it settled ; but it appears it was not. For some reasons, all previous proceedings with regard to this matter, are thrown up and the town this year, saw fit to appoint a committee to run out a road between these two points. It was done, and on September 21, it was accepted ; but on the 28th of November 1804, it was discontinued because Benjamin Woodbridge, one of the land owners, through whose land the roadl ran, thought he did not get a sufficient amount of damage for his loss. The road, from near Dr. Myrick's to Trumbull's ferry, was a long time agitated before it was finally settled. The history of the road, from the county road up the West side of Vaughan's Pond, would be a curious one, could it be written out, and all the facts of the case made known, and so would that
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running down, from near the Town house to Edgcomb line.
Towns and individuals oftentimes act very much against their own interests, in opposing the construction of new roads or altering old ones, when the public good demands that it be done. In August 1806, the Court of Sessions ordered the laying out of a new road from Dr. Myrick's to the Meeting house. The town remonstrated, called a meeting, and chose an Agent, Robert Robinson, with power of Attorney, to appear before the Court of Sessions, to oppose the road which has been laid out. At the same time they ordered that a surveyor and chainmen, inhabi- tants of the town, be procured and authorized to lay out a road from the Meeting house to Damariscotta Toll Bridge, and from there to the guidepost in Nobleboro' near William Teague's ; and from this point back to the County Road by Damariscotta Mills to the Meeting house, and also to measure the road from the Meeting house to Dr. Myrick's. The consequence was, no road was built there, and the travelling publie went up and down the hard hill at Royall Wrights and to and from Damariscotta, by the way of the old Academy, near Mr. Elias Bailey's for many years after- wards.
1802. The town was asked, but refused, April 5, to give any money for building an Academy. November 1. They were asked, but refused to give the aere of land where the old Meeting house stood for a lot for the Academy. Previ- ous to this, May 6, 1795, Major John Farley and Colonel Geo. Barstow offered for this acre of land, another acre, else- where for a burial ground ; but the town did not see fit to accept the offer. May 10, the town voted Ezekiel Laiten, Samuel Kennedy and Andrew Peters a Committee, to lay out a road from James Cooper's line to the South point on Dyer's Neck ; and from the river on the South side, to the town road. James Carney gave the land on the South side, on condition that the bridge which was to be built, should be free. And Thomas Fairservice gave the land on
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the North side, by accepting the old road which in former years had been laid out between these two points. This road was laid out two rods wide. Town gave consent to John Rundlet and others, to build a bridge across Dyer's river, at this place, provided they obtain a grant for the same, from the General Court. Orchard Cook had 50 : Mark L. Hill, 21 ; Martin Hinkley, 7 ; and Phineas Bruce, 6 votes for Representative to Congress.
Respecting the uncured patient some may think it trifling in a grave history like this, to notice a matter of this kind. But to one unacquainted, it would hardly seem possible for so much interest to arise in a town as there often is, about a single pauper case. Oftentimes it will elicit an eloquent debate for an hour or more, be carried through successive town Meetings, and engage the attention of the neighborhood, perhaps of the entire town. To the pauper himself it is a moment of indescribable anxiety and doubt as to what is to become of him. Oftentimes such cases are carried into Court. The learned Judge sits on the Bench with the Ermine of authority upon his shoulders, the Agent of the town is present - able counsel appear both for and against the prosecutor twelve men sit upon one side of the Court Room and watch every statement - consider every fact - listen with all the patience they can to all the turnings and twistings and ingenious arguments of skilled lawyers, who hate more than they do the presence of the Angel of Death, to lose a case ; interested spectators stand gazing around, offering opinions without any charge, and giving decisions without any salary; the Judge rehearses the case, reads off the law ; the man with a staff about six feet long painted red on one end, conduets the jury out, they deliberate, they discuss, they vote, seal up their verdict, report, and the case is decided; that is, if every- body is satisfied and no one appears to file objections.
Rough as it may appear, severe as it may seem, the action of towns with regard to paupers is humane. No
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such things appear in Savagedom, and it is a relief from a vast amount of misery and pain. Oftentimes the condition of paupers is superior to others in town ; and every man, woman and child knows, if misfortune befall him and he is deprived of his property, if friends forsake him, and lameness, or broken limbs, or sickness visits him, there is the great heart of the Christian community to feel for him, the strong hand of the town is his protector, the Town Treasury his bank, and he is sure to live having his expenses paid, and without incurring debts to himself.
I have been profoundly impressed with these thoughts, as I have turned over the pages of the Ancient Town Records, and read their legislation with regard to such as were so unfortunate as to become the subjects of town charity. And yet, it is not charity. If an individual has owned property in town, paid taxes, or if he has not, but has demeaned himself as a good citizen and has become so unfortunate as to be without the means of support, then the town ought to take him, take care of him, pay his bills those of the physician among the rest, and if he dies, give him a civilized burial in a Christian Cemetery. It may be, that he is one of the Lord's elect ; and that on that Glori- ous Morning when the Grave shall be bidden to release its tenant, he will arise first among the Just, and shall be a Prince around the Throne of the Highest ! God watches his dust ; he will bid it rise ; it will be humanity re-clothed, raised again, prepared for a life that shall have no ending, and a duration that shall experience no pain.
Amusing as some of their aets were, and quaint as is their style of Record, yet beneath it all, theirs is Christianity, Justice, Benevolence, Humanity, Right. You dread the idea of becoming a pauper, there are ideas and conditions far more terrible than this. Sooner, far sooner would I become a town charge than to be taken by savage hands, and carried captive into the wilderness, as thousands of my countrymen have been, during those fierce wars which
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my Book has faintly delineated, where life is a burden, and existence is only a synonym of degradation, misery, want. torture, ultimately death.
Of the two lots, if one or the other must be my condi- tion, sooner, far sooner would I throw myself into the arms of my fellow citizens to be cared for by them, than to be subject to the cruelty and meanness and starvation and lingering deaths which thousands of my fellow countrymen, brave men fighting under and for, the flag of my Country, who have been so unfortunate as to be taken prisoners of war, by those lordly men, who have been educated to whip negroes, sell children, and to pay the heaviest prices for humanity when it appears in the female form, and is graced with the charms and attractions of youth, accom- plishments and beauty. I would not be a pauper, neither would I be a slave ; and yet, I would be a panper, far sooner than I would be a slave. Reason as we may, think as we please, subjection to irresponsible authority is a con- dition in life that strikes the mind with horror and in thousand of instances, has ended in desperation, mad- ness, suicide, death ! God be praised for the prospect of freedom in this, my native land. Come Thou immortal King, break the rod of the oppressor ; reign thyself in the hearts of the nations ; hasten the time when every man shall hail every other man, not as an enemy, but as a fel- low creature, a friend, a brother ! It has been done since the above was written.
July 29. An attempt was made to get the town to employ Dr. Marins Howe of Walpole, to cure Polly Laiten, and the town voted "to try to employ a doctor to cure Polly Laiten. by the great : viz., if he did not make a cure of her disorder, to have nothing." It was a safe operation for the town and the Selectmen were appointed a commit- tee to attend to the matter.
1803. The bridge had been built across Dyer's river, and the Proprietors asked for some compensation from the
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town, for what they had done. The town however refused to make them any consideration ; believing, and justly so, that the personal benefit to each one of them, would more than meet any outlay of expense to which they might have been subjected in erecting it.
1804. Hugh Holmes came to this place carly in the set- tlement of the country and married the widow of Solomon Hopkins who purchased Lot No. 12 of Christopher Tap- pan, and resided there till his death. Holmes was a busy, bustling kind of a man, with more energy than prudence, and more zeal than discretion. He was constable at times and a prominent actor in the town affairs. At one time, he took up a breachy horse that belonged to James Clarke who lived on Lot No. 5, Great Neck. He put a wythe around his neck, and the horse died on his hands. Clarke sned him. Holmes stood him trial and beat him. It was carried through several Courts, and Clarke finally got the ease on this ground. He proved, that the horse had been driven beyond his strength, the day before he died, and the Jury brought in their verdiet, that this was the cause of his death, and gave the case to Clarke. Holmes lived Easterly a short distance from the late Robert Lennox's. The lawsuit cost Clarke more than his horse was worth : and it cost Holmes his farm, worth, at that time, $1,500. Sammel Kennedy who lived on the Neck. Lot No. 3, became surety for him, and let him have money to carry on his lawsuit ; and as Holmes could not raise the money to pay the cost of Courts, Kennedy took his farm. " Alfred Wilson and others lived on the Westerly end of it, and Capt. Robert Kennedy, when a young man, bought the woodland. 40 acres, for $625. He paid for it in silver dollars. Other kinds of curreney were not satisfactory. After taking off $5,000 worth of lumber at different times, Capt. Kennedy, in 1863, sold this lot of land for $5,000; and the purchaser
* Capt. John Holmes.
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has made a handsome thing out of it. This shows us the great advance in the price of real estate, particularly wood- land, within a few past years.
May 7. The town voted a bounty of 8 cents per head for crows that should be killed. So far as appears, this is the first movement of the kind, the town ever made.
1805. The town this year, I believe, for the first time in 50 years, dismissed the Article in the Warrant, relating to rams. June 2d. Road was accepted from near the Meet- ing house to Edgeomb line. Dec. 31. Ebenezer Clark is chosen Grand Juror to the Court of Common Pleas. Samuel Cargill and Washington Dodge are chosen Petit Jurors.
1806, April 7. Road ordered to be laid out from Wm. Leman's to town line. Accepted May 8, 1806. The town remonstrates against a petition of the town of Nobleboro, securing to them the whole benefit of the alewive fishery.
1807. Chose a committee to look out a road from Sheep- scot Toll Bridge to Damariscotta Toll Bridge; also from Sheepscot Toll Bridge to Damariscotta Mills Bridge. The town added sixty-six dollars, sixty-seven conts to the salary of Rev. Kiah Bailey.
Some curious things sometimes happen in the manage- ment of our public affairs. Major Moses Carleton, in con- versation with Ebenezer D. Robinson, Esq., stated, that the year when Mr. ..... Hopkins was Selectman, none of the Board knew how to assess taxes, according to the val- nation. So they divided the whole tax into as many parcels, as there were tax payers in town. Then, one of the number turned his back, and another touching a par- edl, asked ; "Who shall pay this ?" The first, with his back turned, mentioned an individual, and the tax was set against his name. And so the work proceeded, till the whole tax had been disposed of, in this perfectly original way. And the Major ventured the opinion, that the taxes since have never been more equally assessed or given better satisfaction.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
TOWN AFFAIRS-VARIOUS MATTERS.
IN 1809 a slniceway for the fish was built at Damaris- cotta Mills, the town of Nobleboro paying one-half the expense, the whole costing $438. No fish was taken that year. During that time, a road was laid out from John Dodge's Eastward to the town road. And during that year it was voted to lay out a road from Sheepscot Bridge to. Damariscotta Bridge. In 1811 the town agreed to pay 25 cents cash for every crow that was killed. In 1812 it was voted that the Selectmen be a committee to open a road from Robert Robinson's to Benjamin Jones; and in 1813 an Agent was chosen to superintend the new County road. $1,200 was raised for that purpose.
May 7, 1814. A vote was taken to choose a committee for the purpose of examining the Protestant Methodist Society of Newcastle and Alna in respect to their estab- lishment, and do anything they may think proper in regard of said Society being incorporated. Stephen Coffin, Charles Nickels and Henry Hazelton were that committee. And in 1815 a road was laid out from Robert Robinson's to James Kavanagh's, and the work was completed and accepted the following year. In 1816 the Selectmen were appointed a committee to lay out a road on Dyer's Neck.
During this year a meeting was called to see if the town will vote to request the Legislature to give its consent to the separation of the District of Maine from Massachu- setts proper, and to the erection of the District into a sep- arate State. May 20th the vote was taken and resulted as
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follows :- 21 in favor and 52 against separation. And on the 2d of September following another vote was taken when 22 votes were counted in favor and 67 against the measure. The opposition had increased in numbers.
Jan. 9, 1816. "This day," says the surveyor, "I run the line between Edgcomb and Newcastle by order of the Selectmen of Newcastle. Beginning at a stump on Sheep- scot river at the Head of Wiscasset Bay, so called, thence running South thirty-nine degrees and forty minutes East to Damariscotta river to a small white birch tree."
May 1, 1817. Voted that there be no spirituous liquors sold at or near the Meeting house on days of public business.
It is well known to the older inhabitants, that there was, for a long time, a dispute between the towns Edgeomb and Newcastle respecting their boundary line ; and some years elapsed before it was settled. This accounts for the fol- lowing, as well as the foregoing, Record, June 1817. "Committee report a line laid out between Newcastle and Edgeomb, at an iron bolt placed in the ledge or rock on the Southerly side of which bolt the letter E is cut out in said rock, and on the Northerly side of said bolt the letter N is eut out in said rock, and thence running from the water of said Narrows on a course South 45 degrees East in a line with said iron bolt eleven hundred and eighty-five rods to Damariscotta river to an iron bolt placed in a ledge or rock near high water mark on said river."
"Done in pursuance of a Resolve passed in General Court June 9, 1817."
Nov. 15, 1817. A guide post was erected near John Jones to Alna, a distance of 33 miles. One was also erected near Robert Robinson's with directions to Damar- iscotta Toll Bridge 1 mile, to Sheepscot Toll Bridge 21 miles-to Edgcomb 3 miles and to Nobleboro 13. Done by order of the Selectmen.
In 1822 Josiah Jones again run ont the line between
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Edgeomb and Newcastle the same as he run it out before. And in Oct. 14, 1822, the town line was run between New- castle and Jefferson : "Beginning at a stake by the bank of Damariscotta Pond, between Newcastle and Jefferson, thence running Northwest to Alna line, to a bunch of small maples, thence running Southwest to Sheepscot river to a pine tree Marsh." Settled.
1823, May 10. Contract closed with Rev. Mr. Bayley by paying him $400 in installments of $100 per annum. Interest to commence June, 1824. This closed his labors as the minister of the town.
Sept. 12, 1831. Voted to remove all the gates and bars from Aaron Sherman's to the County road. 1839. Voted to accept the report of the Selectmen on a road as laid out from near Robert Campbell's to near the guide board near Hodge Woodbridge's. Voted to "accept the report of the Selectmen in laying out or altering the road near Thomas Woodbridge's. Voted to build the road or so much of it as is laid out by the Commissioners, as leads from Thomas Chase's to the Woodbridge Hill, and that the Selectmen lot out said road and sell it at auction on the building thereof."
1845. Voted unanimously that the Selectmen be a com- mittee to petition the Legislature to pass a law prohibiting the building of weirs or pounds, the setting of nets or seines or using of drag nets, or in any other way obstruct- ing the fish called salmon, shad or alewives in the Damaris- cotta river within the bounds of Newcastle and Nobleboro, and also to alter or amend the present laws so as to allow the fish committee of said towns Nobleboro and Newcastle to take fish in the Western and middle streams so called at Damariscotta Mills on every day in the week except Sunday and but one day in each week in the Eastern or ock stream, and that rafting and gondolaing or any other obstruction shall not be allowed in said streams during the fish season but two days in each week.
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The Wiseasset road had now been built and finished ; hence the following vote passed Sept. 11, 1848 :- that the Selectmen be authorized to borrow $800, on the credit of the town for the purpose of paying the balance which may be due from the town on account of the building the Wis- casset road. And on March 23, 1849, it was voted to build a dam over Marsh Stream Bridge. And on Sept. 3, 1849, it was voted to accept the road laid out by the Selectmen from James Fitz Patrick's to Hartley Erskine's.
March 30, 1850. Voted to choose an agent to confer with the Damariscotta agent, to ascertain when the Dam- ariscotta bridge should be taken charge of by the town, and what it would cost to build a new bridge, and voted and chose Isaac C. Washburn for said agent. And on April 7, 1851, a meeting was called to see if the town will vote to build the Damariscotta bridge with the town of Dam- ariscotta the present year. April 7, 1851. Voted that the town of Newcastle do not repair the Damariscotta bridge, unless the town of Damariscotta unite with them in such repairs. May 16, 1851. Voted that an agent to build the Damariscotta bridge be chosen by ballot. William Hall was chosen agent. Damariscotta concurred, the bridge was built and travel over it was free.
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