(te Book---- NOTES, HISTORICAL, DESCRIPTIVE, AND PERSONAL, OF LIVERMORE, IN ANDROSCOGGIN (FORMERLY IN OXFORD) COUNTY, MAINE. vSi.>.«^ 7/ f- e given, must be brief, and limited, as a rule, to those who were in the town before the date of its incorporation. The first settler and principal proprietor of the town, and in whose honor it was named, Avas, as has been already stated, Elijah Livermore,* who was born in Waltham, Mass., March 4, 1730-1. He was the son of Samuel Livermore, a prominent citizen of that town, and who had for a long time (we are told in Bond's Genealo- gies) "the greatest share of the municipal business of the town." He was selectman from 1743 to 1764; representative from 1745 to 1763, and town clerk and treasurer twenty-six years. Elijah was an elder brother of the Hon. Samuel Livermore, who was born 1732, and graduated at Nassau Hall in 1752, settled in Holderness, N, H., about 1780, and of whom Bond gives the following record: "He studied law with Judge Trowbridge and was made King's attorney- general for New Hampshire by Governor Wentworth in 1769. Soon after the breaking out of the Revolution he Avas made the State attorney-general; was several times delegate to the Conti- nental Congress, and was made chief justice of the State 1782 ; was member of the convention for adopting the Federal constitution, upon the adoption of which he was elected representative to con- gress ; at the end of two years he was elected United States sena- tor, which office he held nine years until he resigned in 1800." The Hon. Samuel Liverinore was the father of Edward St. Loe and Arthur Livermore, both of whom were judges of the supreme court of New Hampshire, and members of congress. *John Livermore, probably the ancestor of all the Llvermores in the United States, em- barked at Ipswich, England, for New England in April, 1634, then aged twenty-eight, in the Francis, John Cutting, master. He was admitted freeman May 6, 1635, and was in Watertowii as early as 1642. He was repeatedly a selectman and held other offices of trust. He was by trade a potter. His parentage has not been conclusively ascertained ; but there is reason to suppose that he came from Little Thurloe, county of Suffolk.— ^wu/'s Genealogies. 16 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. Elijali Livermore inherited his father's homestead ; was a heuten- ant ill the militia of Massachusetts, and was chosen deacon of the Congregationalist Church in Waltham upon the death of his fother. He removed to Livermore in 1779, where he died August 5, 1808. Good sense, integrity, kindness, and a genial humor were traits which most distinctly marked his character. When he died he was mourned as a good mail and friend by the people of the town which he had planted with so much care and wisdom. The children of Deacon Livermore were as follows : Abtgail, b. November 20, 1758, d. 1817. She married Rev. Elisha Williams, a graduate of Yale College. Mr. Williams moved to Livermore about 1790 and Avas the first school-master in the town. About 1798 he became pastor of the Baptist Church in Brunswick. He died in Cambridge in 1845. He had eleven children. A daughter, Sophia, married John Appleton, at one time a resident of Portland. William, b. Jan. 9, 1763, d. in Louisiana in 1832. He was bred a merchant in Boston ; traded some time on Roccoineco Point in Jay (now Canton), and afterwards in Hallowell, and was a major of militia. Danforth P. Livermore and the wife of Col. Andrew Masters, of Hallowell, were his children. Hannah, b. Nov. 22, 1764, d. Jan., 1785. Isaac, b. May 7, 1768, d. Oct., 1820; was bred a merchant in Boston; was in trade a short time in Hallowell, Maine, and then settled in Liver- more as a firmer, and where he was a justice of the peace. His children were Hannah, b. 1796, d. 1886; Granville Putnam, b. 1798, now of St. Joseph, Missouri; Eliza, b. 1801 ; Elijah, b. 1804; Hora- tio Gates, b. 1807, a prominent citizen of San Francisco; Abigail Williams, Alma Louisa, and Julia Snow. Sarah, b. Dec. 7. 1770, married Robert Pierpont, of Roxbury, and d. Feb. 19, 1847. He lived on the old Livermore farm, and died Dec. 9, 1811, at the age of forty- two years. His children were Hannah, b. 1797, d. 1819; Robert, b. 1798, a resident of Livermore; George Washington, b. Jan. 17, 1800, a resident of Livermore Falls; Elijah, b. 1803, d. 1818; Charles Henry, b. 1801, d. very suddenly at Memphis, Tenn., Oct. 6, 1850; John Murdock, b. 1808, d. 1818. Anna, b. April 6, 1775, married Dec. 14, 1797, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, to Avhom reference Avill be made hereafter. Samuel, the youngest child, Avas born April 6, 1778, married Lura Chase, daughter of Thomas Chase. He died Nov. 26, 1823. He was quite frequently a tOAvn officer, and at several times represented the toAvn in the Massachusetts legislature. Bet- sey, his oldest child, Avas b. in 1803, d. 1822 ; Emery, his only son, HISTOEY OF LIVERMOllE. 17 was born Feb. 18, 1809, and after residing in Bangor for several years moved to St. Joseph, Mo.; Lura, the youngest chikl, born Oct. 25, 1815, married Levi B. Young, of Livennore. Widow Carver was the second settler. She had seven children, William, Jcwies, Amos, and JVctt/tan, and three daughters, one of whom married Cutting Clark, one John Winter, and one was unmarried. The family was originally from Duxbury, and William settled in 1780 on the lot now occupied as a farm by George Gibbs, son of John Gibbs. Mrs. Carver made the first clearing and lived for a short time on the farm Avhere Col. Lewis Hunton now lives. JosiAH Wyer, the third settler and fifth with a family, Avas born in Watertown in 1749 and moved to Livermore, or Port Royal, as it was then called, in 1779. He married Rebecca Brackett, of Fal- mouth, Me., in 1782. He died July 7, 1827. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, an orderly sergeant, and was in the battle at Bunker Hill. He was buried with military honors. Mr. Wyer re- sided on the road leading towards North Turner Bridge from the old Methodist meeting-house, on the farm now occupied by Amos Beckler. His widow died June 18, 1836. Their children were Nancy, b. Oct. 1, 1786, who married Nathaniel Soper, and d. Sept. 29, 1871. She was the first female child born in the town. Her husband, wdio survives her, came from Pembroke, Mass., in 1806. He is now (1874) eighty-seven years old. Isaac, b. May 28, 1788, d. in the East Indies. AVUliam, b. Mar. 30, 1790, mariied Lucy Baker, and d. in Livermore Dec. 30, 1858. He was a volunteer in the war of 1812, and his son Otis was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion. Betsey, b. April 30, 1791, married David Brickett. Sally, b. Sept. 7, 1792, married Thomas Haskell, d. in Livermore. Nathaniel, b. April 19, 1794, d. in Livermore. Ktbekah, b. Sept. 30, 1795, married Job Haskell, d. in East Livermore. George, b. April 2, 1800, d. in Livermore. Charles, b. Oct. 26, 1804, married Sopho- nia Shaw. Elisha Smith came from Martha's Vineyard about 1780, and pur- chased and lived on the lot afterwards owned by Rev. Thomas Wy- man. 18 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. Samuel Benjamin* was born at Watertown, in the Province of ]\Iass:it'liusetts U;iy, Feb. 5, 1753. At the breaking out of tlie difficulties witli tlie niotlier country, in the spring of 1775, he joined tlie company of Ca])tain Daniel Whiting, of which he was the first sergeant. He was at the combat of Lexington, on the ever-mem- orable morning of the 19th of April, 1775, where the first blood was shed in the great struggle for Independence. lie was also at the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 17th of June, 1775, and at Monmoutli, Yorktown, and many other battles of lesser note in the Revolution. His whole term of service was seven years, three months, and twenty-one thiys, and it is doubtful if there was any man in the Revolution who was in more battles, or saw more or harder service. The following dechiration of Lieutenant Benjamin, made for the pur})ose of obtaining a pension, contains a full statement of his ser- vice : "I, Samuel Benjamin, a resident citizen of the United States of America, an inhabitant of Livermore, in the County of Oxford, and State of Massachusetts, on oath declare, that from the battle of Lex- ington, April 19, 1775, in whicli I was engaged, I was in the Conti- nental service in the Revolutionary war, without ever leaving said service, even so much as one day, until the 6th day of August, a. d. 1782. I served the eight montlis' service in 1775 at Cambridge, in said State; in 1776, as soon as the British left Boston, we marched to Ticonileroga, \^here my year's service expired ; and, on the 1st of January, 1777, I received from John Hancock, President of the Con- tinental Congress, an ensign's commission, which is hereunto an- nexed, and continued to serve under said commission in Captain Ebenezer CleavehuKl's company. Colonel Micliael Jackson's regi- ment, in the JMassachusetts line, in the army of the United Colonies, on the Continental establishments, until I received a commission of lieutenant, dated Oct. 7, 1777, under which commission I served in the same company abovesaid (which company was now, and had been some months previous, commanded by Captain Silas Pierce, in consequence of the resignation of said Captain Cleaveland) until th<^ *Mr. Benjamin was a descendant, in the fifth generation, of John Benjamin, who arrived in the ship Ijon, Sept. 16, 1C32, and was admitted freeman the subsequent November; was a pro- prietor of Candn'idge and perhaps first settled there. If so, it was only for a short time, as his house, with goods to the amount of £100, Wiis burnt in Watertown April 7, 1C3G. Gov. Win- throp designates him as " Mr. Benjamin," and in 1642 he had the largest homestall in Water- town. He died June 14, 1(H5.— Bond's Genealogies. HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. 19 6th day of August, a. d. 1782, when I had liberty to leave the ser- vice — a certificate of which, signed by Colonel Michael Jackson, is also hereunto annexed. My commission of lieutenant I sent to Washington last winter, and have it not in my power. I was in the battle at Lexington abovesaid before I engaged as a Continental soldier; and afterwards was in the battle of Monmouth, and at the taking of Cornwallis, and numerous other battles of less magnitude. I left the service at West Point, as will appear from the annexed certificate. Samuel Bexjamin.'' This is the certificate above referred to : "This may certify that Lieutenant Samuel B.iij.-imin, of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment, has retired from present service, in consequence of a resolve of congress, passed the 23d of A])ril, 1782, and is thereby entitled to half pay during life, by a resolve of con- gress, passed the 3d and 21st of October, 1780. Given under my hand, in garrison. West Point, this 6th day of August, 1782. M. Jackson, Colonel Eighth Massachusetts Megimentr Lieutenant Benjamin was married to Tabitha Livermore, of Wal- tham, Mass., by the Rev. Jacob Cushing, pastor of the Church of Christ, in Waltham, on the 16th day of January, 1782. She was the sister of the venerable Nathaniel Livermore, who is now living (1858) in Cambridge, Mass., at the advanced age of eighty-three years; and was a relative of Dea. Elijah Livermore, the common an- cestor being Samuel Livermore, of Watertown, who died Dec. 5, 1690. In the fall of 1782, Lieutenant Benjamin made a trip to the Dis- trict of Maine, for the purpose of selecting a location for his future home. On the lOtli day of October, 1782, he bought of Dea. Elijah Livermore, "of Liverton "* (now Liverniore), " Cumberland County, Massachusetts," a tract of about one hundred and twenty acres of land, bounded as follows: "Southerly on land owned by Josiah Nor- cross, easterly by Long Pond (so called), northerly on the last divis- ion and another pond, westerly on said pond and lot No. 55." On the next day, Benjamin executed a mortgage to Livermore of the said tract, to secure the payment of the consideration, viz. : twenty-five bushels of corn, and twenty-five bushels of rye, in twen- *This name, given to the township by Maj. Thomas Fish, did not jieniianently %\\\i\ hint that by whicli it had been generally known— Port Royal. 20 HISTOEY OF LIVERMORE. ty-six months, and the same amount of corn and rye in three years and two months. The consideration expressed in the deed was thirty pounds. In October, 1796, Benjamin bouglit of Otis Robinson the property at Gibbs' Mills, now so called. In December, 1797, he bought part of lot 11, on the east side of the Androscoggin River (now East Liv- ennore), of Nathaniel Dailey; and in 1799 he bought the other part of the said lot from Daniel Stevens. He lived on this place until the time of his deatli, on the 14th day of April, 1824. He was the fourth settler, with a family, in the town of Livermore. He first oc- cupied a log cabin, built by Major Thomas Fish, a Revolutionary officer, at M'hat has ever since been known as the " Fish Meadow." This was in March, 1783. The remains of Lieutenant Benjamin were buried in the quiet lit- tle country burying-ground, on the western bank of the Androscog- gin River, at what is known as the "Intervale." He was buried with military honors, and a modest and appropriate monument marks his last resting place, upon which is the following inscription : " Tills monument is erected to the memory of Lieutenant Samuel Benja- min, who died April 14, 1824, in the seventy-first year of his age ; an officer of the American Eevolution, who fought in tlie sacred cause of his country and the rights of mankind, from the ever-memorable morning of the 19th of April, 1775, to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, on the 19th day of October, 1781, and from tlience to the close of that sanguinary war, which es- tablished the freedom and independence of the United States, and gave to them a distinguished rank among the nations of the earth." The widow of Lieutenant Benjamin, born June 27, 1757, died June 20, 1837, at the residence of her son. Colonel Billy Benjamin, of Livermore. He left ten children, seven of whom are now (1858) living in Maine. The foregoing notice of Lieutenant Benjamin is copied from a pamphlet containing extracts from a journal which he kept while in the war. He was frequently in town office; was one of the selectmen from 1801 to 1805, inclusive. His children were Billy, Samuel, Nathaniel, Betsey, Polly and Martha (twins), David, Charles, Elisha, Ruth. Bilhj^ b. March 13, 1785, d. March 31, 1849, was the second male child born in town. He married Phebe Wellington, whose family came from Lincoln, Mass. IL; was a man of military bearing and HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 21 tastes, and was a colonel in the State railitia. His residence was on the Intervale. Samuel, b. Sept. 7, 1786, d. April 27, 1871, learnt a cabinet maker's trade and established the business in Winthrop. He married Olivia Metcalf, by wliom he had twelve children, of whom eight are now living. NatJianiel, b. May 16, 1788, d. Dec. 19, 1867, married Betsey Chase, by whom lie had seven children, six of whom are living. Betsey, b. Dec. 29, 1790, married Samuel Morrison, of Livermore. She died Dec. 9, 1860. They had five children. Polly, b. Oct. 2, 1792, married Samuel Ames, of Liver- more. They had six children, of whom three are living in 1874. Mr. Ames moved to Sebec, in the County of Penobscot, now in Piscataquis County, before 1827. He went in a few years to Her- mon near Bangor, and was for one year a representative of the class, in which Hermon was embraced, in the State legislature. He died in Hermon April 7, 1862. He was born May 11, 1789. His widow survived him till March 6, 1865, when she died at the age of seventy- three years. 3Iartha (or Patty), twin of Polly, b. Oct. 4, 1792, mar- ried Israel Washburn, March 30, 1812, d. May 6, 1861. David, b. June 3, 1794, married Catherine Stanwood, of Brunswick, and re- sides on the "old Benjamin farm," and where once was Benjamin's Ferry. They have had five children, three of whom are living. Charles, b. Aug. 2, 1795, married Lucy Chase, and was a cabinet maker on the Intervale, in Livermore. He died May 10, 1834. She survived him several years. They left Betsey, who married John M. Benjamin, Esq., of Winthrop. Elisha, b. Oct. 10, 1797, went South and died in New Orleans, December, 1852, at the age of fifty- five years. JRuth married Jonathan Lovejoy. They had five chil- dren, one of whom — Samuel B. M. Lovejoy — was a lieutenant in the civil war. She was b. May 20, 1797, and d. Feb. 3, 1869. Two children survive her, Elisha B., whose home is in Livermore, and Charles B., a resident of Portland. Reuben Wing came from Harwich, Mass., and married a daughter of Elisha Smith. He died in 1861 on the farm on which he had lived for more than sixty-five years. He was a good man and much respected. Cutting Clark was a brother of Hannah Clark, Dea. Livermore's first wife. He lived on the northerly part of Fuller's Hill. He 3 22 HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. came from Waltham soon after tlie settlement of Livermore. He was born Feb. 24, 1754, and lived to an advanced age. He was a man of fei'tile imagination, and a famous hunter in his day. His de- vice for preserving the lite of an Indian boy, who was with him on a hunting expedition, from the severity of the cold, is among the traditions of the town, and was at once unique and effective. Jabez Delano, Avho married Grace, daughter of Daniel Dailey, took up the Major Fish improvement at the Meadow, having pre- viously lived on the east side of the vive^; on the place now occupied by Col. Lewis Hunton, and also having tended for a time Den. Liver- more's grist-mill at the Falls. He was a man of religious emotions, subject to backslidings and renewals in matters of faith. His broth- er, Zebedee, planted himself on the fiirm afterwards owned and oc- cupied by Thomas Chase, and the same now owned by the town. He was a Baptist minister and m:)ved to Lebanon, York County. Another brother, James, settled on the farm now owned by David Rich. His sons, Calvin, Abel, and Leonard, settled in Livermore. With these was a fourth brother, Ebenezer, who lived in the west- erly part of the town, beyond the farm of Isaac Hamlin, and had a large family of boys — James, Jesse, John, Preston, William, Hufus, Lewis, and Levi; the daughters were Nancy, Hannah, and Iluldah. The Delanos came from Winthrop. John Walker, whose wife was a sister of Dea. Gibbs, was one of the first settlers, and lived where Gilbert Hathaway (who came from Freetown, Mass.,) afterwards lived and died. Walker was one of Arnold's men in the expedition by the Kennebec River to Quebec in 1775. He was the father of Colonel Dexter Walker, and of Elijah, Levi, and Jin/us Walker. Daniel Dailey settled on the f:irm on the east side of the river, now owned by Col. Lewis Hunton. He was in town at a very early date. Nathaniel Dailey (son of Daniel) was among the first settlers in Livermore. He cleared the farm on the east side of the river afterwards owned by Lieut. Benjamin, and on which David Benja- min now lives. HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 23 Nezer Dailey (son of Daniel) settled on the west side of the river below the Falls. He owned, at one time, the mills built by Dea. Livermove at Brettun's ; sold them and moved onto a farm above North Turner Bridge. His son, Warren, lived in the same neighborhood, and had a stammering speech which, while it ob- structed, gave peculiar effect to his recitals of the successes and disasters associated with the "crow hunts" to which he gave much of his time. His flither had a second wife who, for some reason, failed to enjoy the devotional exercises of Iver husband, which Avere often tedious and always loud, but which she and her step-son, Warren, were enjoined to attend. As soon after Mr Dailey had commenced his morning prayer as was safe his wife would quietly leave the room. When this practice was discovered, the husband, to prevent her going out, locked the door; but the pre- caution was unavailing, for the wife escaped through the window. When the husband perceived liow completely the old lady had flanked him, his expressions of annoyance and vexation were scarce- ly in harmony with those which had so lately fallen from his lips, nor were they softened by the advice which his son took occasion to give him: "D-daddy," said Warren, "you should w-w-watch as well as pray." Pelatiah Gibbs came from Milford, Worcester County, before 1789, and took up the farm where Ebenezer Hinds afterwards lived ; was often in town office, and was a deacon of the Baptist Church. He moved to Jay (now Canton). Capt. Jacob Gibbs, John Gibbs, and J^rank Gibbs, of Livermore, intelligent men and excellent citi- zens, were his sons. Capt, Gibbs had a large family of daughters. These families are well and honorably represented in the town at the present time, Abial Turner Avas born in Scituate, Mass,, and came to Liver- more to reside with his son John, He was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war, Abial, John, and Fphraim, his sons, were early set- tlers in Livermore, John had a large family and died in Livermore. Elijah Fisher was born June 17, 1758, in Norton, Mass. He was in Livermore in 1789, and settled on a farm on the old highway adjoining, and south of, the Strickland farm. He was a soldier of 24 HISTOEY OF LIVERMORE. excellent reputation in the war of the Revolution and was a member of " Washington's Life Guard," under Ca])t. Caleb Gibbs. At the age of seventeen, on his birthday, he was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and remained in the service for nearly six years. He received a pension for many years before his death, which occurred in Liver- more in January, 1842. He was a sincere and devoted Baptist. Dea. Fisher's wife was Jerusha Keene, of Taunton, Mass. She died in June, 1840. They had eight children, of whom Grivfll, b. 1795, ;Salhj, b. 1798, Priscilla, b. 1801, and ^Salome, b. 1806, are (1874) living. David Learned came to Livermore about the year 1790. He was from Oxford, Mass., and a son of Gen. Ebenezer Learned, an of- ficer in the Revolutionary war. Gen. Ebenezer Learned was one of the proprietors of this town, in which David and a brother, Haines, had lots. David's lot was that now occupied by Capt. Otis Pray and Israel Washburn. Haines' lot was on the east side of the river. Haines was in Shay's rebellion, and did not come to Maine until sev- eral years after David. David was the first trader in town. Rev. Paul Cofiin, in his Missionary Journal for 1800, says that he sold goods that summer "to the amount of 1500.00." It was not far from this time that he built the saw-mill at the outlet of Bartlett's Pond. He was a brigadier-general in the Massachusetts Militia, and the first sheriiF of Oxford County, as his nearest neighbor. Dr. Ham- lin, was the first clerk of the courts for the county. At the election succeeding the incorpoi-ation of the town he was chosen one of the selectmen, and was a representative in the legislature in 1800 and 1801. He sold the southerly part of the farm upon which he first settled to Col. Bartholomew Woodbury, of Sutton, Mass., and the northerly part to Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, and built on an adjoining lot a fine house, at the time remarkable as having the largest panes of window glass of any house in the county. When Artemas Leonard bouo-ht Dr. Hamlin's place in 1805, he (Leonard) removed the store which had been built by Gen. Learned to the spot near the Hamlin house, on which it stood till after 1830, and occupied it till 1809^ when he sold it to Israel Washburn. Gen. Learned died in 1811, ao-ed foi'ty-four years, on a voyage from New Orleans to Boston. He was an intelligent man and of easy manners. Mr. Cofiin, in the journal of his tour in 1798, has this entry : " Visited David HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 25 Learned's family, and being unwell spent the day with this pleasant and serious couple; gave them instruction and Heramenway's ser- mon." Gen. Learned gave the name Oxford to the county upon its incor- poration, in honor of the town of his birtli. His widow, Mary (Hurd) Learned, died in Livermore, Jan. 14, 1863, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years and four months. She retained her focul- ties to the time of her death, and to the very last took a deep interest in the fortunes of the Union cause. Her ardent wish that she might live to see its triumph was not granted. Their children were Maria, Samuel, Charles D., and Eliza. Maria married Publius R. R. Pray, Avho had removed to Liver- more with his brothers, Ephraim and Otis, about 1810. He after- wards studied law in the State of New York with Hon. Samuel Nel- son, late Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and settled in Pearlington, Miss., where he became an eminent jurist. He was one of the Judges of the High Court of Errors and Appeals, and published the Revised Statutes of the State in 1836. He died Jan. 11, 1840. Samuel went South nearly half a century ago, and of his history little is known. Charles D. is a lawyer in Mississij^pi. Eliza died unmarried, in Livermore, June 17, 1870. Mrs. Learned had a brother (William Hurd) who made a firm and built a house at the head of Bartlett's Pond, but who remained in town only a few years. Thomas Chase moved to Livermore September, 1790. He was born in Tisbury (Martha's Vineyard) Sept. 30, 1755, died in Liver- more, April, 1844. He married Desire Luce, March 8, 1781. She died in 1851. In early life he was a sailor and was with John Paul Jones. He was an intelligent man and of the strictest integrity. A correspondent of the Bangor Whig visited Mr. Chase when the lat- ter was eighty-eight years of age. From his letter the following extract is made : " He delights to tell the history of his early life, to relate the story of his numerous adventures and sufferings. But it is when he comes to speak of Paul Jones and his daring exj^loits; when he is describing, it may be, the engagement between the Rich- ard and the Serapis, that his eye kindles and sparkles, and his voice, broken and almost inaudible before, becomes strong and clear, and he is ready to shoulder his crutch and show how ships were taken seventy years ago. 26 HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. The ontlines of his story, as near as I can recollect, are as follows : A privateer came to the Vineyard in the early days of the Revolu- tion for the purpose of engaging a number of men to go out cruising on the coast. Chase and about a dozen other young men joined the ship. After they had sailed they were, for the first time, informed that their destination was the coast of England. At this intelligence they were " a good deal struck up," though there were a fcAV Avho were not disjdeased with the idea of going abroad, and among this number was Chase, who had a love of adventure and a strong desire to see foreign countries. They had not been long on the English coast before they discov- ered a British man-of-war much too strong and powerful for them. As they were not discovered for some time they hoped to escape, but this hope was not fulfilled, and they were finally captured. In a few days the prisoners were put into another shii^, and were in three different ships in the course of four months, in one of which their sufferings were very great, it having on board over fourteen hundred souls — men, women, and children, French and Americans. The ship was foul, the prisoners were dirty, many were sick, and large num- bers died. At last the American prisoners were landed at Plymouth, England, and carried before two justices and a clerk and arraigned for treason. Witnesses were examined and they were told that they would be committed to " Mill Prison on suspicion of treason against his most Gracious Majesty, George the Third, and would there await their trial or his Majesty's most gracious pardon." They were committed to this famous (or infamous) })rison and kept there twenty-three months, during which time they underwent almost in- credible privations and sufferings. At the end of twenty-three months (two years and a quarter after they were made j^risoners) they were exchanged for British prisoners and sent to P'rance, and were landed at a small town about ten miles below Nantes. Here they found a recruiting ship and were persuaded to enlist for the purpose of filling the crews required for the squadron then fitting out at L'Orient for John Paul Jones. While on board ship at the latter place Mr. Chase saw John Adams. Mr. Adams was on the quarter deck in his morning gown, and was accompanied by his son, John Quincy Adams, then a boy ten or twelve years old. Chase was of the crew of the Alliance, Captain Landais. His ac- HISTORY OF LIVEEMOEE. ^l count of the engagement between the Bon Homme Richard, etc., and the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough agrees in the main with that given by Mr. Cooper, but differs in some respects. He will not allow that the Alliance deserved all the left-handed compli- ments paid to her by Cooper. According to Chase's account it was the Alliance and not the Pallas that disabled the Countess of Scar- borough ; that it was in consequence of the broadsides from the Al- liance that she struck ; that the Pallas, coming up, rendered valuable assistance and was left in charge of the prize while the Alliance went to the aid of Jones; and here, Mr. Chase says, she rendered good service, not to the enemy, as Mr. Cooper would have it, but to Jones. When Jones sailed alongside of the Serapis her commander hailed him, inquiring, " Who are you ? " Jones made no answer and the question was repeated, accompanied by the threat, "Tell me or I will fire into you." " I will tell you when I get a little nearer," roared Jones, in a voice that almost drowned the thunder of a dis- charge of broadsides which took place at that moment. Chase was afterwards under Jones several months and became quite well acquainted with him. He was a man of mechanical inge- nuity and an excellent worker in wood, and while at Mill Prison had beguiled many a weary hour in whittling out some very curious wooden ladles, one of which Jones happened to see after he came to command the Alliance, and it pleased him so much that he gave Chase half a guinea for it for a punch ladle. He then employed him as a cabin joiner. While Chase was in this service he saw a great deal of Jones and had the vanity to believe that he was quite a favorite. Mr. Chase represents that Jones was liked by his own crew, but not so much by that of the Alliance. The crew of the Alliance were greatly attached to one of their lieutenants, a Mr. Barclay, of Boston, with whom Jones had a falling out. Jones, says Mr. Chase, was a stern man, brave and impetuous ; a good man when the crew did well, the devil when they did not. He wanted things in their proper time and way and place, and would have them so. He had a voice like a cannon, but which in ordinary conversa- tion was "rather thick and grnm." He was of light complexion and something below the medium stature." Mr. Chase's children were as follows : Thomas Chase, Jr., b. Feb. 22, 1782, who was a colonel of militia, delegate to the constitutional convention in 1819, and representative from Livermore in the legis- 28 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. lature from 1820 to 1827. Thomas Chase, 3d, formerly a lawyer in Farmington, now a resident of Wasliington, D. C, father of Mrs. Elizabeth Akers Allen (Florence Percy), is his son. Lura,h. March 11, 1784, married Samuel Livermore. Lathrop^ b. March 22, 1787, was a physician and settled in Vassalboro. James, b. Nov. 16, 1789, married Anna Pitts, both of whom are now living in this tOAvn. Bebecca, who married Tristram Tilton, was b. Sept. 20, 1792. Olive and Lydia (twins), b. Nov. 8, 1795. Olive was unmarried, and Lydia married Asa Barton. Lucy, who married Charles Benjamin, was b. Sept. 14, 1801, and d. November, 1844. Capt. Tristram Chase, a brother of Thomas, was a ship master. He settled on the westerly side of Long Pond, not far from his brother Sarson. He was lost at sea about the beginning of the cen- tury. His widow married Col. Jesse Stone. He left several chil- dren, of whom Charles T., now living, has been for many years a successful trader in Dixfield. A daughter, Betsey, married Nathaniel Benjamin. Ahby, another daughter, mai-ried Charles Barrell. Sylvester Norton, who moved from Edgarton, Martha's Vine- yard, in 1789, with his sons, Bansoni, James, and Zebulon, was a shoemaker, and will be referred to hereafter. He died Aug. 8, 1841, in the eighty-fifth year of his life. Ransom Norton lived near the corner, and was first a deacon in the Baptist Church and afterwards a clergyman. He died Oct. 25, 1834, aged seventy-two. Susannah, his wife, died March 2, 1830. His sons, Jones, Jethro, and Charles, settled in the northerly part of the town. Jones and Jethro afterwards went to Massachusetts and died there. A son of the latter, Eugene L., has been Mayor of Charlestown and a member of the Senate of Massachusetts. He is a successful business man. John, another son, was a colonel in the civil war. , James Norton settled in the westerly part of the town, where he resided till his death in 1841. His sons were Moses, Ira, Tristram, and James; the daughters were Prudence, Patty, Lydia, Lucy, and Olive. He was one of the " four partners," so called. HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 29 Zebulon Norton", tlie youngest son of Sylvester, took up the fiirm situated on tlie road from North Livermore to the Falls, about three-quarters of a mile from the former place, upon Avhich he re- sided till his death in October, 18G5, at the age of eighty-ciglit years. He married, first. Hannah, daughter of Dea. Pelatiah Gibbs, and afterwards Mary Merritt. He had twelve children, of whom nine are now (1874) living, viz. : Sylvester,\>. June 12, 1804; 3Iary, b. April 5, 1810, now living at Dexter, Me., the widow of George, son of tlie late Capt. Alpheus Kendall ; David, b. Aug. 25, 1812, a prominent citizen of Oldtown ; Herman, b. Feb. 18, 1814, who resides in Quincy, Illinois; Sewall, b. Sept. 19, 1817, and lives on the "old farm;" Jane, h. July 14, 1822, the Avife of E. C. Brett, Esq., of Bangor, Clerk of the Judicial Courts for Penobscot County ; Lydla, b. Aug. 10, 1824, who married Henry Bond Bradford, of Livermore ; JEllen C, b. Aug. 2, 1828, who married John R. Brett, and lives in San Francisco; Hannah E., b. Dec. 1, 1837, wife of John Hathaway, who lives in Quincy, Cal. Mr. Norton was a selectman for many years, and was a man of strict integrity and great firmness of character; a man wdio could not only say "no" when duty or principle required, but who was not easily moved from his opinions. Once at a school meeting when his brother Ransom pleaded earnestly for the use of the scliool-house for the purpose of holding a religious meeting, and besought the voters to be accommodating and not stubborn and set up their own wills against their neighbors, "Uncle Zeb," as he was familiarly called, replied, " I had rather liave my own will than anybody else's will, and so had you, brother Ransom." The point against "brother Ransom," who was not unlike "Uncle Zeb" in the firmness with which he held his opinions, was thought to be peculiarly well taken. Samuel Hillman moved to Livermore in 1788, at the age of nineteen. He was one of the "four partners," so called, Sylvanus Boardman, Ransom and James Norton being the others. He mar- ried Jane Norton, sister of Ransom and James, and became a Meth- odist preacher. He died in Monmouth, Kennebec County, at the age of eighty years. He had seven children, of whom the Rev. A. P. Hillman, of Cape Elizabeth, is one. A younger brother, Moses, settled in Livermore, on the Intervale, in 1817, where he died Dec. 17, 1823. Tristram Hillman, Esq., for whom Hillmau's Ferry is 30 HISTORY OF LIVEEMOEE. named, and who has held many municipal offices in town, is son of the last named. Samuel Sawin was born in Watertown May 8, 1762, was a sol- dier in the Revolution, married April 18, 1792, Martha Mason. He settled in Livermore about 1788. He lived near Mr. Thomas Cool- edge, senior, and like him was a grower of fine fruit. He frequented the Portland market for many years. He married for a second wife Sarah Webb, of Portland. His younger brother, Abijah, born Jan. 15, 1764, married Prudence Adams Feb. 25, 1788, and settled in Livermore, not far from Samuel. Besides Samuel /Saioin, Jr., who resides at the Corner, none of the children of Samuel or Abijah are now in Livermore. Isaac Love well removed from Weston, Mass., and was in Liver- more before 1790. He purchased of Samuel Whiting the large farm on the northerly side of the hill known as Lovewell's (or Waters') hill on the old highway, and had one of the largest orchards, and with it one of the best cider mills, in town. He amassed a very considerable property for a new settlement, by farming, loaning money, and "putting out" neat stock and sheej) to "double in four years." He was a member of the Baptist Church and one of its most liberal benefactors, contributing generously to its support while living, and leaving it a handsome bequest at his death. He became quite deaf while comparatively a young man. He considered the State law in respect to the collection of debts as unreasonably prej- udicial to the creditor, and greatly inferior to the "old Monartcli laws," as he called the laws of the province. Though regarded by many as hard in his dealings, he did, under the constraint, it may be, of the good counsellor who drew his will, an act of justice such as men of kindlier fame have in similar cases omitted to do, in making adequate provision for the support, through life, of an old servant avIio, though of feeble intellect and ungraceful person, had been faithful and devoted to him and his family. Heney Bond, of Watertown, was born Jan. 14, 1762. He was a son of Col. William Bond, who was a lieutenant colonel and acted as colonel in the battle of Bunker Hill, and was colonel of the twen- ty-fifth regiment in the Continental army. He went with it in 1776 HISTOEY OF LH^RMOEE. 31 to New York, and tlience to Canada. He died Aug. 31, 1776, la- mented as an able officer and true patriot. His son Henry, the sub- ject of this notice, tlien fourteen years old, accompanied him to New York and Canada, and was with him at his decease. In June, 1790, the son moved to Livermore, where he had previously purchased land and half of the first grist and saw-mills erected in the town. He was a deacon of the first church, and the second school-master in the town. The first school-house in Livermore Avas built a short distance north of his mills (before mentioned as having been erected by Dea. Liveimore). He manied Hannah Stearns May 21, 1789, and died March 27, 1796, leaving two children, a son and a daugh- ter. Henry, the son, Avas born in Watertown, March 21, 1790, grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1813, in which he was afterwards a tutor for nearly two years. He was educated as a physician, and re- ceived the degree of M. D. in 1817. He settled first at Concord, N. H., and then moved to Philadelphia, where he resided, devoted to his profession — in Avhich he became distinguished — till his death in May, 1859. He was never married. He was author of "Geneal- ogies of the Families and Descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Mass., including Walthani and Weston, to which is ap- pended the early history of the town," published in 1855, a volume of near 1100 pages, the copyright of which he gave to the N. E. Genealogical and Historical Society. Hannah, the daughter, born in Livermore April 15, 1794, married William Dewey, of Augusta, Me., and died Nov. 24, 1827. The widow of Mr. Bond married, for a second husband, Zebedee Rose, of Livermore. *Thomas CoOLiDGE movcd from Cambridge, Mass., to Livermore in June, 1790, and had a large farm and excellent orchard of grafted truit in the westerly part of the town. He died in 1834 at the age of eighty. His widow, Lucy ( Wyeth) Coolidge, died Oct. 16, 1850, at the great age of ninety-six years and eight months. He had nine children. Jonas, the eldest, lived in Boston ; his daughter Eliza- beth married Hon. Peter Harvey. Daniel was one of the most wealthy and successful farmers in the town ; was a captain of caval- *The ancestor of the Coolidges of Watertown was John Coolidge, who was admitted a free- man May 25, 1636, and was a selectman many times between 1636 and 1677 ; was a representa- tive In 1658, and was often employed in witnessing wills, taking inventories, and settling estates. Mr. Somerby says " the Coolidge family seem to have been settled In Cambridge, England, from a very remote period." — Bond's Genealogies. 32 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. ry. Major Elisha Coolidge, of Jay, is his son. Cornelius settled in Dexter, Me., where he liad a fine farm. Thomas was a farmer who grew much clioice fruit. He died in Livermore June 25, 1846. Elisha went to Solon, Somerset County, when a young man, and became a trader, amassing a large fortune. ITejyzibah, the only sur- vivor (1874) of this family, married Alden Chandler, and lives in Oxford, Me. Setsey married Artemas Learned, a trader in Liver- more, who moved to Hallowell and became a merchant and after- wards a banker. Joseph Coolidge and fmiily migrated from "VValtham in June, 1790, in company with his relative, Thomas Coolidge. lie took up a farm near the line of Livermore in the part of Jay that is now Canton, but his associations were largely in the former town, Avhere several of his children settled. His father was killed, as Bond says, in the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775 (but it was probably dur- ing the retreat from Concord), and he was himself a soldier in the war of the Revolution, having been a member (1780) of the four- teenth regiment of the Continental array. The privations which were fi-equently the lot of the early settlers of this neighborhood were illustrated in the experience of Mr. Coolidge. He relates that the year he moved into Jay there was a scarcity of provisions and, in consequence, much suiFering. His family was at one time desti- tute of food, and he went (believing it to be the only place where he could find any) to Dea. Livermore's. The deacon told him that he had no corn, and that the best he could do for him was to furnish him with a horse to ride to the Kennebec, Avliere it was understood ' corn might be purchased, and with money to pay for it. Thus armed, Mr. Coolidge set out for the down-east Egypt. Returning, with his corn on the horse's back, he reached the Androscoggin River late at night, but the boat was on the west side, and the ferry- man lived (at Dea. Livermore's) so far away that he could not raise him. At this moment a heavy shower came up, and Mr. Coolidge, tying his horse and removing the corn from his back, peeled a hem- lock tree, placed the bark over the corn, plunged into the river, swam it, found the boat, crossed with it, took his horse and corn aboard, recrossed the river, and proceeded on to his home, which he reached at two o'clock in the morning. Arrived at home wet and hungiy — for he had eaten little since the previous morning — he HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 33 aroused his wife, and she made him a "Johnny cake," which he said was the sweetest food he ever ate. William Cooltdge, son of William, of Waltham, horn in that town Jan. 28, 1777, married in 1799 Mary, daugliter of iMajor Jona- than Hale, of Sutton, settled in Liverraore, was the first captain of the first company of militia therein, was a school-master and farmer, and lived on the farm afterwards owned and occupied by Amos Edes. He moved away about 1808. He was a relative of Thomas and Joseph. JdNATHAN GoDiNG, bom in Waltham Feb. 25, 1762, married Ruth Sargent, and moved to Livermoi-e in 1790, and had a farm north of the Corner, Avhere he planted a nursery and introduced many choice varieties of apples and pears. His children were Peter, who lived in Jay, Jonas and Sjoencer. wlio became farmers in Livermore, Han- nah and Benjamin Myrick. Abijah, John", and Abel Monroe, brothers, moved from Lincoln, Mass., about 1790, and settled in Livermore. Abijah Moxeoe was the first innkeeper in town, and his house was near what was known as Sanders' Corner. He died in 1823. He kept an excellent tavern, which travelers (of Avhom there were many in those days upon what was the great highway leading from Portland to Farmington), feeling sure of good fare, would lay their plans to reach whenever they could do so without too great an ef- fort. For years it was quite an exchange for the townspeople. The first four lawyers who successively practiced in the town lived with Mr. Monroe and had their office in his house. The neighbors and townsfolk would repair there to see one another, learn the news, relate what had happened, renew the past, revive the scenes and re- call the events and sayings of the war — in which numy of them had been actors — While jokes much sti-onger than their flip went round, though the flip was by no means intended for weak heads. Owing to failure in health Mr. Monroe lost the power of easy locomotion, and so was accustomed to sit in his large arm-chair in the j^^^blic room from morning till night, reading when there was no company 34 HISTORY OF LIVERMOKE. Koine book, generally the Bible, with which he became so familiar as to be able to quote from any part of it with an accuracy that was scarcely less than marvellous. He delighted in theological discus- sion and allowed no opportunity for it to escape unimproved. He had a tilt with tlie Rev. Jabez Woodman, A. M., a Baptist clergy man of New Gloucester, which lasted from dinner to the small liours of the next day, and ended in the conversion of Mr. Wood- man to Mr. Monroe's way of thinking. He had not equal success with the Rev. Dr. Payson, by whom a discussion, which had sprung up between them, was rather abruptly terminated, leaving the good doctor minus a dinner, and the publican's money-till unrcplenished by the coin of the great preacher. Rev. Paul Coffin, in the recoi-d of a "missionary tour" in 1798, makes this entry : "Aug. 30th. . . Invited by the wife of Abijali Monroe to put up with them for the night. He had just sprung his net on six dozen pigeons and took them all. To take a whole flock is a common thing with him. Aug. 31st. . . Returned to Mon- roe's and put up for the night. He and his wife are sensible and agreeable." Mr. Coffin was in Liverraore again in 1800 and put up with Mon- roe, with whom he seems to have had quite an entertaining religious colloquy at the expense of the Baptists, who were multiplying in the town. John Monroe was a farmer and died in Livermore April 2, 1856, at the age of ninety-two years. Mary, his widow, died Nov. 1, 1861, at the age of ninety-four. His son John^ a successful teacher in early life, and a member of the legislature in 1861, was a resident of the town until his death in 1873. Allen., his second son, lives in Milo, Piscataquis County, and the youngest son, Abijah, is a resi- dent of Richmond. Va. His daughter, Luda, married Rev. Caleb Fuller, a Methodist clergyman. She died many years ago. A daughter of Mrs. Fuller married Hon. E. K. Boyle, a prominent lawyer of Belfast. Abkl Monroe, born May 14, 1769, died June 24, 1861. He mar- ried Martha Bixby, of Keene, N. II., and for a second wife Salome Hinds, of Livermore. The Hon. Joseph S. Monroe (recently de- ceased), Senator and Judge of Probate for Piscataquis County, was HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 35 his son. His oldest daughter, Patty., married Maj. Isaac Strickland, of Livermore, and died in 1873. Jitlia, the second daughter, mar- ried Elias T. Aldrich. She has been dead many years. 3Iary, the third daughter, lives in Keene, N. H., and Lttcy, the youngest daughter, in Boston. Isaac, the oldest son, was drowned in Bart- lett's Pond about 1820; the second son, Nathan, has been dead more than forty years. Sylvanus Boardman, who was a native of Martha's Vineyard, came to Livermore with Mr. Hillnian and the Nortons. He was an able minister of the Bai)tist denomination, of whom more will be said hereafter. P>HRAiM Child was born in Waltham July 26, 1760. He came to Livermore about 1794, and settled on the farm where his son Abijah lives. His first wife was Lydia Livermore, a sister of Lieut. Samuel Benjamin's wife. His second wife was Herrick. Mr. Child died in 1825. Benjamin Park lived near Abijah Monroe's and was the father- in-law of Mr. Monroe. He died in 1825, at the age of ninety-two years. Lieut. Samuel Foster was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and died in 1825, He lived on the east side of the liver. Samuel Atwood, the first captain of the company of cavalry or- ganized in Livermore in 1809, was born iti Dighton, Mass., and set- tled first at Brettun's Mills about 1795, and then in the westerly part of the town. He was an active, intelligent man, and was often employed as a town ofticer. Among his children were Captain JHezekiah Atwood, a prosperous farmer of Livermore, now recently deceased ; E2yhraim Atioood and Lorenzo Atwood, who removed to Buckfield, where they were engaged in trade for many years. /Sam- uel, another son, moved to Lexington, Somerset County. A daugh- ter, Hepzihah, married Artemas Cole, of Buckfield. Richard Merritt was a native of London and an employee in a large mercantile firm engaged in the American trade. He had seen 36 HISTORY OF LIVEHMOEE. Boston merchants in London and became interested in their coun- try, and when he decided to emigrate to America brought from the London house a letter of commendation saying that he could be trusted with "untold gold." He married, in 1795, Mercy Coolidge, sister of Joseph Coolidge, who settled in Jay in 1790, and followed Mr. C. to that town in a few years; but he soon removed to Liver- more, where he lived until his death in 1826. His widow died in 1840, aged eighty-six. He w^as in person a small man and of quaint manners. He had known in England, he said, men "who heard in their ears, understood in their elbows, and carried their brains in their shoes." Henry Grevy, a Hessian, after the close of the Revolutionary war, in which he had been a soldier in the British army, came to Livermore and settled on a fiirm east of Lieut. Benjamin's, about a mile from the river, and where he lived until his decease. He had two daughters who are now living in Bangor. He w^as a prudent, saving man and instructed his family to " eat their bread and smell of their cheese." Ebenezer Pitts, born in Taunton, Mass., in 1757, moved to Liv- ermore from Ward, Mass., in 1791, and entered upon and occupied till his death in April, 1831, a farm near the Corner, the same now occupied by his grand-son, Ebenezer Pitts. His wife was Mary Ellis, of Knynham. He was a good citizen. His son, Philip, and his daughters, Anna, who married James Chase, and Prudence, who married David Reed, settled in Livermore. Philip married Dinah, daughter of Sylvester Norton. He died in 1828. Major Joseph Mills Avas a half brother of Lieut. Samuel Benja- min and followed him to Livermore in a few years after the latter came here. He took up the farm afterwards owned by Capt. Satnu- el Atwood. When he sold this form to Capt. Atwood he bought and moved oflto the farm on Butter Hill, now owned by Daniel Briggs. He sold this place more than half a century ago and went to Pennsylvania. He had several children, and was a prosperous farmer. Lieut. Elijah Wellington, from Lincoln, Mass., settled at a HISTOIIY OF LIVERMORE. ;7 very early dnte on the east side of the river in Livermore. Elijah^ who is now living, Nathan^ who had the old farm, and Elhridge, a ITniversalist clergyman of Alton, Me. (recently deceased), and Phehe^ who married Col. Billy Cenjamin, were his children. Amos Livermoue, who married, first, Hannah Sanderson, and afterwards Eunice Luce, and after her death her sister, Phebe Luce, and was a brother of the wives of Snmuel Benjamin and Ephraim Child, was born in Waltham, June 3, 17G5, and died Sept. 15, 1826. He came to Livermore in 1795, and first lived on the farm afterwards owned by Spencer Godding. He had several children, of whom one only, Eunice^ the widow of Richard Merrill, is now living in this town. Her home is on the Intervale. Daniel Holman emigrated from Worcester County before 1793, and made a farm about a mile southwesterly from the Corner, which Ids son, Abner, afterwards owned and occupied. He was one of the seventeen original members of the first Baptist church in Livermore. Hastings Strickland, born in Nottingham, N. H., Aug. 17, 1768, moved to Livermore in 1795. He was the son of the Rev. John Strickland, of Turner, a graduate of Yale College, and his wife was Sally Perley, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Perley, of Gray. She was born June 14, 1774. He had a large farm, with an exten- sive orchard and a cider mill, on the main road, about half a mile south of Monroe's tavern. Paul CoflSn visited him in 1797. He says: "Rev. Strickland kept Sabbath with us; baptized Isaac, child of Hastings Strickland, and Sally." Mr. Strickland died March 9, 1829, and his widow Aug. 11, 1842. His children were John, Isaac, Samuel P., Hastings, and Lee. Jb/m, b. Sept, 10, 1794, d. in Liver- more Jan. 22, 1867. He was a successful farmer and frequently a town ofiicer. Lysander Strickland, of Bangor, and Lyman Strick- land, of Houlton, are his sons. Isaac, b, Dec. 17, 1796, resides at Livermore village and is a wealthy and prominent man in the town; was major of a battalion of cavalry, and for two years a State sena- tor. /Samuel P., b. June 25, 1801, has been a major-general in the State militia, a member of the executive council, and of both branches of the legislature. He resides in Bangor. Hastings Avas b. May 16, 1803. He was a major of cavalry, sheriff of Penobscot 4 38 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. County, and member of the executive council of the State and of tlie legislature from Bangor, in which city he resides. Lee, b. July 14, 1806, was a colonel in the Maine militia. State senator, and county commissioner for Androscoggin County. He was colonel of the Eighth Regiment Maine Volunteers in the late civil -war. Colonel Strickland was a resident of Livermore and one of the directors of the Androscoggin Valley Railroad Company. He died in the autumn of 1873, leaving three sons, Drs. Isaac Strickland, of Ban- gor, and Charles L. Strickland, of Charlottetown, P. E. Island ; and Augustus Strickland, of Livermore. Nathaniel Pbrley, Esq., was a native of Gray, and a son of the Rev. Samuel Perley. He settled in the last century in the south part of the town, near the Turner line. He was a justice of the peace for many years. He died in 1844. Three of his children are living, Nathaivid^ in Illinois, Uhver, in Livermore, and 3Iaria, who married Samuel Fernald, also in Livermore. Simeon Howard moved from Sutton, Mass. He had a farm near the old Methodist meeting-house. It is now owned by Mrs. J. W. Bigelow. He was a thinfty man, and built a large house and exten- sive out-buildings. He died in 1840. Abeam, John, and Isaac Fuller came from Harwich, Mass., to Winthrop, and in 1795 moved to Livermore. Abram settled near the Ferry, on the east side of the river, where he lived many yeais, but about 1833 went to Lagrange, Penobscot County, where several of his sons had already gone. John owned the mills north of the Intervale, called Fuller's Mills. He died in Livermore, 1829, at the age of eighty-five. Isaac kept the Ferry at the Intervale for many years. He died March 28, 1851, eighty-two years old. He was a Revolutionary soldier. Capt. Peter Haines was born in Gilmanton, N. H., in 1766, and moved from Readlield in 1796 and settled on the east side of the Androscoggin River, where he had a large and good farm. He was a selectman of the town for several years and held many other of- fices. He died November, 1843. He raised a family of fourteen HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 39 children, ten of whom are now living. His sister, Joanna, married Daniel Evans, father of the late Hon. George Evans, LL. D. The history of the family of Capt. Haines is more immediately connected, with that of East Liverniore, where his sons, Francis F.^ Sullivan^ and Columbus, now reside ; a daughter was the first wife of the Rev. George Bates. Asa Baktlett, a native of Holden, Mass., came from that town to Livermore before 1800. He lived on the farm on the northerly shore of Bartlett's Pond, now owned by Charles Fuller. He moved to Harmony, Piscataquis County, and died there in 1839. His wid- ow, Hannah fFuller) Bartlett, died in 1861. Of his children, Ozias, Nathan, Cyrus, and Cyrena are living. Ozias and Ci/rus in Harmo- ny, Nathan, in Livermore, and Ci/rena in Sidney, Kennebec County. The saw-mill built by Gen. Learned at the outlet of Bartlett's Pond was managed by Mr. Bartlett for many years. About the beginning of the century Col. Bartholomew Woodbury came from Sutton, and purchased the farm on which Capt. Otis Pray now lives. With him, or soon afterwards, came Thomas and David Rich. Col. Woodbury returned to Massachusetts after a resi- dence of a few years in Livermore, but the Piiches remained perma- nently and were excellent citizens. Jacob Bemis moved to Livermore from Sutton, Mass., very early in the present century. His wife, a sister of the late Simeon How- ard, is now living (on the farm Avhere her husband settled seventy years ago), at the great age of ninety-two years, in the enjoyment of good health. She reads the public journals and takes a lively in- terest in Avhat is going on in the world around her. Mr. Bemis died July 20, 1858. Jesse Kidder, from Oxford, Mass., was in Livermore as early as 1802. He owned the fai"m now tlie property of John White, Esq., with whom his widow, in the one hundred and third year of her age, has her honae. John Bigelo^v moved from Worcester in the same year. His sons, Andrew, John Warren, IToioard, and Leander, were all good fiirmers and settled in the town. John Warren, born July 15, 1807, 40 HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. married Oscn, second diuigliter of Dr. Benjamin Bradford, and died Feb. 26, 1856. He Avas an intelligent, enterpiising man and a good citizen. He left sevei'al children. George Chandler was born in Duxbury, Mass., Sept. 6, 1782, and died in Liverniore, after a residence in it of nearly seventy years, Aug. 20, 1871. He was a quiet man, well informed, and of the stanehest integrity. He lived for many years on the farm now owned by James M. Ph'doon^ son of James Philoon, a native of the county of Armah, Ireland, who came to Liverniore in 1817 from Abington, Mass. The latter died in 1845. His widow, Christiania (Burrell), died in 1859. His third son, Gridley Thaxtei\ is a pros- perous farmer in Livermore. JoJin^ the second son, lives in Massa- chusetts. Ira Thompson was born at Middleboro, Mass., Aug. 3, 1780, and his wife, Sophia Drew, was born at Kingston, Mass., Oct. 15, 1782. He settled in Livermore in March, 1803, on one of the best farms in town, on which he resided until his death, Feb. 13, 1857. It was near the Corner, or North Livermore. His wife died June 29, 1856. They had eleven children, all of whom are living, viz.: Ira J9., a farmer in Livermore; Susan D.,^\\\o married Rev. Charles Miller; Elbrulgc (?., now of Foxcrolt ; Clarinda M., wife of John Monroe ; ylrac/, a prominent citizen of Bangor; Boadicea X.,* who married, first, Abner S. Aldrich, and afterwards George W. Pierpont; Eras- tus^ a shoe manufacturer in Hopkinton, Mass.; Ahhy S., who married the Hon. Joseph S. Monroe ; Job D., wlio lives on the old tarm ; Charles 0., a merchant of Chicago, and Mari/, wife of William Wyman, of Livermoi-e. Mr. Thompson was captain of the north militia company in 1816, and a representative in legislature in 1820. For more than thirty years he was a deacon of the First Baptist Church. Naphtali Coffin was born in Wiscasset, April 16, 1776, and came to Livermore in the summer of 1799. He owned the farm near the Fish Meadow where Capt. Hezekiah Atwood lived for many years. His children were William, Nancy, Stephen, Warren, Sally, Elhridge G., Louisa, Lorenzo H., Calvin, Angela, Charles *Boadicea died in the fall of 1873. HISTORY OF LIVEiniOllE. 41 R., Abhy Vesta, twelve in all. He died at Livermore Falls Oct. 4, 1870, one of the numerous comj)any of Livermore men and women who have passed the boundary of four score years and ten. Dea. Benjamix Tkue was a farmer and much respected. Col. Josiah Hobbs resided near the Turner line on a good farm. It was in the immediate neighborhood of Elder Norton's meeting- house. He was a well informed man, much respected, and not un- trequently in town office. Daniel Briggs had a productive farm on Butter Hill, the same once owned by Capt. Saj[uel Pumpelly. Pumpelly, or Pilley as he was familiarly called, was a man of strong mind and great mother wit; but lie suffered from a feeling, which prevailed to some extent among his acquaintances, that his principles were upon a lower plane than his natural gifts. When a boy, living in Turner (from which town he moved to Livermore and to which he afterwards returned) Dr. Dix and party, proprietors of the present town of Dixfield, ar- rived at Major Leavitt's inn en route to their township. They had traveled so far in carriages, but from the condition of the roads were here obliged to take saddles, and several were wanted. Pumpelly, a lad of a dozen years, passed the entire night m hunting for saddles and bringing them to the tavern, and his services were recognized by the doctor, as he was about to depart in the morning, by his placing in the boy's hand a piece of silver coin known in those days as a fourpence ha'penny, worth six and a quarter cents. Pilley eyed it sharply as the doctor moved away, when he called to him in a loud voice to " come back and get his change." For many years after the organization of the new county the ses- sions of tlie courts at Paris were largely attended, the custom being for everybody who could spare tlie time and afford the expense, to visit Paris court week. Pilley, who was a sort of pettifogger, was always in attendance. The throng of people was so great that the boarding houses were crowded with guests who, as a rule, were lodged two in a bed. But Pilley, who was of most exaggerated obesity, ob- structed this practice, so far as he was concerned himself, by sleeping without his shirt. Three hundred pounds avoirdupois, in this form, was not apt to attract a bed-fellow. Hiram Briggs, who married Bethia, daughter of Capt. Otis Pray, a good farmer, owns this farm. 42 HISTOEY OF LIVERMOEE. Bexjamin Winslow, from Freetown, Bristol County, was here very early in this centur3\ He had a large farm between the Corner and the Jay line. Perez Ellis, from Raynham, in the same county, first settled on the farm near the Corner afterward owned and occu2)ied so long by Dea. Ira Thompson. Besides these there wei*e in town James TimherlaJce^ from Rayn- ham, farmer and teamster on the south road ; Capt. John Leavitt, from Rochester, Mass., farmer and drover and a prominent citizen ; Solomon Edes and Capt. Charles J. Baker, whose farms were near that of Mr. Bigelow ; Isaac Fuller, whose farm was on the souther- ly slope of Fuller's Hill and next adjoining that now oAvned by John Sanders ; Ichahod Boothhy, for many years a stage-driver between Portland and Boston, whose house was in the Perley neighborhood ; Thoynas and Hezekiah Bryant, whose farms Avere in the same neighborhood ; Isaac Hamlin, half brother of Dr. Cyrus, who lived under the shadow of Hamlin's Hill, or Mount Sier, as it was chris- tened by Thomas Coolridge, jr. ; Samuel Beals and David S. Whit- man, on the west road ; Elisha Chenery, whose house was above the Corner; Deacon John Elliot and William Thompson, who lived in the north part of the town; Rufus Hetoett, from Raynham, whose farm was on the south road; James Walker, a good firmer, on the road from the Corner to Hillman's Ferry, and others, to refer to whom would occui)y more space than the limits set to these notes will admit, who moved to this town and became residents therein in the earlier days of its history. Notices of other early settlers (and, in a few instances, fuller sketches of persons mentioned in this place) will be found in subse- quent chapters. Undoubtedly, many persons and families, of whom some record ought to be preserved, have been overlooked in the prepai-ation of these notes. For such omissions, want of recollection, and failure of persons who could do so to furnish the necessary in- formation, must be pleaded in explanation and excuse. HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 43 CHAPTER IV. INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS. BUSINESS. COURSE OF POPULATION. Tub leading interest .of this town, as of tlio great majority of the country towns in the State, is agriculture. There are in it many good farms and relatively few poor ones ; yet there are no great farms, none of extraordinary extent or productiveness, and no farm- ers of large wealth. There are, however, many farmers who are " well-to-do," and who, in earlier times, would have been called rich. ■ If there is not great wealth, there is but little poverty. The valua- tion of the town in 1870 was $524,260.00. This, in a population of less than 1,500, when the basis of such valuation is understood, and when it is remembered that this aggi*egate includes no overgrown estates, indicates a thriving and independent community — such a community as is the strength and hope of a country like ours. Of the facilities that have been provided, and the trades and oc- cupations that have been supplied, for the wants and convenience of the town, a brief account will now be given, with notices of some of the more prominent individuals who have been connected with them, so far as the space that can be spared for the purpose will per- mit. MILLS. The first mills in town were a saw-mill and grist-mill, erected by Dea. Livermore, as early, probably, as 1782 or 1783, near the outlet of Long Pond. The mills were afterwards known as Gibbs' mills. He sold them to Otis Robinson ; Robinson sold one-half to Henry Bond, who reconveyed to Robinson ; Robinson then sold the whole to Lieut. Samuel Benjamin; Benjamin sold to Nathaniel Dailey ; Dailey to James Parker; Parker to Eli Putnam; Putnam to Thomas Rich, and Rich to Jacob Gibbs, by whose name they have been known for half a century. Mills at the Falls, on the east side of the river, were erected two 44 HISTOEY OF LIVEP.MORE. years afterwards by Dea. Liverniore and sold to Thomas Davis ; Davis sold them to William Chenery and Dwight Stone. A saw- mill, fulling-mill, and carding-mill were erected by John Fuller, above the Intervale, on the Gibbs' mills stream, in 1812, and subse- quently a grist-mill. A saw-mill was built by Gen. Learned, over seventy years ago, at the outlet of Bartlett's Pond. A fulling-mill and saw-mill were erected in 1804, by Joseph Horsley, on Bog Brook, a mile from its entrance into the stream that issues from Brettun's Pond. This mill attracted custom from a great distance. Mills were built by Dea. Livermore at the outlet of this pond. He sold them to Ca])t. Henry Sawtelle; Sawtelle sold them to Nezer Dailey, and Dailey to William H. Brettun, who owned them for many years. At this place, now known as Livermore Village, but formerly called "Brettun's Mills," are two saw-mills, a grist-mill, and other machinery moved by water power; and a large mill with steam power, which is used in various manufactures, has recently been built by Theodore Russell, a gentleman of enterprise and busi- ness activity. About 1830 there was considerable excitement in this neighborhood on the subject of hemp growing, and a large mill for the preparation of hemp for the market was built at the Falls, on the west side of the river, by F. F. Haines, Esq., and others. But owing to the exhausting effect of the crop upon the land, and the want of remunerative sales, the business was continued but a few years, and the mill was converted to other uses. There was, many years ago, a saw-mill in the north-west corner of the town, near the Canton line. CARPENTERS. David Morse Avas a carpenter and house joiner, but did several kinds of work beside. He was from Sherburne, Mass., and was among the early settlers in Livermore. He moved to Lexington, Somerset County, many years ago, where he was a justice of the peace. He was a man of great ingenuity. His tenns were "six shillings a day for joiner work, seven shillings for mason work, and eight shillings for mill work." Jonathan Morse, the blacksmith, was his brother. His residence was in the south part of the town, on the old main road, near his brother. Col. Elias Morse., also a car- penter, was his son. The place is now owned by Ira D. Thompson and Lysauder Fernald, There were carpenters and joiners in town HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 45 before Mr, Morse, as there were several during his time, and have been many since. Before him were Thomas Wixg, who was, also, a mill-wrigOit, and Isaiah Keith. Ebexezer Hinds, Jr., came after him and did a good deal of wark here in the early jjart of the century. He was from Freetown, Mass., Avhere he was born Oct. 14, 1775, and arrived in Livermore in July, 1801. He had twelve children, viz.: Ebenezer, Salome, Gil- bert, Amy, Maria, Hannah, Leonard, Clarissa, Albert, Elbridge P., and Elbridge C, all of whom except Elbridge P., who died in in- fancy, are now (1873) living. He gave the first Republican vote cast in the town. Nathaniel Soper, Abnee Holman, and S^vmuel P. Holmax were much employed as carpenters and joiners, as was Obededom Brown, Avho possessed something of the humor of Artemus Ward, to whom he was uncle. In face, and particularly in expression, he bore a strong resemblance to Charles Dickens, the novelist. Samuel Boothby, from Woolwich, and Alfred Parker, who was born in Minot in 1788, were carpenters. Mr. Parker married Ruth Pray and had several children. He came to Livermore with his fathci-. who remained in town but a few years, in 1800. His residence is in the Gibbs' neighborhood. His son, Publius, was an artist of considerable repute. Zebedee Rose, from Dighton, Mass., who had at one period of his life followed the seas, was a carpenter. He was an early settler, and his home was in the neighborhood of Gibbs' Mills. He married the widow of Henry Bond and had five children, of whom Zebedee, George, and Charles are now residents of Livermore. Apollos Jones, from Taunton, who married a sister of Thomas Chase, the elder, and liad a family of fifteen children, was a carpen- ter and lived on the northerly slope of the Fuller Hill. Samuel Hersey, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Isaac Livermore, was a carpenter. He moved from Roxbury. Several of his sons are living in this State. Simeo7i is a trader in Hallowell ; Isaac resides in Livermore, and his son, Artemas, who married a daughter of the late Hon. Jairus S. Keith, of Oxford, is a physician of good repute in that town. 46 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE, MASONS. It has already been stated that David Morse worked sometimes as a mason, but this was not his trade or leading employment. Peter Humphrey, a native of Oxford, Mass., was the first mason by trade who resided in the town. He came about 1800 and died in a few years. He was a good workman, and first settled on "Butter Hill," and next cleared up the farm where George Chandler lived for many years. His son, John Humphrey^ a veiy intelligent and promising young man, Avho after his father's death went to live Avith his uncle, Jesse Kidder, was killed by the falling of a tree while at work in the woods about the year 1828. His widow long survived him. There have been quite a number of masons living in town since the death of Mr. Humphrey. BLACKSMITHS. Otis Robinson was the first blacksmith in town. He became owner of the mills as before related. He sold them, was ordained a Baptist clergyman, and moved to Shapleigh, York County, and from Shapleigh to Salisbury, N. H. Rev. Paul Coffin refers to him in his "missionary tour" in 1800. Capt. Jonathan Morse was among the earliest blacksmiths who came to Livermore. He seems to have been an old settler when Mr. Coflin first visited the town. He pi'eached at his house and em- ployed him in the line of his trade; he speaks of him as "my friend Morse, the excellent blacksmith." He had great celebrity as a shoer of horses and oxen. His first wife was killed by the fall of his brother's house Aug. 15, 1799. In the summer of 1824 he was thrown from his wagon, near the store of Mr. Washburn, and both his legs were broken. He came from Sherburne, Mass., and died Oct. 30, 1848. David Read, of Attleborough, Mass., was in Livermore in 1793, ^nd in that year assisted in the organization of the first Baptist Church. He was a blacksmith and had a shop at the Corner. He died in Livermore in April, 1870, at the age of ninety-four. Mr. Read, soon after Dr. Hamlin came to Livermore, pursued, under his instruction, for some time, the study of medicine ; but, notwith- standing a strong predilection for this profession, he finally aban- doned the purpose of making this profession his life employment, and returned to his trade as a blacksmith, which he followed until the HISTORY OF LIVEEMOEE. 47 infirmities of age compelled him to give it up. Stillman Jiead, a much respected citizen, and recently a trader at the Falls, is his son. Dea. William Sanders had a blacksmith's shop in the southerly- part of the town, but he moved to Gibbs' Mills and worked at his trade there for many years. Nathan Bartlett, son of Asa, has been engaged in the trade of a blacksmith, at his shop near Sander's Corner, for half a century. Jeremiah Bean was a well-known blacksmith at the Corner forty years ago. James H. Putnam was a blacksmith, largely employed by Sarson Chase, jr., the carriage and sleigh maker, whose shop was near the old Learned mangion. Ebenezer Pray, a brother of Capt. Otis Pray, carried on this trade for a few years in the shop that had been occupied by Putnam. He removed to Worcester, Mass., a quarter of a century ago. TAN^NERS. CoL. Jesse Stone was very early in Livermore and carried on the business of tanning at North Livermore, where also he kept for many years a tavern. He came from Ward, Mass.; was boim Nov. 11, 1765, and died Feb. 28, 1857. He was a selectman as early as 1802 and frequently afterwards; was a justice of the peace and postmaster at the North Livermore office. Of his sons, Dwight^ William, and Mattheio Merry are living. William was a graduate of Bowdoin College and studied law in Hallowell with the Hon. Peleg Sprague, commenced business at West Prospect (now Sears- port), and then moved to the State of Mississippi. Dwight resides in Massachusetts, and Matthew M. at Livermore Falls. Captain Alpheus Kendall (recently deceased at Dexter, Me.,) built the second tannery in toAvn. It was near the outlet of Bart- lett's Pond. He was an excellent workman, and a high-toned man. He was captain of the Livermore company of cavalry. His only surviving son, Stedman, lives in Dexter. John Smith moved from Brentwood, N, H., in 1816, and estab- lished himself on the west side of the river, near the Falls, as a tanner. The business has been large and profitable. Mr. Smith's wife, Mary Sanborn, died in November, 1869. He is a man of en- terprise and was greatly instrumental in eifecting the construction of the Androscoggin Railroad. 48 HISTORY OF LIVEEMOEE. Caleb Smith, son of the former, carries on the tanning business in the old yard of liis father, and like his father is a useful and enter- prising citizen. He is the present representative of Livermore in the State legislature. SADDLER. Capt. Simeon Waters, a native of Sutton, Mass., was by trade a saddler. He settled in Livermore March 16, 1802, and commenced work at his trade. He soon became a farmer, also, and provided himself with one of the largest and best farms in the town, situated on the southerly side of the hill which has been known sometimes as Lovewell's, sometimes as Waters', Hill. He was the second capt- ain of the Livermore company of cavalry ; was elected a representa- tive from Livermore in the legislature of Massachusetts in 1806, 1808, 1809, 1810, 1812, 1814, 1815, 1816, and 1818. He served fre- quently as a town officer. He survived his wife (Betsey Marble) many years, dying March 27, 1866, aged ninety-four years and ten months. His surviving children are Clarendon^ who lives on the old farm ; Brooksa and Almira, who reside in Livermore, on the old Learned place ; CoA?t/«a, who married Rev. Peter Hassinger, and is settled in Abington, Illinois; Abigail, wife of Bela T. Bicknell, of Bath, Me.; Simeon, who lives in Kansas, and Emeretta, a teacher in St. Louis, Mo. SHOEMAKERS. Sylvester Norton and Dea. Sarson Chase were among tlie first shoemakers in town. Norton's shop was near the Corner, and Chase had a shop on his farm, on the northerly slope of Lovewell's Hill. Mr. Chase's children were Jane, who married Isaac Haskell, of New Gloucester; BlayJiew* who was a shoemaker and now lives at the Falls; /b'arsow, now employed at the navy yard in Charles- town, and Mary, who married Charles Howar(L John Sanders, whose shop was near Monroe's, was a man of great capacity for doing work. Of his children now living Joh7i is a prosperous farmer and owns the large farm formerly held by Capt. Daniel Coolidge ; Emeline married William Poole and lives on the Capt. Baker farm in Livermore. Ira Towle worked with Sanders. *Mr. Chase died February, 1874. HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 49 Samuel Harmon and Thomas Lord, a pensioner of the wnr of 181'i, were in this business. It is now carried on quite extensively for tlie trade at tlie village. Sumner Soule & Co. em})l<)y in it (1873) one hundred hands, and S. V. Young twenty. MILL-WEIGHTS. Thomas Wing was the first mill-wright in town and lived at Brettun's Mills. Ephratm and Otis Pray came from Oxford, Mass., in 1810, and were extensively engaged as mill-wrights in Livermore and the neighboring towns, and were superior workmen. Their brother, Publius R. R., was an apprentice with them a short time. Otis was a captain of the Livermore cavalry company, and became a farmer. He is now living at a ripe old age on the farm which he has occu- pied for more than sixty years.* He married Bethia Weeks, of Wayne, and after her decease, her sister, Eliza Weeks, who survives hira. His son, Albert C Pray^ who was in the civil war and has been a repre- sentative to the State legislature, lives on the same farm. Another son, Otis Arktoright, is a successful business man in Minneapolis. His brother, Ephraim, died many years ago. A daughter, Bosetta, married Chandler, and lives in Bridgwater, Me. BnmUa^Xhc second daughter, married Getchell, and lives in Minnesota, and Betlda^ the youngest, is the wife of Hiram Briggs, of Livermore. CABLSTET MAKERS. The earliest cabinet makers w^ere probably Thomas Chase and Samuel Boothby who, however, were carpenters and f irmers also. Charles Benjamin was a cabinet maker early in the present cen- tury, doing excellent work at his shop on the Intervale. CAERIAGE AND SLEIGH MAKERS. Sarson Chase, jr., was engaged for many years previous to 18S0 in the carriage and sleigh making business. He had fine tnste, and his carriages and sleighs were among the best that were made in his time in the State. His sleighs were in demand from Portland to Bangor. He is now employed at the naA^y yard in Charlestown, Mass. Bela T. Bicknell, now of Bath, carried on the business successfully for several years at the shop previously occupied by Mr. Chase. *Capt. Pray died March C, 1874, aged eighty-five years and twelve days. ^^ HrSTOllY OF LIVEr.MORE. SCYTHE AND SNEATH MAKERS. Before tlie division of the town, Samuel Park carried on the business of scytlie making for several years at the Falls. Ueney Aldrich, at Brettun's Mills, M-as engaged in the manu- facture of scythe sncaths. Mr. Aldrich came from Uxbridge, Mass., in 1808. He died on Long Island, N. Y., in 1846. Plis wife, Nancy Stanley, of Swansey, N. H., died in Mobile in 1865. Ilis children wereiVms T.,h. in 1809, d. at Memphis, Tenn., October, 1850; Abner S., b. in 1811, d. in New York, 1848; A^igela, who married Barzillai Latham, b. in 1813, d. in 1864; EUzaheth, who married WilliamCutts, d. in 1844; Bwiiel.h. in 1817, now living in New OHeans, and Ncmcy, b. in 1819, d. in New York, 1843. Elias T. was a merchnnt in Bnngor, where he erected the fine residence which, nfier he removed from that city, was owned by the late John Barker, Esq. He died suddenly at Memphis, Tenn., some twenty- five years ago. His friend and com])anion, Charles H. Pierpont, died at the same time. Seth Ballou, a relative of Mi'. Aldrich' was much in his employment. CLOCK MAKER. KiLAH Hall, who worked at the trade of clock making, lived in the southerly part of the town. He was a native of Raynham. His son, Amasa, was a watch maker and jeweller in the South and at Lewiston. CLOTHIERS AND CARDERS. Tlie first pi-ol)ably to do business as a clothier or carder in town was Joseph Houslev. It was aliout the oi)ening of the century that lie built mills for these trades. They were on Bog Brook, near the residence of his brother, James Horsley. Mr. H. married a daugh- ter of Benjamin Parks, and had Christopher Cohimbus, the prince of fiddlers in all the country side; Leonora, a beautiful girl, who married John A. Pitts, of Winthrop, who afterwards moved to C^hicago, and Myrtilla, who died unmarried. John Fuller and Joiix A. Kimuall, at Fuller's Mills, were en- gaged in this trade for several years. James Hanxa, an excellent workman and intelligent man, a na- tive of the north of Ireland, was in this business at the village for a considerable period. But before him was Ozias Bartle?t, who moved to Harmony, Somerset County, nearly fifty years ago. HISTORY OF LIYERMORE. 51 There was a fulling mill and carding machine at the Falls from an early day. TRADERS. Gen. Learned, as has been already stated, was the first trader, or storekeeper, in town. After hira was Aetemas Leonard, who oc- cu))ied the Learned store, having removed it to the lot purchased of Dr. Hamlin. Leonard was a native of Raynham, Mass., and opened his store in Livermore in 1805. He married Betsey, daughter of Thomas Coolidge, by whom he had three children. He did a large business for a new town in the country. In 1809 he sold his farm and store to Israel Washburn and moved to llallowell. William H. Brettun, born in Raynham, Mass., March '21, 1773, moved to Livermore in 1804, and owned and occupied a large farm on the main road, about a mile from tlie north line of Turner, where he had a productive orchard and a store. About the year 1810 he pui'chased the mills and water power at the village (for a long time known as " Brettun's Mills " ) and there carried on for many years grist and saw-mills, shingle and clapboard machines, carding and fulling-mills, and a pot-ash. He also had a store from which were sold large quantities of goods. He was successful in accumulating property. In 1835 he sold his estates in Livermore and moved soon afterwards to Bangor, where he died Sept. 10, 1837. In the early part of the century he was a good deal in town office, and several times a representative in the legislature of Massachusetts. His wife (to whom he was married May 15, 1796,) was Anna Sarah Leonard, a sister of Artemas Leonard. She died Sept. 22, 1847. WilUant 7/! ^rei^icn, Jr., his eldest son, married, October, 1824, Elizabeth A. Williams, of Taitnton, and settled in Livermore and continued in trade there after his father's removal. He mariied for his second wife Deborah Washburn, widow of Davis Washburn, and sister of his first Avife. He died Feb.. 19,' 1864. Another son, Seranns X., re- sides in Hampton, Illinois. His eldest daughter, (larinda, married Maj. Hastings Strickland, formerly of Livermore, but now of Ban- gor. Hannah^ the second daughter, married Hon. James T. Leav- itt, of Skowhegan, and has been dead many years. Amanda, the youngest daughter, died unmarried. Israel Washburn was born in Raynham, Mass., Nov. 18, 1784. He came to Maine in 1806, visiting Bangor, Eddington, Mariaville, Trenton, and Livermore. He remained some months at the latter 52 HISTOKY OF LIVEEMOKE. l)lacc, and tlicn went to the County of Lincoln, where he was em- ]»k)ye»l for a year or more as a scliool teacher, and after this engaged in trade and sliip building witli Barzilhii Wliite, at White's Land- ing, now Richmond, on the Kennebec River. In 1809, l)aving pur- chased of Artemas Leonard his farm, store, and goods in Livermore, lie commenced business here as a trader, in which he remained until 1829. His subsequent years ha\'e been passed upon his farm, known as the '^ Norlands," where he now lives (1873) at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. During the earlier part of his i-esidence in this town he was much of the time in office as town clerk and select- man, and was a representative in the legislature of Massachusetts in 1815, 1816, 1818, and 1819. He married Martha Benjamin, of Liv- ermore, March 30, 1812. She died May 6, 1861. They had eleven children, of whom nine are now living. Israel (LL. D.) was edu- cated for the bar, and settled at Orono, Penobscot County, Decem- er, 1834. He continued in the practice of his profession, so far as the discharge of official duties would permit, until about 1860. He was a member of the State legislature in 1842, and a re]»resentativo from the Penobscot District in the thirty-second, thirty-third, tliirty- fouilh, thirty-fifth, and thirty-sixth congresses of the United States. He resigned his seat in Congress January 1, 1861, to enter upon the duties of the office of goveinor of the State, having been elected thereto the previous autumn. He was re-elected in September, 1861, and declined a subsequent election. In November, 1863, he was appointed by President Lincoln collector of the port of Portland, and has held that office to the present time (1873). He is j)resident of the board of trustees of Tufts College. Alger- tion /S. Avas a merchant in Boston, and afterwards a banker in Hallowell, where he now lives. Elihu B. studied law in Boston and at the Harvard Law School ; went to Illinois in 1840 and com- menced practice with Charles S. Hempstead, Esq., at Galena. In 1852 he was elected representative in congress and was continued in this -office, by subsequent elections, till March, 1869, being at the time of his retirement the oldest member by consecutive elections, or, in congressional parlance, "the Father of the House." In March, 1869, he was appointed by President Grant Secretary of State, but soon afterwards resigned that position to accept the office of Minis- ter Plenipotentiary to France. He was in Paris as Minister during the seige by the Prussians and the reign of the Commune. Cad- HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 63 v:alader C. (LL. D.) was a lawyer, and settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, about 1841. lie now lives in Madison in that State. He was a member of the thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, thirty-ninth, and fortietli congresses ; was a major-general of volun- teers in the late civil war, serving principally in the valley of the lower Mississippi and in Texas. In November, 1871, he was elected Governor of Wisconsin. Martha married Col. Charles L. Stephen- son, a native of Gorham, Me., and lives in Galena, 111. Charles A. was in Washington, D. C, a short time after leaving college (Bow- doin) in 1848, and went to California where he became a newspaper publisher and editor. He was an elector at large from that State in 1860; and in 1861 was appointed Minister Resident to Paraguay. He was recalled at his own request in 1869, and is now a resident ot Oakland, Cal. He is author of a History of Paraguay, an elaborate work in two large volumes, and of several other works. Samuel B was a shipmaster in the merchant marine, and afterwards was in the lumber trade in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He was a captain in the volunteer force in the navy in the late civil war. He now resides at the Norlands. Mary B. (deceased) married Gustavus A. Buffum, of Clinton, Iowa. William I), graduated at Bowdoin College in 1854' studied law and was admitted to the bar, but is now extensively in- terested in timber lands and mill property in Minnesota. He has represented the city of Minneapolis in the State legislature, and from 1861 to 1865 was surveyor-general of the State. Caroline A. married Dr. Freeland S. Holmes, who was a surgeon in the Sixth Regiment Maine Volunteers, and died while in the service in Sep- tember, 1863. Her home is in Minneapolis. Davis Washburn, a native of Raynhani (and cousin of Israel), commenced trade at North Livermore about 1819. He had previ- ously been in business in Hallowell with Asa Barton. After remov- ing to Livermore he was interested in a store at Dixfield, his brother-in-law, James M. Williams, of Taunton, being a partner in the business at both places. Their trade was quite large. He died in 1832, at the age of forty. His widow, several years afterwards, married William Henry Brettun, jr. His surviving children are George W. C. WasJiburn^ of Needhara, Mass., and John M. Wash- hum, of Boston, Treasurer of the Old Colony Railroad Company. NeJiemiah, his youngest son, died in Washington in 1873. Charles Barrell was for a time a partner with Mr. Washburn, 5 54 HISTOEY OF LIVERMOEE. and afterwards liad a store upon tlie Intervale, He was a member of the legislature from Livermore in 1831 ; was proprietor of the Elm House in Portland for many years, and owned and sold the val- uable property on which is now situated the prosperous village of Ligonia, in Cape Elizabeth. C 31. Barrell, the well-known con- ductor on the railroad from Waterville to Danville Junction for nearly a quarter of a century, is his son. Jefferson and Mekritt Coolidge were traders at North Liver- more for several years, transacting an extensive country trade. Jeff- erson sold out and went to Buckfield, and Merritt moved to Hallowell. Afterwards both settled in Portland and became whole- sale grocers. Merritt died in 1866, Among the other traders in town were Simeon Hersey, Palmer Elliot, Otis Thompson, at the Corner, and Samuel B, Holt, Abner S, Aldrich, Barzillai Latham, Isaac and Lee Strickland, Dorillus Morison, and G. W. C. Washburn, at the village. Within the last half century there have been many traders in the town, but further notices can- not be given within the limits to which these sketches must be con- fined. In that part of the town which is now East Livermore there were several traders at an early day, among Avhom were Elisha Pettingill and Lot P. Nelson at the Falls, Samuel Morison, who had been an officer in the militia and a dejjuty sheriff for many years, living on the west side of the river, previous to 1830 opened a store on the east side, at Haines' Corner. He was born in Falmouth, Me., May, 1788, and settled in Livermore as early as 1810. He moved to Bangor in 1835, Avhere he was depu- ty sheriff and recorder of the municipal court. His wife (a daugh- ter of Lieut, Samuel Benjamin) died Dec, 9, 1860, and he survived her until September, 1867, They had five children : Samuel Benj- amin (M, D, Bowdoin College, 1837), who practised his profession first in Livermore (which town he rejiresented in the legislature in 1842 and 1844), and afterwards in Bangor, where he has resided for many years. He was a surgeon in the Second Regiment Maine Volunteers, and is now pension agent for the eastern district in Maine ; I)orillus, a jirominent and wealthy citizen of Minneapolis, Minn,, and for two years its mayor; Harrison G. 0., a lawyer in Sebec, Piscataquis County, and representing that class in the legisla- ture of Maine for 1841, now a citizen of Minneapolis, and now or HISTORY OF LI^^3EM0RE. 55 recently, an officer of the internal revenue; Russell S., a merchant in Bangor; Betsey, Avife of Samuel F. Fuller, formerly a trader in East Livermore, and now a farmer in Bangor, and Dorcas, wife of Nelson Jordan, a trader at Lincoln, Me. Francis F. Haines, son of Capt. Peter Haines, was about 1830 in trade at East Livermore Corner and at the Falls, having a partner and doing a large business, for the time, under the firm of Haines & Page. At a subsequent time Job Haskell was his partner in trade. He has been an active justice of the peace for many years, has frequently been in town office, and has been a member of the legislature. He married Linda Bates, sister of Hon. James and Rev. George Bates, in 1812. His children were Emeline, wife of Earl S. Goodrich, Esq., of St. Paul, Minn.; Linda Ann, wife of Hon. Timothy O. Howe, U. S. Senator from Wisconsin ; Mary, widow of the late Dr. E. P. Eastman, of Platteville, Wis.; Francis F. (de- ceased), who was an artist; Silas B., a lawyer in Colorado; 3Iar- shall, deceased ; Sophia, wife of Joseph Lee, of St. Paul, and Frederic, a physician in Skowhegan. Mr. Haines' first wife died in 1861, and he married in 1862 the widow of the late Hon. Stephen H. Kead, of Lewiston. Mr. Haines was born in February, 1793. Williamson, in his History of Maine, places the population of "Livermore and Richardson," in 1790, at 400. Livermore, alone, in 1795, the date of its incorporation, had probably not over that num- ber. In 1798, Rev. Paul Coffin {vide Missionary Tour in Maine) says it contained 130 flmiilies. From the time of its incorporation until 1820 there was a large immigration, principally from Massachu- setts; nor was the increase of population, if we are to believe Mr. Coffin, to be wholly accounted for in this way. In his journal of the tour made in 1798 he writes: "There were in this place six pairs of twins under five years." Thus, with these liberal and wholesome sources of increase, the progress of the good town seemed to be assured, and so it was for a season. But, at length, owing in part to a policy of the State, about forty years ago, unfriendly to the introduction or increase of manufactures, and in part to the opening of the boundless and promising regions of the West, and in a less degree to other causes, a period of rest, followed by one of retrogression, set in. The course of population since the commencement of the present 66 HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. century has been as follows : 1800,863; 1810,1,560; 1820,2,174; 1830, 2,445; 1840, 2,745. After the division of the town (1843), 1850,1,764; 1860,1,596; 1870, 1,467. As will be seen, there has been a steady decrease of population since 1850. There is some reason to believe, however, that there has been a turn in the tide. Manufactures of wood, and of boots and shoes, and of some other articles have been introduced and established ; population seems to be flowing in ratlier than out of the town, and altogether there ap- pears to be promise of a healthy growth in the future, especially if the " Yalley Railroad " shall be built. HISTOEY OF LIVEKMOIIE. 57 CHAPTER V. AFFAIRS POLITICAL, MUNICIPAL, AND MILITARY. It appears that in the year 1797 the question of separating the District of Maine from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was agitated, and the people of Livermore were called upon to express tlieir opinion on the proposition. This was done by vote in town- meeting, on the tenth of May in that year, at which all the votes cast (twenty-two in number) were in favor of separation. Thus early were the people of this town of the belief that it was for the interest of Maine to cut loose from the parent Commonwealth, and set up for herself. There can be little doubt that their vote was a wise one, or that, if it had been followed by separation as early as the beginning of the century, Maine would have originated a policy for herself, built up business centres of her own, and have gathered within her boundaries in seventy years after her independence a population much larger than she now re})orts. Tlie subject came up again in 1807, when the vote of the town was, for separation, eighty-three; against it, fifty-four. In 1816, the town declared for a new State by the decisive vote of one hundred and sixty-three yeas to eight nays. Upon the question of adopting the State Constitu- tion in 1819 the affirmative vote was seveiityrsi.v, the negative two. There was during the early times, it would seem, a general impa- tience of existing relations and a desire for change, for not only did the inhabitants of the town wish to be set off from Massachusetts in 1797, and subsequently, but many of theni were uneasy in view of their relations toward each other. And so in 1798 the people began to interest themselves on the question of dividing the town. At a public meeting in that year a vote was passed giving consent to the setting off of the territory on the east side of the river into a town by itself. The project, however, was allowed to sleep, and was not renewed till 1843, a period of forty-five years, when it was carried into effect and the town of East Livermore incoi-porated. In 1804, 58 HISTOEY OF LIVERMORE. the inhabitants of a neighborhood in Jay seem to have made some movement towards annexation to Livermore, but the town I'epelled the suitors by voting on the fourth day of November in that year that " the bend of tlie river in Jay shall not be annexed onto this town." Upon the question of county relations the opinions of the people were not without some changes. Jan. 11, 1796, the town voted "to remain as we are in preference to a new county." On Jan. 16, 1804, it voted to be annexed to the new county (Oxford). On the fifth of the next month it reconsidered this action and voted to be annexed to Kennebec. But January 3, 1805, it swung back to its first posi- tion, and again voted "to join the new county now in contempla- tion." A few uionths after this the county of Oxford, including Livermore within its limits, was organized, and the town contrib- uted thereto, in the persons of Gen. David Learned and Di-. Cyrus Hamlin, its first sheriff" and clerk. The county of Androscoggin Avas incorporated in 1854. Li it are ten towns, among which are Livermore and East Livermore, and the cities of Lewiston and Auburn. Auburn is the county seat. It is the most compact, and perhaps the most thriving, county in the State. The vote of the town at different periods indicates the political opinions of the citizens. In 1795, at the first election after the in- corporation, it voted for governor, and (as has been stated) gave all its votes (40) for Increase Sumner, In 1796, it cast 18 votes for Stephen Longfellow for elector of president and vice-president and 1 vote for John K. Smith, and it gave all its votes for Peleg Wads- worth for representative in congress. In 1800, its votes for repre- sentative in congress were, for Stephen Longfellow, 61 ; Daniel Davis, 36; John K. Smith, 25. In 1801, Caleb Strong, the federalist candidate for governor, had 37 votes, and Elbridge Gerry, the re- publican candidate, had 18 votes. In 1802, Strong had 73 votes and Gerry 1 vote. In 1804, Strong had 82 and James Sullivan 44 votes. In 1805, the town became republican, and Sullivan had 63 votes to 48 for Strong. In 1809, Levi Lincoln (republican) had 126 votes anil Christopher Gore (federalist) 47 ; for lieutenant-governor, Joseph B. Varnum 121 and D.ivid Cobb 46 votes. In 1812, the vote was 202 for Gerry and 43 for Strong. In November of this year James Madison received 108 votes for president and DeWitt Clinton received 36 votes. The gubernatorial vote in 1814 was, for Samuel Dexter, 198, for Caleb Strong, 45. Benjamin Bradford and William II. Brettun were elected delegates to the Brunswick Con- HISTORY OF LIVEEMOIIE. 59 A'ention (on the question of separation). Miircli 16, 1818, Enoch Lincohi, for tlie office of representative in congress, received 45 votes and Jndah Dana 11 votes. At the State election, on the sixth of the succeeding April, tlie vote stood, according to the record, "For governor. His Excellency, John Brooks, Esq., 44; Hon. Benja- min W. Crowningshield, 113." The town from an early period in Mr. Jeiferson's administration was steadily an;l decidedly republican. It gave its vote for John Quincy Adams in 1824, and in 1828 it cast for him 11)4 votes to 50 for Gen. Jackson. In this year it gave Reuel Waslibui'n, for con- gress, 211 votes auil 20 to J. W. Ripley. For governor, in 1830, Jonathan G. Huuton received 261 votes and Samuel E. Smith 136. Dr. William Snow, of the east side, was elected representative. In 1832, the vote for governor was, Daniel Goodenow (national repub- lican), 282, Samuel E. Smith (democratic republican), 113. For president, the Clay electors had 254, the Jackson 109, and the anti- masonic 19 votes. In the sharply contested election of 1834, Peleg Sprague (whig) had 306 votes, Robert P. Dunlap (democratic), 151, and Thomas A. Hill (anti-masonic) 19. In 1837, Eilward Kent (whig) received 293 and Gorham Parks (dem.) 138 votes. In 1840, the vote was, for Kent, 376; for John Fairfield (dem.), 157. In the presidential election of 1856 (after the division of the town), Fre- mont (rep.) received 240 votes and Buchanan (dem.) 99. Hannibal Hamlin (rep.), for governor, 242; Wells and others, 139. Israel Washburn, jr. (rep.), received in 1860 211 votes for governor to 149 for Ephraim K. Smart (dem.). Abraham Lincoln in 1864 had 219 votes and Gen. George B. McLellan 113 votes for president. U. S. Grant (rep.) in 1872 received 183 votes to 88 for Horace Greeley (liberal rep. and dem.). Farther details in this direction are unnec- essary. The majorities were uniform and considerable for the old republican party so long as that party existed, and they have since been uniform and equally strong for the national republican party (1828 to 1834) ; for the whigs (1834 to 1854), and for the i-epublican party since 1854. Perhaps the strength of the anti-federalist feeling in town, in the days of the greatest vigor of that party, cannot be better illustrated than by recording the following sentiment given by one of its citi- zens at a Fourth of July celebration at the Norlands in 1812 : "Caleb Strong, Governor of Massachusetts; dark and mysterious are the ways of Providence." A subsequent celebration at the same 60 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. place (1830) was noteworthy for an expression (thus early made) on the question of woman's sphere and rights. Rev. George Bates delivered an oration in the church. An arbor was extended upon the lawn of the Norlands in which, after the services in the church, dinner was served. The dinner was largely attended, and many toasts were drunk and speeches made. Charles D, Learned, Esq., of Mississippi, son of Gen. Learned, of whom mention has been made as one of the early settlers in the town, was present and made a speech which threatened for the moment to interrupt the harmony of the occasion, but for a moment only, and the festivities pro- ceeded, when a good lady, inspired, it may be, by what had hap- pened, sent in to the table a sentiment expressing the hope that the occasion might not be marred by a too familiar acquaintance Avith the wine cup ; whereupon a gentleman at the table immediately proposed, " Woman — let her remember that her place is not to go about meddling with public matters, but to stay at home and mend her husband's breeches." The reception of this toast was such as to show that woman and her rights were appreciated and respected even then. At this celebration another toast was given which is remembered. It was something like this : " Francis Baylies, of Massachusetts, and Peleg Sprague, of Maine; twin brothers having tNvo political fathers, one called Jackson, and the other called Adams." Some brief references to the municiiial doings and aftairs of the town during the eai'ly stages of its history are subjoined : The second town-meeting was held at the house of Dea. Elijah Livermore Aug. 10, 1795. Chose David Learned, moderator. Voted to raise £30 for support of roads. Voted to raise £40 for supj)ort of schools. Voted to raise £5 for supporting the poor and paying town officers and other town charges. Voted to warn town- meetings by posting n\) notification at the dwelling-house of Reuben Wing, at the Ferry, and the three mills of said town. At the annual meeting March 6, 179G, Elisha Williams was elected moderator; Samuel Hillman, clerk and treasurer; and Da- vid Learned, Sylvan us Boardman, and Thomns Chase, selectmen. May 9, 179G, chose Isaac Livermore delegate to attend a conven- tion to be held in Paris. March 6, 1797, Elisha Williams Avas chosen moderator; Cyrus Hamlin, clerk and treasurer; David Learned, Haines Learned, and Isaac Livermore, selectmen ; Abijah Monroe, Samuel Hillman, and HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 61 Daniel Clark, assessors. Voted not to act on the eighth article in the warrant, which was to consider "the desire of William Lindsey and other inhabitants of the south-east part of the town requesting their being set off to the town of liittlesborough " (Leeds). On the seventeenth of April of this year the line of the old cen- tral highway of the town was changed by vote of the town as fol- lows : Voted to alter the road running from the outlet of Saberdy Pond* by Mr. Nathaniel Dailey's to Mr. Isaac Lovewell's, viz., run- ning two rods the west side of Nathaniel Dailey's house, thence north within six rods of the west side of David Learned's housef to an oak stump, thence on north to the west side of Dr. Hamlin's house about two rods, thence on to Mr. Lovewell's where it is now traveled. 1798, March 5. At the annual meeting this day "the presence, aid, and blessing of the Supreme Law Giver was invoked by Mr. Elisha Williams in a jivayer peculiarly elegant and pertinent." The following officers, among others, were chosen : Elisha Williams, moderator; Cyrus Hamlin, clerk and treasurer; Isaac Liverraore, Abijah Monroe, and Daniel Clark, selectmen ; Nathaniel Perley, Peter Haines, and Benjamin True, assessors. 1799, March 4. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin was chosen moderator, and Elisha Williams was chosen clerk and treasurer. Benjamin True, David Learned, and Abijah Monroe were elected selectmen, and Nathaniel Perley,- Peter Haines, and David Morse, assessors. 1800, 11,000 was voted for highway repairs, also 1100 for a road from John Records' to the south line of the town, and $100 for building a bridge at the outlet of Turner Pond.l $300 Avas raised for schools and $50 for town charges. 1801, March 2. Dr. Hamlin was chosen moderator, and Gen. Learned clerk and treasurer, and five selectmen were elected, viz., Sylvanus Boardman, Nathaniel Perley, Pelatiah Gibbs, Samuel Ben- jamin, and Uriah Foss. At an adjournment at the Baptist meeting- house $300 Avas voted for breaking roads in the winter. 1802, May 5. Voted that the representatives of Livermore be instructed to oppose the proposed bridge across Androscoggin River at Davis' Mills (the Falls) in Livermore and advocate the proposed bridge in Jay. At the annual town-meeting April 6, 1812, Rev. Joshua Sonle, afterwards Bishop Soule, of the Metliodist Episcopal Church, was elected moderator. He was a member of the school committee in *Bartlett's Pond. tNow owned by heirs of Capt. Otis Pray. jNow called Brettun's Pond. 62 HISTOPvY OF LIVEKMOEE. 1816, and was for several years a respected and influential citizen of the town. In March, 1839, the town pnrcliased of William Thompson the flirm situated on the road from North Livermore to the Falls, the same now or recently owned and occupied by Leander Bigelow, on which to make provision for the support of its poor. This farm was sold in 1843, and that formei-ly owned by Thomas Chase, on the east side of Long Pond and northerly of Gibbs' Mills, was bought of Phineas Gibbs March 19, 1860, and is now occu))ied for a home for the poor. A practice had previously existed, and one which avms common to a large number of the country towns in Maine and New England, of striking off the support of the town paupers in open town-meeting to the lowest bidder. At the spring meet- ing held April 2, 1821, the usual vote was passed "to set up the poor of the town at public auction," and Mrs. L and four chil- dren were bid off at $2.99 per week; that is, the lowest bidder agreed to provide for and support them for a year for this sum. S h C e, a spinster who lived to be nearly one hundred years old, a member ot one of the churches in town, and a famous tea drinker in her day, whose recipe for tea making of " a spunful for a pairson and a spunful for the pot" was fiivorably regarded by her old lady friends, was struck off at the price of seventeen cents per week ! Tlie auction continued until contracts were made for the maintenance of twelve human beings for a year at the smallest ex- pense for which any one would contract to support tliem. That such a practice at this day wonld seem inhuman, and have no toler- ance among the people of the town, is evidence that, whatever may be her relation to the past in respect to material interests, to out- ward growth or decay, in those matters which refer to our common humanity, and have regard to the influence of Christian civilization among men, she occujjies a position greatly in advance of that which she held fifty years ago. The first militia company in town was organized in 1800. David Learned was captain; William Coolidge, lieutenant; Henry Saw- telle, ensign. This company embraced all the territory west of the river. In 1803, the company was divided, making two comj^anies on the west side of the river, and in the same year a company was or- ganized on the east side. Previous to the division Learned had been elected major of the regiment and Coolidge had moved away. HISTORY OF LR^ERMORE. 63 The first officers of tlie north company were Jesse Stone, captain ; Jacob Gibbs, lieutenant; Thomas Cliase, jr., ensign. Of the south company tlie first officers were Henry Sawtelle, captain; James Starbird, lieutenant; Joseph Mills, ensign. Of the east company the ofiicers first elected were Peter Haines, captain; Robert Morri- son, lieutenant; Theodore Marston, ensign. In 1809, a company of cavalry was formed in Livermore, a majori- ty of whose members were residents of the town. The first ofiicers were Samuel At wood, captain; Isaac Talbot, of Turner, first lieu- tenant; , second lieutenant; Aaron S. Barton, of Dixfield, cornet. Subsequently, tlie ofiicers and members of the company were nearly always inhabitants of Livermore. The captains of the company elected after Captain Atwood were Simeon Waters, Daniel Coolidge, Alpheus Kendall, Isaac Strickland, Otis Pray, Hastings Strickland, JMatthew jNI. Stone, Hezekiah Atwood, Elisha Coolidge, and Rufus Hewett. The company was constituted for many years, in large proportion, of the intelligent and active young men of the town, and was imbued with the true military spirit. It was the pride of the people. No boy or girl belonging to the town ever attended the "general muster," at Canton Point, and saw the "troopers" enter the field, mounted upon the finest horses that could be procured for the occasion, and clothed in scarlet, but was proud to acknowledge that he (or she) too hailed from Livermore. From these organizations graduated many a local military celebri- ty, facile princeps among whom was Colonel Billy Benjamin, every inch a soldier, whose voice rich, but thunder-toned, and whose man- ly form and martial bearing as he rode upon the field on muster-day, calling "Attention, the regiment!" will not be forgotten by any person who was privileged to be present on one of those notable occasions. In the late civil war the loyal men of Livermore rallied to the support of their country's flag with promptness and alacrity. She contributed, as they were called for, her full quotas of volunteers, made generous ])rovision for the families of her absent soldiers, and has cheerfully paid to the last dollar all assessments made and all liabilities incurred on account of the war. In the appendix Avill be found the names of those who gave their services to their country in its hour of peril. In what manner this inland country town performed her duty in "the uprising of a great people " may be inferred from this roll of honor. It contains ninety- four names in a population of less than fifteen hundred ! 64 HISTOKY OF LIVEKMOEE. CHAPTER VI. MATTERS RELIGIOUS AND ECCLESIASTICAL. Deacon Livermore, the founder of the town, Avas not only a CongregationaUst, but the deacon of a clinrch of tliat denomination in Watertown, before lie came to Port Royal, and it would seem reasonable to suppose that his earliest care, after the planting of his settlement had well commenced, would have been to establish a church of his own faith among his people. Undoubtedly, this was his desire and purpose, and this presumption is supported by the fact that a special effort was made to this end about the year 1793, and that preaching was had, from time to time, by Rev, John Strick- land and others who were CongregationaUst ministers. But from some cause, of which no positive and well accepted account remains, this attempt was unsuccessful. It is believed, however, that it will not be difficult to form from the facts which are known a satisfactoiy hypothesis as to what this cause was. Deacon Livermore was, in the first place, more a practical than a controversial or proselyting Christian, and, in the second place, he inclined to that school of his church which was arminian rather than calvinistic in doctrine. And while it is true that the larger part of the settlers during the early years of the town were Congregational ists, there were a con- siderable number who were not; and of the Congregationalists a portion were Calvinists. The Rev. Elisha Williams, a son-in-law of Dea. Livermore, was a Baptist and Calvinist, and a movement was made, in which some of the most earnest and zealous men in the town participated, to gather a Baptist Church. As all positive and sincere efforts are apt to be, this was rewarded with speedy and marked success. But it did not receive the sympathy of Dea. Liv- ermore, and so having failed to plant a church of his own denomina- tion, he found himself^ as between the two sects wdiich sought his favor and membership, more in sympathy with the Methodists, rep- resented in the town by Rev. Jesse Lee, and who had gathered about him not a few enthusiastic believers, than with the Baptists. HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 65 These, then, were the militant and aggressive religious and ecclesi- astical forces in the town ; and a vigorous contest was maintained by each to justify by the results it achieved the superiority of its faith to that of its rival, and its better adaptedness to the needs and condition of the people. But all this while many settlers who, like Dea. Livennore, had been connected with Congregationalist Churches, or (if not church members) with Congregationalist fami- lies and parishes, and who, like him, were not inclined to attach themselves to a church or society of Calvinists, unlike him, were not attracted to the Methodists. They were men who would have been glad to be connected with a church or parish of the " Standing Or- der" if there had been one, and who, if such an organization had been made, would very probably have gone, in after years, with that section of the denomination which followed Dr. Channing and the Wares in their revolt against the orthodoxy of the day. And so, be- ing left as sheep without a shepherd, when, during the last yeaVs of the eighteenth century. Rev. Isaac Root and Rev. Thomas Barnes, itinerating disciples of tlie Universalist faith, came among them, they felt at liberty to hear and give hospitable reception to the doc- trines of these pioneers, the only champions Avith them of the Broad Church. These denominations, the Baptist, Methodist, and Univer- salist, have been the principal and almost the only organized ecclesi- astical bodies in town to the present time. Their relative strength, as exhibited by the per capita division of the ministerial fund for 1871, and which does not greatly vary from the average returns for the last half century, is Baptists, thirty parts ; Methodists, twenty- eight parts; Universalists, fifty-eight parts; all others, thirteen parts. This fund was derived from the sale of lots of land in the town which had been reserved and set apart, in the original grant, for this object. The land was sold many years ago and the proceeds were funded, the income only being used by the several denomina- tions, according to their respective numbers. The zeal and interest in religious matters exhibited by the people of the town in the first stage of its history are illustrated in some notes by Thomas Chase, Esq., made in 1852, in the blank pages of Major Fish's Journal,* of which the following extract is given " Livermore was famous for producing preachers at an early day. The first was Henry Bond, of Watertown, Mass., about 1797. He *This Journal may be found in the appendix. 66 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. died in Livermore." (There are two eri'ors in this extract; first, Mr. Bond — if his son, Dr. Bond, is correct in his "Genealogies" — was not a clergyman, but was a school-master, and secondly, he died in March, 1796. But Perez Ellis, not mentioned by Mr. Chase, was a Baptist minister about this time.) "The second was Otis Robinson. He moved to Shapleigh, then to Salisbury, N. H. The third was Elisha Williams. . . The fourth was Zebedee Delano, from Win- throp. He went to Lebanon. The fifth was Samuel Hillman, from Martha's Vineyard, a Methodist. He died in Monmouth ; was one of the ' four partners.' The sixth was Samuel Simmons, of Connec- ticut. He was a soldier of the Revolution ; was at the taking of Montreal, the battle of Quebec under Gen. Montgomery, the taking of Gen. Burgoyne under Gen. Arnold, and many other battles, and lastly, at the battle of Monmouth. He died in Canton, Oxford County." (Franklin Simmons, the sculptor, who is now living in Rome, is the great grandson of this man.) "The seventh was Sylva- nus Boardman, from Martha's Vineyard. He died in New Sharon ; was one of the 'four partners.' The eighth was Thomas Wyman. He died at Livermore ; was a son of Abram Wyman, of Woburn, Mass., an Indian fighter. The nintli was Levi Walker, from Mllford, Mass. He was son of John Walker, who went with Benedict Arnold to Quebec; was first a Methodist, afterwards a Baptist. He went to Massachusetts. The last I knew of him he was at Stonitig- ton, Conn. The tenth was Pliny Brett. He returned to Bridge- water, Mass., where he originated; was a Methodist. The eleventh was Ransom Norton, from Martha's Vineyard. He died at Liver- more and was one of the 'four partners.'" The " four partners," mentioned above, the names of three of whom are here given — the other was James Norton — came from Martha's Vineyard to Livermore about the same time, and under some agreement to share with each other their gains and losses. BAPTISTS. The first denomination fairly in the field was the Baptist. A brief but interesting history of this church has been contributed by its pastor (1873), Rev. Carleton Parker, and is as follows : " History of the Baptist Chukch. — The formation of the first Baptist Church in Livermore was the result of a revival which oc- curred in a somewhat singular manner in the year of 1793. Mr. Z. Delano, who subsequently became a Baptist preacher, but then a HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 67 thoughtless sinner, while on a visit in Winthrop, heard a sermon preached by Elder Case, in the Congregational meeting-house, from Romans i. 5. While listening to the preacher the Lord discovered to him his wretched condition as a sinner. He returned home, filled with a sense of his own sinful ways, and remained for some time in a distressed state of mind. At length he submitted his heart to Christ and commenced the worship of God in his own family, but revealed not his new-found hopes to his neighbors. His light, how- ever, was not long hidden; an interesting providence of God brouglit it forth. Elisha Williams, son of a Congregational minis- ter, of East Hartford, Conn., a liberally educated young man, was at that time in Livermore teaching school. One morning, while pass- ing to the school-house, he called on Mr. Delano and found him en- gaged in his religious devotions witli his family. Being himself thoughtless, and not knowing of a pious flimily in town, this unex- pected event made a deep impression and was blessed of God to the salvation of his soul. Before reaching his school-house he was so overpowered with a sense of his lost condition that he called upon God for mercy. God heard, and he was soon rejoicing in a Saviour's love. This was the commencement of a work of grace among the peoiole. The converts had distinct and cheering views of the doc- trines of the gospel, and were bold to invite sinners to Christ. As usual, ojjposition became violent, but the grace of God prevailed, alnd many were made new creatures in Christ Jesus. Several be- came Baptists, and on the 7th of August, 1793, a regular Baptist Church was duly organized, consisting of seventeen members.* The organization took place in a barn, now owned iind occupied by Mr. James Chase. Frequent and large additions were made to this church. For a time they met in a school-house; then they built a small meeting-house in which they worshijied until 1807, when they erected a new meeting-house at the Corner, now called North Liver.- more. In the first revival Elder Case, of Readfield, and Mr. Smitli, of Fayette, were the principal Baptist ministers. Mr. Smith aided the church a short period after it Avas organized. Rev. Sylvanus Boardmau and Rev. Ransom Norton were among those whom God called at that time with an holy calling. Rev. Zebedee Delano and *The names of origiual members are as follows: Daniel Holman, Pelatiah Gibbs, Isaac Lovewell, Elisha Williams, Otis Robinsou, Henry Bond, James Delano, Zebedee Delano, Thomas Wymau, Peter Godding, David Reed, Anna Gibbs, Hannah Robinson, Mai-y Delano, Susanna Wyman, Grace Delano, Catherine Walker. 68 HISTOEY OP LIVEEMOEE. -Rev. Elisha Williams entered at once upon the M'ork of the minis- try. Six others also have gone out of this church as ministers of the gospel, viz., Henry Bond,* Otis Robinson, William Goding, Thomas Wyrnan, Jnson Livermore, and William Wyman. Isaac Lovewell, one of the original members, distinguished himself by his benevolence and liberality. He sustained a large share in the erec- tion of their second house of \vorshi]>, and at his death he made a donation to the church of |810 to aid the support of the gospel. The following are the names of the })astoi's, with the year of their settlement: Rev. Sylvanus Boardraan, 1802; Rev. John Haynes, 1811; Rev. David Nutter, 1824; Rev. R. Milner, 1834; Rev. Na- than Chapman, 1836; Rev. Charles Miller, 1839; Rev. John Billings, 1844; Rev. A. B. Pendleton, 1846; Rev. David Nutter, 1849; Rev. Lucius Bradford, 1853; Rev. William A. Durfee, 1859; Rev. E. S. Fish, 1861 ; Rev. Carleton Parker, 1871. This church has, by numerous dismissions, aided in the organiza- tion of four churches in its vicinity. Notwithstanding these dismissions, and numerous others to individuals who have removed their relation to churches where they now reside, God in mercy has, at diffei-ent times, made additions. Within the last two years twenty-nine have been added to this church ; the whole number of members is now ninety-six. The meeting-house built in 1807 was burned down in 1847, and the present one was dedicated to the worship of God in 1848. In the summer and fall of 1871 this house was thoroughly repaired, painted, and carpeted. A nice chandelier was presented to the church by Mr. Arad Thompson, of Bangor, Me., and Mr. Erastus Thom]ison, of Hopkinton, Mass., sons of the late Dea. Ira Thompson, of Livermore." It appears by the town records that on the 2d of October, 1807, the town voted " to accept the Rev. Sylvanus Boardman as town minister, to have the remaining part of right of land by giving secu- rity for $450 to be divided between the Methodist and Universalist so- cieties." For some reason this plan was not carried into execution, no j)ayment or security was made to the other societies, and Mr. Board- man labored rather as the minister of the Baptists than of the town. He was, however, greatly respected by the people, without regard to church or sect, and exercised a large and wholesome influence in the town. He was a representative from Livermore in the legislature of *As to Mr. Bond see page 66. HISTORY OF LIVEKMOr.E. 69 the Commonwcaltli in 1802. His son, the Rev. George Dana Boardman, the distinguished and devoted missionary, was born in Livermore Feb. 8, 1801. lie died in Bunnah Feb. 11, 1831. He graduated at Waterville College in tlie class of 1822, studied at the Theological Seminary in Andover, and was ordained at North Yar- mouth, Me., Feb. 16, 1825, He sailed for Calcutta in the same year, where he arrived on the 2d of December. He acquired the Burraan language and entered ui)on his labors at JMaulmain in 1827, and planted a mission which became the central point of all the Baptist missions in Burmah. He was earnest, laithful, and successful, but fell a victim to the exertions which liis zeal and fidelity urged him to make. He has left a very precious name, not in his own church only, but throughout Christendom. The Rev. John Haynes, the second minister, enjoyed the longest pastorate of any of the nunisters of this church. Nathaniel Haynes, Esq., a graduate of Bowdoin College, and a lawyer and editor in Bangor, who died about 1835, and Col. Isaac C. Haynes, of Hamp- den, formerly editor of the Bangor Democrat, were his sons. A daughter married the Hon. Calvin Hopkins, of Mt. Vernon, Me. The next long pastorate was that of Rev. David Nutter, an Englishman, a man of ability, and in his first settlement exhibiting remarkable power as a revivalist. Mr. Nutter has recently died at the age of eighty years. Mr. Nutter was during his first pastorate in Livermore a frequent correspondent of the periodicals of his church. The church and parish have been fortunate on the whole in the character of their ministers. They have been good men and citizens as well as acceptable pastors and teachers. Among the members who were earnest and active in carrying forward the work of the church and promoting its 2:)rosperity in its early days were Deacons Ransom Norton, Sarson Chase, Pelatiah Gibbs, William Sanders, .John Elliot, Ciiarles Barrell, Ira Thompson, Dr, Cyrus Handin, Messrs, Henry Bond, Jesse Kidder, George Chandler, James and Mayhew Chase, William Thompson, James Walker, and Elder Thomas Wyman. Second Baptist Church. — A small meeting-house was built by the Baptists in the southerly part of the town about 1810, and a church was gathered of people living in the neighborhood, some in Turner, but the majority in Livermore. The Rev. Ransom Norton was for nearly thirty years its faithful and devoted pastor, traveling 6 ' 70 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. on every Sundny from his home, nearly six miles distant, to minister to his little flock. His compensation was in his work, and not in his fee, for his pecuniary reward must have been very small. Since the decease of Elder Norton the church has experi- enced many changes. Its old hoixse of worship has been abandoned and a new one erected near North Turner Bridge. Mr, Norton was not brilliant or learned, but he was a grave, honest man, who wrought in a "sad sincerity" for his people and the truth as he un- derstood it. Church in East Livermore. — Before the division of the town a church was organized in East Livermore, at a place, about a mile below the Falls, called " Shy." It was afterwards removed to the Falls, where it has enjoyed a good measure of prosperity, and has recently erected a commodious and handsome brick church. The Rev. Jared F. Eveleth is its ])resent pastor; its first was Rev. Rob- ert Low. FREE BAPTISTS. Recently a cliurch of this denomination hns been organized in town, which holds its meetings at the Center, in the meeting-house formerly occupied by the Methodists. It has for its minister the Rev. Hezekiah Atwood, son of the late Cn])t. Hezekiah Atwood, of Livermore. METHODISTS. In the year 1793, the Rev. Jesse Lee,* of Virginia, while on a preaching tour in the district of Maine, visited Livermore, where he remained for some time and ])lanted the seed from which grew up, at length, a strong and vigorous tree. He labored earnestly and with much success to teach the doctrhies and commend the polity of the church founded by John Wesley. It was favorable to the pur- pose of Mr. Lee that, in the absence of any religious organization holding arminian or moderately calvinistic views, Dea. Livermore became interested in his work and gave to it his sympathy and aid. When, tM'o years after the advent of Mr. Lee, the first Methodist *Mr. Lee was born in 1758 and died in 1816. The new American Cyclop.-cdia says, " He be- came a preacher among the Methodists in 1783 and a traveling companion of Bishop Asbury. His notes have been the basis of much of the early history of Methodism in America. He was chaplain to congress during six successive terms. He is best known as the apostle of Metho- dism in New England." HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 71 Class in town was formed, Dca. Liverraore and wife, and, at least, one of his daughters, joined it as members, and from that time until his death, in 1808, he was one of the most influential supporters of the church which it represented. A church was organized in 1803, through the instrumentality, in large part, of the Kev, Joshua Soule, then a resident of Livermore, and subsequently a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and widely known, especially at the South, where he lived for many years. Mr. Soule was a presiding elder and presided at the first quarterly conference meeting held in the town, which was in 1803. The meeting-house at the center of the town was built in 1803. It is still standing, but is no longer occupied by the Methodists. For many years before the division it was used by the town for its municipal meetings and for elections. Owing to changes, which had been going on for a long time in the membership of the church, it was no longer a central or convenient point for their meetings, and so in the year 1871 the parish bought the spacious house at the Cor- ner, formerly owned by Col, Stone, and by suitable alterations made an exceedingly neat, convenient, and pleasant house of worship. This ohl parish, in its new church, is now enjoying, as its honorable history and its devotedness, not only to its religious faith, but to every good work and movement for the benefit of the community in which it is placed, deserves, a goodly degree of prosperity. Meet- ings are held in the church at the Corner and at the village on alternate Sundays. This church has now one hundred and twen- ty members, while the two churches of which it was the parent, one at the Falls and the other at East Livermore, have each a member- ship nearly or quite as large. So far as is retneinbered, or as can be traced from any records re- maining, the clergymen of this den:>niiuation who have statedly preached in town are as follows: Revs. Joshua Soule, John T. Adams, Dr. Adams, Samuel Hill man, Samuel Thompson, John Wilkinson, David Stimpson, Aaron Hum])hrey, Eli Howe, Allen H. Cobb, Joshua Randall, Charles Virgin, Philip Munger, George Web- ber, D. D., David Copeland, Abel Alton, Benjamin Burnham, Asa Greene, S. P. Blake, Benjamin Foster, Alvah Hatch, John True, Joseph Gerry, James Farrington, Daniel Dyer, E. H. Gammon, Sam- uel Ambrose, Daniel Waterhouse, Caleb Mugford, Joseph Hawkes, W. C. Stevens, S. W. Pierce, S. B. Bailey, S. S. Gray, Isaac Lord, Francis Grosvenor, Nathan Andrews, M. B. Cummings, Joseph Fair- 72 HISTORY OF LIVEr.]\IOr.E. , banks, and the present pnstor (wlio has kindly conimnnicatcd most of the materials from which this notice has been n>:ide), the Rev. Thomas Hillman. Of those who in the early time labored faithfidly for the upbuild- ing of this church may be mentioned the names — in addition to that of Dea. Livermore — of Samuel Livermore, Cajjt. Charles J. Baker, Simeon Howard, Samuel Hillman, Robert Hayes, John Hayes, Na- than Soide, brother of Bishop Joshua Soide and fatlier of Rev. Asbury Soule, Col. Thomas Chase, jr., Aaron Barton, John Monroe, and Abel Monroe. UNIVERSALISTS. Between the years 1795 and 1807 there was occasional preachinc? in school-houses and dwelling-houses by itinerating ministers ot this persuasion, principally by the Rev. Isaac Root and the Rev. Thomas Barnes, whose labors were not unfi-uitful in the harvest of proselytes. In the latter year a society was formed at a ineeting held on the twenty-fourth of November, at which Capt. Samuel Atwood was elected moderator, and Dr. Cornelius Holland, clerk, treasurer, and collector.* A vote was passed to raise money by subscription for the support of preaching. A subscription paper was drawn up and put in circulation, the names to which, and the amounts subscribed by each, will appear in the appendix. From receipts in the possession of the parish it would appear that Mr. Root preached to this society a part of the time, at stated periods, in the years 1808, 1809, 1810, and 1811. It is probable that JMr. Barnes preached occasionally dur- ing this period. At a parish meeting on the 4th of March, 1809, Capt. Simeon Waters was chosen moderator, and Dr. Holland, clerk and treasurer, and it was voted to pay Mr. Root four dollai's a Sun- day for preaching. In 1814, at a parish meeting, it was voted to employ a minister, and Abijah Monroe and David JNIorse were chosen a committee to engage one. It was also voted to hold the meetings at the school-house near Dr. Bradford's. In 1816, the Rev. Mi". Sargeant — his christian name does not ap- pear — was employed for a short time at live dollars a Sunday. In this year a convention was held in the Baptist meeting-house, and *There jn-obablj' had been some kind of an organization before this time, althongh no record of it remains; for at this meeting Thomas Jiryant was appointed to collect subscription in the hands of Artemas Leonard, a former collector, and reference is made to the " Universal Soci- ety " in the record of a town-meeting held the October previous. : HISTORY OF LIVEllMOEE. 73 Col. Stone Avas engaged to provide entertainment for the ministers and singers in attendance, at tlie expense of the society. The next ye&r Dr. Benjamin Bradford, Israel Washburn, and Samuel Beals were appointed a committee to procure a preacher, and it was voted to raise the money for his support by subscription. There is no rec- ord for 1818, but in May, 1819, Benjamin Bradford, Israel Wash- burn, and Capt. John Leavitt were chosen a standing committee, and Israel Washburn, Jesse Stone, Renel Washburn, Ebenezer Hinds, Jr., and E])hraim Pray were a committee to make arrange- ments for the association which was to be held the next month. It was also voted "that the standing committee be empowered to find a home for our minister." Who the minister contemplated in thia vote was does not appear. Among ihe ministers who preached be- tween 1811 and 1819 were the Rev. Thomas Barnes, Rev. Mr. But- terfield, and probably Rev. B. Streeter. Rev. William Farwell, of Vermont, also visited and preached in the town during this period. Between 1819 and 1827 there was preaching every year for a part — generally half — of the time by Mr. Streeter, and the Revs. Wm. A. Drew, Jabez Woodman, George Bates, Sylvanus Cobb, and 2)er- haps by others. In the latter year steps were taken for the building of a church, and on the eighth of September a parish meeting was held at Avhich William H. Brettun was elected moderator, and Dr. Bradford, clerk. A committee, consisting of Otis Pray, Jesse Stone, William H. Brettun, Isaac Strickland, Ebenezer Hinds, jr., Daniel Coolidge, and Daniel Biiggs, were appointed to fix on a suitable site for a meeting-house, estimate the expense thereof, and ascertain, as near as might be, the number that Avould assist in defraying it; and two weeks were allowed them to make their report. At the ad- journment it was voted "that the most suitable site for the meeting- house is between the dwelling-houses of Israel Washburn and Otis Pray." The meeting was further adjourned to the sixth of October, at which time it would seem a plan of the house was presented, for it appears that Ebenezer Hinds, jr., Abner Ilolman, Reucl Wash- burn, Henry Aldrich, and Simeon Waters were made a committee to appraise the pews. The meeting was then adjourned to the twentieth of October, when a building committee, of which Henry Aldrich, Benjamin Bradford, and Otis Pray were the members, was appoiuted. It was voted at this meeting — for the paiish took the precaution to sell the pews before a blow was struck on the work — " that one-third of the sum for which each pew shall sell shall be 74 HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. paifl the first of May next and the residue the first of January, 1829." The sale of pews was then commenced and was continued from time to time until fifty-four out of the sixty-one pews which the house would contain, and enough to warrant the making of con- tracts for the building of it, were sold. Contracts for materials, stone work, wood work, etc., were entered into. John Griffith, Jr., did the stone work, and the general contractor was Ezra Gary, of Greene. The house was comj)]eted by the spring of 1829, and in June of that year was dedicated, the Rev. William A. Drew preach- ing the sermon.* Great preparation was made for the music on the occasion. Apollos Osgood, of Buckfield, and Horace Gould, both of whom enjoyed groat local celebrity as singers, Capt. John Simmons, of Canton, with his bass viol, and Moses Sears, of Winthrop, with his violin, assisted upon the occasion. The house had a capacity for seating four hundred persons, was of fine proportions, and was sur- mounted by a graceful spire. From its elevated situation it is a conspicuous object in the landscape from many miles around. Upon the final settlement of the accounts for its construction, it was found that the receipts from the sale of pews were seventy-two cents in excess of the cost of the church, and the auditors of accounts recommended, and the proprietors unanimously voted, "that the building committee be discharged from that sum." Repairs upon the church were made in 1839, under the direction of Ebenezer Hinds, Jr., Otis Pray, and Samuel P. Holman, committee. Further repairs Avere made in 1850, for which Otis Pray, Daniel Briggs, and M. M. Stone were the committee. After the erection of the church its pulpit was supplied by Messrs. Bates and Drew and the Rev. Seth Stetson until 1832. The Rev. Jeremiah Stoddard was the minister in 1832 and 1833, the Rev. Ja- bez Woodman in 1884 and 1836, Rev. George Bates in 1835. Rev. George W. Quimby, now editor of the Gospel Jianner, was settled as pastor iji 1837 and remained four years. In 1839, Rev. Mr. Quimby, Israel Washburn, and Clarendon Waters were a com- mittee to report a constitution and by-laws for the parish. Rev. *The venerable William A. Drew, of Augusta, for so many years proprietor and editor of the Gospel Banner, writes under date Jan. 10, 1874: " The church at the Norlands was dedi- cated June 18, 1829. It was calculated that there were over one thousand people present, within and around the house. The ministers present were Bros. Bates, of Livermore, Thomp- son, of Farmington, Murray, of Norway, Merrill, of New Gloucester, and Drew, of Augusta, who preached the dedicatory sermon from John ii. 16. I believe I have that sermon yet on hand. It was voted to have it published, but this I declined." HISTORY OF LIVERMOEE. 75 Ezekiel Vose succeeded Mr. Quimby in 1840 and was pastor until 1843, when he left, and Rev. Robert Blacker, of Norridgewock, was called to the pastorate, in which he continued until 1850. Rev. Frederic Foster was his successor until 1855. Since 1855, the preachers — with the exception of occasional supplies — have been Revs. W. R. French, D. T. Stevens, and O. H. Johnson. During the year 1873 extensive repairs and improvements upon the church were made. Changes, since the erection of this church, in the line of travel, in business, in the residence of the members of the parish, and the inconvenience of reaching the old church in the winter season, when the roads over the hills are filled with snow-banks, sug- gested, many years ago, the building of a church at the village for the accommodation of a large portion of the society. So, without any division of the parish or secession of members, but in order that better accommodations might be secured to many, and strength gained for the common parochial expenses, it was at length deter- mined that a new church should be built. Accordingly, in 1869, a handsome church with a vestry in the basement was erected. It was dedicated in November of that year, the Rev. Araory Battles, of Bangor, preaching the sermon. A fine-toned bell was hung in the .tower in 1870, and a good organ of sufficient power has been supplied by the active exertions of the ladies of the parish. Maj. Isaac Strickland, Col. Lee Strickland, Col. Silas Morse, Ori- son Rollins, Esq., Messrs. Hiram Briggs, Charles Springer, William Pollard, William H. Bennett, Sumner and Richard Morse, Palmer Elliot, Sumner Soule, N. Turner, and S. and S. Phillips were among the members who took an active interest in the erection of this church. Before the, division of the town, a union meeting-house, in the building of which the Universalists and Methodists co-operated, was erected in East Livermore, near Haines' Corner. It was dedicated Sept. 8, 1825. 76 HISTORY OF LIVERMOKE. CHAPTER VII. CONCERNING LAWYERS AND DOCTORS. Notices having been made of clergymen who have liad pas- torates, residences, and temporary or occasional engagements to preach in the town, it remains to give some facts and references in respect to the lawyers and physicians wlio have been residents of the town and eiigaged in the practice of their respective professions therein. LAWYERS. The fii-st laAvyer who settled, in town was probably a man by the name of Strong, whose christian name is not remembered. His of- fice Avas at the inn of Abijah Monroe; but he did not remain long in town. He was from Vermont. Jonathan G. Hunton had an office at Monroe's, and was for a year or two in practice of the law there, dividing his time, it is be- lieved, between this town and Readfield, where his residence proba- bly was. Mr. Hunton was born in Unity, N. H., in 1781. He opened an office in Readfield, Kennebec County, about the year 1807, and resided in that town until 1837, when he moved to Dix- mont, in the County of Penobscot. He died at Fairfield, in the County of Somerset, He Avas a member of the executive council in 1829, and governor of the State in 1830, The next lawyer was Ezra Kingman, His office was at Mon- roe's, Mr. Kingman was born in B]ast Bridgewater July 20, 1789; commenced the study of law with Hon. William Baylies, in West Bridgewater, in 1806 ; was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Livermore. He returned to East Bridgewater and went into trade with his father; Avas a member of the legislature for six years and taught school six years. He Avas chosen toAvn clerk and treasurer Avhcn the town Avas incorporated, in 1823, continuing to hold the same office at intervals until his death, Feb, 13, 1852, He HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. 77 was much esteemed and respected by his townspeojile. His sister, Hannah, married the Hon. Simon Greenleaf, LL. D., long a distin- guished lawyer in Portland, and afterwards a professor in the law school at Cambridge. Asa Kixg, a native of Vermont, wandered here from New Hamp- shire soon after the departure of Mr. Kingman and opened an office at Alonroe's. King was a man of respectable talents and attain- ments, but of intemperate habits. Owing to this infirmity he found but little encouragement in Livermore, and in a year or two moved to Hebron, to which goodly town his bad habits accompanied him. Hakry Wood, of Grafton, Mass., M'as King's successor. He came in 1814, and remained here in the practice of his profession about three years. He married a daughter of Gardner Brown, then of Dixfield, but afterwards of Bath. He returned to Grafton at the urgent request of his aged parents and was made the principal heir to their estate. He was a well-educated man, pleasant, social, com- panionable, but not a great student or much distinguished at the bar. His office was at the Corner. Richard Belcher followed Wood and was here in 1817. He re- mained about two years, when he removed to Winthrop. He after- wards resided in Freeport and Waldoboro. His place of business was at North Livermore, or the Corner, as it was called. Reuel Washburn (a younger brother of Israel Washburn), who was born in Raynham, Mass., May 21, 1793, and grad- uated at Brown University in the class of 1814, read law with the late Hon. Albion K. Parris, at Paris, and was admitted to the bar in 1818. He opened an office soon afterwards at the Corner in Livermore, and has resided there ever since, with the ex- ception of a residence for about a year — in 1851 and 1852 — in Osh- kosh, Wisconsin. He did a good business in his profession for many years, especially in conveyancing, drawing wills, and making collec- tions. His great carefulness and integrity, as well as his accurate legal knowledge, secured to him the confidence of the community in an especial manner. In contested questions, also, he was much trusted, for few men prepared their cases more thorougly or tried them moi-e wisely than he. He was register of probate from 1821 to 1823, senator from Oxford County in 1828 and 1829, and execu- tive councillor in 1830. He was elected to congress in 1829, but was deprived of his seat by the counting against him of five votes, which had been given to other persons for other offices, but which, 78 HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. under the system of voting at that time in force, of pLacing the votes in separate boxes, were, by mistake, deposited in the box used for receiving votes for representative to congress instead of that used for receiving votes for senator, as was intended. As illustrating the recklessness of party spirit at that day, and indicating the low tone of political morals at that time, the facts in this case will be given in detail : According to the official count of the votes as returned to the governor and council, Mr. Washburn lacked five votes of a major- ity. In those days it was not necessary to express uj^on the ballot the office for which the candidate was voted for; but the se- lectmen held separate boxes for as many officers as were voted for. For example, a box for governor, another for senators, and still an- other for town representative, etc. In the town of Canton, Otis Hay- ford, Esq., made a mistake by casting a senatorial ballot, with the names of George French and Nathaniel Howe upon it, into the box for representative to congress. He discovered his mistake the very mo- ment the ballot dropped from his hand and asked permission of the selectmen to correct it. but was refused. This senatorial ballot should have been rejected as illegal and void, as all blank ballots are rejected, because it is impossible to tell who was intended to be voted for, and no voter has a right to cast more than one ballot for the same officer. But this illegal senatorial ballot was counted and returned as tioo separate votes. Thus, Mr. Ilayford was compelled to carry two votes against the candidate he intended to vote for. Bridgton, in the County of Cumberland, belonged to this con- gressional district. In this town a senatorial ballot, with three names upon it, by mistake in the same way, was put into the box for representative to congress, and was counted and returned as three separate votes. If these two illegal senatorial ballots had been rejected, then there would have been a choice. These fjicts were proved before the committee on elections and were not disputed, but a partisan house of rej^resentatives denied Mr. Washburn his seat, deciding that no election had been made. It seems incredible at this time that party spirit could go so f;ir as to defeat an election on such grounds as these, and it is to the honor of the age, and a wit- ness to its \^%t improvement over the last generation, that such an act of palpable injustice would not now be attempted or tolerated by any political party — or defended by any partisan, however bitter or unscrupulous he might be. HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. 79 Mr. Wnsliburn was a representative from Livermore in the legisla- ture for the years 1832, 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1841. He has held, also, many municipal oflices and was judge of probate for Andro- scoggin County from 1857 to 1859, when he resigned the office. Pie lias continued in the practice of the law for hfty-six years and is still consulted and employed in his profession. His children are iianem W., who was graduated at Bowdoin College, in 1845, and educated to the bar; he was a lawyer in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and for several years was juedition, Daniel Knox Avas one. When Commodore O. H. Perry Avanted more men for his terrible fight on Lake Eiie, and Avas permitted to call for volunteers from the land force, Daniel Knox Avas among the first; was on the commodore's "flagship;" when that became disabled and Perry Avished to charge, and called for twelve men to roAV him in an open boat, Daniel Knox was one of "that tAvelve;" Avhen Perry stopped the first shot hole in their boat Avitli his oimi coat., Daniel Knox stopped the second Avith his own jacket. Daniel Avas in for the Avar, nor did his friends and family at Livermore see him as soon as some other soldiers got home, and there was a report for a week or tAvo that he Avas killed for his money; but Daniel came safe and sound at last. Daniel Avas in- dustrious always, and Avhen his father Avent into the lumber busi- ness used to Avork for him. About 1820 or later I think, in the spring of the year, they were breaking in a brow of logs on Mus- quito Brook, in the toAvn of Jay ; the brow gave way Avhile Daniel Avas on it, or before it, and broke him all to pieces. Two of my grandfather's brothers came to Livermore soon afler HISTORY OF LIVEEMOEE. Ill he came, and settled on a lot of land adjoining and northerly of Isaac Lovevvell's; their names Avere Tristram and Sarson. Uncle Sarson took the west half of tlie lot, and Tristram the east, on the west side of the pond at the south end. Sarson was a shoe- maker. Uncle Tristram had been a sea captain, nor did he entirely abandon that business on settling at Livermore. I think it was in 1801, he made a voyage to the V/est Indies, for some merchant or sliip owner at Portland. His voyage out was safe and prosper- ous. On his return he was lost overboard in a gale and could not be recovered. He left a wife and three children at his com- fortable and pleasant home in Livermore. About this time Col. Jesse Stone lost his first wife and soon after married Capt. Chase's widow for his second wife. Col. Stone had three children of his first wife: Polly, who married Ephraim Pray, and lived at the Falls ; Dwight, who went to Massachusetts, and Capt. John Stone, who mari'ied Ann Orill Coolidge. John died young, and his widow married Sewall Cram, Esq., of Wilton, a particular friend and asso- ciate of mine. Aunt Chase had three children when she married Col. Stone : Elizabeth, who married Nathaniel Benjamin, and lived and died on the Intervale ; Abigail, who married Charles Barrell, afterwards a deacon, and a very worthy, good man ; they had a large family; I have not learned of her death; Charles T. Chase, of Dix- field, a prominent business man, was Uncle Tristram's youngest child, and was an infant when his fother was lost. Col. Stone and Aunt Stone had two children, both sons ; William A. went south, and the second, Mathew Merry Stone, lived at the Falls the last I knew. Col. Stone lived to be a very old man. The other painful circumstance I will ngw relate is this: Nap- thali Coffin and wife were among the early settlers in Livermore. They were from Wiscasset, and had a large family, most or all of whom were born at Livermore. The first two children were Wil- liam, and Nancy (who was Mrs. Atwood) ; the third was Stephen, who was very near my age. These children, with several others, were gathered at John Gibbs' with his children ; I was among them. Our ages varied from three to seven years ; Stephen Coffin was four years old, the same age that I was. In our sport and play we got to climbing upon an old-fashioned hay-cart body that leaned against a fence, up edgewise. Unluckily, we got too many on for the lean of the body to overbalance us, and it fell over from the fence upon some ten or twelve of us ; most of us were hurt more or less, and 112 HISTORY OF LIVEEMORE. poor Steplien Coffin so badly that he died in a short time ; most of the others are gone long since. But one of the most afflicting and painful accidents or casualties that has ever happened in my native town was as follows: Among the early settlers of Liverraore were a Mr. Weston and a Mr. Rowell. Weston was on a river farm east side, and Rowell on a river farm west side, and nearly opposite each other, something like a mile be- low the Falls. Some one near the Falls made "a falling bee," and all hands turned out to fell trees, Weston and Rowell among them. By a tree or "drove" going the wrong way both Weston and Row- ell were killed on the spot! My fathei-, then a minor, hel}ied my grandfather, whose name I bear, to make their coffins and put them in them. I remember six (probably all) of Weston's children, three sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters married Asa Lane and Eben Whittemore, and lived near the Falls on the east side ; the other daughter married a Stront, of Poland or thereabouts. The two elder sons left Livermore not many years after the painful death of their father, and their whereabouts has ever since been un- known ; the youngest son, Jonas Weston, Esq., or Rev. Jonas Wes- ton, Avas for many years a prominent citizen of Livermore, also a prominent Methodist preacher. Past middle age he went to Penob- scot County, from which section he was a member of the senate of Maine, His wife was Catherine Barton, eldest sister of my first wife. Facetiae. — There w^as a cavalry company in Livermore, and one of its members for some years was a man by the name of Gideon Southard, an eccentric, queer genius. Southard was at a training of the company at the Washburn place, with several of his neigh- bors, also troopers, and the moment they were dismissed Southard called loudly to those going with him to hurry, for he had promised his wife to come home that night sober, and if he was not at home about that time his wife would be so mad he could not live with her. Having a little business to do, they urged him to tarry a while. Soon as possible they were ready, and called Southard, who very deliberately said : " My wife has got as mad as she can get by this time, and it's no use to hui-ry." Isaac Lovewell was called rather a hard-faced man in his deal- ings and money matters. One day at town-meeting some little trouble came up between him and another, and the other accused HISTORY OF LIVERMORE. 116 Lovcwcll of Imving no conscience. Many were present ami took part in tlie chat. Lovewell insisted that he liad as niucli conscience ns any of them. Abel Monroe intimated that he might have, bnt that it mnst be a very convenient one, and would stretch and con- tract to favor Ids interest. Many others gave laughable opinions. P^inally, John Howard, a younger brother to " Uncle Sim," decided that Lovewell had the best conscience of any man in town ; " though it was somewhat old, it was just as good as new, never having been used." Dea. Livermore usually built a saw-mill and grist-mill at or near the same place, and for several years lie owned three or four sets of these mills at one and the same time. Of course he was in need of millers. There was a man in that region, I think in P'ay- ette, named Walton, of whose integrity and uprightness some had doubts. This man had just l)een made a deacon, of which fact Dea. Livermore was not aware. He applied to Dea. Livermore "to tend his grist-mill" at the Falls. Livermore was cold and repulsive on the occasion, and Walton urgent in proportion; finally, Walton told the deacon of his advancement to a deacon&liip. "Well, well," said Livermore, "then you are Deacon Walton." "Yes," said Wal- ton, now confident of success, " I am Deacon Walton." Livermore, with one of his biggest puffs, so peculiar to himself, said, "Well, Dea. Walton, anything Avill do for a deacon, but it requires an hon- est man for a miller.'''' Dea. Walton was not successful. ToLLAWALLA. — Every neighborhood of Livermore was always re- spectable except i^erhaps one, and that exception lasted only for a few years. I have already called its name, "Tollawalla." Perhaps there may still be some stigma upon or attached to that name, so I will do that away. This is the neighborhood lying from Col. Lewis Hunton's to Strickland's Feriy, on both sides the river. Old jMr. Wing, who kept the first ferry, with his wife, "Aunt Pri^s," old Mr. Norcross, and Haines Learned were the first settlers here. Noi- cross died, sometime prior to 18U0, and was buried in the midst of a cold north-east snow storm. Learned failed in business, and went South, where he afterwards died ; three of his daughters married Morisons, very worthy women. So all the old, first settlers had left Tollawalla except the Wing family. A family or race of Lovejoys came in there. 1 knew five of the men and one or two of the women. Things w^ere missing by the peoi)le, and finally horses, 114 HISTOIIY OF LTVERMORE. etc., etc., and there were strangers, suspicious strangers, hanging about ToUnwalla; but these depredations, perhaps most of them fancied, were increasing, and Bishop Soule, then Elder, his brother Nathan, my fatlier, and many others made up their minds to bring the Tolhiwallians to justice, and rid the town of the eviL I can now look back fifty or sixty years, I trust with candor, and ever seem to see that this great zeal for honesty and i-iglit Avas carried so far as to be a persecution against the inluibitants of that neighbor- hoo