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HISTORY OF CHESTERVILLE, MAINE.


BY THE LATE OLIVER SEWALL, ESQ.

FARMINGTON, ME.

PUBLISHED BY J. S. SWIFT.

1875.


PREFACE.

A FARMINGTON paper dated June 8, 1861, contains the following paragraph: In the death of Oliver Sewall, Esq., recorded in our last, the community meets with a twofold loss. Through a long life Mr. Sewall was an industrious, liberal, public spirited and exemplary citizen; and, more than this, he was a sincere Christian, and while cheerful and active in all the social and political relations of life, he never forgot the higher interests and responsibilities associated with the life which is to come. The Congregational Church, of which he was a member, will miss his presence and his counsel. Mr. Sewall's observations and recollections embraced almost the whole period of the history of the settlement and progress of the region of territory embraced in our county, and he has left many valuable papers. A few years since he finished a detailed history of Chesterville, with a view to its publication. We feel that justice to the memory of a departed friend like Mr. Sewall requires a more extended biographical sketch than we are now prepared to give, and which we shall embrace a future opportunity to present."

The history referred to in the paragraph here quoted is the work now for the first time presented to the public. And it is an invaluable legacy which its author with indefatigable and exhaustive research, prepared — not for anticipated pecuniary remuneration — but for the gratification and instruction of succeeding generations, within the limits of the locations he loved as the region of his birth of his childhood's recollections, and as the scene of the useful labors of a long life. The manuscript has been followed almost exactly, leaving the original work as an enduring monument of the ability and taste of the author. The latest addition made by the author to the manuscript seems to have been made early in 1858; consequently the history lacks some eighteen years of coming down to the date of publication. This fact imposes upon the publisher the necessity of preparing an appendix to follow Mr. Sewall's history and fill up the intervening time, and illustrate the original by reference to changes which time and progress have wrought.

Mr. Sewall kept a journal from his boyhood to within a few days of his death, in which he recorded the employments and observations of each day, and this, with the habit which the practice confirmed, enabled him to make the early History of Chesterville remarkably complete, and it is hoped that the appendix — the publication of which will follow as soon as practicable — will make the whole work a model town history.

The plan proposed for the Appendix to the History of Chesterville will make it somewhat more extensive than the original work.

It is proposed, among other things, to give a few additional papers by Mr. Sewall; somewhat extended biographical sketches of the author of the original history, Rev. Jotham Sewall, Father Foster, and some others who have been prominent citizens; and the genealogy, as far as it can be procured, of each family.

It is proposed likewise to give a brief description and sketch of the history of each farm — a feature never before attempted in a town history.

Among the subjects for distinct sections of the appendix for which more or less preparation has been made, may be enumerated the following; — Geology of Chesterville — Botany of Chesterville — Agriculture of Chesterville — Manufactures of Chesterville — The Future of Chesterville — Orcharding in Chesterville — Water Power of Chesterville — Scenery of Chesterville, &c., &c.


PUBLISHER. 

INDEX.
[The figures refer to the Sections, not to Pages.]

1 lntroductory.

2 Name.

3 Description, — Boundaries, &c.

4 Purchase — Boundaries of different purchases, Dates and Purchasers.

5 Natural Curiosities — Granite Cliffs and Precipices.

7 The Ridge.

8 Streams.

9 Ponds.

10 Plains.

11 Geological Conjecture — Supposed Ancient Lake.

12 Early Settlers — Abraham Wyman.

13 Dummer Sewall.

14 Samuel Linscott.

15 William Bradbury.

16 John Mitchell.

17 Jotham Sewall.

18 John Bradbury.

19 Abraham and Thomas Davenport.

20 Joshua B. Lowell.

21 Edward Locke.

22 John Wheeler.

23 Samuel Judkins.

24 Daniel Wyman — A remarkable Hunter, — Successful Shot.

25 Samuel Perry.

20 Mr. Russell — Andrew Dunning.

27 Jeremiah Bragdon. — A Phenomenon.

28 .Joseph and Moses French — Bear Story.

29 Jonathan Fellows — Moses Bachelder — Phineas Bachelder — Jesse Soper.

30 Samuel W. Eaton.

31 Joseph Jones.

32 Aaron Fellows — Adventure on the Ridge Road.

33 Moses Walton — Jacob Carr.

34 Samuel French.

35 John Bean — Corn-house Architecture.

36 William Hathaway.

37 John Wheeler, Jr.

38 Clarke Whittier.

39 Moses Whittier.

40 Thomas Gordon, Senior.

41 Phineas Whittier — Richard Maddocks.

42 Thomas Williams, Sen.

43 Newell Gordon.

44 John Oakes.

45 Memorable Accident.

46 David Morrill.

47 Town Meetings.

48 Mills.

49 Timber Lands.

50 Keith's Mills.

51 E. Bennet's Auger Factory — Jos. Keith's Fulling and Carding Mill.

52 Collins Lovejoy's Axe Factory.

53 An Unfinished Sawmill.

54 Change of Town Line.

55 Mills at Farmington Falls.

56 Wing's Mills.

57 Accident to Eli L. Wing.

58 Melancholy Death of Daniel Bachelder.

59 Mill below Sand Pond.

60 Mills on McGurdy's Stream.

61 Sawmill Above Whittier's Pond.

62 Starch Factory.

63 Tanneries.

64 Were's Tannery.

65 First Meeting-House.

66 Removal of Meetinghouse.

67 Meeting-House at Chesterville Center.

68 School Houses.

69 School Districts.

70 Villages — Center Mills.

71 Other Villages.

72 Roads.

73 The Co-os Road — Opened by Jacob Abbot, Esq.

74 Bridges.

75 Religious Societies.

76 Physicians.

77 Stores.

78 Lawyer.

79 Tobacconist.

80. Blacksmiths.

81 Carriages.

82 Musical Instruments.

83 Libraries.

84 Representatives.

85 Wild Animals — Bear Stories.

86 Beaver Dams.

87 Fish.

88 Serpents — Power of Fascination — Remarkable Incidents.

89 Temperance.

90 Masts and Spars — Veteran Oxen.

91 Destructive Wind.

92 Avalanche.

93 Town Officers.