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AFTER
THE VIKINGS
THE STORY LEADING TO OUR FIRST SETTLERS
When do we start the
story that leads to the early settlement of Township # 16 BPPED or
what we now call Alexander? The Vikings of a thousand years ago and
the fishermen who followed them did not stay, but did tell those at
home in Europe of this New World. Columbus (1492) to our south, then
Cabot (1497) and Cartier (1534) to the north flanked Geovanni
Verrazzano (1524), Estevan Gomez (1525), Bartholemew Gosnold (1602)
and Martin Pring (1603) who sailed along the coast of Maine. They
were but a few of the explorers who came looking for a short cut to
China, but carried details home of this continent and its potential
for settlement.
Maybe we should start
with 1604 and 1607 for these two dates mark events that greatly
influenced the time that Alexander was settled. In 1604, Sieur de
DeMonts and his navigator/journalist Samuel de Champlain selected
what we call St. Croix Island in Calais, Maine for a settlement. It
failed, half of the men died, and the living were gone by the next
year. These men were French.
In 1607 George Popham and a group of Englishmen
settled on a point just west of the Kennebec River. That attempt also
was a failure. Its greatest accomplishment apparently was that the
men constructed a pinnace named the Virginia that some sailed back to
England the next summer.
As a
result of these two attempted settlements, the English claimed the
land north to the St.Croix River and the French claimed the land
south to the Kennebec River. The land between, claimed by these two
powerful European rivals became a virtual war zone until 1763. A few
English settled close to the coast in the southern part and a few
French along the northern coast. Alexander is within that war zone
and not on the coast.
Here is a time line of some events
while we were in the war zone
1598 The Marquis de la Roche lands 40
convicts on Sable Island. (never to be seen again!)
1603 Sieur de Monts
obtains charter to all the land lying between 40th-46th
degree north latitude
1604 Sieur de Monts attempts to
settle on St. Croix Island (now located in Calais)
1605 Port Royal (Nova Scotia), the
first permanent French settlement in North America, founded by de
Monts and those who survived the winter on St. Croix Island
1621 James I of England grants Acadia
to Sir William Alexander who renames it New Scotland (Nova Scotia
included New Brunswick and Maine to the Kennebec River)
1627 Company of One Hundred
Associates is founded to establish a French Empire in North America
1631 Charles de la Tour builds Fort
La Tour (a.k.a. Fort Saint Marie) at the mouth of the Saint John
River (now part of St. John, New Brunswick)
1632 British lose control of Acadia
due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
1632 Isaac de Razilly sails from
France with 300 people hoping to establish a permanent French
settlement in Acadia
1636 French crown grants Gulf of
Maine and Bay of Fundy to d'Aulnay; La Tour gets Nova Scotia
peninsula
1652 Massachusetts General Court
licenses traders going from Massachusetts to Acadia
1660 English Navigation Act prohibits
foreigners from trading with English colonies
1663 Louis XIV assumes personal
control of New France
1667 France, England and the
Netherlands sign the Breda Treaty in July and with this England gives
Acadia to France
1675 King Philip’s War Abenaki
Indians attacked English settlers in New England – ended 1678
1686 King James II & Louis XIV
sign neutrality pact handing forts of St. John's & Port Royal
back to the French
1688 King William’s War –
the French and Indians against the English settlers
1690 Sir William Phips captures
almost all of the French possessions in Acadia
1697 Treaty of Ryswick restores the
status quo between France & England; Acadia is returned to the
French
1703 Queen Anne’s War lasted
ten years, again French and Indians against the English
1707 Port Royal is attacked twice by
the English from Massachusetts
1710 The English take Port Royal and
name it Annapolis Royal
1713 Treaty of Utrecht cedes French
Acadia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and the "country of the
Iroquois" to England
1719 Construction of Louisbourg
Fortress by the French begins on Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island)
1721 Eight hundred Acadians take oath
of allegiance to the French
1722 Lovewell’s War all along
the coast including Passamaquoddy Bay. The three French & Indian
Wars pitted Catholics against Protestants.
1724 Father Sabastian Rale killed by
the English at Norridgewolk (now Madison, Maine). The Indians moved
to St Francis, Quebec.
1744 France declares war on England
(March 15)
1745 Louisbourg surrenders to English
after six-week siege (June 17)
1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
returns Ile Royale (Cape Breton) and Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward
Island) to French
1749 Halifax is founded by British to
counter French presence at Louisbourg
1754 French and Indian War begins in
North America; becomes Seven Years' War when fighting spreads to
Europe (1756)
1755 Expulsion of the Acadians
begins. Many eventually relocated to New Orleans. This was a defining
event for that city, with their historic French-Quarter.
1758 Louisbourg captured again by the
British (July 27)
1759 British troops under Wolfe
defeat French forces under Montcalm at Quebec; both generals are
killed; Quebec falls
1759 Proclamation issued by Governor
of Nova Scotia invites New Englanders to settle there
1760 Louisbourg Fortress demolished
by the British
1763 Treaty of Paris gives Canada
(New France and Acadia) to England
In the Treaty of Paris
of 1763 France granted the English the lands north to the St. Croix
River (and far beyond) and almost immediately a few settlers came
mostly from southern Maine to settle the coast north of the Penobscot
River. Machias (1763) was one such settlement, Eastport (1771) and
Calais (1779) followed.
Another result of that
treaty was that England needed a way to pay off the war debt. Like
most governments, Parliament turned to taxes, and since some of the
battles were in America, it turned to the Colonies for tax money.
Remember the economic arrangement between mother and children,
England and the Colonies. All raw materials from the Colonies were
shipped to England; all manufactured goods imported into the Colonies
were from England. England profited from both parts of this
arrangement.
Here is a time line of some events
leading to the Revolutionary War
“Taxation without
representation”
1764 English Parliament placed a tax on sugar
imported into the Colonies
1765 The Stamp Act was enacted by
Parliament; the Sons of Liberty was formed in the Colonies to protest
that tax.
1765 American delegation drew up the Declaration
of Rights and Liberties
1766 Parliament passed the
Declaratory Act which gave them the right to tax the Colonies.
1767 Taxes were placed on imported
tea, glass, paper which lead to protests in Boston
1767 The New York Assembly was
dissolved for resisting quartering troops in private homes,
1768 Massachusetts Assembly dissolved
for not collecting taxes for the English
1769 Virginia Assembly dissolved for
protesting trials in England of Colonials
1770 Boston Massacre
1772 Boston Assemble demands Rights
of Citizenship and threatens secession
1772 Samuel Adams forms a Committee
of Correspondence
1773 A Virginia Committee of
Correspondence formed
1773 The Boston Tea Party
1774 English close the Port of Boston
1774 Virginia calls for a Continental
Congress; voted to import no goods from England.
The first navel battle of the American Revolutionary
War was in June 1775 at Machias. The end of that war was documented
by another Treaty of Paris, this one in 1783. As a result, the new
United States gained control of the land north to the St. Croix
River.
EARLY ATTEMPTS TO SELL
EASTERN LANDS
The
following is paraphrased from material provided by the Massachusetts
Archives, author unknown. Some material has been deleted and I’ve
added some material where appropriate. jd
In
May of 1781 a committee of both houses of the General Court had been
appointed to clarify rightful land claims in Maine and identify
trespassers. The committee of five was instructed to accept payments
from squatters for damages done to Commonwealth land, and to report
to the General Court if purchase of the land was desired.
In
1783 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts owned 17 million acres of land
in Maine. It also had a huge war debt of five million dollars, and
its share of the national war debt was another five million dollars.
The Commonwealth treasury was virtually empty, so Governor John
Hancock hoped to turn these largely unsettled, and for the most part
not surveyed, Maine lands into cash. In his message to the
Legislature in 1783, Hancock called for land sales as a substitute
for taxation.
Following
Hancock's recommendation, the General Court appointed a second
committee in July of 1783, to survey, appraise and sell land in the
District of Maine. The counties of Maine were then York, Cumberland,
and Lincoln. Hancock and Washington would be set off from Lincoln
County in 1789.
Preference
was given for sales of land in small parcels. The land was to be
surveyed and divided into townships of six square miles, one half of
which were to be sold in 500-acre lots and half of which were to be
sold in 150-acre lots. Townships were sold undivided only to
proprietors who agreed to settle 60 families in the townships within
6 years. Between 1785 and 1789 the committee had surveyed 28
townships and numerous islands.
As a homeowner plants a
hedge at his property edge, the government of Massachusetts (Maine
was part of Massachusetts then) wanted to plant settlements along its
border with English Canada. Rufus Putman was sent in 1785 to survey
the land, to organize the wilderness into townships for settlement.
Here is a little about RUFUS PUTNAM, a talented
and busy man!
Rufus
Putnam was born at Sutton, Massachusetts on April 9, 1738. He died at
Marietta, Ohio on May 1, 1824. He was apprenticed in 1754 to a
millwright, but acquired some knowledge of surveying and later found
employment in that profession. In March 1757 he enlisted as a
private for service in the French and Indian War, and re-enlisted
yearly until 1761, being made ensign in 1760. His story of the
campaigns in which he served may be read in the Journal
that he kept throughout.
Putnam was a farmer
successively at New Braintree, Mass. (1761), Brookfield, Mass. (1765)
and Rutland, Mass. (1780). In 1773 he went to Florida as one of an
investigating committee appointed to examine lands granted by the
Crown to Colonial soldiers and officers who had fought in provincial
regiments during the French and Indian War. He was made
deputy-surveyor of Florida by the governor of the province and
accompanied the expedition up the Mississippi to the Yazoo, up the
Yazoo to Haines' Bluff, back to the Big Black and thence in return
down the Mississippi. He planned and directed the construction of
the Continental lines of defense at Roxbury and for the excellence of
his work was detailed by Washington as acting chief engineer of the
army.
On Aug. 11, 1776 Putnam was
appointed by Congress chief engineer of the army, with colonel's
rank; but preferring service in the field, he resigned in December
and took command of the 5th Massachusetts Regiment. With the northern
army in 1777 he did conspicuous service, particularly at Stillwater,
where he headed the 4th and 5th regiments of Nixon's brigade. On
Jan. 7, 1783 he was promoted brigadier general. He was for several
years a member of the Massachusetts legislature and during Shays'
Rebellion (1786-1787) was a very efficient aide on the staff of Gen.
Benjamin Lincoln. In March 1787 he was chosen (with Gen. S. H.
Parsons and Rev. Manasseh Cutler) a director of the Ohio Company,
organized on March 1, 1786 with a capital of $1,000,000 in public
securities, to be expended in the purchase of land in the Northwest
Territory. In July a contract was made with Congress for one and a
half million acres and soon afterward an ordinance, familiarly known
as the "Ordinance of 1787," was passed, providing for the
government of the Territory.
On April 7, 1788
Putnam, meanwhile made superintendent of the company, landed with a
party of emigrants at the mouth of the Muskingum and on the present
site of Marietta commenced the first organized settlement in the
Northwest Territory. He concluded in 1792 at Vincennes a treaty with
eight tribes of the Wabash Indians and in 1793 resigned his
commission in the army.
Putnam was one of the
Judges of the United States court in the Territory, 1790-1796, and
from 1796 until his removal by Jefferson for political reasons in
1803 was surveyor general of the United States. He was the founder of
the first Bible society west of the Alleghenies (1812), a sturdy
Federalist in politics and, with the exception of Lafayette, the last
survivor of the general officers of the Continental Army.
Maine seldom gets into national
history books, and eastern Maine often isn’t mentioned in Maine
history books. We note that Putnam’s surveys in Maine did not
get mentioned in the above quoted article. Rufus Putnam did a lot of
surveying between the Penobscot and Schoodic Rivers. He also kept
detailed journals, partly to record the bounds of the land he
surveyed, to detail his expenses, and apparently, because he was good
diarist. Ken Smith of Chases Mills, East Machias gave A-CHS a typed
copy of Putnam’s 1784 and 1785 journals as they pertained to
this area. The following is taken from that source. My comments are
in [parenthesis].
August 2, 1784 ~ Set out from
Rutland on my way to the Bay of Passamaquoddy for the purpose of
surveying ten townships of land agreeably to contract with mister
Samuel Philips and Nathan Dane, a committee of the commonwealth for
the selling of government lands in the county of Lincoln. [Washington
and Hancock counties were set off from Lincoln County in 1789]
August 7 ~ Lt. Park Holland
arrived in Boston who is going in partnership with me….
August 26 ~ This morning myself
and Mr. Park Holland were sworn as surveyors and Elijah Hammond,
William Waite, Samuel Mercy, Joseph Maxwell were sworn as chain men
and in the evening we all left Boston in the schooner “Nancy”,
Mr. McGowen Master.
August 31 ~ At 12 o’clock
lay alongside Col. Stillman’s wharf at Machias Mills. [Remember
George Stillman whose name come down to Alexander born George
Stillman Smith Scribner]
September 1 ~ Called on Mr. Samuel
Holmes [of Cross Island] who informs that there is no good land
between the township of Machias and Cobscook … that the whole
consists of spruce swamps … and fir ridges except some small
spots on Little Machias and Little River….
September 2 ~ From Cross Island {to Cobscook
Bay] is, in general, horrid iron bound shore…. Little River
[is] a very good harbor for shipping of any burthen. From the north
east part of Flagg's Point [Lubec] to [Col. John] Allen’s store
on south point of Dudley’s Island is north by needle and a
distance about one mile. (Allen named his island after Massachusetts
Governor Dudley.)
September 3 ~ Arrived at Capt.
Frost’s on Pleasant Point which is a most delightful situation,
the best potatoes I’ve seen anywhere this year; his oxen are
excellent beef without an advantage but the common run of his
pasture; and his sheep the finest I’ve ever seen without
exception. Capt. Frost raises German barley.
September 4 ~ [Putnam
and Capt. Frost explore by water the branches of Cobscook Bay which
he calls a Cobscook River. They pass Edmund Mahar’s house and
the mill run by Mahar, Samuel Leighton and Nathan Preston. They see
where General Crane is building a mill at the place where the inland
route to Machias waters for use with birch
canoes.]
September 5 ~ [Sunday is a day of
rest, the men do not get paid, and usually no entries are made in
Putnam’s journal.]
September 6 ~ I have contracted Mr. Josiah
Flagg at 6/ a day and subsistence … a guide well acquainted
with the country, [and we] reconnoitered the southerly part of No. 1
[Perry]. [At the end of the day] I marked a white pine for the
dividing bound between No. 1 and No. 2 [Perry and Pembroke] by
blazing the northerly and southerly side and with a marking iron thus
1784 and made a heap of stones by the root of the same, then
camped. [Following are the first of many “Minutes of Survey
Taken by Mr. Holland” starting] on a point of land by Joseph
Bridges house.
Thus starts the surveying of the bounds these
seven townships: #1 PS = Perry, #2 PS = Dennysville and Pembroke, #3
PS = Charlotte, #4 PS = Robbinston, #5 PS = Calais, #6 PS = Baring,
and #7 PS = Baileyville. The PS stands for Putnam’s Survey.
(Note that Meddybemps was cut out of Baring, Charlotte and Cooper
in1842) He even surveyed lots within some or all of these townships.
Along the way he noted trees and grasses, soils, swamps and ridges,
lakes, streams and rivers, mill seats
He found where Robert
Wilson of Campobello had started a mill [Wilson Stream] and surveyed
up the Dennys River to where Capt. Roggers proposed to build a mill.
They visited Devils’ Head on the Schoodic River [St. Croix] and
saw Jacob Libby’s house opposite Schoodic Falls. Jacob settled
in St. Stephen, near the site of the present police station. They
spent half a day carrying supplies around Schoodic Falls to above
Ayers Mill. He saw at Megorriwack Creek a fine meadow with 15 large
stacks of hay. Park Holland observed that some of the land around
Meddybemps Lake “was burnt”.
October 5 ~ Severe frost last night which made considerable ice
and snow which fell last evening in many places till 12 o’clock
this day.
In spite
of the cold weather, Putnam continued surveying until he had
finished. On October 19, he was at Calais, on the 21st
at Capt. Frost’s, and on the 26th
they departed for Machias and then home.
On June 6, 1885, he
again set out from Rutland for eastern Maine. Between then and
November Putnam and his crew surveyed townships #8 = Trescott, #9 =
Eastport (which then included Lubec), #10 = Edmunds, #11 = Cutler,
#12 = Whiting, and #13 = Marion. All this activity makes one wonder
how Putnam found time to be a successful farmer! It was also in 1785
that Putnam was added to the committee responsible for turning these
Maine lands into money for the Commonwealth.
Who was PARK HOLLAND
Park
Holland was born in 1752 at Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He was active
in the Revolutionary War, at Harlem Heights, White Plains, Bennington
and Saratoga. He was involved in putting down Shays’ Rebellion
In January 1785 he married Lucy Spooner and spent the next five
years, the happiest in his life, engages in tilling the land in
Petersham, a Captain in the Militia, a selectman, assessor, and
representing his town in the General Court.
He
then came to Maine, living at Eddington, where he surveyed some of
the northern townships for Bingham. He, along with Titus Goodman and
Jonathan Maynard were land speculators, buying what now are Grand
Lake Stream, Waite, and Talmadge. He moved to Orono, then to Bangor
where he died in 1844. As an old man he wrote his autobiography in
which he describes the 1794 survey of Bingham’s Option, a lot
36 miles wide and running north 140 miles. This lot was north of the
lottery land. Source: Park
Holland, Revolutionary Soldier, Maine Surveyor
complied by Philip Coolidge
CREATING A MAP/PLAN
When it was decided to have the
lottery, the thirteen Schoodic townships described above had been
surveyed as had some townships along on the east side of the
Penobscot River. In 1763 John Jones and Joseph Frie had surveyed
seven coastal townships from Trenton east to Addison. The north
boundary line of these townships was called the ‘Grand East and
West Line’. In 1786 Rufus Putnam, who was on the Land
Commission, created a map/plan for the Middle Division based on this
line. This map/plan showed the “townships in red lines
delineated for surveying.” He did this while in Boston; his
map/plan had no lakes or rivers in it. These townships were six miles
by six miles or 23040 acres. The present day bounds of these
townships have changed little since 1795.
Putnam already had a survey of the
Schoodic Townships (#1 PS - #13 PS), so needed to fill in the gap
between them and the Middle Division. Thus we have townships #14 ED
BPP to # 27 ED BPP. Middle Division townships were based on the
magnetic meridian and the Schoodic (Putnam Survey) townships had been
surveyed on a line 20 degrees west of North. Therefore Putnam had to
adjust for these differences, which accounts for the odd shape of
several of these townships. He attempted to make these townships the
same size as those in the Middle Division. This is obvious when one
looks at the 1786 map/plan (pages 10 and 11). Putnam “attested”
to most, but not all, of the map/plans for the lottery.
FILLING IN THE DETAILS ON PUTNAM’S MAP/PLAN
As mentioned, the map/plan had no
natural features. Several men filled in these details over the years.
John Peters of Blue Hill surveyed
for the land committee, actually creating boundary lines and placing
corner markers for many townships. He also mapped the rivers and
lakes that are shown on Osgood Carleton’s 1795 map in the
center of this newsletter. This was a result of a contract between
Peters and General Jackson (on behalf of William Bingham) dated May
24, 1793.
John Peters, Jr. and his brother
James Peters, and their brother-in-law Reuben Dodge and his brother
Addison Dodge were also surveyors who surveyed lots within townships.
Park Holland of Eddington filled in details in some of the North
Division. In out Downeast area, Benjamin R. Jones of
Dennysville and Richard Hayden filled in the details of many
townships including Alexander and Crawford.
Who was BENJAMIN R. JONES
Samuel
Jones, a land surveyor, came to Robbinston, Maine in 1788, employed
by Gov. Robbins, founder of the town. His wife, Mary (Richards), was
a descendant of Mayflower passengers, John Alden and Priscilla
(Mullens). The first six Jones children were born in Massachusetts,
the last two in Robbinston. When the Dennysville Congregational
Church was organized in 1805, Samuel Jones and his eldest son,
Samuel, Jr. were among the original members. In his old age Samuel,
Sr. moved to Eastport where he died in 1824. His wife, Mary, died in
1815 in Robbinston.
Benjamin R. Jones,
second son of Samuel, Sr., and Mary Jones, was born in Brookline,
Mass., in 1773 and came to Robbinston with his parents and siblings
in 1788. In 1798-9 he married Mehitable Hersey, daughter of Zadock
and Abigail (Lewis) Hersey of Dennysville (That part of the town
which became Pembroke in 1832). Mehitable, "Hitty" was
descended from Richard Warren, another Mayflower passenger.
In 1804 Benjamin, Hitty, and their
three children had moved to Edmunds where six more children were
born. It is believed that their home was the ell of the structure
which recently was known as the Heritage House (Thomas Eastman, Jr.,
built the main house in later years. The house burned in 1993).
About 1850 the Jones family moved to the Narrows Road in Dennysville,
living in the house which in later years was occupied by Edward and
Rebecca (Ward) Leighton, succeeded by their son and daughter-in-law,
Leigh and Florence (Jamieson) Leighton.
Like his
father, Benjamin R. Jones was a land surveyor. He was so known for
his accurate knowledge, his clerical expertness, and his skill in
making plans, maps, and models that his services were in demand not
only throughout the Dennysville-Edmunds community but also in a large
part of the county. Realizing the importance of academic education,
Mr. Jones read avidly about history, science, and the annals of
families all over the country. He opened an evening school for young
people, teaching with no compensation except his own satisfaction.
He also taught singing schools and writing schools. He was a notable
asset to the community. Copied from Dennys
River Historical Society Newsletter, Jan. 1999
MASSACHUSETTS LAND
LOTTERY
Approximately 100,000 acres of land
had been sold in small parcels by 1786. Eager to escalate sales, the
General Court passed a resolve in November of 1786 instituting a land
lottery. Under the direction of John Brooks and Leonard Jarvis,
50 townships were divided into 2,760 lots of various sizes. The
largest lot was an entire township, TWP 42 Middle Division. It was
called the Grand Prize and the winner would get 21760 acres.
TWP 42 is in northern Washington County. No one drew the lucky
ticket.
Tickets were sold for 60 pounds
each, every ticket yielding some prize, though acreage and quality
were to be dictated by a chance drawing. The drawing took place in
June 1787. In Alexander 12 tickets were sold for 720 pounds. The
tickets were for a total of 6240 acres. Sixty Massachusetts pounds of
1786 would be about equal to $2640.00 (1991) dollars. As an
additional incentive, lottery lands were exempted from property taxes
for 15 years, and settlers on lottery lands were exempted from the
poll tax for the same amount of time.
Even
with these benefits attached, only 437 tickets were sold, yielding an
income to the Commonwealth of $86,200. For those with capital to
invest, it was better to buy land that was good land. These tickets
were legal documents for the lots. Since the lots drawn were
scattered, the commissioners offered deeds to those who would trade
their lot for an equal number of acres within four townships. Those
East Division townships were #13 (Marion), #14, #15 (Cooper), and
#18, all here in Washington County.
A
resolve in 1788 set the requirement that 4 lots in each township
surveyed be reserved for public use. One lot was to be reserved for
the first settled minister, one for the use of the church, one for a
public school, and the fourth was to be disposed of by the General
Court at a later date. Also in an attempt to quiet angry squatters,
the resolve entitled all settlers who had located on Commonwealth
lands prior to 1784 to 100 acres of land at a nominal fee.
By
1790 it had become clear that receipts from sales did not cover
administrative selling costs. Thus ended the Land Lottery.
WHO PURCHASED TICKETS
ON ALEXANDER LAND ?
John Atkinson
of Boston drew ticket 712 that was for lot 13 ~ 1280 acres. Atkinson
also acquired two lots in Hancock County in the lottery,
William Bird,
merchant of Boston, drew ticket 687 that was for lot 48 ~ 160 acres.
Jon’ Dwight,
merchant of Springfield, drew ticket 142 that was for lot 26 ~ 160
acres. Dwight purchased at least five other
lottery tickets, getting land in Plantation #14, Wesley, and TWP #30,
plus others.
Heirs of Silvester
Gardner of Boston drew ticket 663 that was
for lot 49 ~ 2560 acres. The heirs bought at
least 9 other tickets, one for land in Princeton. Gardiner (1708 -
1786) was a self-made man, a surgeon, druggist, businessman, strong
willed, outspoken, religious, a Tory and an exile. He was one of a
group of Boston men who in 1749 acquired control of the Plymouth
Patent. That was granted in 1606 and became part of the Plymouth
Colony’s property. The grant originally was 15 miles each side
of the Kennebec River extending from the ocean to the river’s
headwaters. Gardiner became active in the development of this
1,500,000 acre piece of land. When Gardiner fled this country during
the American Revolutionary War, all his property was confiscated,
except this Kennebec Purchase. Upon his death, the property passed in
trust to his son William and then to
his grandson, Robert Hallowell, who added Gardiner to his name, as
required by Silvester’s will. Colonial
Entrepreneur, Dr. Silvester Gardiner
by Olivia Coolidge is an excellent book.
Frederick William
Gayar, merchant of Suffolk County, drew
ticket 653 that was for lot 24 ~ 160 acres.
Daniel Waldo Junt,
merchant of Worcester, drew ticket 761 that was for lot 14 ~ 320
acres.
Christopher Marshall,
gentleman of Boston, drew ticket 185 that was for lot 47 ~ 320 acres.
John Peck,
broker of Boston, drew ticket 776 that was for lot 31 ~ 160 acres.
Was this the John Peck who in 1773 wrote the
poem “A Description of the Last Judgement, with Some Reflection
thereon, the Happiness of Being Ready, and the Misery of Being
Unready for such Day”?
Samuel Pickering
gardener of Boston drew ticket 1829 that was for lot 28 ~ 160 acres.
Mrs. Eunis Ray of Boston drew ticket 771 that was for lot 9 ~ 320 acres.
James Thatcher,
physician of Plymouth, drew ticket 603 that was for lot 7 ~ 320
acres.
William White,
merchant of Almsbury, drew ticket 779 that was for lot 42 ~ 320
acres. He also got a lot in TWP #27 in the
lottery.
WHAT
HAPPENED TO THE LOTS SOLD IN ALEXANDER?
Alexander
had no settler by the land lottery. Apparently not one paid taxes
(after 1801) as was required. All the lottery lots, except for one,
were sold by the Alexander tax collector during the 1820s. Robert
Hallowell Gardner, heir of Silvester Gardner, paid the back taxes in
1821 and sold lot 49, now lot 97, to Caleb Cary of East Machias.
WHAT
HAPPENED TO THE LAND NOT SOLD IN THE LOTTERY?
In
1791 the committee sold two million acres of Maine land to Colonel
Henry Jackson of Boston and Royal Flint of New York. That deed was
dated July 1, 1791. The land involved was half on the upper Kennebec
River (known later as Bingham’s Kennebec Purchase) and half the
old lottery lands between the Penobscot and Schoodic Rivers (known
later as Bingham’s Penobscot Purchase). We should note that
this sale excluded the lots sold by the land lottery, and those lots
reserved for the first settled minister, the church, the public
schools, and for later use by the Commonwealth (i.e. the government).
On
July 25, 1791 Jackson and Flint assigned their ownership to General
Henry Knox of Boston and William Duer of New York. We should note
here that even though the price was but 10 cents per acre, both of
these transactions were credit deals. One wonders why the short turn
around on this huge piece of property. Was it because Knox was
Secretary of War? Knox was literally the biggest general in the
Revolutionary War, weighing over 300 pounds. It was he who dragged
the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the winter of 1775 -
76 to keep the British from leaving the city to harass the people in
the countryside.
Knox
went to William Bingham, a wealthy speculator from Philadelphia in
December 1792. William Duer was in debtors’ prison and Knox was
not far behind him. Bingham made the necessary arrangements and on
January 28, 1793 was given 16 deeds for the two million acres
described above, including the million acres in our Downeast Maine.
Land commissioners Samuel Phillips, Jr., Leonard Jarvis, and John
Reed signed these deeds. Having Bingham and his corporation seemed to
offer an immediate and reliable flow of cash into the Commonwealth
treasury. Unfortunately, this was not the panacea for the eastern
lands problem and Bingham faced financial problems.
Bingham
turned to Baring Brothers Bank in London for financial backing. A
young son of Sir Francis Baring was sent to America to bargain with
Bingham. Alexander Baring arrived in the fall of 1795 and early the
next year acquired an undivided interest in Bingham’s two
million acres of Maine, including Alexander. Baring appointed John
Black to work with Bingham’s agent General David Cobb to turn
the land into money. The plan was to sell lots to farmers.
THE
STAGE HAS BEEN SET FOR SETTLEMENT
1000
– 1603 THE EXPLORERS
1607
– 1763 THE CENTURY AND A HALF OF CONFLICT AND WAR
1763
– 1783 THE COAST IS SETTLED AND THE NEW NATION IS ESTABLISHED
1785
- THE LAND IS SURVEYED
1791
- DEEDED OWNERSHIP AND WILLING SELLERS
Liberty
Men and Great Proprietors, The Revolutionary Settlement on the Maine
Frontier, 1760 – 1820
by Alan Taylor gives an excellent picture of problems faced by those
who settled before deeds were available.
WHY
DID MEN COME TO ALEXANDER?
No one to date has found a diary or
letter created by one of our early settlers that answers that
question. A one-word answer might be opportunity, to have the chance
to own property and have a better life for the families. These men,
likely sons of Revolutionary War soldiers, must have heard the words
of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution glorifying
LIFE, LIBERTY and PROPERTY.
And of great importance, John Black
would let them live on and work the land before paying for it! Men
signed bonds with Black agreeing to work on the roads and pay for
their land at some time in the future. We have failed to find that
list so we don’t know where each man settled.
WHO CAME TO ALEXANDER
It appears that the settlement of
Alexander was not by plan of a great leader, but by small groups from
three areas over a decade. Those areas were Calais including St.
Stephen and the ridges, Eastport, and East Machias. The written
record is slim and we share it so readers can find different stories.
An interview with
Ananiah Bohanon in 1870, reprinted in a 1935 copy of the Calais
Advertiser, gives important information about
early settlers of Township 16, now Alexander.
The first clearing was made by
William Connie (Connick) and Samuel Perkins in lot 93 on a farm
occupied in 1870 by John Gooch. Bohanon does not mention and likely
was unaware that Samuel Brown was settled on lot 9 on the north edge
of town, In fact the census taker thought Brown was in Princeton. Lot
plan created by B. R. Jones in 1808 with major roads added.
Bohanon states that in “1811 Ananiah Bohanon
(lot 65), William D. Crockett (lot 92) and Eliab Spring (lot ?) and
others settled in different parts of the Township… In the year
1813, four families came from Machias and settled on Break Neck
Hill.” We must remind readers that the village of East Machias
was part of Machias until 1826. These families probably were John
Babcock, Jesse Fenlason, Mark Fenlason and Eben Gooch (all settled on
lot 97).
History of New England by Cooledge and
Mansfield lists five settler families for township 16.
Caleb Pike
George Hill
Paul Morse
Cyrus Young
William & Susan (Sherman) Thurston had child
in Alexander in 1819
Several business records help us create a list of
early settlers. John Black was the agent for Baring Brother’s
Bank that owned an undivided interest in this land. Black intended to
turn this land into cash by selling it to farmers. Here are some of
his records, as collected by his sub-agents From the Black Papers
(2119.0510) at the Maine State Archives we learn that Caleb Pike in
1812 agreed to pay $160 for lot 76.
Again from MSA, a list of Settlers since November
24, 1810 on # 16 dated February 25, 1816 by Theodore Lincoln gives
the following names.
Solomon Perkins
Samuel Day
Ananiah Bohanon, JR
William Crockett
Samuel Cottle
Samuel Dunn
David Young
Mark Fenlason
John Fenlason
William Fenlason
Jesse Fenlason
Peter Flood
Warren Gilman
Aaron Corson
John G. Taylor
Paul Morse
Enoch Chase
Israel Andrews
William Connick
Jesse Stephenson
Another list at Maine State Archives created by
James Dinsmore and George Ulmer (for Black) gives settlement dates.
From that list we give names not found above and with dates before
1820
Samuel F. Anderson 1817
John Foss 1812
Nathaniel Bailey 1818
David Bailey 1818
Joseph Frost 1816
Jacob Frost 1819
John Moore 1819
Jeremiah Frost 1818, died 1821
Also from Dinsmore & Ulmer: The following were
not found on old list, are ‘off’ the new list, i.e. they
were here but have moved elsewhere.
Reuben Washburn off 1813
Caleb Pike off 1814
George Hill off 1813
William Morrison off 1820
Granger Spring off 1815
John Kelly killed in the last war
The one official list of early settlers is the1820
census, taken from Vital Records of Alexander, Maine compiled
by Sharon Howland. Names in order of census record.
Wm. Crockett
Nath’l. Davis
Samuel Dunn
Mark Fenlason
Wallace Fenlason
John Babcock
Jesse Fenlason
Eben'r Gooch
Peter Flood
Wm. Connick
John Moore
Jesse Stephenson
Ananiah Bohannon
Sam'l. Scribner
Joseph Davis
Nath'l Bailey
Jacob Frost
Saml Cottle
Solo Perkins
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SETTLERS
AND OTHERS WHO WANTED TO BUY LAND IN
ALEXANDER
Let’s look at historic records
to find out a little about these men. We’ll look at Town
Clerk’s records kept by John G. Taylor and his successors,
census records and deeds. The Town Clerk’s records are at the
Maine State Archives in Augusta and were collected by Ellen Fenlason
and Sharon Howland. Deeds are at the Court House in Machias. Here we
put the names in alphabetical order and spelling has been
standardized. Last names of children are omitted except where more
than one family name is found within the family unit.
Included on this list
are men who petitioned for Incorporation of the Town of Alexander
granted January 19, 1825. Readers will note that more than a few of
those listed below were neither an early settler nor a petition
signer. Since later records indicate that no money down was required
for one to claim a lot of land, it appears that many risked nothing
to claim a lot, then came to look at the lot. Finding no gold mines,
rock free fertile fields or forests of tall pines awaiting the axe,
these speculators returned home, leaving Alexander to the others.
Several settlers also petitioned the Legislature for Alexander to
become a town.
* Samuel F. Anderson
between 1816 and 1820 agreed to acquire a lot of land in Alexander.
He is not listed in Alexander Vitals.
NFI
* Israel Andrews signed to buy land in Alexander before 1820. He is not listed in
Alexander Vitals. He
was a resident of Township #14 (now Cathance Township) from before
the 1820 census until after the 1850 census
* John Babcock
(early settler) was born on October 6, 1780. Catherine Davis was born
on May 1, 1789. They were married on December 17, 1809 and were in
Eastport in 1810. They had the following children: Barzillia Mosher
born November 6, 1810; Clarisa Ann born April 18, 1815 & died
September 12, 1824; May Elizabeth born August 5, 1817; Naomi Ann born
April 13, 1820; Johnathen Freeman born October 1, 1822; Esther Jane
born January 18, 1825 and John Middleton born November 2, 1827. John
Babcock and his family arrived here as early as 1813 and definitely
before 1820. They came from East Machias and resided on Breakneck
(lot 97). The family moved to Campobello just prior to 1830.
* David Bailey,
oldest child of Nathaniel and Mary listed next, married Elizabeth Ann
George, born October 16, 1808, on December 26, 1822. Their children
were Clarinda born August 13, 1827 at Calais; William Henry born June
15, 1829; Levi born May 14, 1831 Mary Caroline & Rosina Julia
born February 12, 1833; Irene (Jane) born January 4, 1835; and Israel
born April 27, 1838. All children but Clarinda born in Baileyville.
Rebecca Tucker, second wife of David born July 2, 1820. David Bailey
died on December 23, 1879. David Bailey agreed to buy land from the
Bingham heirs in 1818. He lived in Baileyville until after 1860 when
he moved to Alexander, his father’s place on lot 77 according
to Wallings 1861 map.
* Nathaniel Bailey
(early settler) was born on October 8, 1773. Mary Frost was born
September 23, 1874. They were married on October 24, 1797. Their
children were David Emery born August 24, 1798; Mary Harrington born
May 14, 1800; Nathaniel JR born March 28, 1802; Lydia born July 8,
1804; Rhoda born July 15, 1806; Abraham born December 21, 1809;
Jeremiah born August 3, 1812; Eliza born September 17, 1814 and
Esther born March 13, 1817. Nathan Bailey died December 3, 1853 and
his wife Mary died June 24, 1854. Nathaniel and his family came from
Baileyville and settled on lot 77 before 1820.
* Ananiah Bohanon
(early settler & petitioner) was born on July 12, 1788. Amelia
Campbell was born on April 11, 1792 and died February 7, 1857. They
were married on June 29, 1815. Their children were Mary Ann Campbell
born May 30, 1813; William Bohanon born April 3, 1816; John Campbell
Bohanon born August 23, 1817; Amelia C. Bohanon born February 8,
1820; Hannah Bohanon born March 21, 1822; Margaret Hall Bohanon born
May 21, 1824; Ananiah Jones Bohanon born February 3, 1826; Hiram
Coffin Bohanon born December 5, 1827; Eliza Hall Bohanon born January
3, 1830 and died March 12, 1830; James Madison Bohanon born February
20, 1831; Samuel Hall Bohanon born December 2, 1833. About 1811
Ananiah came from Calais and settled on lot 65. The earliest document
we find is a letter of 1836 from John Black, Baring Brothers agent,
acknowledging Bohanon’s occupation of the lot. He and his
family are recorded on the 1820 census and subsequent census records.
Part of this lot today is home to one of his g-g-g grandsons.
* Samuel Brown
(early settler) was born on May 10, 1875 in New Hampshire. Dorcas
Libby was born on September 13, 1785 in Scarborough, ME. They were
married on February 6, 1802 and had the following children: Daniel
born January 28, 1803; Samuel JR born May 10, 1805; Mary born March
25, 1807; Enoch born March 8, 1809; Ephriam born April 28, 1811;
Elijah born November 17, 1813 and Rachel born May 11, 1816. Samuel
Brown died in August 1851. Samuel came to Princeton before 1810 to
live near his friend Moses Bonney. He picked the next ridge to the
south from Moses for his home site and it turned out to be lot 9 in
Alexander. The 1810 and 1820 census showed Samuel in Princeton. By
1830 he was listed in Alexander. Thus he was the first settler in
Alexander; did he arrive in 1810 or earlier?
* John Butler (petitioner) was born October 23, 1795 in Kingston Parish NB. Rebecca
Fanjoy was born February 7, 1798 at St. John, NB. They were married
September 16, 1817 and their children were Samuel born June 9, 1820
at St. John; William Henry born December 8, 1822 at St. John; Ephriam
Harvey born August 17, 1825 and died September 13, 1826 at Calais;
Joseph Ephriam born July 5, 1827 at Calais; John Manly born July 19,
1827 at Calais; Daniel Gray born September 9, 1831 at Calais. The
above birth records indicate that John was in Alexander briefly, at
best. It was Joel Butler, likely his brother who resided here,
probably on lot 105 before leaving Alexander after the 1830 census.
* Enoch Chase
was of Township #6 (Baring) on July 17, 1813 when he married Ann
Vance. Ann was born on February 9, 1793 at St Davids NB. He drowned
while river driving on May 17, 1817. He had agreed to buy a lot in
Alexander prior to 1816. His widow married Rufus K. Lane.
* Stephen Connick
(petitioner) was likely the oldest son of William listed below.
* William Connick
(early settler and petitioner) was born on July 25, 1872. Sarah Hall
was born September 16, 1784. They were married on November 16, 1802.
There children were Stephen born January 21 1804; Maryann born August
4, 1805; Levi born March 16, 1808; Joanna born May 15, 1810; William
JR born July 13, 1812; Susannah born March 2, 1815; Samuel born July
3, 1817; Emily G. born July 15, 1819 and Margaret born February 12,
1822. Sarah’s father Stephen Hall died at their Alexander home
on March 24, 1834, Susannah Connick had a daughter on March 13, 1838
named Almira Caroline Cross. William Connick and his family arrived
here before 1820 and were long time residents. Census records of 1830
indicate Connick also lived on lot 105.
* Aaron Corson
wished to get a lot here prior to 1816. He is not listed in Alexander
Vitals. He may have been of Calais. NFI.
* Samuel Cottle
(early settler) was born April 15, 1786. Elizabeth Hatch was born on
February 24, 1781. They were married on April 29, 1809 and had the se
children: Charles born May 21, 1809; Samuel JR born November 23, 1815
& died October 1857; John Fields born January 7, 1818; Nancy
Boulton born April 4, 1819 (wife of Ephriam Brown); Hampden Cutts
born October 10, 1823 and Dolly Cottle born April 4, 1844 daughter of
Nancy Boulton. Elizabeth Cottle died March 12, 1855 and Samuel her
husband died June 12, 1867. Both buried at Calais.Samuel and his family arrived
probably before 1816 and were here in 1820. He may have settled on
lot 64 briefly, but later was on lot 78. Samuel was tax collector for
a number of years.
* William D. Crockett
(early settler and petitioner) was born on January 10, 1782. Mary
Barber was born on September 18, 1784. They were married on November
3, 1804. They were in Calais in 1810. Their children were Ann born
June 16, 1805; Rebecca Chatman born August 3, 1807; Almira Catherine
born March 23, 1810; Mary Isabelle born May 25, 1812; Harriet born
January 9, 1816; William Harrison born November 26 and Cordelia born
January 25, 1824. Mary Crockett died on July 8, 1855 and William D.
on February 29, 1862. Harriet Crockett was married to Barzillia
Babcock on August 4, 1836 by John G. Taylor. Their daughter Clarisa
Anne Babcock was born on March 7, 1838.William Crockett was part of the defense of
Eastport during the War of 1812 in Col. Oliver Shead’s 3rd
Regiment. He came here with his family before 1820 and settled of lot
92, later known as Sears’ Corner. William and Mary are likely
buried under a maple tree south of their house site along with a
grandson’s wife, Lucy Davis. Descendants of William and Mary
are found in this area.
* Joseph Davis
(early settler & petitioner) was born February 1, 1798 at
Cornwallis, NS. Rebecca Chatman Crockett was born at Calais on August
3, 1807. They were married on January 6, 1828 and had the following
children William Valentine born July 22, 1829 in Alexander; Alvira
Ann and Almira Emeline twins born July 2, 1831 in Alexander; Charles
Dinson born August 31, 1835 and Mary Malvina born May 9, 1840. Joseph Davis was in Robbinston in 1810. He was a
veteran of the War of 1812 in Col. Oliver Shead’s 3rd
Regiment.. He came to Alexander prior to 1820. He was in Alexander
until he appears in Crawford for the 1850 census. They may have lived
in her parents’ house or in that neighborhood.
* Nathaniel Davis
(early settler) may have been a brother of Joseph. He was living
alone according to the 1820 census after which he disappeared from
our records.
* Samuel Day
wanted to buy a lot in Alexander between 1810 and 1816. He is not
listed in Alexander Vitals. A Samuel Day
was taxed in Calais in 1823. NFI
* Samuel Dunn
(early settler and petitioner) was born on March 15, 1773. Dorcas
Cobb was born on June 13, 1783. After their marriage they had Fanny
born May 9, 1802; Samuel JR born September 21, 1804; Betsey born
March 7, 1806; Levi Cobb born August 24, 1812; Charles Bean born
December 10, 1815; Harriot Newill born February 14, 1818 and Laura
Jane born November 2, 1820. Dorcas Cobb Dunn died in September 1847
followed seven months by her husband. Samuel Dunn arrived here from
Calais before 1820 and settled on lot 86 (329 Arm Road). He and
Dorcas are likely buried on the lot. Making connections to neighbors
and other signers of the petition, their daughter Betsey married Joel
Scott and son Charles married Samuel Scribner’s daughter Olive.
* Jesse Fenlason
(early settler) was born on March 18, 1784. Olive Sevey was born on
March 12, 1784. They were married on November 30, 1809. Their
children: Abigail born June 25, 1808; David born June 22, 1810;
Daniel born December 21, 1811; Deborah Sevey born February 23, 1815;
Olive born March 18, 1822 and Oliver Jesse born January 30, 1825.
Jesse agreed to buy a lot here before 1816. He and his family arrived
before 1820, maybe in 1813, and were here until after 1830. The
family settled on Breakneck and it was his son David who owned the
lot.
* John Fenlason
signed to buy a lot in Alexander between 1810 and 1816. He is not
listed in Alexander Vitals.
NFI
* Mark Fenlason
(early settler) was born on July 4, 1788. Sally Elsmore was born on
March 24, 1793. They were married on October 20, 1811 and had these
children: Sally born April 14, 1812; Freeman Putnam born June 4, 1814
(the first recorded child born in Alexander); Mary Ann born March 12,
1817; Daniel Allen born January 13, 1819; Lydia born January 23,
1821; Nancy born November 24, 1822; Mark Harris born March 23, 1825;
Ruth Allen born February 21, 1827; Hannah born May 25, 1830 and Moses
Stillman born April 27, 1832 Mark Fenlason wanted a lot of land here
before 1816. He arrived before 1820, was it in 1813? He and his
family settled on lot 97, Breakneck Mountain.
* Wallace Fenlason SR (early settler) died May 27, 1827. He was in the household of
Nathaniel Fenlason who was born on April 17, 1775. Mary Greenlow was
born September 1, 1780. They were married on June 19, 1803 and were
the parents of eight children, Charles born March 13, 1806; Loiza
born April 20, 1808; Lucy born July 27, 1810; Jane born June 22,
1812; Harriet born December 17, 1814; Henry James born May 1817;
Jedediah born Greenlow born December 6, 1820 and Nathaniel Sawyer
born August 7, 1825. Nathaniel Fenlason died on August 21, 1832. This
family appeared of the 1820 census. Wallace had not requested land
prior to settlement and settled on lot 97, the north west corner on
land owned by Caleb Carey.
* William Fenlason signed for land between 1810 and 1816. He is not listed in Alexander
Vitals. NFI
* Peter Flood (early settler & petitioner) was born on December 6, 1778. Lucy
Snow was born on November 27, 1787. They were married on June 12,
1803 and had the following children, Lucy born November 25, 1804;
Betsey born November 1, 1807; Jeremiah C. born February 1, 1810;
George W. born March 5, 1813; Almira born February 2, 1816 & died
August 4, 1830; Julia born January 13, 1819; Daniel born December 29,
1820; John Atteson Colby born February 24, 1824; Westley (Wesley)
born January 26, 1827 and Levi born April 12, 1829. Peter flood died
August 27, 1845. His wife Lucy died August 20, 1862. Both died in
Alexander and are buried in marked graves in the family cemetery near
the house site. Peter Flood arrived from Eastport in Alexander in
1811, in the first group of settlers. This family settled on lot 112,
next to what then was the south line of Alexander. Members of the
family still reside in town.
* John Foss
agreed to buy a lot in Alexander between 1816 and 1820. He is not
listed in Alexander Vitals. Was he the Mr. Foss, Free Will Baptist
preacher, who was in Alexander in 1816 according to Annaniah Bohanon?
NFI
* Jacob Frost (early settler) was born on January 2, 1795 at St. Stephen NB. He was
a son of Jeremiah SR and Esther Rolf Frost. Jacob appears in
Alexander vitals only within his birth family and in the 1820 census
that gives four males and three females:
one male 16 – 18 yrs; two males
16 – 26 yrs; one male 26 – 45 yrs
one female 0 – 10 yrs; one
female 16 – 26 yrs; one female 45 yrs or over
Sometime before the 1830 census Jacob
and family moved, likely to what now is Meddybemps.
* Jeremiah Frost
was born January 5, 1744 at Berwick NH. Alexander
Vitals gives his death date as March 3, 1820
in Alexander. Jeremiah married Esther Rolf on December 14, 1773 and
had two children besides Jacob and Joseph who had Alexander
connections. Their first child Mary married Nathaniel Bailey listed
above and their third child, Jeremiah JR was in Alexander by the 1830
census living on the east part of lot 66. Jeremiah SR and sons Jacob
and Joseph each requested a lot of land here between 1816 and 1820.
* Joseph Frost
was born on April 11, 1777 at St Stephen. Alexander Vitals gives no
family data on Joseph. In 1830 he was living next door to his brother
Jeremiah. There are three house sites on the lot, and probably a
fourth site. There also is a small cemetery where family tradition
have Jeremiah Jr and his wife Sally Thompson buried. I wonder if
several of their children are there and Jeremiah SR.
* Warren Gilman
(early settler & petitioner) was born on December 10, 1785. Nancy
Poor was born March 1, 1789. They were married in February 1815. The
family listed by John G. Taylor included Susannah Keith born November
18, 1807; William Asa Keith born September 3, 1810; Maryann Gilman
born May 30, 1815; Nancy Gilman born May 21, 1817; Levi Gilman born
August 20. 1819 & died May 5, 1822; Warren Gilman JR born March
11, 1821; Sophia Gilman born May 5, 1823 and Fanny Newel born April
4, 1825. Gilman does not appear on the 1820 census of Alexander or
Cooper, but is found in Cooper in 1830 with fifteen living under one
roof. He lived in Cooper on the Northeast Ridge near the Dennys
River, was a mill owner and that village was called Gilman’s
Mills before Meddybemps. He purchased by deed lot 59 (site of Lords
Farm Museum in 2011) in Alexander in 1827.
* Ebenezer Gooch
(early settler &
petitioner) was born on August 26, 1766. Betsey Avey was born on
March 11, 1771. They were married on June 20 1786 and had the
following children, Daniel born April 22, 1798; Joel born January 26,
1802; John Born February 16, 1804 and Betsey born January 9, 1808.
Ebenezer died on June 1, 1856 and his wife died February 8, 1857.
Ebenezer arrived in Alexander before 1820 on Breakneck Mountain and
resided here until death. Think of this family as you drive up or
down Gooch Hill on the Cooper Road.
* Joel Gooch (early settler & petitioner)
was born at Machias on January 26, 1802. Hannah Gooch was born on
April 18, 1817 at East Machias. They married on June 20, 1833 and had
the following children, Orinda born November 24, 1834; Augusta born
March 1, 1837 & died January 31, 1838; Benjamin Augustus born
January 4, 1840; Franklin born September 21, 1841; Henry born August
15, 1843 and Elbert Leander born January 28 1849. Joel Gooch died (in
the well) on August 10, 1852. Joel Gooch came to Alexander as a young
man with his parents and resided on Breakneck (lot 97) and later on
lot 98.
* George Hill
had his name taken off the lot
owners’ list in 1813 by James Dinsmore and George Ulmer. NFI
* “John Kelly killed in the last war.”
as per Dinsmore and Ulmer. NFI
* John Moore
(early settler & petitioner)
was born December 2, 1795 in Ireland. Nancy Moholland was born on
October 8, 1805. They were married on October 9, 1823 and had the
following, Albion K Parris born September 21, 1824; James born
December 30, 1829 and John Moholland born June 4, 1837 & died
August 1837. John Moore died June 4, 1852 and Nancy died on December
29, 1856. John Moore settled here before 1820 on a 20-acre farm on
lot 78. The parents of this family died here and are buried somewhere
on their farm.
* William Morrison
was taken off the lot
owners’ list by Dinsmore and Ulmer in 1820. NFI
* Paul Morse was born on September 15, 1785
at Newbury MA. He married on December 22, 1831 the widow Mary Ann
Trask who was born on September 10, 1797 in Kings County NB. Her son
was John William henry Trask born at Eastport on September 2, 1816.
Paul died on October 31, 1855 and Mary Ann on July 7, 1858. Paul
Morse was listed only on the 1840 and 1850 census records. He signed
a bond to acquire lot 106 from the Bingham Heirs in 1856. This is the
same lot where John G. Taylor lived until 1841. As a matter of
interest the 1840 census records Taylor, Morse and J. W. H. Trask as
neighbors. However we found his name on Cooledge & Mansfield’s
list of early settlers and on Theodore Lincoln’s list of
settlers here as of 1816. Lot 91 traditionally has been called the
Morse Lot and a cellar by the road may well be the first place where
Paul Morse lived in Alexander.
* Samuel Perkins
was named by Ananiah Bohanon
as clearing lot 93 with William Connick. We find no record of a
Samuel Perkins who was of the age to have been here at that time. Was
he another speculator? Did Bohanon or reporter get the name mixed up?
* Solomon Perkins (early settler) was born on
July 27, 1790. Nancy Bennett was born in September 1791. They were
married on June 14, 1811 and were parents of five sons. Ebenezer born
April 23, 1812 likely at St Davids NB; James born February 2, 1814
(Pliney E. Frost states James born in Alexander); Henry born April 6,
1818 (at Baileyville); Solomon JR born February 1, 1819 (at
Alexander) and Daniel born September 20, 1821 (at Alexander). PEF
also states that both parents died before the 1830 census.
* Caleb Pike
is listed by Cooledge &
Mansfield as an early settler. He agreed to buy lot 76, was on the
1816 list of settlers and listed as off the list in 1820. NFI
* Joel Scott (petitioner) was born on
September 18, 1796. Betsey Dunn was born on March 7, 1806. They were
married on July 31, 1835. Their children were Joel Theodore born
April 22, 1826; Henry Allen born September 15, 1827; Silas Ira born
August 7, 1829; Elvira Olive born March 27, 1831; Mary Elizabeth born
January 24, 1834; Charles Dunn born December 12, 1835 and Phebe
Emeline Hester Anne born July 16, 1838. Joel Scott did not come to
Alexander until after the 1820 census. And departed prior to the 1850
census. I expect that Joel and his family lived on lot 77 where
Claudious Huff would settle after 1850.
* Samuel Scribner
(early settler &
petitioner) was born on June 19, 1784. Phebe Scott was born on
October 22, 1791. They were married on October 22, 1812. Their
children were Olive Abigail born July 17, 1813; Caroline Elizabeth
born February 20, 1815; Theodore born April 14, 1819; Love Emeline
born December 11, 1820; Phebe born February 4, 1823; Samuel Albert
born May 24, 1825; Joel Scott born March 29, 1827; and George
Stillman Smith born February 13, 1829. Samuel Scribner died April
1830. Samuel and his family arrived in Alexander prior to 1820. He is
not listed in 1830 but his widow continued to live here. Imagine the
challenges she faced. Descendants of Samuel and Phebe could be found
here until after WWII.
* Jeremiah Spearin (petitioner) was born on
April 14, 1802. Rhoda Bayley was born on July 15, 1806. They were
married on July 1, 1824 and had children as follow, Thomas Bean born
January 30 1825; William born December 15, 18826; Jeremiah JR born
February 11, 1829, Nathaniel Bayley born October 7, 1831; Esther
Lousa born February 22, 1834; John Gilman born June 19, 1836;
Jefferson born March 24, 1839; Leonard born June 17, 1842; Lourana
born June 30, 1845 and Leander Merrill born April 18, 1848. Jeremiah
and his family first appear on the Alexander 1840 census. Rhoda was a
daughter of Nathaniel #2 and Mary (Frost) Bayley. No Spearin is found
in 1820 – 30 census records of Baileyville or Calais nor on
Bingham’s list of settlers. For an unknown number of years,
Jeremiah and family lived on the south part of lot 82 on what today
is called the Spearin Road.
* John Miner Sprague (petitioner) was born on
July 12, 1790. Hannah Andrews was born on October 18, 1798 They were
married on December 31, 1821. Their children William Adna born May
25, 1825, died March 11, 1828; Aaron Edgar was born March 21, 1827.
Miner Sprague was in Colonel Oliver Shedd’s 3rd
Regiment in the War of 1812. He does not appear on any census record
for Alexander, but likely was here when the two children listed by
Taylor were born. The family moved to Baileyville where three more
children were born.
* Eliab
Spring was on Ananiah Bohanon’s list of
settlers. NFI
*
Granger Spring was listed as being off the
settler list in 1820. William and Nancy and their children came from
Calais before 1840 and settled on lot 80. Where the other two related
to him? NFI
* Jesse Stephenson
(early settler & petitioner) was born on June 2, 1784. Elizabeth
Lilly was born on May 22, 1785. They were married on March 29, 1807.
Their children were Margaret Loring born December 3, 1807; Caroline
born October 7, 1809; Elisha born July 5, 1811; Elizabeth born August
1, 1813; Lucia born May 31, 1816; Hannah born November 18, 1818;
Jesse JR born May 18, 1821; Rachel born May 2, 1823; Luke born
October 30, 1825’ James Ripley born May 6, 1828 and Harriet
Lydia born April 2, 1830. Elizabeth (Lilly) Stephenson died October
29. 1860. Jesse Stephenson came from Massachusetts and was in
Eastport in 1810. He was part of the War of 1812 in Col. Oliver
Shead’s 3rd
Regiment.
He came here prior to 1820, settled on
lot 94 at the foot of Pleasant Lake where he set up a saw and
gristmill on 16th
Stream. His daughter Caroline married John W. Dwelley who took over
the land and mills. Stephenson’s descendants of the Dwelley
name are still residents of Alexander.
* Solomon Strout (petitioner) was born on May 19, 1801 at Limington. Lydia Bayley was
born on July 8, 1804 in Township 7 (Baileyville). They were married
on May 19, 1824 and had the following children, Adna Elisha born
April 20, 1824 & died October 1, 1849; Solomon JR born April 8,
1827; Eliza Jane born March 3, 1830 & died July 3, 1849; Lydia
Brewster born November 24, 1832; Elizabeth Adams born April 7, 1835 &
died July 7, 1850; Rhoda Bayley born September 15, 1837; Dresden
Diploma born May 19, 1840; Eunice born; Lydia B born March 23; Eliza
Elizabeth Jane born January 8, 1850. Lydia (Bayley) Strout died on
May 28, 1862. Solomon Strout and Mary Ann (Lane) Howe were married on
December 19, 1862. Mary Ann born September 29, 1830. She brought two
daughters into the home, Abbie L Howe born September 30, 1856 and
Lizzie M. Howe born April 22, 1859. Mary Ann and Solomon had one
child Walter L Strout born July 17, 1864. Solomon Strout SR died on
July 16, 1872. Solomon came to Alexander after the 1820 census and
settled on the west half of lot 66. His descendants are still found
in Alexander.
* John G. Taylor (petitioner) became Plantation Clerk as early as 1823, shortly after
he arrived here and he served as town clerk until 1838. We know he
kept wonderful records of Alexander’s families but he provided
no information about himself. Another clerk recorded, “John G.
Taylor, Esquire, died at Alexander on October 14, 1841.” He
likely had lived alone on lot 106.
* William and Susan Thurston are listed as
early settlers by Cooledge & Mansfield. This source also
indicated they had a child in Alexander in 1819. Louise Gower Worster
states that William died on January 10, 1839. Susan Sherman was born
in New Brunswick. Their child was Almira born August 16, 1819 in
Alexander. They were gone before the 1820 census.
* Reuben Washburn
had his name taken off the request list for a lot in Alexander in
1813. His name does not appear in Alexander
Vitals. NFI
* Cyrus Young was listed by Cooledge & Mansfield as an early settler. See next.
NFI
* David Young was
listed in 1816 as a lot holder. A David Young was on the 1830 Calais
tax record. NFI Of interest from Alexander
Vitals, page 114, “Mrs. Mary Young died
April 18, 1814 being first death within limits of the Town, aged 27
years.” Mary was a sister of Amelia Campbell Bohanon, wife of
Ananiah. She may be buried in the family cemetery on lot 65. Was she
a wife of Cyrus or David? Were the men related?
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