Notes, Historical, Descriptive and Personal, of the
Livermore, Androscoggin County (formerly of Oxford
Co) Maine.

Contributed by Androscoggin Historical Society
http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

Morals and happiness will always be nearest to
perfection in small communities, where functionaries
are appointed by as numerous a body as can be
brought together of the industrious and
intelligent.- WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.

PORTLAND: PUBLISHED BY BAILEY & NOYES. 1874. B.
THURSTON & company, PRINTERS, PORTLAND.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. EARLY HISTORY, 5
CHAPTER II. TOPOGRAPHY, SOIL, AND PRODUCTS, 13
CHAPTER III. EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR FAMILIES, 15
CHAPTER IV. INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS-BUSINESS-COURSE OF
POPULATION, 43
CHAPTER V. AFFAIRS POLITICAL, MUNICIPAL, AND
MILITARY, 57
CHAPTER VI. MATTERS RELIGIOUS AND ECCLESIASTICAL, 64
CHAPTER VII. CONCERNING LAWYERS AND DOCTORS, . 76
CHAPTER VIlI. NOTES MISCELLANEOUS, 86
CHAPTER IX. CONTRIBUTIONS-REMINISCENCES, . 96
CHAPTER X. THE STORY or THOMAS FISH-1782-By
ELIZABETH AKERS ALLEN, 118
APPENDIX, 125


CHAPTER I


EARLY HISTORY.

THE town of Livermore is in Androscoggin County,
twenty miles north of Lewiston, fifty from Portland,
and twenty-five west of Augusta. Before the
incorporation of Androscoggin it was in Oxford
County. The township previous to, and for some time
after, its settlement was generally known as Port
Royal, from the fact that it was granted for
services rendered in the reduction of Port Royal,
Nova Scotia, in the early part of the eighteenth
century. Previous to January 15, 1735, many
petitions were presented to the Great and General
Court in Assembly for His Majesty's Province of
Massachusetts Bay, in New England, by towns and
individuals for grants of land for services and
losses in the French and Indian wars. Grants were
made on certain conditions in response to these
petitions. There were to be sixty proprietors, to
each of whom, as well as to the first and second
settled ministers and the schools, a lot was to be
assigned. Among the petitions was that of Nathaniel
Harris, Esq., to whom, with others, was granted
township No. 2, "on the east side and next adjoining
Connecticut River," as a gratuity for services in
reducing Port Royal. The names of the original sixty
proprietors are given, together with the number of
the lot assigned to each, three lots being left for
ministers and schools. November 24, 1736, the Great
and General Court authorized Nathaniel Harris to
call the proprietors together, and he notified them
to meet at the house of' Isaac Baldwin, innholder,
Friday, January 28, 1737. A regular record of the
proceedings of the proprietors was kept till
November 1, 1743, when a meeting held at Weston was
adjourned to the succeeding May on account of the
"rumor of war with France, and the winter season
approaching." There is no record of a later meeting
till 1750, in which year there were three meetings,
the last being held at the house of Mrs. Mary
Leonard, innholder, Watertown, September 26th. No
further entry is made till May 23, 1770, when a
meeting was held at Mr. Samuel Harrington's, in
Waltham. At this meeting the question was put "to
know the 2 minds of the proprietors if they would
pursue their claim on the equity of Port Royal," and
it was carried. The same meeting chose a committee
of three, consisting of Maj. Livermore, Dr. Leonard
Williams, and George Babcock, to petition the
General Court to obtain another grant.

The General Court, which assembled October 29, 1770,
was petitioned accordingly, the petitioners setting
out the facts in regard to the loss of title to
township No. 2, by reason of its having been thrown
into the State of New Hampshire by a survey which
bad been made subsequent to the original grant. June
11, 1771. the General Court passed a resolve
granting the prayer of tile petitioners, and to the
original grantees, their assigns or legal
representatives, their heirs and assigns, a township
of the contents of six and three-quarters square
miles, in some of the unappropriated lauds in the
Province of Massachusetts Bay, to the eastward of
Saco River, and adjoining some former grant, on the
condition that the proprietors settle sixty families
in said town in seven years, build a house fbr the
public worship of' God, settle a learned Protestant
minister and lay out one sixty-fourth part for the
first settled minister, one sixty-fourth part for
the ministry, one sixty-fourth part for the use of'
schools, and one sixty-fourth part for the use of
Harvard College. August 9, 1771, Samuel Livermore
and Leonard Williams, by virtue of the powers of the
-rant, sent Elijah Livermore and Efisha Harrington
on an exploring expedition to select the land,
instructing them ,.to take a boat and pilot at
Brunswick Falls and proceed up the river as far as
Rocky-Mico." A township of land lying on both sides
of the Androscoggin River adjoining Sylvester
township (now Turner) was selected. It contained
30,220 acres, the southeasterly portion of which was
afterwards set off to the towns of Leeds and Wayne.

Meetings of the proprietors were thereafter held
regularly. At a meeting at the house of Samuel
Livermore, in Waltham, June 17, 1772, Lieut. Elijah
Livermore, Capt. Ebenezer Learned, and Mr. Richard
Woodward were chosen a committee to run the lines
around the township and divide the intervals on the
west side of the river into sixty-one shares and lay
out sixty-one one hundred acre lots on the west side
of the river, viz., one for each proprietor, and one
for the first settled minister. At a meeting held at
the house of Samuel Livermore, in Waltham, November
11, 1772, the above committee made their report, but
did not divide the intervals, it not being
sufficiently extensive to be divided in conformity
to instructions. They had, however, run out lines of
the town, and of sixty lots, being in their opinion
the best in the town, lot No. 37 was allotted for
public use. They reported that there was a future in
the quantity of land, and a committee was appointed
to present a petition for a further grant. It was
voted to open a borse-way to Sylvestertown and a
cart-way to Pondtown (now Winthrop); but February
24, 1773, it was voted to make the former a cart-way
also, and Elijah Livermore, Ebenezer Learned, and
Thomas Fish were appointed to perform this service,
and were instructed to have the above roads cleared
by the last of October of that year. At a meeting
held November 3, 1773, it being stated that Samuel
Livermore, the moderator and a member of the
prudential committee, was dead, and that Nathaniel
Livermore had resigned as a member of the prudential
committee, Leonard Williams, Esq., Dea. Elijah
Livermore (heretofore mentioned as Lieut.
Livermore), and Mr. Elisha Harrington were chosen a
committee to "manage the prudentials of said
proprietary." The accounts of Dea. Elijah Livermore
and Thomas Fish for clearing roads to the town were
presented and allowed. That of' the former was
pounds sterling 40 10s. 11d., of the latter pounds
31 2s. 7d. Thomas Fish was appointed to prosecute
trespassers, and a committee was appointed to lay
out the remainder of the town.

June 29, 1774, Leonard Williams, Elijah Livermore,
and Elisha Harrington were made a committee to cause
a saw and gristmill to be erected in the township. A
meeting was held October 12, 1774, and adjourned to
May, 1775, concerning which the following entry
appears on the records:

"The distressing war with Great Britain breaking out
April 19, 1775, and all being obliged to resist the
enemy, the place to which the meeting was adjourned
being so near the theatre of action prevented any
meeting whatever."

No meeting was held till January 17, 1779. It was in
this year that Dea. Livermore came to Livermore and
established his home therein. Mrs. Carver, Josiah
Wyer, and Elisha Smith came about the same time.
Josiah Norcross joined them. soon afterwards. This
first year was disturbed by the unfriendly attitude
of the Indians at Roccomeco, but no actual harm was
done by them, and the apprehensions of the new
settlers may have been occasioned by the domestic
strifes that were raging among the natives, rather
than by hostility to the whites; for soon afterwards
the Indians were and ever continued to be in
amicable relations with the settlers, and were
frequent visitors -it the house of Dea. Livermore.
It was during this condition of affairs that an
Indian judgment, combining justice and punishment,
was recorded. An Indian at Roccomeco had killed
another of' the same tribe, who left a squaw of
infirm health and a cripple. The murderer was
arrested, tried by his tribe, found guilty, and
sentenced to support and care for and wait upon the
widow of the slain Indian so long as she should
live. Vice-President Hamlin has often heard his
mother-a daughter of Dea. Livermore-say that she had
many a time seen the Indian carrying the woman on
his back or hauling her on a band sled. The last of
the Roccomeco Indians known in this section was
Pierpole, who died at Lake Umbagog more than half a
century ago. Major Thomas Fish, before referred to,
followed Dea. Livermore to the new settlement within
a year or two. He was an officer in the
Revolutionary war, and was a representative of one
of the original proprietors of township No. 2 on the
Connecticut River. Ile was a widower, but was
engaged to be married to a young woman in Winthrop
by the name of Betsey Marrow. Returning from a visit
to her in January, 1782, he was overtaken by a
severe snow storm and perished, near a large elm
tree on the intervals at the foot of the bill, on
the top of which Dea. Livermore resided. His remains
were taken to Winthrop and buried with military
honors. His lo twas at tbe place known as "Fish
Meadow." August 29, 1781, a committee was appointed
to confer with a committee of Phipps' Canada (now
Jay), respecting building a mill to accommodate both
townships. June 19, 1782, (lb)60 and the mill lot
(so called) and the island in the river against the
same were granted to build a mill on the brook
leading from Livermore and Stincbfield Ponds;* and
Elijah Livermore was agreed with to erect the mill.

September 4, 1793, it was voted to build a meeting-
house fifty feet by forty on lot No. 36, 1st
division, east end, and near the centre of' the
township north and south, and (lb)50 was granted
therefore It was also voted to lay out a road from
Turner to Phipps' Canada, from Dea. True's, over
Lovewell's Hill, and running between the ponds to
the north line of the town.

*Now known as Long and Round Ponds.

The following entries among others appear on the
records of the proprietors after the incorporation
of the town : June, 1797, Gen. Hull, Esquire Badlew,
Leonard Williams, Moses Stone, and Edward Hastings
were appointed a committee to sell the individual
lands, all or a part. June 20, 1799, the records say
a meeting was called for this day, but that no
person appeared. There is no record of any
subsequent meeting.

The fourth settler with a family was Lieut. Samuel
Benjamin, in March, 1783. In 1789 the heads of
families were Dea. Elijah Livermore, William Carver,
Elisba Smith, Samuel Benjamin, John Walker, Josiah
Wyer, James Delano, Reuben Wing, John Monk, Otis
Robinson, Cutting Clark, Ebenezer Fisher, Pelatiah
Gibbs, Daniel Holman, - Graves, Nathaniel Dailey,
and - Randall. The first male child born in town was
a son of Josiah Norcross, and was named Elijah
Livermore Norcross. The first female child was
Nancy, daughter of Josiah Wyer. Norcross probably
resided on the northerly side of Lovewell's Hill, on
the place afterwards owned by Sarson Chase. A deed
from Dea. Livermore to Lieut. Samuel Benjamin, dated
October 10, 1782, describes the land conveyed as
bounded "southerly on land owned by Josiah Norcross,
easterly on Long Pond (so-called), northerly on the
east division and another pond, westerly on said
pond and lot No. 55." The town was incorporated by
the legislature of Massachusetts by act passed
February 28, 1795, and approved by Samuel Adams,
governor. The meeting for organization was held at
the house of Dea. Elijah Livermore, April 13, 1795,
when Elisba Williams was chosen moderator; Samuel
Hillman, clerk and treasurer; David Learned,
Sylvanus Boardman, and Pelatiah Gibbs, selectmen. A
collector was chosen to "collect for eight pence on
the pound." James Norton, Elisha Smith, William
Lindsay, David Morse, Samuel Sawin, Reuben Wing, and
Abraham Fuller were elected surveyors of roads;
Thomas Chase, David Morse, and Elijah Stevens,
surveyors of lumber; Ransom Norton, scaler of
weights and measures; Tbomas Chase and Isaac
Lovewell, fence viewers; Elijah Stevens and Abijab
Monroe, hog reaves, and James Delano, pound keeper.
On the tenth of the following August, Elisha
Williams, Samuel Benjamin, and Ransom Norton were
appointed a committee to divide the town into school
districts. It was voted at this meet ing "to run the
roads straight from, one end to the other as the
land will admit, without any regard to individuals."
That this vote was literally complied with will not
probably be disputed by any one who has 'visited the
town.

At the first annual meeting held in the town for
State officers, April 4, 1796, all the votes cast,
forty in number, were given for Increase Sumner for
governor. At the meeting to choose an elector for
president, vice-president, and a representative in
congress, November 7, 1797, "the inhabitants of
twenty-one years of age and resident in the town for
the space of one year next preceding, having a
freehold estate within the town of the annual income
of three pounds, or of any other estate of the value
of sixty pounds," gave Stephen Longfellow, for
elector, eighteen votes, and John K. Smith one vote;
fourteen votes, and all that were cast, were given
for Peleg Wadsworth for representative in congress.

The question of a separation of Maine from.
Massachusetts seems to have been mooted about this
time, and at a town meeting held May 10, 1797, all
the votes thrown (twenty-two) were for separation.
The next year a vote was passed giving consent to a
division of the town by which the "east side of the
river would be set off into a town by itself." The
town was finally divided and East Livermore
incorporated by the legislature of Maine in 1843.
Dea. Elijah Livermore was the first representative
from the town in the legislature of the
Commonwealth. He was elected unanimously May 9,
1799.

The town was fortunate in having for its founder a
man so able and so wise, of so much financial
strength and weight of character as Dea. Livermore.
Ile was truly the father of the town, and his name
is held in honor and veneration by its people. And
he was fortunate in the character of the most of his
associate proprietors and co-workers.

Under the influence of such men the settlers, who
were early attracted to the town, were generally men
of good character and of some pecuniary ability. Few
towns in the State probably owe more to the
character of the first settlers than this town. Many
of them had been officers or soldiers in the war of
the Revolution, and were active, earnest men, bent
upon making their way in the world. The greater
portion of them came from the neighborhood of Boston
Cambridge, Watertown, and Waltham contributing the
largest quotas; a goodly number came from Martha's
Vineyard, and many from Worcester and Bristol
counties. The settlers from the vicinity of Boston
were familiar with gardening and fruit raising, and
so it happened that at an early day the town became
celebrated for the quantity and quality of its
grafted fruit. From Bristol and Worcester counties
came the men and women whose descendants have made
the town known in the markets of the State and of
Boston for its excellent cheese.

It was understood that the materials for a pretty
full account of the early history of the town had
been collected, and perhaps prepared for
publication, by the Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin, of
Bangor. But it is to be regretted that no such
history, or evidence of preparation towards it, has
been found among Mr. Hamlin's papers. The following
letter from Dr. Henry Bond, of' Philadelphia, to the
late president of the Maine Historical Society, will
be read in this connection with interest. Dr. Bond
was an eminent physician and the author of The
Genealogies and History of Watertown, an able and
elaborate work.

PHILADELPHIA, May, 1858.

WILLTAM WILLIS, ESQ. Dear Sir.-I spent my boyhood in
Livermore, Maine, and lived a part of the time,
between the death of the last of my parents and
going abroad to prepare for entering college, in the
family of Dea. Elijah Livermore, the first settler
and the chief proprietor of that town, Although I
have been absent so long-now more than fifty years-I
remember the place of my childhood with an
affectionate interest and still entertain a grateful
and most respectful remembrance of the worthy
deacon. He was the elder brother of the Hon. Samuel
Livermore, chief justice and V. S. Senator of New
Hampshire (as you may see in Watertown Family
Memorials, p. 346, etc.). I have in the mean time
frequently visited the scenes and the friends of my
childhood, and I have of late repeatedly urged a
venerable friend there to collect the materials for
the history of that town before it is too late. This
worthy friend, Dr. Benjamin Bradford, now on the
shady side of seventy, has collected some materials,
but he now feels so sensibly the intinnities of age
that lie is unable to pursue it. He informs me that
the papers of Dea. Elijah Livermore have passed into
the hands of his grandson, Hon. Elijah Livermore
Hamlin, of Bangor. From what I remember of Dea.
Livermore 1 should expect that his papers might be
copious, throwing much light upon the planting and
early history of that town. Mr. Hamlin is a native
of Livermore and a man of liberal education, and
having many of the materials in his hands I would
hope that he will readily consent to furnish for
your Historical Collections an account of the
planting and the early history of Livermore. Dr.
Bradford has told me that he will cheerfully render
such aid as may be in his power. Ile has been town
treasurer forty-five years! This is remarkable in
these times when rotation in office is so very
generally prevalent, especially in the Northern
States. My object at this time is to recommend to
you to write, and invite, and urge Mr. Hamlin to
prepare for you a bistory of Livermore. It is a good
inland country town, furnishing no stirring
incidents or illustrious characters to charm the
world, but a paper might be prepared that would
deserve a place in your Collections, and that would
be perused with interest by many readers.

Very respectfully yours,

HENRY BOND, 246 South 8th Street.