Androscoggin County ME Archives History - Books .....Industries And Trades 1899 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/me/mefiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 16, 2008, 5:56 am Book Title: History Of Durham, Maine VII. INDUSTRIES AND TRADES Lumber was the chief article of trade during the first years of the settlement. Ship-building was a great industry in Freeport and Yarmouth, and Durham supplied much of the ship-timber. Many a tall pine has been hauled over the County Road to serve as the mast of a vessel. Deck plank, ribs and knees were prepared in saw-pits that might be seen at short intervals along the roads. These saw-pits were made at convenient places where the land inclined to the road. A suitable amount was excavated for the pit. This was •decked over a sufficient length for the longest timber. The timber was first sided with the broad axe, then rolled on and lined. Then two men went to work with a saw, one standing on the stick of timber and the other in the pit, pushing and pulling the saw. This was the only way of sawing curved timber. Many of the early settlers found employment in the ship-yards and on coasting vessels. Cord wood for fuel found a poor market in the early days. In clearing the land for agricultural purposes great quantities of fine hard wood were cut, rolled into huge piles and burned. Sometimes neighbors gathered to assist in clearing the land. Such gatherings were called "rolling-bees." In similar spirit of helpfulness and sociability the women had their "quilting-bees." These Were succeeded by "paring-bees" after orchards were grown, and by "husking-bees" in time of harvest. The first saw-mill was, doubtless, that built on Chandler's Stream by Judah Chandler in 1766. The second mill on the same site was built in 1777 by Judah Chandler, O. Israel Bagley, Daniel Bagley, John Randall, Stephen Randall, and John Gushing. The third was a grist-mill built about 1810 by Edward Thompson and Benjamin Sawyer. The present stone mill was built by Richardson of Brunswick. Gerrish's mill is mentioned on Royalsborough Records, Feb. 16, 1775. How long it had been in existence is not known. March 1, 1778, George Gerrish sold to William Gerrish "one quarter part of a Saw mill and one quarter part of a Corn mill standing on Wire's Brook so cald and all the utensils to my part of said mill." This is the earliest mention of a grist mill, though O. Israel Bagley is said to have had a wind-mill for grinding corn earlier than this. Gerrish's mill afterwards passed into the hands of Sewall of Bath, and May 7, 1823 James Sewall, tallow-chandler, and Lucy his wife sold to John Vining, Benjamin Gerrish, James Gerrish and Andrew Adams, Jr. for $550 "two acres including Gerrish's mill." "Wyer's Brook formerly so called" is mentioned in this deed. This mill passed into the ownership of Henry Plummer in 1835 and has been known for half a century as Plummer's Mill. Samuel Tracy's mill at the mouth of Meadow Brook, in the southern part of the town, is mentioned in 1795. It was a grist mill and long ago disappeared. Only traces of the dam can be seen. The first mill built near S. W. Bend was on Dyer's Brook, by Luke Woodward and Jacob Herrick in 1810. It was a carding mill and grist mill combined. About 1820 it was owned by John Mayall and operated as a woolen mill till he transferred his business to Lisbon Factory. A saw and grist mill succeeded that of Mayall. This also has vanished away, and only the deserted buildings erected for the canning of corn mark the site of the old mills. The South West Bend Dam Company was chartered in 1836. It proposed to build a dam between Green's Rips and the mouth of Gerrish's (Wyer's) Brook. Nothing came of it. March 15, 1837 the Durham Steam Company was chartered, consisting of Joshua Miller Jr., Orlando Merrill, Ezekiel Hoole, Ivory Warren, James Strout and Jonathan C. Merrill, "for the purpose of grinding grain and plaster of Paris, of sawing all kinds of lumber, and of manufacturing Iron, Steel, Cotton or Wools." The proposed capital was $50,000 in shares of $100. Stock was sold to the value of $8,400. Then assessments duly began. Three were made in 1838, amounting to $8,150. Seven more assessments followed in 1841-2 amounting to $5,697. The stock holders were selling out at big discounts. The enthusiasm had subsided. Some thought that South West Bend was to become a great city, and all the hill about the Union Church was laid out into houselots. The mill was built on the bank of the river in the rear of Union Church. It discontinued in 1842, and was removed to East Brunswick or Bath and there long known as Humphrey's Mill. It would be easy to suggest a bigger scheme than this. It is readily seen that the broad level farms stretching three miles north of South West Bend on both sides of the river were once the bottom of a lake. The river has worn a notch through at the Ferry and so drained the lake. Now let some capitalists buy up the farms mentioned and build a dam twenty feet high at the Ferry. Then with a reservoir three to four miles in diameter they will have one of the largest water powers in Maine. This of course would bring the railroad in due time and hasten the Electric Road which must soon be built from Auburn to Yarmouth, to connect with Portland. Then those houselots staked out in 1837 will sell with a rush, and Durham, like Truth crushed to earth, will rise again. Or it may be thought more feasible to cut a canal from the Androscoggin to the Old Stone Mill. It need be not much more than twenty feet deep and three miles long. This would turn the Androscoggin into Royal's River and boom West Durham, Pownal and Yarmouth at the expense, perhaps, of Lisbon Falls and Brunswick. The dam at the Ferry would also help this enterprise. In the early days the shoemaker took his kit and went from house to house, as also did the tailor. Such an itinerant was O. Israel Bagley. Others of his craft were John Graffam, Micajah Meader, Joseph Douglas, Ebenezer Stimpson, and Benjamin Lemont. The first to do shop shoemaking at the Bend were Winslow A. Eveleth, Jacob A. Roak (who lived in the house now occupied by George Nichols) and Moses Atkinson. April 20, 1820, John Rogers of Lynn, Mass., commenced the manufacture of Morocco shoes at Waitstill Webber's, in So. Durham. A score of small shoe-shops soon were built in that neighborhood, each employing five or six workmen. Many took work at their homes. In the height of the industry one hundred and fifty men were employed and as many women. The industry continued till 1855. There were three firms; Lemuel Jones and John H. Buffer; Lorenzo Day; and Isaac Hopkins. After 1855 work was taken from Lynn, Mass., and so it continued to be till about 1870. This part of Durham was called Shoe-Town. Almost every house was a shoe-shop. In 1834 Daniel Holland established a shoe-manufactory at South West Bend, and continued in the business two years. He employed eight or ten men, among them being James H. Eveleth, Robert Goddard, Amos Atkins, and G. F. Flemington. Washington Golder was associated with him in the making of harnesses. Holland married Mary A. Field of Lewiston in 1835. She is still living and remembers getting breakfast for ten boarders the morning after her marriage. Holland was succeeded by James H. Eveleth who carried on shoe-making at the Bend for fifty years. Joseph Estes had a tannery and harness-shop near the Friends' Meeting House as early as 1776. He was succeeded in the business by Nathan Hawkes who carried it on for many years. Near by was an old grist mill run by wind. It was octagonal, built of huge timbers, and was moved about with crow-bars to suit the direction of the wind. Tradition says that there was once a tannery owned by Samuel Field in the gully .south of Dr. Converse's house, close to the river, a little north of the Bend. A tannery, managed by William Wagg, within the memory of many stood in the rear of R. M. Strout's store. The first store-keeper was O. Israel Bagley, whose store was on the County Road, just below the residence of Charles H. Bliss. Here he did business from 1770 till 1789. John Randall had a store between Methodist Corner and Chandler's Mill at a very early date. On the river road, about 1800, stores were kept by Secomb Jordan, near Everett Macomber's, by Elijah Macomber, just above George Miller's, by Samuel Merrill and several others. Barnabas Strout kept store and hotel where Wesley Day now lives. Later Horace Corbett was in trade at the Bend. In fact there were four large stores, some of them doing wholesale business. Besides Corbett there were James Strout Jr. and Rufus Jordan in partnership, Ivory Warren (who was succeeded by his son Emery and his grandson George) and John Higgins. People came from Auburn, Lewiston, Turner, Buckfield and regions beyond to do their trading at S. W. Bend. John Macomber was a clerk in Rufus Jordan's store about 1840. I remember to have heard him say that he had counted at one time as many as forty teams hitched about the stores, and at Jordan's five clerks were kept busy selling goods. It must have been about this time that a milliner's shop was moved from Auburn to Durham. A bakery was run by David Bowie, a little north of Eunice's (Fitz's) brook about ninety years ago. Near by Foster Waterman had the first lawyer's office. He was taxed 1804-7. Samuel Gooch, Esq was, in 1819, the town's agent "to collect the taxes due from these people who have been run into the town of Pejepscot." Between 1840 and 1850 Esquire Simmons had an office at S. W. Bend, and Judge Nahum Morrill, now of Auburn, practiced law here, 1844-6. The first trader at So. Durham was Amos F. Lunt who begun in 1844 and is still in trade. No man has ever charged him with dishonesty. Later George Tuttle and Nathan Hawkes each had a store at So. Durham. Before Lunt's time the people traded in Brunswick. Frances A. B. Hussey kept store and So. Durham Post Office on lot 12 before 1850. The first itinerant tailor remembered by "the oldest inhabitant" was John Demerit. The shop-tailors of the early-part of this century were Bradley, Frost, Samuel Shehan, and William Wording. The first wagon and sleigh maker was Francis Harmon, on the "County Road." He was succeeded by his sons Francis, Jr., and Lora. The latter had his shop at the Bend and was succeeded by Sidney Bailey. The first harness-makers were Joseph Estes in So. Durham and Joshua Barstow at the Bend, near where Marcus Eveleth lives. George W. Tukey came from Portland and made harnesses and trunks, near where R. M. Strout's store now is. The first and only saddle-tree maker was Matthew Estes, whose shop was near the Bend on the County Road. The only dentist Durham ever had was David B. Strout, who afterward became so well known in Lewiston and Auburn, and who handed down in writing many of the above historical items. The earliest inn-keeper was O. Israel Bagley. William McGray is mentioned on Town Records as "Inholder" in 1797. Still earlier John Hoyt kept an inn near Methodist Corner. Joseph Proctor had a tavern a little north of Eunice's brook as early as 1795, and William Stoddard had one, about 1800, in the house now occupied by Everett Macomber, on the River Road. About 1812 Nathaniel Gerrish, who a little later moved to Lisbon, built the house where Prescott J. Strout now lives, at the Bend, and kept hotel, being succeeded by Samuel McGray. Here Dr. Ricker [1] afterward lived, and 1859-65, Dr. M. C. Wedgwood, now of Lewiston, lived here. Near the beginning of the century Dr. Symonds Baker built a one-story house at the Bend. It is mentioned in 1805. Here he had an apothecary's shop. The house was afterward enlarged and became Durham's principal hotel, kept by Jonathan C. Merrill, Joshua Miller, Samuel Miller, John Miller and Abner Merrill in succession. The old tavern is shown in the accompanying cut, with the long-unused band-stand in front, around which lingers the shade of Joseph Tyler. The house on the opposite corner was built as a store by Winslow Hayward in the early part of the century. By enlargement it became a dwelling-house and has been successively occupied by Job Sylvester, Daniel Holland, Lora Harmon, Dr. Wm. L. Harmon, Mr. Mason, J. dishing- Merrill, Simon W. Miller, James H. Eveleth and Wm. E. Greely. Much has been jocosely said by the political speakers about the Durham ship-yards. They do not know, perhaps, that in 1823 Joshua Miller and sons built a fishing schooner on lot 97 and hauled it to Maquoit Bay, Brunswick, where it was launched. Theophilus Thomas was the skipper. History does not mention any other ship-yard in Durham, though it once supplied a great quantity of ship-timber. [1] Dr. John Ricker was born in Buckfield, 17 Feb. 1787. He graduated at the Medical School in Brunswick in 1822 and practiced medicine in Durham many years. His intentions of marriage with Charlotte Hayward of Fairfax were recorded in Durham 18 Aug. 1816. He moved to Orono. Died at Waterville 25 Jan. 1867. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF DURHAM, MAINE WITH GENEALOGICAL NOTES. BY EVERETT S. STACKPOLE. PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF TOWN. LEWISTON: PRESS OF LEWISTON JOURNAL COMPANY. 1899. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/me/androscoggin/history/1899/historyo/industri20nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mefiles/ File size: 13.7 Kb