Harmony: Historical Sketch
The East Somerset County Register
1911-12
Compiled and Published by Chatto & Turner
Auburn, Maine
Clarence I. Chatto; Clair E. Turner
page 106-110
HISTORY OF HARMONY
HISTORICAL SKETCH
The town of Harmony, as surveyed by Samuel Weston, in
1790, was originally granted to Hallowell Academy while this
section was still a part of Massachusetts. Charles Vaughan,
a prominent early resident of Hallowell, purchased the planta-
tion and it became known as Vaughanstown. The first per-
manent settler of the town was Trustum Hurd, who came to
"The Intervale Farm," now occupied by William G. Bailey,
Jr., in 1796 and built a log house a few rods west of Higgins
Stream. Mr. Hurd, with his family came from Wolfboro, N.
H., by way of Malbon's Mills, from which place he journeyed
by spotted trail over Fox Hill in the present town of Athens.
They brought cattle with them and it is related that Mr. Hurd
climbed a tree on Fox Hill, from which he could see the nat-
ural clearing covered with a luxuriant growth of swamp grass
on the intervale where he built his log house and made his
home. His children were: John, Trustum, Stephen, George,
Jeremiah, Nancy m. Brown. Jeremiah moved to the farm
where his only living son, Franklin, now resides.
One of the next of those to settle in Vaughanstown was
John Merrill, who came with his two brothers, Levi and Ben-
jamin from Shapleigh, Maine. He built on the land opposite
the farm now occupied by James Irwin.
Jonathan Robinson, Deacon John Moses and William
Leighton also came about this time. Mr. Leighton took up
land in the west part of the town, which is now occupied by
his great grandson, Roy Leighton. Robinson's land was to
the south where Albert Leighton now lives.
Ichabod Goodwin journeyed with his family from the west-
ern part of the State, with a four ox team, and driving several
cows. He was obliged to swamp a road from Athens over
Lord's Hill, a distance of five and one half miles.
The settlement was rapid from about 1800, and in 1803 the
plantation became a town. The name of Harmony was se-
lected by the wife of Deacon John Moses and the mother of
Franklin Hurd, because of the. good feeling which prevailed
among the inhabitants.
The first frame house built in the village was that owned
at present by Dr. McLaughlin. It is now intact as built, the
latches and finish even being the same. It was built more than
100 year ago by Capt. Robert Evans, who had previously
cleared the Parsons place on the south road and built a log
house there. He bought out the water privilege and mills
which James Leighton then owned. Capt. Evans was a dele-
gate from Harmony to the convention held in Portland for the
purpose of forming, a constitution for the new State of Maine,
and he was also the first postmaster. of the town.
The oldest frame house in the village at Mainstream was
built by Capt. John Merrill on the river bank in front of the
house where Ora Willis now lives, but it has since been moved
to the top of the hill on the opposite side of the road.
Among other men who came to Harmony in the early his-
tory of the town was Ephraim Chadbourne. His wife was
Polly Furbush. Their children were: Diana, Alfred, Benja-
min, Cyrus, Ephraim, Japhet, Henry, Joseph, Polly.
Joseph Herrick came 67 years ago to the place now oc-
cupied by Frank Rowe, from the town of Greene, and later
moved to the place now owned by Samuel Herrick. He had
timber out to build a house on this place in 1825, and it was
burned in the great fire which did so much damage at that time
in Cambridge. He m. Anna Larrabee, to whom were born the
following children: Joseph, Jedediah, John, Mercy, Alonzo,
George, Orin, Orville, Mary, Stephen.
Isaac McPhetres, who m. Mary Herrick, cleared up the farm
where Frank Rowe now lives, and built a house there.
Thomas W. Herrick came to Harmony with his wife, Kath-
erine Weeman, soon after the coming of Joseph Herrick, and
took up the farm now occupied by George Gilman. His chil-
dren were: Thomas W., George W., Mary m. Hurd, Katherine
Follett, Jacob V., Joseph W., John W., Sarah W. m. Newell,
H. Nelson, Caroline, Harriet, Frances m. Crane.
Among the most important families in the history of the
town has been the Bartlett family. The people by that name
in Harmony are descended from the old English family of Bart-
lett or Bartelot which dates back to the time of William the
Conqueror and is related to the royalty of England. There
were at one time in Harmony many more of the name than at
present. Ozias very early built the mill which his great grand-
son runs today, although it has been greatly enlarged since
that time. H lived at the old Bartlett homestead where his
daughter, Miss Jane Bartlett, now resides. Miss Bartlett is a
portrait artist of repute, having painted portraits for some of
the best known universities in the country. Other children of
Ozias Bartlett were: Stedman, who had the mill business;
Henry, who also lived in Harmony; Cyrus, who lived for many
years on the home place; Florence, who married a Valentine
and now resides in Minneapolis; another daughter who married
a Gould and lived in Hallowell; and Russell, who showed a re-
markable inventative genius and was making a great name for
himself in that realm at the time of his sudden death. Before
leaving Harmony he invented a lathe for turning out shovel
handles. His next invention was an apparatus for raising
sunken vessels which has since been used extensively by the
United States Government. He went to Europe for further
study in perfecting this machine and was lost at sea on the
return voyage. Other men of the first generation to come to
Harmony were Joel, Amos, and Cyrus, all of whom held im-
portant places in the business of the town.
Martin Bailey was mentioned in the historical account of
Cambridge, and is said to have driven into the town the first
vehicle which ever entered it -- an ox cart with "block wheels,"
which were made of tree sections, and which had no tires. Mr.
Bailey settled first in Harmony on Sugar Hill, to which place
he came from the town of Leeds. His father, before him, came
from Hanover, N. H. There were in his family six boys and
one girl: Levi, Leonard, Ephraim, Gustavus, Augustine,
Frank, Lucy Ann.
John Page came from Augusta to Harmony on horseback
about the year 18-4, and settled on the shore of Moose Pond,
where he cleared a farm. In 1813 Mr. Page enlisted in the
American army and served for one year, principally near Lake
Chaplain. Before coming to Harmony he taught school in
the village which then stood on the spot now occupied by the
city of Waterville, at a time when there was only one two-
story house in the place. The original home of the Page family
in this country was near Boston, and Mr. Page is said to have
heard as a boy, the sound of the battle of Bunker Hill. Before
coming to Harmony he m. Hannah Wall, and to them were
born: John, b. 1797; Hannah, b. 1799; William, b. 1801;
Dorothy, b. 1803; David, b. 1806; Fanny, b. 1808;p Mary, b.
1810; Louisa, b. 1812; Sarah, b. 1815; James, b. 1816; Martha,
b. 1818, m. Washington Hurd, and still lives in Hartland.
Nicholas Brown, son of Joshua Brown, settled in Harmony
more than 70 years ago. He brought up a large family,
Joshua, Philip d. in infancy, Philip, Meshech, Leonard, David,
William, Sarah, Joseph, Fred, Ann.
Among those who came as pioneers to Harmony may be
mentioned also David Kimball, who made his settlement there
more than 100 years ago, Isaac Hutchins, John Thurston, Na-
thaniel Parsons, Lemuel Baker, David Smith, Samuel Ham,
Elijah Hamilton, Stephen Clark, Elisha Tibbetts, John Gray,
Robert Brown, Stephen Dore and others.
Joseph Welch came about 1830 and cleared a farm where
Simon Ellis now lives. His children were: Josephus, res.
Iowa; Gilman, res. Veazie; John N., res. Harmony; Elvira
res. Iowa; Susan, m. Smith, res. Harmony; Lydia m. Emer-
son, res. Carmel and Bangor. He came from Old York with
his family in an ox team to Wellington first, then to Harmony.
Josiah Farrar moved here from Bristol, Me. and about 1835
to the house now occupied by Les Corson. He interested
the people of the community in building a church.
Reuben Drew and his wife, Sally Page Drew, settled on
Sugar Hill in 1820. Their children were: Benj., Mary m.
Hamilton-Chadbourne, Reuben, Sally m. Daniel Tibbetts,
Kesiah m. Haley, Patience m. Wiggin, Lydia m. Leighton,
Clark, Sylvia m. Hersey.
Ephiram Knowles, whose wife was Margaret Hamilton,
settled on Sugar Hill about 1808. His children were: Mary m.
Drew, Sally, Abbie m. Johnson, Susie m. Mann, Ephiram. The
oldest daughter was a baby when the family came here and
was the first child to ride up over Sugar Hill, being taken on
horseback along a spotted trail to Cambridge to visit relatives
in that town.
(c) 1998
Courtesy of Tina Vickery of Somerset Co, Maine USGenWeb Project
&
The Androscoggin Historical Society
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