t0^^^^^J^.:.

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T H-E

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

OF THE settlement OF

FRYEBTJUa, ME.,

WITH THE

HISTORICAL ADDRESS,

By. ret SAMUEL SOUTHER,

OF WORCESTER, MASS.

WOKCESTEK:
PBINTED BT TYLEB& SEAGKAVE,
Spy Job Office, 212 Main Street.

FRYEBURG CENTENNIAL,

The citizens of Fryeburg feeling that an event so important
as the settlement of the Saco Valley, was worthy of due com
memoration, " a,t their annual meeting held April 6, 1863,
chose the following persons to niake preparations for the Cen-
tential celebration of the first settlement of said town, viz : —
Asa Charles, Isaac Frye, Caleb K. Farrington, David A. Brad
ley, Wm. A. Stevens, Eben. J. Fessenden, Chas. Abbott,
Joseph Chandler, H. D. E. Hutchings, Enoch C. WUey, Mar
shall Walker."
The Committee was organized soon after, by choice of Isaac
Frye, Esq., as Chairman, and Hon. George B. Barrows, as
Secretary. In selecting an Orator for the Day, their choice fell naturally
upon Hon. Wm. P. Fessenden, the distinguished Senator from
Maine, and grandson of Fryeburg's first minister. Mr. Fes
senden signified his willingness to accept the service, but un
expected business called him* to Washington, and Rev. S.
Souther of Worcester, was invited to prepare an Historical
Address for the occasion.
The day fixed for the Centennial Exercises, Aug. 20, opened
most auspiciously, amid the ringing of bells and a profuse dis
play of the Stars and Stripes at different points through the
village. The National Ensign floated also from the flag staff
on Pine Hill, from the grove on its northerly slope prepared
as the place of assembling, and from the old Academy ground
at its foot.

At an early hour, the people of the valley began to assemble,
-and soon after ten o'clock, a procession was formed at the
Congregational Meeting-House, under the direction of Wm.
C. Towle, M. D., Chief Marshal, assisted by Carlton H.
Walker, John Towle, and Chas. H. Buswell, as Aids. Pre
ceded by the North Bridgton Brass Band, and escorted by a
detachment of returned soldiers under command of Lieut.
How, the procession passed up Main St. to a beautiful grove
on the northerly slope of Pine Hill, commanding a fuU view
of the village, the valley, and the unrivalled sweep of moun
tain heights surrounding it. Here had already gathered an
audience of more than a thousand people, while the platform
was graced by the presence of the venerable men of the
region. Gov. J. A. Andrew of Mass., Hon. Wm. Willis, Pres
ident of the Maine Historical Society, Col. Wm. R. Frye of
Lewiston, E. W. Evans, Esq. of Chicago, 111., Rev. Jacob
Chapman of MarshaU, 111., Dr. I. N. True of Bethel, Me., and
otlier s.
After appropriate music by the Band, Asa Charles, Esq.
was introduced as President of the Day, and extended glowing
words of welcome to the assembly in the following address.
Welcome ! Welcome ! ! Welcome home, — Children of Frye
burg, — children of the children of Fryeburg, — all who love
any of the children of the sons or daughters of Fryeburg, — a
cordial, a hearty welcome home.
Such welcome as gives the mother to her loved ones,
returned from long and perilous absence ; — such greeting as
awaits earth's wanderers at their home in Heaven, — such wel
come, such greeting, so far as mortals can give and appreciate,
give we to you this morning.
Here on the banks of the silvery Saco, here amid this pan
orama of mountain, valley, lake and river, rivalled by few in
grandeur and beauty, — here in the home of the mighty
Pequawket, awhile before driven out by the brave Captain
Lovewell and his little band of fearless followers, — here came
our fathers, — here they made a home for themselves and their

loved ones, — here they reared the temple to God, Jehovah,
and by its side the humbler temple of human learning,
together to teach the way throtig-h earth to Heaven.
They reclaimed the wild forest, they drove out the wild
beast, — and instead of the cry of the catamount and the pan
ther, the growl of tho wolf, and the startling terrific war
whoop of the Indian, falls softly on tlie ear, the lullaby of
the mother and the half asleep cooing of children.
And now, after the lapse of one hundred years, you have
come up hither to look upon the places where dwelt our
fathers. We who have remained around the old hearth-stone, have
kept the fire burning there, have kept " the light in the win
dow for you."
And now, with joy for your successes, — with the tear of
sympathy for your griefs and your sorrows, we bid you all a
most hearty, a most cordial welcome home.
The following lines, written for the occasion, were sung with
fine effect to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne," the band accom
panying. Wherever from their mountain drifts,
New England's rivers sweep.
Like emeralds set in rocky rifts,
A thousand valleys sleep.
And, lovely as the loveliest,
Her circling hills between,
Lies in the river's arms at rest
The Saco's valley green.
A hundred years their course have run,
Since, on the Saco's strand.
There stood beneath the summer sun
A hardy little band.
The broad blue sky above them bent,
The flelds smiled fresh below;
While with the surging pine trees blent
The river's restless flow.

6
Where Saco winds its silent tide ;
Where Lovewell's waters shine ;
From every breezy mountain side
Spoke messages divine ; —
« Here build yom' homes, my hand shall bless
The seed your toU bestows,
So shall ye ' make the wilderness
To blossom as tire rose ? ' "
Their heritage is ours to-day ;
They till its flelds no more ;
Tet still the river's winding way
Is lovely as of yore.
Each breeze that blows from southern groves
The cannon's ectioes fill ;
Yet, on our hills, the corn field waves
Its tasseUed greenness still.
Oh, long the day ere War's dark drops
Shall dim our laughing sky !
Long ere our valley's emerald slopes
Shall learn the ruby's dye !
God grant no other blast may smite
New England's tossing pines.
Than when His rolling thunder's might
Sweeps down their broken lines !
But raise once more the joyous strain!
No gloom be ours to-day.
Loved voices that we hear again
Should bid our hearts be gay.
Old Fryeburg sends a welcome out
To all who hither roam !
Again ! again ! the answering shout
That cheers our valley home I
Prayer was offered by Rev. D. B. Sewall, the fourth
successor of Rev. Mr. Fessenden, as minister of Fryeburg,
then followed the Historical Address.

REV. MR. SOUTHER'S ADDRESS.

Feyebubg, Me., Aug. 27, 1863.
Eev. SAJirrBii Souther,
Dear Sir: — The undersigned having been appointed a Committee for
that purpose, respectfully request you, to furnish us for the press, a copy
of your very interesting and able address, delivered at. the Centennial
Celebration of the settlement of Fryeburg, Aug. 20th, 1863.
In asking this favor, we but expresss the earnest desire of those who
listened to you on that occasion, and we are sure that if published, the
address will be deemed a document of permanent historic interest and
value, by all the children of Fryeburg, and many others.
Very respectfully, &c., &c., D. B. SEWALL,
B. P. SNOW,
ISRAEL B. BRADLEY,

The following reminiscences of Fryeburg were arranged at a late hour,
to supply the place of an Oration from one whose eminent ability and
position would have worthily honored the Centennial celebration of a
town, the birth-place of his distinguished father, and the scene of his
revered grand-father's ministerial labors. They have passed through the
press amid the unexpected labors of Camp life. Only such time has
been given to their revision as could be redeemed from the harrassing
cares attending the organization and discipline of a company in ' a new
Kegiment of Volunteers. This must account for any inaccuracies, if
such exist, and for many serious omissions which more favorable circum
stances might have supplied.
The Appendix has been enlarged beyond what might be expected, lest
the casualties of war miglit prevent the accomplishment of the long
cherished design of preparing a full history of my native town.
With many thanks to friends who have kindly furnished historical ma
terial, (among whom special mention should be made of J. R. Osgood of
Boston, Dr. Bradley, Asa Charles, Esq., Capt. Frye, and Col. James
Walker of Fryeburg, together with the ever courteous Librarian of the
American Antiquarian Society, S. Haven, Esq. of Worcester,) this humble
contribution to our local history is commended to all who love the olden
time,— and especially to all the. sons and daughters of Pequawket.
Camp Wool, Worcester, Mass., Feb., 1864.

ADDEESS.

The valley of the Saco keeps to-day a second Centennial
Anniversary. The first, thirty-eight years ago, in our child
hood known as " Paugus' day," commemorated Lovewell's
Fight. At a time of unwonted peace, the country enjoying
what was justly termed " the era of good feeling," our fathers
celebrated the hundredth anniversary of that deadly conflict
with the savages. To-day, in the midst of a gigantic war, we
come to hail the advent to these plains of civilization and the
arts of peace.
Such are always the sudden transitions of human affairs.
In our land, especially, almost as rapid and striking as the
changes of our climate, are the variations in our political skies.
Like the fickle current of our Saco, the tide of social life
among us runs never evenly. Ugly rapids disturb our navi
gation, and boisterous waterfalls threaten to break it off en
tirely. But they only make more placid the long reaches of
quiet water intervening. The bow upon the retreating cloud
makes us forget the discomforts and even dangers of the
storm. Were it not for the assurance of a happy issue to these try
ing days through which our land is struggling, it would be
unwarranted trifling to spend these hours in reminiscences of
our early history. To what purpose is it that there is a past
worthy of our study, worthy of our gratitude, unless there is
to be a future worthy of our hopes. The faithful, hearty per
formance of present duty is, under the divine blessing, our
only assurance of such a future, and we would make the les-
2

10
sons of the past teach us present duty. The whisper of the
fathers' voices shall confirm our sometimes faltering faith,
shall incite to new efforts our sometimes lagging patrotism.
We have come together to-day, sons and daughters of old
Pequawket, to call up the memories of those men who nobly
fulfilled their duty in opening to us and to the world this
beautiful valley.
In an important sense this is not a town celebration. Frye
burg can more properly keep her hundredth birth-day in
1877, a hundred years from her incorporation. It is the set
tlement of the whole valley that we commemorate. It was
the opening of this whole region, far in the wilderness among
the mountains, as an outpost of civilization, a rallying point
for younger settlements, a half way house to the towns on the
upper Androscoggin. The settlers of Bethel, Rumford and
Andover, having a common origin with us, tarried here with
their cousins to take breath, before plunging into the denser
forests through which ran the Pequawket road up the Kezer
valley to the North.
Fryeburg can, without arrogant pretension, claim this pre
eminence. Her settlement was the first bold push into the
interior of Maine, the first breaking away to any considerable
distance from tide-water and the coast-wise communication
with Massachusetts.
Windham, settled in 1735, and grown to be a town the year
before our settlement, was less than a score of miles from
Casco Bay ; and Standish, settled three .years before us, was
about the same distance.
The situation of Maine at the time of our settlement is
worthy of a passing notice. Without adopting the newly
vamped romances which strive to exalt Popham's abortive
efforts at the mouth of the Kennebec above the Pilgrim found
ations laid at Plymouth, we still find much of thrilling inter
est in the real history of our coast.
Prom York and Kittery eastward, many a feeble hamlet
along the seaboard had been devastated by the Indian torch ;

11
and when their fugitive families had returned to rear again
their desolated household altars, it was at the expense of new
perils, and frequently of death or a lingering captivity. So
frequent and so merciless had been these savage inroads, that
Sullivan computes the inhabitants of Maine in 1760 at less
than ten thousand souls. Scarce a half dozen settlements at
that time had been advanced beyond ready access from the
sea. Ll York Co., Sanford, (then caUed Phillipstown, settled in
1740,) Lebanon, (or Towwoh, 1743,) and Buxton, (Narra
gansett No. 1, 1749,) were of this class, and were each within
easy hafling distance of some comparatively powerful seaboard
neighbor. Windham, New Gloucester, Pownalboro, Bowdoin-
ham and Topsham, and farther eastward Warren, complete
the list of what could be considered in any sense inland towns.
And yet, scattered and weak as were the people, they were in
domitable in their resolution, and never faltered in meeting
the Qalls made upon them for military service. The wonder
ful reduction of Louisburg in 1746, was accomplished by Sir
Wm. Pepperell of Kittery, with a force, small as it was, quite
disproportionately made up, as Sullivan claims, of Maine's
hardy yeomanry and seamen.
Let us glance briefly at the events immediately preceding
the coming of our fathers to this valley. They bore a worthy
part in those stiring scenes, and the results had an intimate
connection with their settlement here.
The ten years from 1750 to 1760, were of momentous im
portance in American history. They changed the state and
destiny of the whole continent. During two-thirds of this
period, reverses to the English arms followed each other in
quick succession, till the destruction of the colonies seemed
inevitable. France ever crafty and aspiring, grasped at the
dominton of all North America. She held the mouths of its
two mightiest rivers, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi,
and with stealthy step was pushing a line of wilderness forti
fications, which should unite their head waters, and bind a^
with anaconda fold the long coast-line colonies of the English.

12
In Nova Scotia, on the St. Francis, the SoreU, the St. Law
rence, at Niagara, Detroit, DuQuesne, and at all available
intervening points, the French Jesuits, always indefatigable
and unscrupulous, were instigating their credulous Indian
converts to the destruction of the hated heretics. With
inexorable gripe the folds of the serpent were gathering, and
threatened to press out the very life of the infant colonies.
Desperate efforts were made to break the coil, but in vain.
Braddock, in the wilderness defiles of the Monongahela, paid
with his life the penalty of his self-will and supercilious con
tempt of Washington's counsels. The flower of New Eng
land fell with the gallant Howe in the mad attack upon
Ticonderoga. The massacre at Fort William . Henry clothed
many a household in mourning.
We might suppose that despair would chill every heart, and
the dark cloud of coming destruction darken all the land.
But our fathers had been under too stern a discipline to think
of losing heart even amid such crushing reverses. Pitt, Eng
land's great commoner, was called to the aid of the stagger
ing government, and became the ruling spirit of the war. The
confidence he reposed in the colonies was justified by their
hearty response in the raising of fresh troops from their deci
mated population. Young British commanders consented to
learn from our forest-trained warriors, and all along the ex
tended line victory followed their united counsels and efforts.
The French were everywhere beaten back, till on the plains of
Abraham, Wolfe's immortal victory settled the question of
English supremacy in America. Feudalism and Rome had
clutched the prize of this Western World. With almost su
perhuman efforts they had struggled to secure it. But it was
wrested from their grasp. A pure faith and civil freedom was
to be the inheritance which our fathers should transmit to us
their children.
The overthrow of the French in Canada freed the frontier
from Indian aggression. The immediate results were mani
fest in the impulse given to settlements everywhere. The
energies of the people, quickened and developed by military

13
service, demanded wider scope. The experiences of the camp
fitted them for a life of exposure in new forest homes, a life
which is one long struggle with dangers and privations. Thus
we find Maine increasing so rapidly in her population, that a
roughly gathered census taken in 1764 gives her about 24,000
inhabitants, nearly two and a half times as many as Sullivan's
computation for 1760.
The towns of eastern Massachusetts near the mouth of the
Merrimac, shared in this new zeal for emigration. Thirty
years before, at the close of Lovewell's war, they had sent out
a strong colony to occupy the fertile intervales at Penacook ;
and now from both, from the vigorous inland daughter and
from the mother towns near the sea, strong men and resolute
women were ready to bear the dangers of a settlement three
times as remote.
Their leader. Col. Frye, was worthy of the enterprise.
From his earliest years he had been a soldier of the forest.
He had command of a regiment at the surrender of Fort Wm.
Henry. Strongly dissenting from its capitulation, he offered
to go out with his single regiment and drive back the French
and Indians. But this privilege was denied him. His suffer
ings and escape after having been stripped by the Indians, his
three days run through the forests, till torn and haggard and
for the time insane, he reached Fort Edward on the Hudson,
are more like romance than veritable history. For these suf
ferings together with his eminent services, the General Court
of Massachusetts was pleased to grant him the privilege of
selecting " a township six miles square on either side of the
Saco river between the Great Ossapee and the White moun
tains, any where within those limits where he should not in
terfere with previous grants." *
Capt. Wm. Stark, brother of the afterward hero of Ben
nington, and with him an officer in Roger's rangers, acted as
guide to Col. Frye. Tradition says that they first took a view
of the Valley from the hill which ever since has very properly
borne th6 name of Stark's hill.
*From act of General Court, March 3, 1762.

14
An unpublished poem attempts to picture the scene pre
sented them —
" The valley in its unshorn glory spread
Far, far beneath them, whiie the Saco led
Its mazy wanderings onward now, now turning.
Like some coquettish girl, roguishly spurning, ,
And then, be sure, encouraging again
The awkward suit of some poor, blushing swain.
One forest all unbroke, save where the sight
Fell on Chocorua's crags or Kearsarge's heights.
Or where the silver lakelets gleamed in their summer sheen
Or the dewy meadows glistened in their robes of living green."*
How much the poetry of their outlook upon the valley af
fected the two forest rangers we know not. That Col. Frye
could write creditable stanzas we liave proof in lines composed
years afterward. But the Colonel was more than a poet. He
was a skUlful surveyor and practical farmer, and satisfied
himself by careful explorations that here was a region every
way proper for a townsliip, and so made his selection.
The grant was made March 3, 1762. Its terms sunUar to
all others proceeding from the General Court of Massachusetts,
show the careful legislation of our fathers, that new towns
should not be left to semi-barbarism for lack of those institu
tions indispensable to social improvement, — the school, the
church and the settied ministry. One sixty-fourth of the
township is set apart for each of these objects, and one stUl
farther was reserved for Harvard CoUege.f
It is a curious fact, and one fast dying out of memory, that
the North-west corner of Fryeburg was originaUy on Green
HiU, on the supposition that the New Hampshire hne was
some mUes west of its present location. When it was dis
covered that New Hampshire had just claims upon the North
west corner ol the township amounting to 4,147 acres, a new
1842*^"^°°^ ^°^'^ ^' ^^^ Semi-Centennial celebration of Fryeburg Academy,
t See Appendix A.

15
grant was made by the General Court of a like number of
acres to the North, called Fryeburg Addition. The tract in
cludes the beautiful valley of the Cold river, and was incor
porated by the name of Stow, in 1834.
Few towns were settled as promptly as Fryeburg, after the
grant to its proprietor. The same year, (1762) some of its
future inhabitants came with their cattle from Concord, N. H.
and commenced their clearings on the spot where now stands
the village, and from the meadow secured a winter's supply of
hay for their cattle. From this fact they claimed the settle
ment as commencing that year. And the old sign-board of
the Osgood tavern bore with the Eagle, the emblem of its
early patriotism, the date 1762. The cattle were left for the
winter in charge of Nathaniel Merrill, John Stevens and
" Limbo," — the irrepressible African figuring thus early in
our history.
It was not wholly a lonely winter to the herdsmen, for the
people of Gorham and Falmouth kept the same winter above
two hundred head of cattle and some dozen horses, on the
large meadows to the East and North. Many anecdotes are
told of their winter experiences, but ¦ time will not allow of
their introduction.
In 1763 came the settlers with their families, and this des
ignates the true time of settlement, for surely it is the intro
duction of families, not cattle, that should be commemorated.
The strong handed men who the previous year had broke in
upon the wUderness, the trio who kept their lonely guard over
the cattle through a Pequawket winter, though deserving of
mention, cannot press their claims as settlers. It is when
woman and the little ones, the mother with the children, come
and bring into the forest cabin the blessed institution of the
famUy, and make even the wilderness a home for man, — it is
then that the settlement commences.
And who were the first comers to the valley, and what are
their claims to our grateful remembrance ? Some were
townsmen of the relicts of Lovewell's fight, and their childish
fancies were shaped by the oft-told stories and plaintive songs,

16
which kept alive the memory of that sad day. Others had
cowered beside their mothers at Penacook, when word of the
Bradley massacre swept through the infant settlement. They
had looked upon the bleeding bodies of five young men
brought from the deadly ambuscade. Growing to manhood,
they were ready to follow the merciless savages tp the death,
and enlisted again and again in the successive wars with the
Indians and French. Some of them bore the scars of wounds
received in numerous conflicts with the red man, while follow
ing the indomitable Rogers along Champlain and the rivers of
the North, tracking the wily foe through snowy thickets and
over ice-bound lakes. And when not engaged in warlike ex
peditions, they found intervals in their rude husbandry to
scour the wilderness as hunters. The head waters of the
Merrimac, Winnepesaukee Lake, the Bear-camp and the
Mountains East and North, drew them naturally towards this
valley, for so long a period the chosen hunting ground and
home of the Pequawkets.
The home of the Pequawkets ! Before attempting to fol
low the track of our fathers from the Merrimac hither, and in
imagination build again their forest hamlet on these plains,
how are we tempted to show the vfllage of the simple Indian
standing hard by the river at the foot of Pine hill, and mark
how exactly fitted was this valley for his princely residence.
The furs with which he lined his wigwam, were trophies of
his conflicts with the bear and catamount on the mountains
opposite. Through the forest stalked the moose, browsing
upon the tender foliage. The deer grazed in the meadows.
The otter, the beaver and various small animals of like habits,
sported on the sedgy banks of the Saco and its tributaries,
while trout and pickerel filled stream and pond, yielding a re
past which epicures might covet, and which so many of the
species enjoy to this day.
The very conformation of the valley fitted it for the easy
supply of the Indian's wants; the river favored his lazy habits.
Stepping into his canoe at his wigwam's door he floated slug
gishly along the gentle current, throwhig his line into every

17
dark pool formed by the mazy windings of the stream, push
ing up the many ponds which first collect the waters of the
radiating system of valleys north of us, and then add them to
the Saco, trapping and hunting on their banks over a circuit
of many miles, never obhged to leave his canoe but for a short
distance, and quickly returning with new spoils. And so day
after day gathering with easy labors supplies for weeks of in
dolent repose, he enters LoveweU's Pond, across which pad-
dhng his well-loaded canoe, he lands within less than two miles
of his starting place.
Paradise of luxurious laziness ! valley of delights to the
indolent red man ! Can it be that it encourages and entails
any thing of the same spirit among his successors !
However this may be with the present dwellers here, our
fathers of the early days of Pequawket, " the first of times "
as one of them quaintly expressed it, were not allowed to suffer
from any such enervating influences.
Hard work was before them, and most resolutely did they
set about it. They were to change the wilderness to a fruit
ful field, and estabhsh in the very lair ofthe savage, the insti
tutions of Christianity and the comforts of civilized life.
During the summer of 1768, one Nathaniel Smith made his
way through the wilderness with his family, and must be con
sidered the first settler of the town. There is in my posses
sion a lease granting him and his wife Ruth the half of Lot No.
15 during their natural lives, free of rent. Gen. Frye gives
the Lease, Sept. 23, 1765, " For and in consideration of the
good will and affection I have and do bear to my friend
Nathaniel Smith, &c.," showing his estimation of the family.
Their son Jonathan fell in Montgomery's unsuccessful attack
upon Quebec, a man of indomitable courage. When Capt.
Hutchings asked him, " What shaU I say to your father and
mother?" "TeU 'em," said he, "that I wish I could have
lived to whip the d — ^^d Britishers."
In November of tbe same year, 1763, came four citizens of
Concord, N. H., with their famiUes, viz: Samuel Osgood,
Moses Ames, John Evans, and Jedediah Spring; and to these
3

18
is due the honor of being the pioneers of civihzation in the
valley. These men had spent the Summer in preparing as far
as possible for their residence, and towards winter they brought
in their families to make the valley their home.
David Evans, brother of John, and Nathaniel Merrill, two
unmarried young men, formed part of the company. They
camped one night in the woods, ^^.nd the next morning found
nearly six inches of snow on the ground — a cold welcome to
the valley, almost as cheerless as the snowy shores of Ply
mouth gave the Pilgrim Fathers.
From the papers of the late Lieut. James Walker, (of the
Island,) I gather the following particulars which he noted down
directly from Mrs. Evans, as he states, " one of the first four
families who came to this town, wife of John Evans. The
women of these families and their children came here on
horseback from Concord, N. H. There were at that timo no
settlements between Fryeburg and Sanford, a distance of sixty
miles, and no bridges across the streams and rivers. They
lodged in the woods in a camp one night, and forded the
streams on horseback. When they came to the great Ossipee
in what is now the town of Cornish, the river being high, they
had one tall horse that could carry them over without swim
ming. In that way they all crossed the river in safety, after
which they camped for the night. Mrs. E. says that in cross
ing the river she sat on the horse the strongest way ! " (No
time for squeamishness !)
Maj. Samuel Osgood, the leader of this pioneer party, oc
cupied the ground where now stands the Oxford house. Here
was for years the centre and rallying point of the settlement.
His son, Lieut. James Osgood, erected the present house in
1800. In Fryeburg's palmiest days as a thoroughfare to the
Mountains in summer, and from the Coos country to Portland
in winter, it was the most noted public house of the region.
Among his numerous descendants, was the late Bev. Dr.
Osgood, for half a century the pastor of the first church in
Springfield, Mass., whose decease within the few months past,

19
disappoints us of the presence of one of Fryeburg's most
honored sons.
Moses Ames, who attained to the title of "Squire," built on
the lot where the late Robert Bradley, Esq., lived. Hebe-
came a man of some note, was Selectman, Representative to
the General Court, &c. One of the first Board of Trustees
of the Academy, he had the supervision of the beautiful build
ing during its erection in 1806, and as Mr. Bradley has said,
"watched the driving of every nail, and saw that not one was
wasted." John Evans, in whose family was his brother David, made
his home but a stone's throw from the street just below our
place of assembling. A year or two after, he removed to the
lot still occupied by his descendants, who claim that a part of
their present residence was the first framed dwelling of the
valley. In it was born the first male child of the settlement,
the late Capt. William Evans, passing away eight years ago,
respected and beloved, at the ripe age of 90 years. Longevity
is a marked characteristic of the family. The mother, a sis
ter of Col. Thomas Stickney, one of Stark's Colonels at Ben
nington, a woman of rare fortitude and physical powers,
reached 88 years. Mrs. Harmon, a daughter, 95 years. Mrs.
Abigail Osgood, for many years the venerated mother of our
village, 86. Mrs. John Stickney of Brownfield, 85.
Jedediah Spring, the last of the four, lived for a time near
Mr. Weston's. He soon after removed to a lot across the river
in Conway, and is not reckoned as one of the dwellers in the
" Seven Lots." The family name has passed from the town,
but in Brownfield, in Saco and Portland, it is characterized
by determined energy and business enterprise.
Within two years of the first settlement, the two young
men, Nathaniel Merrill and David Evans, who had so disin
terestedly lent assistance to the first comers, had each brought
to the wilderness a wife, and with two other noted settlers,
Capt. Timothy Walker and Col. David Page, constituted the
" Seven Lots," a name which for many years designated the
germ of our village. Capt. Walker occupied the lot first taken

20
up by John Evans, traces of the cellar are stiU visible near
Asa Charles, Esqrs'. He is represented by Dr. Paul Coffin,
who came from Buxton on a missionary tour to the settiement
in 1768, as having on the intervale adjoining, " forty acres,
corn, grass and Enghsh grain which are aU rich. Two or three
tons of hay was cut on one acre," " improvements surpris
ingly large considering they have done most of the work in
three years." *
Col. Page, for some years before removing to the other side
of the river, lived near the head of the Main Street opening
towards Portland, the ground now occupied by the Post Office;
He, as well as Nathaniel MerriU, who built opposite the pres
ent Academy, had been of Rogers' rangers. Both had received
wounds in the hard service. Both were men of note in the
youthful settlement and in after days, Col. Page as a magis
trate, 'Squire MerriU as a Surveyor. Numberless anecdotes of
their respective pecuUarities and eccentricities have come down
to us. Our space will not aUow of their introduction.
In 1766 came Lieut. Caleb Swan, and with him Mr. WUliam
WUey, both from Andover. They came from Newburyport to
Saco by water, and were three days forcing their way up the
river to Fryeburg, spending of course two nights with scarce
any shelter in the woods, and crossing the Great Ossipee with
much difficulty by rafts. They brought in three cows, a yoke
of oxen and a horse.
Lieut. Swan had drawn a lot in the lower part of the town,
but the difiiculty of getting to it caused him to stop at what
is now the FaUs, then only a slight rapid in the river. Here
he erected the first framed house iu the town. On this ac
count and from its location as a kind of half-way house be
tween the two extremes of the settlement, (including parts of
Genway,) it was a place of religious worship. Far better for
the town had it been made its centre.
* See Dr. Coffin's "Ride toPigwacket," in Maine Historical Collections,
Vol. 4. The pictures given by the good Doctor of the flrst settlers, are
graphic and amusing. Either their hospitality or the fertility and beauty of
the valley greatly charmed him. He terms it " the desirable rural retreat,"
"that land of delights,'* &c.

21
Lieut. Swan was a graduate of Harvard, a man of distin
guished ability in College. His wife was Dorothy Frye a
niece of Col. Joseph. He was an officer in the French war.
His son, of same name, was Paymaster General under Wash
ington's administration. The strictest integrity was charac
teristic of both father and son, and we may add is an heir
loom in the family.
The winter of '66, and the summer following, mark the
period of greatest privation and suffering in the valley. The
inhabitants sent to Concord through the wilderness on snow-
shoes for food. It was hauled on hand-sleds the whole dis
tance, 80 miles.
After planting, the next spring, four men were sent to Saco
for supphes, expecting to be gone two weeks. When several
days beyond the time had passed, the families met each even
ing at Maj. Osgood's to talk over their fate. One evening they
had just concluded to send two men to search for the party,
supposing they had been waylaid. " Hark," says one of the
anxious company, and as they listened the faint sound of the
paddles came through the still woods from Lovewell's Pond.
It was bright moonUght, and they all hastened to the Pond,
where was a joyful meeting.
The shoulders of the men were worn through the skin by
the severity of their labors.
These were not the only instances in which resort was had
to Concord on snow-shoes, and to Saco by batteaux to obtain
supplies. At certain seasons the forests aided them, affording
game, aryi the very tallest of hunting stories are told. But
there were times when every resource failed, and for short
periods they suffered for want of food.
Hitherto there had been but one family below Lieut. Swan's,
that of Mr. Moses Day, the date of whose coming I have not
been able to determine.
Mr. William Wiley, coming with the Lieut, in '66, settled the
Jos. Colby place. The next year, '67, many families came.
They were from Andover, Bradford, &c., Mass., and from
Concord, N. H., met at PhiUipstown or Sanford, from which

22
place Col. Frye had taken the first steps for a road by felling
the trees the whole distance.
Among the accessions of this year were John Webster, Aaron
Abbott, Stephen Knight, Daniel Farrington, the Walkers, —
Lieut. Isaac, Lieut. John, Ezekiel, and two Samuels, — and
probably Benj. Russell, Eben. Day and others. Menotomy
was about this time settled by families from Andover, among
which were those of Simon Frye, Wm. Holt, and others.
Simon Frye, a nephew of Col. Joseph, was a man of rare
prudence, honored as a deacon in the church, the first Repre
sentative to the General Court, and for many years Judge in
the courts of the District.
Ezekiel Walker lived near the Centre by Bear Pond, and
was the first Inn-keeper licensed by the town. 'Squire William
Russell married his widow and occupied his homestead. He
was a graduate of Harvard, familiar with the Latin to the last,
also, a surveyor of high attainments in Mathematics. Many
a boy, by the light of pitch wood knots in his large fireplace,
was started in Arithmetic, and the brightest of them carried
through the double rule of three. His was the first justice'
court in the region, in which Dana and McGaw used to plead.
Daniel Farrington was one of Roger's Rangers, of great
strength and courage, distinguished as a hunter. He hauled
400 lbs. of furs on a hand-sled to Concord to obtain suppUes.
Lieut. John Walker was one of the notabihties of the town.
He was at Fort WiUiam Henry, afterwards at the taking of
Quebec ; came through the wUderness to the head waters of
the Androscoggin and followed the river to Brunswick, nearly
perishing with hunger. Many anecdotes are told of his
intrepidity, immense muscular strength and genuine good
humor. It must be borne in mind that whUe Col. Frye is thus push
ing the settlement of his town towards the North and East,
Capt. Henry Young Brown, from HaverhiU, Mass., a man
equaUy energetic, is occupying that part of the valley and
some of the adjacent uplands, to the South-west.
The same misapprehension respecting the New Hampshire

23
line, which carried the North-west corner of Fryeburg to
Green Hill, made Capt. Brown's claim include a large share
of Conway.
In 1768 some dozen families had made their homes on this
tract, among whom were the brothers, Benjamin and James
Osgood, from Concord, brothers also of Maj. Samuel at Seven
Lots ; two Dollars or DoUoffs, father and son, and two or
three Walkers. Capt. Timothy Walker of the Seven Lots, had
at this time a saw and grist mill at the outlet of what is still
called Walker's Pond, the same privilege now improved by
Hon. J. T. Chase of Conway.
Capt. Brown occupied the fine bend in the river, a part of
which stUl forms the farm of his great grandson, Joshua Os
good. He had built a residence near the spot where stands
the farm house of Gov. Dana. Here he entertained Dr. Cof
fin during his missionary visit in '68, in a style that surprised
and delighted the good doctor. He speaks of " Capt. Brown's
high and clean room, which had five glass windows and was
nearly half wainscotted. It struck me with pleasure at the
entrance, as I doubt not it would any body else. Hence I
caUed it Capt. Brown's Hall." At his cousin John Webster's,
the doctor enters in his Journal, " Drank a fine dish of tea,
weU suited with wheat bread and pumpkin pye."
With such evidences of increasing luxury, we must consider
the days of privation and suffering past !
At Capt. Brown's, good parson Coffin met another visitor,
who accompanied him on his return down the river. This
was Dr. Joseph Emery, a young physician who had been called
from Canterbury, N. H., to attend a bad wound from an axe.
He returned to Fryeburg, bringing with him as his wife, a sister
of Mr. Fessenden, thus eventually securing to the town its
first minister as well as first physician. Dr. Emery was the
first to open a store in the settlement. It stood near Mr. J.
0. McMillan's barn. A daughter of Dr. Emery married
Rev. Dr. Dana of Newburyport,
The first school was kept in the house of Lieut. Swan, two

24
or three years after his coming, by Mr. William Frost. Birch
bark was used for writing books. Of the pupUs' proficiency
we cannot judge, but it is more than probable that they
shamed some of their descendants, enjoying far greater priv
ileges. From the same house was carried to her burial the first
person who died in the settlement, Naamah, a daughter of
fifteen years. It was in April, 1770, and the corpse was hauled
over the fences on a hand-sled.
The settlement is fairly commenced. It is in the full tide
of its early prosperity. The dark and bloody ground of Love
well's fight, " Pequawket," which at every fireside along the
Merrimac for nearly half a century had been a synonym for
terror, has become as Dr. Coffin terms it, " a desirable inland
retreat," containing some three hundred souls.
Our fathers had been trained in the observance of the Sab
bath. A meeting on that day was a necessity to them. Among
others who aided by casual visits to supply this want, was Rev.
William Fessenden, a graduate of Harvard in 1768. So
pleasing was his address that he. was unanimously called to be
their minister. It should be stated that the church had been
organized Aug. 28, 1775. Mr. Fessenden accepted the invita
tion, and was ordained Oct. 11, 1775. This must have been a
good day in the valley, a high wedding day between minister
and people, for in those times they took one another "for bet
ter or for worse, till death did them part." Cases of divorce
were known, but were very unusual. By his rare combina
tion of excellences, in person, in character and in oflicial la
bors, Mr. Fessenden retained the affections of his people to
the last, dying as the minister of the town. May 5, 1805. The
memory of Mr. Fessenden is precious. In his public duty as
minister of the town, in his private relations as kinsman to
some of his parishioners, and especially as the father of a
large family, he was a model. Dignified in bearing, generous
in spirit, hospitable to a fault, fearless and uncompromising in
maintenance of the right, yet eminently courteous and for-

25
bearing, he has left to his descendants that " good name rather
to be chosen than much riches," 'He was highly favored in
having as a ministerial neighbor, his friend aud classmate. Dr.
Porter of Conway. The two brother ministers were possessed
of contrasted powers, which only served to bind them the
more closely together. Dr. Porter was the man of ponderous
logic. Mr. Fessenden was of a livelier fancy. The one ex
celled in reasoning, the other in persuasion ; together they
were like the two pillars of Solomon's temple, Jachin and
Boaz, the strength and beauty of our forest Zion. Mr. Fes
senden was succeeded by Rev. Francis L. Whiting, whose min
istry, terminating in 1814, was not a very happy or successful
one. For several years afterward Rev. Dr. Porter, having
been dismissed from Conway, supplied the pulpit. And Oct.,
1824, Rev. Carlton Hurd was ordained, whose ministry in all
its burden of trials and difficulties, and in all its reward of
intermingled success, is too recent to need lengthened remark.
We come now to the legal birthday of the Town, the date
of its incorporation. Through a short minority of fourteen
years it had attained a growth demanding full municipal priv
ileges. It was to have henceforth the management of its own
internal affairs, and a voice in the public councils of the State-
It should be noted that the claim for such privileges is
grounded on the fact of their having a minister, and the need
of securing his proper support, the building of a meeting
house, (fee.
Their petition stating these grounds is granted by the Gen
eral Court, and the act of Incorporation passed Jan. 11, 1777.*
Thus had we our birth in the perilous times Of the Revolu
tion. It shows our fathers' calm confidence that through
those dark hours they should emerge to a day of brightness,
peace and joy. True heroism is it to move steadily on amid
thick-crowding perils, assured that the bark which God has
launched and freighted with the best hopes of man. He will
guard and guide in safety over the troubled deep.
* For Act of Incorporation see Appendix B.
4

26
This was the faith of our fathers. We are recreant to their
memory, if we make it not our own.
The first town meeting was called, by warrant, issued by
Tristram Jordan, Esq., of Pepperelboro, and directed to Lieut.
Samuel Osgood, notifying the inhabitants to meet at the house
of Rev. William Fessenden, on Monday, 31st March, 1777.
At the first meeting, Richard Kimball was chosen Town
Clerk. Dea. Richard Eastman, Isaac Abbott, Nathaniel Merrill,
Dea. Simon Frye, and Ezra Carter, were chosen Selectmen.
Richard Kimball, Moses Ames, Stephen Farrington, Ezekiel
Walker, Benjamin Russell, Committee of Safety.
Rev. William Fessenden is voted a salary of forty-five
pounds for his first year, beginning Oct. 11, 1775, also fifty
pounds for his second year, beginning Oct. 11, 1776. His sal
ary to increase five pounds lawful currency, per annum, until
it should reach seventy pounds, then to remain a stated sal
ary at that sum. Salary to be paid in Indian corn at three
shillings per bushel, and rye at four shillings, for the first six
years of his ministry, from Oct. 11, 1775.
A bounty is offered of one pound on each grown wolf.
The first recorded vote is to have swine go at large.
At a second town meeting, held the next month, April 17,
a standard of prices is fixed for all commodities in common
use. The list opens with
" A day's labour of a man finding himself, in July or August,
which is put at 3 s. 9 d.
" Being found as usual hi the above months, 3 s.
And at other seasons in proportion.
Some of the home manufacturers of the times are
brought to light in the price of
" Good yard wide Tow cloth 2 s. 3d.
And meaner quality in proportion.
" Sugar, caUed maple sugar, manufactured in these
parts, and of the best quality, 8 d.
" Good tobacco raised in this State, 9 d.

27
" Good butter, 9 d.
" House carpenters and brick layers, per day, 4 s.
" Joiners, 3 s.
" While the poor shoe makers, for making men's and
women's shoes, 2 s. 7 d.
and other shoes in proportion.
" West India Rum, merchantable, per gallon, 8 s. 10 d.
And 2 s. 3 d. per quart, and so on in propor
tion for lesser quantity.
" New England Rum, 6 s. 8 d.
And 1 s. 4 d. per quart.
The most noticeable article is Salt, per bushel, 15 s. 6 d.
The first Ucense, for a house of entertainment, is given to
Mr. Ezekiel Walker, AprU 16, 1777.
Not to occupy farther time with details of the town's action,
let us group together items which will show the spirit of the
times and the character of the people.
Our town was born amid the struggles of the Revolution.
We are naturally anxious to know what part she bore in the
progress of that long and trying conflict. Under Capt. Joseph
Frye, eldest son of the Colonel, the men of the town had been
frequently trained in the practice of arms, and at the very
outbreak of hostilities. Col. Frye had been summoned to Cam
bridge to give the aid of his military experience in organizing
the patriotic masses which held the British troops beleagured
in Bostoil.
By the provincial Congress, he was first made a Brigadier,
then a Major General, and put in command at Falmouth.
Early in 1776, he left the service on account, as some have
stated, of ill health. There have been intimations that some
difference with Washington, caused his resignation.
Two of his sons were officers in the service, Joseph, as Cap
tain, Nathaniel, a Lieutenant. The latter lost his hearing at
the battle of Monmouth.
It was my hope to give a list of the men of Fryeburg, who

28
served in the war of the Revolution ; but it has been beyond
my power.
As the war wore along, the government was obliged to ap
portion to each town its quota of men to enter tipon new ser
vice or keep good the armies in the field. In answer to re
peated calls, Fryeburg raises, successively, five men, two men,
three men. And when the call comes, Dec, 1780, for seven
to serve for three years or durmg the continuance of the war,
the town, for the first time, asks a partial exemption, but votes
to raise five instead of seven, and to allow eight Spanish milled
doUars, per month, to each, exclusive of the pay received from
the Continental Congress.
But their public spirit was to be brought to a nearer and,
severer test. In August, 1781, the Indians from St. Francis
made a descent upon Bethel, (then called Sudbury-Canada,)
murdered three men, and plundering several families, started
to return with three men as prisoners to assist in carrying the
booty. In the panic of the inhabitants, they sent to Fryeburg for
assistance. The word came about noon and was spread at
once'on both sides of the river, with the caU on every man to
come at once with whatever arms he had, to the house of Mr.
Nathaniel Walker. Before sunset the whole settlement was
gathered there, and from the whole number twenty-three were
selected, and hastily equipped for immediate service. tJnder
the lead of Lieut. Stephen Farrington, who headed the little
column on horseback, they plunged at once into the forest ;
just as night closed in around them forded the Saco, and as
the sun was rising over Bethel HiU, came in sight of the set
tlement. Stopping but a few moments for refreshments, they
took the Indian traU, and with Sebatis as guide, followed it
for miles up the Androscoggin. One of the captives here met
them and endeavored to persuade them to Return, represent
ing that the Indians would kill the other prisoners on the first
intimation that they were pursued. But they would not yield
the point so easily. Pushing on they came at length to' a
piece of spruce bark pegged upon a hemlock, on which one of

29
the prisoners had written a most urgent request that the party
might not be followed, as it would be sure death to the cap
tives. Lieut. Farrington was still strenuous to push on and
punish the red skins, but yielded at length to the men, whose
unanimous voice was to return. They came back, buried one
of the murdered men who had not before been found, stayed
over night, and leaving a guard, the next day returned to
Fryeburg. For promptness and expedition, this night march into the
forest will compare favorably with any thing done by com
munities in the Mother State at the Lexington alarm ; while
there are circumstances which make it still more worthy of
admiration. In the call to repel the British, the whole coun
try sprung to arms. From every quarter thronged the minute
men, sure of each other's comitenance and support, and fol
lowing their enemy in the broad day light. Here a little band,
raised at an hour's notice, grope their way in the darkness,
through a dense forest, directly away from all hope of assist
ance, and after a hard night's march, follow the trail of a
hidden, wUy foe that had marked his track with devastation
and blood, and give up the pursuit only when convinced that
it wUl be an injury rather than a benefit to those whom they
would succor.
A small company of soldiers, mostly from this town, was
stationed at Bethel during the remainder of the season, and
also the next year.
Our townsmen, in 1777, on the retreat of the American
forces from Canada, had built three stockade forts for their
defence. One stood near the bridge at Mr. Weston's, one near
Mr. Charles Walker's, and one near Mr. S. L. Chandler's, the
late Joseph Colby place. It is not probable that they expected
to withstand the whole British army under Burgoyne, but they
would be prepared for just such predatory attacks as that on
Bethel.* The patriotism of the town was put to a still severer test in
the progress of the war, that of heavy taxation. Volunteer-
*See Appendix C.

30
ing for miUtary service may be the natural outworking of a
restless spirit. Love of adventure, joined with sympathy for
suffering ones, and flashing indignation against the aggressors,
may prompt to just such a noble midnight expedition as that
to the Androscoggin in '81. But there is no romance in pay
ing taxes. And when the wolf of gaunt poverty stands at
the door to, enter with the tax gatherer, no wonder there is
dread at his coming.
The instructions given Dec, '80, to Dea. Simon Frye, the
first Representative of the town, first make solemn declara
tion of their fidelity as citizens, and then equally earnest
protestations of their poverty as tax payers. But the good
Deacon was unable to make the General Court see it. So the
next year he is made the bearer of a formidable Remonstrance.
Its statements were so clear and its positions so irrefutable
that it should certainly have gained the point. I have not
been able to verify the fact.
A noble instance, (and not a solitary one we are assured,) of
disinterested patriotism is given at this trying juncture by
our minister. Tliough a committee of the town report, Oct.
23, 1780, that the balance due him is £4,360, 2 s. 9 d. 3 gr.;
or making allowance for depreciation, over JlOO, hard money,
say 1500, and in the corn part of the salary, a balance of
406 1-3 bushels, say $200 more, yet we find him a year later
relinquishing ^£15, of what was his due, "to assist the town
in carrying on this present unhappy war." The town voted
their thanks for his generosity.
The instructions of the town to its early Representatives
for some years immediately succeeding the Revolution, are
papers of great interest.
It has been said that the principles and almost the language
of our immortal Declaration of Independence, can be found
entered upon the Records of many of the towns in the Old
Bay State, for years before its adoption by the Continental
Congress in '76.
We cannot claim that honor, not being born, unfortunately
tUl the next year. But what we should have said may be

31
gained from Resolutions respecting tiie apprehended return of
refugee Loyahsts, passed June 2, '85. Most decidedly do they
protest against " the admission of such persons as have taken-
refuge under the British King, during the late struggles in
the defence of our just rights and Uberties, and 4hereby been
instrumental of protracting the late barbarous and cruel war
against their own country, and as far as in their power been
the means of the expense of much blood and treasure of their
late fellow citizens." " All persons in that predicament and
that have been declared traitors to their country, ought never
to be suffered to return and dwell in it again, but be entirely
excluded therefrom." Right ground in dealing with the
traitors of the Revolution. Will it not apply to all traitors
since ?
The instructions of the town to its Representatives are not
always uniform. Thus in '86, through Paul Langdon's rather
graceful pen, Mr. Moses Ames, Representative for that year,
is directed to favor free trade, as one means of relieving the
country from its present embarrassments.
The next year. Gen. Frye, in an elaborate and able paper,
claims the necessity of a proper system of imposts and excise ;
or rather assuming this as the established policy of the coun
try, goes on in a full exposition of his views financially, intro
ducing a scheme which, as far as I understand the subject,
shadows forth almost the identical system which our great
financier. Secretary Chase, has so successfully adopted.
The distresses of the times, (the date of Shay's rebellion,)
naturally exhibit themselves in the action of the town at this
period. The question also of separation from Massachusetts, was
much discussed. The town, March 6, 1786, voted unani
mously in favor of separation, and sent to the Convention
held at Portland the next Sept., upon the subject, five out of
the thirty-one delegates assembled.*
*The following were the members of the Convention from Fryeburg:
Joseph Frye, Paul Langdon, Daniel Fessenden, Isaac Walker, Nathaniel
Merrill.

32
A matter of great interest is the estimate the town placed
upon the Constitution, when first submitted in '88. They
express confidence in the integrity and abiUties of their Dele
gate to the Convention, Mr. Ames, admit the value of his
opportunities for hearing tiie arguments on both sides, and of
course making up a proper judgment. "But," they proceed,
" the duty they owe themselves and posterity constrains them
to express their disapprobation of some parts of the Constitu
tion." They object to the powers and mode of appointment
and length of term of the Senate, and that the Legislative
power of Congress will supersede and in its consequences en
tirely vacate the Constitutions of the respective States. "And
it appears highly absurd to propose an oath or affirmation to
the officers of Government, of whom no religious test is
required." These are their most material objections. They,
therefore, conclude, as foUows : " We would not wish that it
should be entirely rejected, as we esteem it, with proper
amendments, to be well calculated to promote the welfare of
the Union."
Who will say that this is not a sound view of that gxeat
instrument, the view of sober common sense, equally
removed from a blind, unquestioning adoration, and from
captious denunciation. We must remember that the Consti
tution had gathered nothing of that sanctity with which it
is justly enshrined to us. They could not anticipate the
unnumbered blessings which would flow from its adoption.
The Revolutionary war was scarcely closed and its heavy
burdens were by no means disposed of, when the town in '84
voted to build four school houses, 18 feet square and 7 feet
stud, in the different parts of the town. Three of these would
probably be built near where the forts of the Revolution stood,
viz : at Seven Lots, near Charles Walker's, and the Jos. Colby
farm, and the fourth near Rev. Mr. Fessenden's. What these
humble edifices accomphshed, we can judge only by the intel
ligence of the generation trained in part through the priv
ileges they afforded.

33
In '87 they set about the more formidable work of raising
their first house of worship, i. e. the town voted to build a
meeting house. Messrs. WiUiam Wiley, Nathaniel Merrill,
Stephen Farrington, Simon Frye, and Samuel Charles, were
made a committee for drafting a plan and estimating the ex
pense. The steps taken to secure its completion need not be
detailed. For many years worship was held in this first meeting house
of the town, standing on the Gamage place, near Bear Pond.
It had no great pretension either in size or architecture. Its
dimensions were twenty-five by fifty feet, with three windows
of nine lights on each side, one at the end. There were no
pews and no gallery ; the men sat on one side, the women on
the other; and odd enough it seemed, when with the introduc
tion of pews, the sexes sat together. Previously, at the giving
out of the Hymn, Mr. Joshua Gamage rose near the desk,
and immediately from right and left filed the sons and daugh
ters of Asaph, skilled in song, and - formed in solid phalanx
near their leader. Mr. Gamage was famous as a singer, and
trained a host of young Pequawketers to accompany him ; for
our grand-mothers were a tuneful race, and some of our
grand-fathers learned to keep them company, and their united
voices not only filled the little temple by the Pond, but rang
out upon the forests around, like the sound of many waters.
However lacking in harmony Fryeburg has been in some
matters, her singing has always been of a high order. The
Farrington family has never gained the notoriety of the
Hutchinsons, but it is from no lack of ability.
About the year 1790, Baptist views were first preached in
town. Elder Zebadee Richardson came with his family from
Sanford, and established a church of that denomination. Mr.
Richardson lived first near Isaac Charles', at the turn of the
river, and afterward on a lot between Nathaniel Charles' and
Kimball Pond. He preached for many years, alternately with
Mr. Fessenden, at tho Centre, Mr. Fessenden giving half of
his time to the Corner, and Mr. Richardson, probably, his
alternate Sabbaths to the North part of the town.
5

84
Tlie two ministers Uved in mutual respect and good will,
but symptoms of contention sometimes displayed themselves
among their people.
How easy to forget that one of the glories of our free insti
tutions is the right of private judgment in matters of faith,
the privUege of maintaining that worship which conscience
dictates. It will be the perfection of our Christianity, when
differences of opinion will be regarded with the charity which
" seeketh not her own," and " thinketh no evil." And yet we
yield to none in the respect and veneration due to those who
" contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints,"
¦ — only let it be that they contend lawfully, — and for the faith,
not for supremacy. Rev. Mr. Richardson died suddenly at
Sanford. Many of his best members were advanced in years.
No effective maintenance of his views was sustained, and in
process of time the church became extinct.
That some of its members, and many more of the children
of deceased members, and their neighbors generally in the
north part of the town, became interested in and adopted
Universalist views, and after occupying, at intervals, for years
the Center Meeting House, secured for themselves the neat
house of worship near Mud City, are facts too recent to
require more than this brief notice.
The introduction of Methodist views has been so compara
tively recent, as also to require no very extended notice. The
bitter controversies amid which the sect had its birth among
us, have happily been hushed, and for years its ministers have
been welcomed as worthy coadjutors with those of the older
faith, in every good work.
Another religious society. Free WiU Baptist, has at times
flourished and at times declined, in the east part of the town.
A portion of our territory, cut off from us by the Saco and
the ponds and low impassible meadows adjacent, remained
unsettled till about the year 1806. It was some twelve years
later that families from Cornish, Limerick, &c., came and
made themselves choice farms, by subduing the ridge which
separates Elkins' brook from the Saco. H^re, shut in by

85
Pleasant Mountain on the east ; by the river with its fringe of
impassible meadows on the west ; and Lower Kezer Pond on
the north ; they lived a neighborhood very much by themselves,
till the buUding of the great road to Bridgton, in '34.
A beautiful portion of the town, the industry of its families,
the Pikes aud Hapgoods, Chadburns, Warrens and Harndens,
has developed in it some of our most productive farms.
We come now to an item of our history which every son of
Fryeburg may contemplate with just pride, the founding of
our Academy. Next to the early provision for public worship,
no one thing shows the wisdom and public spirit of our fathers
more manifestly than its establishment.
Mr. Paul Langdon, a graduate of Harvard, and son of one
of its Presidents, had been a resident of the town for some
years, certainly since '86, at which time the instructions to
the Representative were drawn up by him. He was born to
be a teacher, and in each of the four humble school houses of
the town, had doubtless been bringing forward its children to
a higher grade of studies than is usual in common schools.
So in 1791, a Grammar School is established, which, Feb.
9th, 1792, was incorporated as an Academy, and endowed by
the General Court with a valuable tract of land. The fol
lowing were appointed its first Trustees :
Rev. WUham Fessenden, Fryeburg,
" Nathaniel Porter, Conway,
Henry Y. Brown, Esq., Brownfield,
David Page, Esq., Conway,
Moses Ames, Fryeburg,
James Osgood, "
James Osgood, Conway,
Paul Langdon, Brownfield.
Although five of the nine Trustees were from the towns of
Brownfield and Conway, they lived, excepting Rev. Dr. Por
ter, within a mile of the Academy ; the two Brownfield Trus
tees on lots immediately adjoining it.*
*The line between Fryeburg and Brownfield ran originally across the

86
At their first meeting, March 3, they completed their Board
by electing, as members. Rev. Daniel Littie of Kennebunk,
Rev. Paul Coffiu of Buxton, Hon. George Thatcher of Bid
deford, and Thomas Parsons, Esq., of Parsonsfield.
Rev. Mr. Littie was made their President. Paul Langdon
is elected Preceptor, at a salary of £52, the first year begin
ning the previous November, £60 the second; Jacob Evans
and Jeremiah Page, Monitors. Tuition is fixed at six shiUings
for the original twenty-five founders ; seven to all others.
Rev. William' Fessenden, Simon Frye, Esq., and Capt. John
Webster, are made a Committee to revise the regulations of
the original founders. H. Y. Brown, Simon Frye, and Na
thaniel MerriU, Esq., a Committee on sale of lands ; — and the
Institution is thus promptly set upon its work of public benefi
cence. It was from the first a school of a high order. Its
anmial exhibitions rivaUed the CoUege Commencements of
that day; young ladies coming on horseback, a long day's
journey through the forests, to attend the ball with which
they invariably closed.
Oct. 14, 1801, Col. Page, Rev. William Fessenden and
Judah Dana, Esq., are chosen a Committee to provide a Pre
ceptor, and the April foUowing report that they have em
ployed Daniel Webster. To these gentlemen is doubtless due
the honor of giving this unknown youth his first start in the
world. He did things in his after days to make himself known,
but he never forgot the humble Institution which was his first
stepping stone to public life.
In September, 1802, Mr. (afterwards Rev.) Amos Jones
Cook succeeds Mr. Webster as Preceptor. He continued in
this position till 1833, the period of a whole generation. Mr.
Cook was a man of most estimable character, of easy, unas
suming dignity, of ready sympathies, and unaffected kindness,
of scholarly tastes, and unswerving integrity. Through his
popularity as a Teacher, the Grammar School building, near
slope of Pine Hill, nearly parallel with the street to the bridge, crossing the
old Academy lot at the corner of Main street, a:id passing within a rod or
two of the grove in wliich the Centennial gathering was held.

37
Pine Hill, soon became entirely inadequate to the demands
of the Institution, and steps were taken to erect one more
suitable. And now arises one of those, very natural controversies as
to location. The Village and Fessenden HiU are the competi
tors, and the strife runs high. The friends of the rival locali
ties back up their preferences by subscriptions, to be paid if
those preferences are gratified.
The decision is in favor of the Village, although as a com
promise, the old site is abandoned, and the new building placed
a half mile nearer the defeated party. But it is probable that
the Academy has never regained its place iu the affections of
the people in the lower part of the town.
The building erected was a model. To our young eyes it
was a very temple of Ephesus for beauty, and its comely pro
portions attracted the attention of strangers. It was not
strange that when the present more substantial but far less
attractive building rose from its ashes, many, like the Jews
with Zerubbabel, wept for their remembrance of the former
house. The new Academy, as it was called, was dedicated in 1806,
and for more than twenty-five years was the theater of Mr.
Cook's labors as a teacher. In one of its rooms he gathered
' a cabinet both of minerals and curiosities, for a time the
finest in the state. How our young eyes were dazzled by
the array of precious stones. How wonderingly we looked at
the big Salem witchcraft gun, and thought it a much more
appropriate weapon for slaying the bloody Paugus, than the
modest little firelock near it which really did the execution.
Here was also a complete file of " tbe Echo," * which Rus
sell waked amid those classic hills ; and more than this, the
veritable letters of Jefferson and Adams to Preceptor Cook,
the former enclosing one from Washington, written on the
adoption of the Constitution, and accompanying a copy of the
immortal document to Jefferson at Paris. Nor must " The
* KusseU's Echo, or the North Star, is the title of a paper published at
Fryeburg during the years 1798-9.

88
Student's Companion"* be overlooked, an admirable compi
lation, Mr. Cook's pet chUd, as good perhaps as any Student's
companion cotUd be, save the kind that romped with him out
of school hours, and made Pine HiU and Jockey Cap vocal
with the songs and shouts of buoyant unhackneyed youth, to
sober down in after years, into a companion, for weal or woe,
heightening the joys and sharing the sorrows of life. That
kind of a companion beats Mr. Cook's altogether, and Frye
burg Academy used to be half filled with them!
Since Mr. Cook's resignation of the Preceptorship in 1833,
a full half score have foUowed him in that office, their united
terms only equaUing his. With varied success, but aU with
honest purpose, have tiiey labored to keep this our Pierian
Spring a fountain of healthful influences to this community,
of inspiration to its youth.
One of these, f after twenty years of absence, is with us to
day, not able to look upon the scenes of rural beauty and
mountain grandeur which he so much loved, but with a heart
swelling with happy remembrances, as he is assured of our
grateful recognition of his services, and of our hearty sym
pathy in his bereavement.
Bat there must be limits, even to historical reminiscences.
A mid-summer day would not suffice to speak of all that might
well claim our notice.
How Fryeburg flourished at the end of her first half cen
tury, and for some ten years later ; how she had become th®
mountain metropolis, and set the fashions, and did the trading
for the whole country round ; how students flocked, not only
to her Academy, but to sit at the feet of Dana and Bradley,
Lincoln, Chase, and Barrows, her Gamaliels of the law ;
or to follow Dr. Ramsa,y in his erratic, but powerful delinea-
*Mr. Cook published a volume of choice selections in prose and verse
under this title, long used in the Academy as a reading and parsing book.
tAmos Richardson, Esq., Principal, since leaving Fryeburg, of a justly
popular Female Seminary, in Freehold, N. J., and for some half dozen years,
past by a sad accident, rendered totally blind. During his Preceptorship the
Academy enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, and celebrated its semi-cen
tennial anniversary, the oration by Eev. J. P. Fessenden, son of our first
minister.

tions of human anatomy ; how the one-horse mail, Mr. Irish,
carrier, brought in, twice a week, the news from the great
world, and passed it along, once a week, through the moun
tains to Coos, Fryeburg being thus the centre of staging, till
Conway stole it from her, while she was napping ; how the
musters were the annual Saturnalia of fun and frolic, as well
as of arms, till Brownfield took them away with tt e big guns ;
how the ministerial fund became a bone of contention till it
was broken up and each had his share ; how the Academy
was fast going the same way, and was saved, so as by fire ;
how the wonderful revival of '31, changed the whole life aud
current of thought in households and In neighborhoods, and
gave religion a pre-eminence where it had been neglected or
contemned; the bridges we persisted in building, though the
river was as obstinately bent on carrying them away, till
the genius of Paddelford triumphed, and like another Rarey
tames and saddles the Saco's chafing current ; the mills we
have built, and those which should have beeu, but are not
built ; the roads which have ever been a matter of just pride
to the town ; the freshets which carry away farms from the
Seven Lots, to buUd them again in Bog Pond ; the cattle
shows which very weU supply the place of military musters,
except that in these times we need both ; the aged men and
venerable women, who for fourscore years, and fourscore and
ten, and in several instances, for about a century, have borne
the burdens of life's journey, and gone to the grave honored
and revered by the whole community ; — all these things, and
more, are they not written, or to be written, in the history of
Fryeburg, whose advent is somewhere in the "good time
coming ?"
Were we to divide the century into three periods of nearly
equal length, that from 1790 to 1825 would include by far
the most interesting portion of Fryeburg's history. This
period opens with the founding of the Academy, and closes
with the centennial celebration 6f Lovewell's fight, one of
Fryeburg's greatest days. The town had acquired an early

40
maturity and influence, retained it for one generation, and
since has been graduaUy _ receding in its relative importance.
There was great energy and animation in all its business
interests. It was the acknowledged center of trade for all the
region, the seat of law and of learning, of fashion and poli
tics, for the whole upper Saco valley.
In 1798-9, but two papers were puJDlisbed in Maine, one in
Portland, the otlier in Fryeburg.
During this period the canal was cut, being commenced
Nov., 1816, 'completed in '19, which added immeasurably 'to
the agricultural resources ofthe town, injuring, undoubtedly,
some tracts, by deepening the river bed, but bringing under
cultivation ten times as much, before too low and wet for
occupancy. The men of Fryeburg were, during this period, far above
the average, in ability and intelligence. The pulpit was filled
successively by Messrs. Fessenden and Whiting, Drs. Porter
and Hurd, three of them far more than ordinary men. In
the Academy were Langdon, Webster and Cook. In the law
were McGaw, Dana, Bradley, Chase, Lincoln, and Barrows.
While as physicians, Ramsey, Benton, Griswold, were emi
nent in their profession, — Drs. Barrows and Towle were on
the threshold of their extensive practice.
The first settlers of the town were drawing near to the verge
of life, but were most of them active to the last. Gen. Frye
died in '94. His nephew, Judge Simon Frye, in 1822. They
went to the grave full of years and of honors, and left pre
cious memories of their virtues, both public and private. Capt.
H. Y. Brown, first proprietor of Brownfield, and after remov
ing from the intervale, (as mentioned, page 23,) erecting a
mansion at the head of Main St., where his great-grandson,
Joshua B. Osgood, now lives, a man of uncommon energy and
commanding abUity, died in '96. Col. Joshua B. Osgood of
Haverhill, Mass., who married his only daughter, and who
combined the energy of the old forester with scholarly"
attainments, as a graduate 'of Harvard, died at the early age
of 38 years, in '91. He was greatly uiterested in the found-

41
ing of the Academy, though he lived not to rejoice in its
usefulness. Among the remarkable men of the town, during this period,
was Dr. Alexander Ramsay. Born in Edinburg and enjoying
all the advantages of a medical education in that far-famed
city, he brought to this country, and, to this retired community,
a wealth of anatomical knowledge, which might have adorned
the highest circles in the profession. Most thoroughly devoted
as he ever professed himself to the fair sex, he was married
only to anatomy, and with singular disinterestedness, would
have aU men share in his enthusiastic attachment. His lec
tures drew around him large numbers of medical students,
who profited by his vivid demonstrations and not always mer
ciful dissections. He left a rich cabinet of preparations which
it is presumed surpassed that of any medical school save that
at PhUadelphia.
Capt. Vere Royce deserves a prominent place in our local
picture gallery. A descendant of the Irish nobility, his educa
tion and address were those of a gentleman of the old regime.
In command of a company at Braddock's defeat, he held his
men in the midst of the murderous ambuscade, till accosted
by Washington. " Why don't you retreat, Capt. Royce," " I
have had no orders to retreat. Steady men, make ready !
take aim ! Fire ! " " But this will never do, Capt., I order
you to retreat," said Washington. "Attention company!
about face, march!" and so they marched off the field. Capt.
Royce was a great mathematician, pursued the study through
life, and left sheets of original dissertations on his favorite
science, which should not have been lost to the world. He
was eminent as a Surveyor, as the lines of the many divisions
and sub-divisions of the town attest.
Capt. Nathaniel Hutchins was early in the Revolutionary
war and served under Arnold at Quebec. When taken
prisoner and his sword demanded by the British, he snapped
it across his knee and threw the fragments to a distance,
declaring it should never be taken from him. He was an
athletic, determined man, and his, captors did not cbobse to

42
resent this spirited defiance. His son, Henry Dearbora,
inherited much of his strength, both in person and character.
Col. John Webster came, a y(^ung man from Concord, among
the flrst settlers, and took a lot still occupied by his descend
ants, in that part of the town cut off by New Hampshire. He
was a Lieutenant of the company commanded by Capt. James
Osgood, which, early in the Spring of '76, marched to the
succor of Montgomery's shattered army retreating from
Canada. He was made a prisoner at the Cedars, and suffered
greatly in that disastrous campaign. He was a man of much
firmness and decision, was one of the founders of the Acad
emy, and was chosen to fill the first vacancy in the original
Board of Trustees,-"that occasioned by the death of Capt. H.
Y. Brown.
Lieut. Stephen Farrington has been already before us as
leader of the Androscoggin relief party. If the promptness
and resolution there manifested was a fair sample of his ordi
nary character, we wonder not at the influence he exerted
among his townsmen. His kinsman, Daniel, one of Roger's
rangers, and afterward a mighty hunter in the valley, was a
man of great strength and physical endurance, as well as of
moral worth. It is said of him that he read his Bible till it
was completely worn out.
The Walkers were many of them marked men. Lieut.
John was an old forest ranger, was a soldier at Fort William
Henry, and afterward at the taking of Quebec. He had pro
digious muscular strength, broad, heavy shoulders, and a fist
like a sledge hammer. He was of mUd temper, but like
Daniel Farrington, was unrivalled as a boxer and wrestler.
They each of them threshed, in their respective companies and
regiments, whatever bulUes or professed pugilists came in
their way.
But the Nimrod of the whole region, a hunter to whom the
valley and its adjacent mountains had been familiar before its
settlement, was Abraham Bradley. Again and again had he
visited the region, and carried back its rich spoUs of furs to
his home in Concord. He transmitted to his descendants a

43
due share of the massive frame and muscular strength, which
qualified him to grapple with the denizens of the forest. This
race of hunters, although diminished in numbers, can never
be considered extinct while such a veteran as our worthy
townsman, Mr. John Barker, survives.
Time fails us to speak, at any length, of many others
equally worthy of mention ; of Richard Kimball, the first Town
Clerk ; of Deacon Eastman, whose ready wit must be gratified
even when his revered minister* was its mark ; of Deacons
Charles and Carter, as noted for probity and sobriety, as their
brother Deacon was for probity and pleasantry; of Isaac
Abbott, who passing away but a few months since, would have
completed his hundredth year, had he lived to see this glad
day. How his dark eye used to sparkle and how his tall form
Straightened up to the last, at mention of revolutionary scenes
throiigh which he passed, especially his being the first in his
regiment, selected by Baron Steuben, as one of Washington's
Light Infantry corps.
Levi Dresser, his comrade in the war, lived to almost the
same age, and died only a few years since among his kindred
at Waterford.
Besides the physicians mentioned page 40, two others were
honored and useful, and left large and worthy families, Drs.
Josiah Chase and Moses Chandler. The latter inarried a
daughter of Preceptor Langdon.
The families of Day, and by a singular coincidence or con
trast, those of Kijight, should not be omitted. They must
have lived in harmony, for all the seeming opposition in
name ; as we find on the town books the name of Bay Knight,
born 1796.
During the period under consideration occurred the war of
1812, with its attendant party bitterness. Prominent among
* He kept a ferry across the Saco. Kev. Mr. Fessenden, crossing one day,
asked the fare, " Oh, nothing, nothing," said the Deacon. " I never take
anything from people supported by the town;" It is somewhat singular,
that with seventeen children, Dea. Eastman has not left his name in town.
So of Nathaniel Merrill, with fourteen. Their descendants are numerous, in
both Conway and Brownfield.

44
those who sustained the flag of our country at that trying
period, were Gen. John McMillan, Major Philip Eastman, the
chief founder of our, at one time, famous Artillery company ;
his brother, John Langdon Eastman, so recently deceased.
Dea. Benjamin Woodman * and others. Of these as of the
brothers, Robert and Samuel A. Bradley, PhUip and Robert
Page, Samuel and Joseph P. Fessenden, Judge Dana, Major
James Osgood, Arthur Shirley, &c., &c., sons or citizens of
Fryeburg, we might well make sketches, did time permit.
In review, we may be allowed briefly to consider the char
acter of our town, in general, — a subject more properly as
signed, perhaps, to one who would bring to the work a less
biased judgment, — for though the speaker has gone out from
you, he is stUl of you, and modesty might require that the
whole matter be left to some other hand.
But no real or affected modesty shall withold the tribute
due the fathers of our town, and equally due our mothers.
They were more than ordinary men and women, else had
they never braved the dangers and hardships of such a wilder
ness life, at a point so remote from the sympathy and assistance
of friends.
They were possessed of great physical strength. They had
need of it. They prized it. They cultivated it and honored
its possession. In the " first of times," their hunting excursions,
and their lumbering and river driving operations in after
years, required hardihood, pluck and endurance. And in
these qualities they were never found wanting. Owing to this
full development of their powers, joined doubtless to their
simplicity of diet, they, many of them, attained to a great age.
Quite a long list could be made of those exceeding eighty
years. A number reached ninety and upwards.
* A word more is due this good man and those who with him planted a
Fryeburg colony on the Passadumkeag river, some forty miles above Bangor.
It was with many misgivings that they took large and dependent families into
such a wilderness. Dr. Porter is said to have spoken with his full, resonant
voice this passage by way of encouragement—" Dea. Woodman " — " Trust in
the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be
fed." The beautiml farms which their children enjoy in the town of BurUng
ton, show how well the promise was fulfilled.

45
But they did not make physical strength every thing. They
placed a high regard upon ready wit, — their conversation very
often ran into the sharp repartee, and he was tiie best feUow
who could parry a home thrust most dexterously, and return
it most effectively. They loved debate, and Fryeburg town
meeting has often been the arena of sharp, close-driven dis
cussion. The arm's lengtii wrestling, and the close "back hugs"
outside, found their counter j art in the hand to hand grapple
of words and wits within. Hence a high place has been
awarded to declamations iu the Academy, and even in many
of our public schools. (To speak to the acceptance of Judge
Dana, was the summit of youthful ambition in Dist. No. One.)
Tbey were a reading people. The old Social Library early
disseminated and cherished a taste for choice inteUectual
entertainment. The number and variety of newspapers read
by the people of Fryeburg, exceeds by far the average in
towns of its size. They were eminently a social people. Cut
off" from the world without, they prized the society of 'each
other, and on every practicable occasion enjoyed it. " Raisings"
and house haulings in summer, the huskings of the autumn
evenings, and above all the "sugaring off" in spring, were made
seasons of sometimes roystering enjoyment. And, indeed,
every Saturday brought its crowd to the village, ready, not
for business alone, but for any sport, sly trick or practical
joke, that men's wits, sharpened by a little of the ardent,
could invent. And the rough visage of a Pequawket winter
was softened by the frequent interchange of civilities and
hospitalities, — sometimes carried to what we might consider
an extreme.
Their isolated situation led to another not very desirable
result, that of frequent intermarriages. Many famUies were
of kindred blood before coming to the valley. James and
Hannah (Hazen,) Osgood of Concord, N. H., sent seven of
their chUdren to Pequawket. Three of these married Web-
sters, and the intertwinings of their chUdren form some
curious relationships. Joined with the Evanses and Stickneys,
the families are something like the ganglions of Anatomy, —

46
interlaced to a remarkable degree. The same is true, to a
certain extent, of the Fryes, Gordons and Wileys, of the
lower part of the town; while the intermarriages of the
Walkers, Stevenses, Charles, &c., make a tangled thicket,
through which I have never been able to find a way.
Some would consider us of Fryeburg, a contentious people.
In this we are like all Yankee communities, only a little more
so. That this has been our character, is partly our fault,
partly our misfortune, and partly to our praise. It is the fault
of all self-willed, imperfect individuals, of all limited commu
nities, where rival interests, rival parties, and rival families,
strive for an undue pre-eminence.
But want of unity is, in an important sense, more our mis
fortune than our fault. Our town has no natural centre, a
large village at the heart, to which the whole town resorts,
and whose advancement is the common interest and common
pride of all.
The village situated at one side of the town, and originally
partly in another town, has become still more isolated by
prejudices against it, inevitable from an unfortunate location.
The pecuniary and business interests of the town suffer as
well as its social. East Fryeburg gives all her trade to Bridg
ton. North Fryeburg, the Toll Bridge neighborhood, and
even the Centre, have done much to build up our smart
daughter, Lovel. It is not strange that a town thus broken
into parts, should be lacking in unity. And then these con
tentions, inseparable from the enjoyment of free institutions,
have another side which must not be overlooked. They are
the evidence of life in the public mind. The miUions of China
have, till recently, been a remarkably quiet people, but it was
the stupor of indifference, the dead calm of stagnant imbe
cility. "Better one hour of Europe, then a century of
Cathay." Yes, let mind clash with mind, let convictions be
held firmly and urged zealously. The friction, the rough
grapple, is better than inertness, better than sleepy stagnation.
Fryeburg, in its business affairs, has not been as wide
awake as some of its neighbors, not enough for her own inter-

47
ests. But mind has been at work here. Her rank among
the Post Offices of the State is far above what her population
would give her.
For years her Meteorological reports formed part of the
Smithsonian Institutes' contributions to science. In the list
of subscribers to the Art Journal, she has a place among some
of the leading cities of the State.
Fryeburg has been in the main a patriotic town. To the
Revolution she sent some of her choicest citizens, one of thera
the father of the town, to hold a high command in defence
of the insulted, ravaged seaboard. With alacrity our young
men plunged into the forest to rescue their suffering neigh
bors from the tomahawk of the savage.
In the war of 1812, though honest differenc.es of opinion
caused some withholding, our company of artiUery took its
guns, at short notice, to the defence of Portland. A number
•f our citizens went into the campaign upon the Lakes.
And in this terrible struggle of our day, when desperate
rebellion has clutched at the throat of our government, and
threatens to destroy all our blessed institutions, the blood of
the sons of Fryeburg has flowed freely in their defence. Sev
eral will to their dying day bear marks of honorable wounds
received at Fredericksburg and on the glorious field of Gettys
burg ; while others have fallen, giving life as a wUling sacrifice
on the altar of their country. AU honor to their memories
to-day ! * They are our latest, but by no means our last offer
ing upon the altar of patriotism. Let it be one purpose of
our assembling, — one of the most precious results of these
re-unions of the living, one of the hallowed influences of our
communion with the departed, to deepen in every breast new
devotion to our country.
And let us comprehend the magnitude of the struggle. It
is no casual, transient conflict. It did not happen to us
because Fort Sumter was bombarded. It is not to be settled
by the re-occupying of that Fortress. Deep below all such
externals is the true point at issue, simply this — Is a man a
-'* See Appendix D.

48
man, wherever and however placed upon this earth, the com
mon heritage given of God to his children ? The Declaration
of Independence opens with the assertion of this truth.
Reason and revelation alike proclaim it. The accidents of
birth, training, fortune, position cannot affect that which goes
below them all, the underlying foundation of our common
humanity. A true democracy can rest upon nothing short of
this primal truth. This is the primitive granite, defying the
ages. Anything short of this is like the shifting sands of the
Lybian desert. That which is built upon it must fall'. And
not only in the foundation, but through every part of the
superstructure must this great first principle be recognized.
The rights of man, of all men jealously guarded, — this must
be the pervading spirit of a republic. A true republic is the
Sermon on the Mount, carried into civil affairs. It is the
golden rule adopted as the a. b. c of politics. It is man deal
ing with his fellow man as his equal, as having rights inaheuT
able as his very being, sacred as his immortal nature.
And we are henceforth to have such a republic. We are
being purified as by fire. The wood, hay, stubble, ever out of
place in our state fabric, are being burned ; the rotten system
of shame and wrong, so gross an outrage to every pretension
of true democracy, is crashing to its fall. It will be swept
away, and our foundations, and our whole glorious temple
shall be of the tried stones, — truth and everlasting justice.
The great victories, for which we have recently kept a day
of solemn thanksgiving to God, were not all won in the field.
It was not over Vicksburg, Port Hudson taken, the Mississippi
opened, and Lee driven beyond the Potomac, that we had rea
son chiefly to rejoice. Fortresses of prejudice have yielded.
Long intrenched and defiant wrongs have been overcome.
Great truths, long discarded or but half approved, are plant
ing their triumphant ensigns on the very citadels of hoary
abuses. The gallant men of the 54th Mass., (colored,) who baptized
with their blood the ramparts of Fort Wagner, and held them
until succor should have come to ensure their victory ; have

49
they not proved their manhood, their right to citizenship.
And are they ever again to go down in the scale below that
standard ? Palsied be the hand that shall attempt their deg
radation, accursed the heart that shall meditate the outrage.
But there need be no fears upon the point. We- would not
cloud the joyousness of such a day as this, by any such
untimely forebodings. In the progress of this bitter struggle,
and it may be by its very bitterness, God is settling some
points in a manner never to be reversed.
One of these thoroughly established points is this, — Ours is
to be a land of free men. The principles of the fathers are to
be embodied and perfected by the work, by the suffering of
the children. ' The old flag retrieved from its dishonors, is to
float from sea to sea, from the lakes to the gulf, all radiant
with the living light of freedom, — inscribed on every fold, —
"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one aud inseparable."
He who uttered these immortal words drew part of their
inspiration from the scenery around us. Tlie poetic eye of
Lincoln often lighted up under its influence, and his soul
swelled with new pulsations for freedom. * Let it speak to
us, even more emphatically, for were they not comparatively
strangers to this scenery, while to us it is a birthright ? These
eternal heights, emblems of God's justice, — this valley of
unrivalled sweetness, bearing the impress of the Heavenly
Father's benignity, — the solemn grandeur of winter among
these mountains, — the calm serenity with which the summer
evening dies out among their summits, — 'all the beauties and
sublimities of nature in this her chosen seat, should inspire the
soul with trust in God, and incite to fidelity in duty. All the
memories of the past ; all the solemnities of the present hour,
the door way of the closing and the opening century ; all
the aspirations, the glad hopes and fair presages of the future,
urge us alike to fidelity in this great struggle.
The glad occasion which has gathered us passes rapidly by.
Our kindly greetings wUl soon change to lingering farewells.
*See his burning denunciations of the slave trade in his Poem of "The
Village," written here in 1815.
7

60
Having spent the day in this eddy upon life's current, we shall
be out again upon its ever changeful, hurrying tide. Let it
not sweep any one of us to blank oblivion. We live by link
ing ourselves with the unchangeable. However humbly
identified with the eternal principles of righteousness and
freedom, we become immortal.
Many a nameless grave will be consecrated in a grateful
country's lasting remembrance. Many a humble one who has
wrapped the garments of her early widowhood about her, or
been written childless in the earth, shall be honored as having
given the jewels of her heart for her country's salvation.
Thus through many a night of private grief cometh the
morning of our country's redemption. Its brightness shall
cheer us, whatever of gloom may hang around our individual
pathway. " Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh
in the morning." Though hearts brood o'er the Past, our eyes
With smiling Futures glisten !
For lo ! our day bursts up the skies ;
Lean out your souls and listen !
The world rolls Freedom's radiant way,
And ripens with her sorrow ;
Keep heart ! who bear the Cross to-day
Shall wear the Crown to-morrow.
O youth, flame-earnest, still aspire
With energies immortal !
To many a heaven of Dusire,
Our yearning opes a portal 1
And though Age wearies by the way
And hearts break in the furrow.
We'll sow the golden grain To-day, —
The Harvest comes To-morrow.
Build up heroic lives and all
Be like a sheathen sabre,
Keady to flash out at G-od's call,
O Chivalry of Labor!
Triumph aud Toil are twins ; and aye
Joy suns the cloud of sorrow.
And 'tis the Martyrdom To-day,
Brings Victory To-morrow.

Collation and Afternoon Exercises.

At the close of the Address, the President of the Day wel
comed the great assembly to the bountiful collation, which the
citizens of the town had generously provided for all their
guests. From twelve to fifteen hundred were thus supplied,
and spent an hour in most genial, social intercourse.
On re-assembling at the stand, the following letters, among
others received from absent sons of the town, were read by
Henry H. Smith, Esq. Bangor, August 4, 1863.
Geoege B. Barrows, Esq. Dear Sir: Your favor that
. brought me an invitation from the inhabitants of Fryeburg to
visit them on the 20th inst., and unite with them in celebrating
the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of that
town, was received last Saturday evening and affords me
much delight.
The halcyon days of my early manhood, (when the joy of
every hour was as uumingled with sorrow as is aUotted to
man,) were again so vivid that the decrepitude of my approach
ing four score and five years were almost forgotten. But one
night of sleep quieted the feverish imaginations of my per
verted brain and assures me that the highest delights of my
early friendships must soon terminate; and that now, my
considerations should be turned toward joys unspeakable and
eternal, which can be obtained only in the spiritual world.
The exhausted condition of my physical powers forbids me
to attempt to make the proposed journey to Fryeburg, in
accordance with the highly valued invitation of its respected
inhabitants. But as the leading and praiseworthy object of
your letter, as I understand it, is, to collect materials " for a

52
future history of your town" and thereby "to perpetuate the
memory of the fathers," my personal presence could be of
very little avail.
I lament the meagerness of my memory respecting such
facts as woiUd aid in giving value to the prospective history of
a town, that merits pre-eminence for successful efforts iu' pro
moting elevated civihzation, as weU as for furnishing to the
world an unusual proportion of distinguished men for each of
the learned professions, and for high pohtical positions. I
account for this pre-eminence by the fact that the owners and
first occupants of the Seven Lots in Fryeburg were men of
vigorous inteUect, great industry and sound morality. These
characteristics are proved by the attention of tiieir possessors to
the early founding, and causing to be endowed of the excellent
literary institution that has been there nurtured and strength
ened during -more than two-thirds of a century. The perma^
nent establishment by them of a learned and devout ministry,
bears like testimony to their characteristics.
Such favoring circumstances as those mentioned, had drawn
together a considerable number of virtuous inhabitants to the
beautiful valley of the Saco river, at and about Pigwacket,
before the first days of the present century. At this period
my personal knowledge and intimacy with that people com
menced. I had scarcely entered upon my habitancy at Frye
burg, when the confidence of friendship was imparted to me
by the frank, guileless and amiable people of the place. Their
leading occupation was agricultural. But as their market
(Portland) was limited in its amount of business transactions,
fifty miles distant from them, and difficult of access, it seemed
expedient to find a less expensive, or more profitable outlet
for their surplus products than by transportation to Portland.
Good pine timber existed in considerable quantities in the
adjoining townships of Brownfield and Lovell, with some addi
tions in other localities. Cutting and hauling this timber into
Saco river, required the labor of men and teams at that season
of the year when farming made no demands upon them.
Support of laborers in this employment furnished a home

53
market for surplus provisions, while food for the teams dis
posed of surplus hay. A large aud profitable market for tiie
lumber was found at and near the mouth of the river, whereby
the hearts of all concerned were gladdened, and their wealth
promoted. The number of mechanics conformed strictly, in number,
to the absolute wants of the resident inhabitants.
MercantUe operations were quite limited, only one store
existed in 1801, at the Seven Lots, the capital of which was
supplied by Capt. Seth Spring, (a large timber dealer) of Saco,
who had a young man by the name of McMiUan, (afterwards
Gen. John McMillan,) for his working partner. Its business
was intended to furnish suppUes almost exclusively to timber .
operators. Luxuries, so far as they were indulged, were pro
cured at Portland. The strongest iUustration of this honor
able trait of simplicity and economy by the inhabitants of
Fryeburg, is the fact, that no more than one barrel of West
India brown sugar had been retailed at Fryeburg previous to
the year 1802. Maple sugar of home manufacture had here
tofore satisfied the requirements of the people.
Food for families was substantial but simple, and every
household arrangement was plain but neat. Factious dem
agogues did not exist there. Hon. Simon Frye was, at an
early period, elected to the ..Senate of the State. His town
elected him to be their Representative in the Legislature
through several successive years; but as he continued like
wise to hold the office of Senator, the wages of Representatives
which was then defrayed by the several towns choosing them,
was saved to Fryeburg. Senator Frye also held the office of
Judge in the Court of Common Pleas. These various and
honorable employments satisfied the possessor without med
dling with municipal affairs.
Lieut. James Osgood, being a man of quick perceptions,
much experience and shrewdness in managing business affairs,
became very prominent in planning and prosecuting to their
end, the lumber operations of the people of his town, who in
general, had great confidence in the correctness of his advice.

Mr. Osgood accumulated a good pecuniary rustic competency,
reared and handsomely educated a numerous and respectable
family of children, of which the late Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.
D. was one.
In the beginning of 1802 the late Robert Bradley, Esq.,
removed hither from Concord, N. H., and in company with his
brother, John Bradley, opened the first store containing a
general assortment of merchandise in this town. Mr. Bradley's
vigorous and energetic mind soon awakened capabilities and
excited a higher spirit of enterprise in the substantial citizens,
than had theretofore been developed by them. The beneficial
influences of this excellent man advanced the activities and
promoted the wealth of the staid inhabitants.
Fryeburg Academy was first opened for instruction in 1792.
The services of Mr. Paul Langdon,* a, graduate of Harvard
University, of distinguished scliolarship, fine intellectual
powers and gentlemanly manners, were procured to fulfill the
duties of Preceptor. Its duties were discharged with ability
and success until the autumn of 1801.
Tlie services of Mr. Daniel Webster, (afterward eminent
and honorable Daniel Webster,) then a recent graduate of
Dartmouth CoUege, were engaged to supply the place of Mr.
Langdon ; but the powers of his gigantic mind could be
restrained within so limited a sphere of action only for the
short period of three academic terms.
The intrinsic wortli of Mr. Langdon as a school teacher,
began to be developed and the loss of it deplored, soon after
his removal from the school. The late Hon. Benjamin Orr
and Hon. Samuel A. Bradley had beeu of the number of
his early pupils, and were caused by him so to study as to
arouse every inteUectual faculty that either of them possessed.
to exert its highest power. The profoundness, skill and ele
vated attainments of these gentlemen in their subsequent
lives, conferred honor upon the institution in which they
received their elementary education, as well as upon its
devoted teacher.

* A Grammar School had been under his charge for a year or two previous.

In this connection we produce a roll of honor, that has long
dignified the town of Fryeburg and her noble Academy. On
this roU we find inscribed, in addition to the names already
mentioned, others distingiushed in all of the learned profes
sions, in the halls of Congress and in eminent positions of
political Ufe. WUliam Barrows, through a brief period, gave
promise of lofty eminence as a jurist, but tiie Sovereign of the
Universe very soon advanced him to higher glory in a better
world. Hon. Albion K. Parris was clothed, through his Avholc
lifetime, with robes of highest honor, in almost every depart
ment of office known under our form of government. Among
jurists of JIaine, few men have attained to equal eminence
with the venerable Gen. Samuel Fessenden, and no one may
justly claim a higher rank. Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., was
cotemporary with Gen. Fessenden for years ; and for useful
ness in the holy department of the gospel ministry, may well
be esteemed a pattern man for clergymen now entering upon
the duties of that holy office. Eminent gentlemen of more
recent date are better known to you than myself. Surely I
need not mention the numerous family of Fessenden, Hon.
Samuel Bradley, the large and honorable family of Goodenow,
Hon. Judge Howard, Gov. Dana, &c., &c
I had almost forgotten to say that from 1801 to 1805, both
inclusive, the unmarried portion of the population of Frye
burg, with a small sprinkling from Conway, constituted the
most fraternal, joyous, democratic, fun-loving, but innocent
associates that I have ever known. Of the number referred
to was the Hon. Daniel Webster, Preceptor of the Academy,
J. Farnham, a saddler, a young lawyer who for the present
shall be nameless, Joshua Durgin, a tanner, with numerous
other persons of both sexes, of just such congenial temper
aments and characteristics. Not unfrequently the spirit would
move some of these good gentlemen and ladies to have a ball.
Notice of the intended assembly would be given by some
individual to another, and by him extended until all hands
were informed of the good time. In two or three hours Mr.
Osgood's haU in the third story of his house, was lighted up

56
with candles, and the smiling faces soon began to exhibit
themselves. By the time that shaking of hands, and the
saying of how-d'-ye-do had been attended to, (and it did not
take a long time to do it,) Farrington, the fiddler, who lived
in the house subsequently owned by Dr. Griswold, made his
appearance. Now came off the dance — and a good one, a
cheerful one, a happy one, and an unceremonious one it
would be. AU was over and past in good season, and with
just as little ceremony as the party was got up, it was dis
solved. Each person returned quietly to his own home.
Such was Fryeburg at the commencement of the present
century. May its honor, its distinguished usefulness, its prosperity
and the happiness of its virtuous inhabitants, forever continue
and increase.
With a high sense of the kindness and favor done me by
the good people of Fryeburg, by extending to me an invitation
to attend tlie celebration of their centennial settlement of the
town, I am their Friend and Servant,
JACOB McGAW.

Worcester, August 16, 1863.
Rev. Samuel Souther. Dear Sir: Since the receipt of
your kind note, I have daily intended to seek the pleasure of
a personal interview with you, but I have now to regret, that
the ill state of my health, and the exhausting heat of the sea
son, will hardly permit me more than to offer you an earnest
expression of my grateful sense of the honor of the invitation
which you have been pleased to communicate, and my
deep regret, that it wiU not be in my power to participate
in the enjoyments of the very interesting occasion which it
announces. It would, indeed, be a joy to me, to visit a place where an
honored and beloved Brother received the first welcome of
generous hearted Strangers, and made the Friends of his early

67
manhood;— where the labors of his professional life met their
first rewards, and the aspirations of a noble ambition for use
fulness and honorable distinction a cheering encouragement.
It would be with no ordinary emotion, that I should view for
the first time, the local scenery of magnificent grandeur,
which he so loved to contemplate, and scan the landscapes of
romantic and surpassing beauty, which he deUghted to de
scribe. Nature, in her most attractive features, and the
People of Fryeburg, in their unobtrusive and abounding vir
tues, fixed his affections and his residence in Maine, and he
freely gave, with uo divided purpose, the best thoughts of a
cultivated mind, and tiie devoted labors of a patriotic life to
the service of the State. And richly, was this full measure
of duty repaid, in the repeated expressions of public confi
dence which he received, and by that last most impressive
testimonial to his character and memory, so grateful to the
hearts of his kindred and friends, the appropriate and taste
ful monument on the banks of the peaceful Kennebec, which
now marks the resting place of his mortal remains.
Nor is the State of Maine without interest to me, in many
personal relations. Before the separation from Massachusetts,
I had participated in the legislation which was the common
obligation of the people of the component parts of the old
Commonwealth, and, in some humble degree, aided in the
passage of the act which gave effect to that measure ; — and
after the separation, it was my privilege to be an Associate on
the Commission for the division of the public lands, between
the States. In the subsequent controversy with great Britain
concerning the North Eastern Boundary, the rights of prop
erty and of sovereignty, so nobly asserted by the Governor of
Maine were made of like concern to Massachusetts, and her
Executive did not hesitate in strenuous co-operation for their
vindication and maintenance. And now, in these evil days
of trial and of great peril to the nation, it is with inexpressi
ble satisfaction I cherish the consideration, that a Son, in
command of a Regiment in the Army of the Potomac, may
have derived much of the inspiration of patriotism and his
8

58
training for duty, from instruction in the Academic halls of
Bowdoin. All honor to the State of Maine, liberal and enlightened in
her government, — brave and loyal and patriotic in her people.
All honor to her returning' soldiers, who, by their heroism,
have won the meed of true valor ; and to her outgoing' hosts
who will help to purge the land of rebellion, and restore a
distracted and bleeding country to peace, prosperity and
union! May the occasion which you are called to celebrate,
be full of congratulatory remembrances in the history of the
past, and of solemn resolutions and inflexible purpose, that
the civil privileges and social blessings, which are the enjoy
ment of the present, shall remain unimpaired, to be forever
the inheritance of the future.
With sentiments of great respect.
Your obd't, and obhged servant, LEVI LINCOLN.

The foUowing letter from Hon. N. S. Benton, son of Dr.
Benton, and for many years in the Treasury Department of
the State of New York, was received with great interest.
Albany, Aug. 11, 1863.
Gentlemen : I have received your kind letter inviting my
attendance on the 20th instant, at the celebration of " the
Centennial Anniversary of the settlement of Fryeburg."
I need not say to you, gentlemen, how gratifying it would
be to me to embrace this opportunity of visiting, after fifty
years of permanent absence, a place so long endeared to me
by kind and generous solicitudes as it was my lot to experience
at Fryeburg and Fryeburg Academy, while endeavoring to
master the " Situation," which it was the purpose of my life
when young, to attain if I could.
My engagements here will prevent my acceptance of your
very flattering invitation, and no one, it seems to me, can feel
more keenly than myself, the disappointment this announce
ment gives.

69
Having been a member of your Institution under the
instruction of Webster, Cook and Barrows, may I not justly
lay claim to be one of the surviving ancients who have mem
ories to indulge and aspirations to gratify? Be assured,
gentiemen, of my cordial thanks for your kindness, and I
trust the " festivities of the occasion" wiU be aU that you can
hope for or wish. Most respectfully yours,
N. S. BENTON.
Messrs, David B. Sewall, Henrt Hyde Smith, Israel B.
Bradley, Committee, &c.

The foUowing regular sentiments were then read by Hon.
George B. Barrows : —
The early Clergy of Pequawket — They feared God but dis
missed all other fear.*
Our Centennial Anniversary — While we recur to pleasing
recoUections and indulge in refreshing remembrances of the
.past, let us also crowd the hour with rational enjoyment of
the present.
The Pequawkets — We are very sure that their history and
historian wUl both be True.
Dr. True of Bethel, responded as foUows : —
Mr. President, — It was intimated to me a few minutes ago
that I must respond to the sentiment just proposed. This
takes me by surprise, because I had regarded the day as one
belonging exclusively to the sons and daughters of Fryeburg.
I have come to attend this celebration all the way from
Sudbury-Canada, in the " Scoggin " country, to Pigwacket,
* Every one must have felt how appropriately one of our most gifted and
honored sons of Fryeburg, Bev. J. P. Fessenden, would have responded to
this sentiment. But from his fearless, uncompromising ministry of the word,
he has gone to his reward.

60
near the very path the first settlers passed through Fryeburg
by spotted trees to what is now Bethel.
We have always regarded Fryeburg as our elder sister, and
although we think the younger one the more beautiful now,
yet the elder still wears a comely and attractive aspect.
To me Fryeburg was always classic ground. In my early
boyhood I heard that there was an Academy in Fryeburg long
before I ever saw one. This rendered it a sacred spot to me.
While yet quite a young man, I received a box of minerals
from your Preceptor Cook, which did much to increase my
own knowledge in the science of mineralogy, while he was
long before an industrious pioneer in this beautiful science.
His Student's Companion enabled me to hold many a contro
versy with the district school-master on English Grammar.
Sudbury-Canada, was granted to a company of soldiers
in Sudbury, Mass., in 1768. The first grist mill and dweUing
house were built in 1774. The first family that wintered
there was Samuel IngaUs', in 1776. He afterwards removed
to Fryeburg. Forty-four revolutionary soldiers settled in
Bethel. The relations between Fryeburg and Bethel were much
more intimate in their early history than at present. Fryeburg •
was the resting place for the pioneers on their way from Mas
sachusetts and New Hampshire, and Sudbury-Canada was
largely indebted to Fryeburg for favors. So far as I can
learn, the first minister that ever visited Bethel was the Rev.
Mr. Fessenden of Fryeburg. He assisted also in setthng the
first minister in 1799. The first magistrate in town was from
Fryeburg, — Benjamin Russell. The first lawyer, William
Frye, a grandson of Gen. Joseph Frye, was from Fryeburg.
One of the physicians, now residing in Bethel, was from Frye
burg, who in nearly a third of a century has done nothing but
ride and visit the sick, and, I suppose, wUl continue to do so
till he dies. The first school-mistress of whom I have any
account, was Sally, daughter of Rev. William Fessenden of
Fryeburg. She taught in the summer of 1792. The first
company of soldiers in town was from Fryeburg, under Capt.

61
Stephen Farrington. When the Indians attacked tiic town in
Aug., 1781, John Grover, grand-father of Gen. Cuvier Grover,
went on foot to Fryeburg, and in a few hours twenty-three
men were ready to start for Bethel in pursuit of the Indians.
The next year a company from Fryeburg was stationed at
Bethel in garrison, under Stephen Farrington who received the
commission of Lieutenant. The only level spot in town for
the company drill, was on a little plank bridge across the
brook near the grist mill at Bethel HUl. Lieut. Farrington
was much respected by the early settlers, though I cannot for
bear relating an anecdote of him. He sent out two brothers
by the name of Swan, as a scouting party to watch the
Indians, but the rich furs in the vicinity were more attractive
to them than hunting for Indians, so they caught and lined
their camp with the most valuable furs. Lieut Farrington
finding it out, threatened to bring them into the garrison, but
they compromised the matter by promising him one half the
proceeds. It is worthy of note that this was probably the
last company ever raised in New England for watching the
Indians. The Lrdians frequently visited Bethel from Fryeburg. The
names of Sabattis, Capt. Swarson, MoUocket, and others, were
weU known to the first settlers. MoUocket was the last of the
Pigwacket tribe, and died in Andover, Me., Aug. 2nd, 1816.
Among the necessities and expedients to which our early
settlers were subjected, I might mention one incident. When
they brought their cows here,-they pastured them on the old
Indian corn fields where the wild onion grew. This affected
their milk so as to render it unfit for use. To remedy this, the
inhabitants would eat a raw onion before using the milk, and
in this way got rid of the disagreeable taste.
But I am trespassing on your time, yet I wish to show you
a token of respect made to Gen. Joseph Frye, the founder of
your town. It is in the possession of his great-grandson,
Joseph Frye of Bethel. It is a tankard of solid silver, on
which is the foUowing inscription together with the family
coat of arms.

62
To JOSEPH FRYE Esq
Colonel and Commander in Chief of the Forces in the Service of the
Province of the Mass! Bay, -and late Major of the znd Battalion
of General Shirley's Provincial Regiment,
THIS TANKARD
From a Juft Sence of his Care and Conduft of the Troops while
under his Command at Nova Scotia, and a proper Refentment
of his Paternal Regard for them Since their Return
to New England, Is Presented By
His Moil Humble Servants,
Bofton, April 20, 1757. The Officers of Sd Battalion.
I have ^Iso a memento of MoUocket. It is a pocket book
made by her and presented to Capt. Eli Twitchell of Bethel,
about eighty-five years ago.
Bethel extends a greeting to her elder sister, fully acknowl
edging all the favors received from her in the past, and doubts
not, that when a railroad shall pass up the Saco valley and
reach Fryeburg, as sooner or later it will, she wiU be so
rejuvenated as to be as attractive as her younger companion.
The Toasts were then resumed :
The memory of Fellows, Mclntire, Austin, Walker, Richard
son, Stanly, Andrews, Powers, Hobbs and Webster — ^They
have experienced how sweet and beautiful it is to die for the
Fatherland. When the war is over, let us remember them in
granite.* The memory of our loved townsman, Capt. John Page, who
fell at Palo Alto. We believe in good blood, — the mantle of
the sire rests upon the sons. One fights in the army of the
Potomac, and the other has won his spurs as one of Fremont's
body guard, in the brilhant charge at Springfield. He is with
us to-day.

*See Appendix E.

63
The honored Governor of the old Bay State — A son of
Maine, a grandson of Fryeburg. We are not ashamed of our
boys. Gov. Andrew being loudly called for, and received with
enthusiasm, commenced, in response, by touching allusions to
his mother, and her influence in developing and sliaping his
character, lie returned thanks to the many venerable citi
zens who had, during this his first visit to Fryeburg, expressed
their affection for her during her residence here.
He extolled the scenery of the valley, — girt about and
guarded by the everlasting hills, combining loveliness and
grandeur in no common degree. Passing to consider the
state of our country, his remarks were interrupted by rain
which had been threatening among the mountains for near an
hour. The audience scattered in most picturesque style down
the slope of Pine Hill, and through the street to the church,
which, in a few minutes, was filled to its utmost capacity,
whUe hundreds could not gain admittance. Here, for an hour
and a half. Gov. Andrew pressed the great theme of our
country's position, needs and glorious prospects, showing most
conclusively, that through the bloody ordeal of battle, God
was establishing righteousness in the land, overthrowing
gigantic wrong, and breaking forever the rod of the oppressor.
AUuding to a disposition on the part of some, to compro
mise and yield to the claims of those in rebellion, he said it
might be done when from out their bloody graves our thou
sands of noble sons and brothers fallen in the shock of battle,
should start again to life. Till then the stern duty of sub
duing traitors in arms should be gladly accepted by every
patriot heart.
It is greatly to be regretted that a verbatim report of the
Governor's admirable address could not be secured. No ab
stract, however fuU, can do justice to the fervor and eloquence
of its appeals, or the withering sarcasrii, and burning indigna
tion of its denunciations. It was instinct with the patriotism
that has marked the Governor's career as chief magistrate of

64
the Bay State, and so justly endeared him to every loyal
heart. The Flag of our Country — Consecrated by a new baptism,
may its folds ever float over the land of the free and the home
of the brave.
The PUgrim Fathers — They believed in churches, schools
and men who carry muskets. God forbid that their descend
ants should ever wander from such a confession of faith.
The valley of the Saco : —
" Shallow and deep by turns and swift and slow
There we behold the winding Saco flow."
From Gov. E. Lincoln's " 'Village."
Fryeburg, a small part but still a part of the original Union,
we do not intend to go out of the partnership this year.
Our returned sons and daughters — Strangers they may be
in our houses, they can never be in our hearts.
Enoch W. Evans, Esq., of Chicago, IU., responded in a most
eloquent speech. He had brought back from a twenty years'
absence at the west, a heart still beating warmly with love for
his native valley. The memories of his childhood, would live
ever in his mind. He was proud of Maine, and most of all
he honored her patriotic devotion in this hour of the country's
peril. Never should he forget the thriU which pervaded a
vast assembly in the city of his residence, some weeks since,
at the announcement that Maine's quota, under the call of the
President, was full. Most emphatically would he repudiate
the idea of New England being " left out in the cold," by the
great and generous west. They were bound together by too
many ties of kindred, and of interest. We were one country,
and one country we were ever to remain.
A motion to adjourn for one hundred years, was modified
so as to recommend an observance of the legal birthday of the
town in 1877.
A Committee was chosen to secure a copy of the Address
for publication.

65

At a late hour of the afternoon, the exercises closed by
singing the foUowing original ode : —

ODE.
AMERICA.
Dear Fryeburg, fair art thou I
Time writes upon thy brow
¦No furrows deep;
Far in thy summer skies
Thy glorious mountains rise.
And clouds of thousand dyes
Around them sleep.
Serene thy rivers flow
Through valleys green and low,
With fringe of elm ;
The shadows lightly play,
And all Is bright and gay,
As in thine early day
In Nature's realm.
Still rolls thy blue lake on,
Amid the forest lone,
As long ago ;
When wild the war-whoop rung
The dark pine shades among.
And from his cover sprung
The savage foe.
Gone are the valiant band
That fought with heart and hand
On that dread morn —
Tet in their children brave
Their spirit strong to save,
That dies not in the grave
Anew is born.
And those that earliest trod
Thy green and virgin sod,
The fair and strong —
A hundred gliding years
Have stilled the hopes and fears,
And quenched in dust the tears
Of that loved throng.

«6
Tet while their dust remains
Thick strewn upon thy plains,
Thy plains we love ;
Thine " everlasting hills,"
Thy shadowy streams and rills,
While warm the life blood thrilli,
Our hearts shall move.

Levee at Academy Hall.

In the evening the Webster Association of Fryeburg Acad
emy held a Levee at the Academy Hall, beautifully decorated
with mottoes appropriate to the occasion. Some three or four
hundred participated in the festivities. Interspersed with
music from the Band were short speeches in response to the
following sentiments :
The Trustees of Fryeburg Academy — May their labor of
Love be done wisely and well. Rev. D. B. Sewall.
The Memory of Webster — ^It stiU lives.
Our Volunteer Soldiers — They have gained imperishable
honor on the battle fields of the war ; their heroic deeds and
noble valor have rendered their names and memory sacred ;
they are engaged in the noblest contest the ages ever saw.
S. R. Crocker, Esq.
The Alumni and the Alumnae — One and indivisible.
Intelligent Patriotism — Our need and our glory.
The Old Bay State and the Pine Tree State — Mother and
Daughter — each delights to honor the " Sons of Maine."
Rev. Samuel Souther.
Our Sister Institutions— The cause, one ; our hearts, one.
Dr. N. T. True.

68
The Preceptors of Fryeburg Academy — To these classic
halls a cordial welcome always awaits them.
A. Richardson, A. M.
The Loved and the Lost — Their memories are ever fresh
and fragrant.
Our New Piano — ^May its keys be taught to send forth only
the " concord of sweet sounds."
Music by Miss Nellie A. Barrows.
The Ladies — God bless them — they are a " joy forever."
The Band — " Music hath charms." Yankee Doodle.
With delightful, social intercourse, a generous banquet,
music and song, the hours of the evening passed rapidly
away, till at a late hour, all united ia the old Song of " Home,
Sweet Home," which terminated these most deeply interesting
exercises of Fryeburg's Centennial.

APPENDIX.

A
The division of the territory of Fryeburg among the pro^
prietors was, as usual, a vexed question for many years. No
less than five different attempts were made to equalize the
different lots before the close of 1797, and even so late as
1821, a sixth division was ordered of the odds and ends, or
" scraps of land " still owned in common. Hence a plan of
Fryeburg presents a most curious medley of lots with great
diversities of size and shape, and when colored so as to dis
tinguish the several divisions, appears as if designed to illus
trate the various geological formations.
No wonder that Fryeburg abounded in skillful surveyors.
They must have had any amount of practice in establishing
such combinations of lines. The subject is so fully and com
pactly presented in the following, paper, that it is inserted
entire. Its preparation is due to the generous interest of Dr.
I. B. Bradley.
PROM THE PROPRIETORS' RECORDS OP THE TOWN-
SHIP OF FRYEBURG.
" In the House of Representatives, Feb. 24, 1763."
" The plan of a Townsliip granted by this Court at their
session in March, A. D. 1762, to Joseph Frye, Esq., and by
him laid out at a place called Pigwacket, in the County of
York ; bounded at the south corner to a spruce tree marked ;
from thence north 45 ® west, by the needle of the instru
ment, 2172 rods to a beech tree marked ; from thence north
45 o east 2172 rods to a maple tree marked ; thence south
45 ® east 2172 rods to a pine tree marked ; thence south 45 ®
west to the first bound."

70
It appears by the records that, in 1763, the Proprietors
" without being legally assembled to pass any votes with re
spect to the settlement of the township," " laid out upon the
upland 57 house lots of 40 acres each," " and upon their
intervale land 64 intervale lots of 20 acres each," and assigned
to each and every right a 20 acre intervale lot, and to each
and every right a 40 acre house lot, except seven rights, there
being 64 rights in said township, including four for pubhc
uses. On Feb'y 2d, 1766, it seems that sixteen of the Proprietors
applied to Hon. Benjamin Lynde, one of his Majesty's justices
of the Peace, to call a meeting of the Proprietors " to be held
at the dweUing house of Mr. Ezekiel Walker, in Fryeburg,
aforesaid, on the 28d of June next ensuing the date hereof,
at 9 o'clock in the forenoon," — the object of said petition
being, to have a meeting legally called, to do certain enumer
ated acts, and to determine how Proprietors' meetings should
be called for the future.
Benjamin Lynde did issue his warrant, in compliance with
the foregoing petition, and ordered Joseph Frye, Esq., to call
the meeting at the time and place specified ; the meeting was
holden, and most of the house lots and intervale lots before
mentioned, were confirmed to the Proprietors, to whom they
were originally laid out, in 1763.
At the same meeting the foUowing vote was passed, viz : —
" Voted that the aforesaid committee be and hereby are di
rected to lay out the meadows in said township that are now
fit for mowing, into sixty-four shares, that shall be as near
equal in value, one to the other, as possible."
Also voted at the same meeting, to lay out a second division,
upland lot of 40 acres, and a second division, intervale lot of
30 acres to each right ; and in laying out said second division,
of upland and intervale, the committee were to so lay out said
second divisions, as to correct any inequalities in the first
division, and thus to make each Proprietors' share of land in
the first and second divisions of both upland and intervale of
equal value.
_ Also voted to lay out one acre of land near the easterly
side of Bear Pond for a meeting house.
Voted to lay out four acres adjoining said meeting house
lot for a burying ground. ^
At a meeting holden July 27, 1767, is the first mention of
roads in said township, when it was .voted to lay out two
open roads, the first to begin at the most suitable place on the

71
town line, south of the river, and to run by the most conve
nient courses, on the same side of the river to Mr. Daniel
Farrington's intervale land, being to the land now occupied
by Caleb and Nathaniel Frye, Esq. ; the whole length of the
road being about 6 1-2 miles.
The second beginning at the most suitable place on the
state line, on the north side of the river, and running on the
north side of the river and down the river by the most con
venient courses to the house lot of Andrew McMillan, No. 9,
(probably 20,) the residence of the late Deacon Charles, being
about 5 miles.
At this meeting, July 27, 1767, twenty of -the sixty-four
meadow lots were assigned, and the remaining meadow lots
being 44, were decided by lottery at an adjourned meeting 6
days later, Aug. 3d.
The first vote in relation to building a grist mill was passed
at this meeting, which' provided to give the undertaker or
builder, 60 acres of pine land including the mill privilege on
Lovewell's brook, and 40 acres of pasture land adjacent, and
12 shillings lawful money, to be paid in cash, or in work at 4
shUlings per day, to be raised out of each right in said town
ship, the four public rights excepted.
It seems by the Proprietors' Records, that prior to this meet
ing, they had discovered that the line of New Hampshire cut
off the west corner of their township, containing 4147 acres
of land, which was surrendered by Joseph Frye to the Gov
ernment of Massachusetts Bay, and accepted by the " Great
and General Court," June 25, 1772, in consideration of which,
said Court granted him the same amount of land, being
known as Fryeburg Addition.
On the 7th April, 1774, Fryeburg Addition was conveyed
to tiie Proprietors, by Joseph Frye, and accepted by them.
1774, Sept. 20th. The Proprietors voted to relay aU their
first and second divisions, upland and intervale lots, and 10
acres meadow lots, so that each Proprietor should have 80
acres upland and 60 acres of intervale.
1785, April 11th. "Voted that the distinction between
upland and intervale, shall be no longer kept up, except to
complete the first and second divisions of intervale land to 60
acres, and the deficiency of meadow lots.
1787. At meeting on first Monday in December, voted that
so much of said Proprietors' lands shall be laid out of upland
or intervale, or both, as a third division, as shall make each
original right (including the two divisions of upland rim out)

72
equal to 180 acres of upland, and that the surplusage of the
first and second divisions is to be consid.'red as part of said
third division.
1794, Sept. 15. Voted to lay out a fourth division of Pro
prietors' lands, and that 100 acres be the mean quantity and
that the committee lay, more or less, to qualify equal to the
mean lot to each right.
Thus it seems, at this time, each Proprietor was in posses
sion of 280 acres of land, mostly upland, 60 acres of inter
vale, and 10 acres of meadow ; these lands or lots of land,
were not, by any means, of equal area, for where a lot of land
was not equal 'in quality to the standard, it was made up in
quantity, and this was what they called qualifications ; for
instance, third divisions, as has been already stated, were
intended to be 100 acres, oi a particular quality of land, the
best remaining after laying out the previous divisions. Samuel
Osgood's third division is recorded as follows : —
Acres. R. P.
Contents, 217 1 12
Qualification, 117 1 12
Qualified. Land, 100 0 00
1797, April 21. At a Proprietors' meeting holden this day,
a vote was passed to lay out a fifth division of lands among
said Pxoprietors, and the committee made their return of the
same on the 31st day of May next ensuing. It was evidently
the belief of the committee that they had then divided all the
lands of the Proprietary. This division was more unequal in
quantity than any previous divisions, and considered of little
value, for it was mostly divided without any survey, by merely
assigning on the plan of the township to each Proprietor his
share of said lands.
Some of these fifth divisions were very small, being only
thirty to forty acres in area, while others contain hundreds,
and one, nearly one thousand acres.
The Proprietors of most of these fifth divisions, considered
them of so little value, that they conveyed them to t.Yo or
three of their number, and sent them to Boston, to exchange
them for old and shop-worn, but serviceable goods.
1821, Sept. 21. The Proprietors met and decided to lay out
a sixth division, out of such scraps of land as might still be
owned by them in common and undivided.

73

ACT OF INCORPORATION.
In the Year of our Lord, 1776.
AN ACT for erecting a tract of land called Fryebyrg, two
thousand one hundred and seventy-two rods square, lying
in the County of York, which was granted as a Township,
_ to Joseph Frye, Esq., Anno Domini, seventeen hundred and
sixty-two, and confirmed Anno Domini, seventeen hundred
and sixty three, into a Town by the name of Fryeburg.
Whereas, the inhabitants of that tract of land, consisting
of Proprietors aud Non-Proprietors, promiscuously settled
thereon, having lately been united in ordaining a minister of
the gospel among them, are desirous of uniting in the expense
of his support, of building a meeting-house and other public
charges of the place, but cannot lay a tax upon themselves
for those purposes, till said tract of land is incorporated into
a town. Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives
in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the
same, that the aforesaid tract of land, originally bounded as
followeth, viz : At the south corner to a spruce tree marked ;
thence north forty-five degrees west (by the needle) two thou
sand one hundred and seventy-two rods to a beech tree
marked ; thence north forty-five degrees east two thousand
one hundred and seventy-two rods to a maple tree marked ;
thence south forty-five degrees east two thousand one hundred
and seventy-two rods to a pine tree marked; thence south
forty-five degrees west to the first bounds— be and hereby is
erected into a Town by the name of Fryeburg, excepting and
reserving thereout four thousand one liundrpd and forty-seven
acres of land lying in the west corner thereof, which the
Great and General Court, in compliance with a petition of the
above-named Joseph Frye, resolved to receive back, and in
lieu thereof, granted him the same quantity of government's
land with liberty to lay it out adjoining to the northward or
northeastwardly part of his Township, as by said resolve,
dated June the twenty-fifth, seventeen hundred and seventy-
two, will appear ; and the inhabitants of said tract of land,
(except as is above excepted,) be and hereby are invested
with aU powers, privileges and immunities, which other towns
in this colony do enjoy.
And be it further enacted. That Tristram Jordan, Esq., be
and hereby is empowered to issue his warrant, directed to
some principal inhabitant of said town, requesting him to
10

74
warn the inhabitants thereof, who have a free hold according
to charter, to meet at such time and place as shall be therein
set forth, to choose all such officers as are or shall be required
by law to manage the affairs of said town.
In the"'House of Representatives, January 10th, 1777. ^This
bill having had three several readings, passed to be enacted.
SAMUEL FREEMAN, Speaker, P. T.
In Council, January 11th, 1777. This biU having had two
several readings, passed to be enacted.
JOHN AVERY, Deputy Secretary.
Consented to by the major part of the Council.
A true copy. Attest : JOHN AVERY, Deputy Secretary.

C
In the archives of Massachusetts, at the State House, Bos
ton, may be found the several pay rolls of the companies or
detachments who served on the Androscoggin. That of Lieut.
Farrington and his twenty-two men, is in the hand writing of
'Squire .Ames, signed by himself, Richard Kimball and Samuel
Walker, Selectmen of Fryeburg.
It was my purpose to give a fac simile of the Roll which is
a model for exactness and economy, the whole amount
which the Expedition drew from the Treasury being but £21,
6s, 4d. The names of the men, which deserve to be kept in
lasting remembrance, are as foUows: — Stephen Farrington,
Capt., Isaac Walker, Lieut., John Walker, John Farrington
Abraham Bradley, Peter Astine, Abner Charles, Samuel
Charles, Nathaniel Walker, James Parker, Benjamin Wiley,
Jesse Walker, Joseph Knight, Jonathan Hutchins, Jun.,
Barnes Hazeltine, Isaac Abbott, Jr., John Gordon, John
Smith Sanborn, John Stephens, Jr., Joseph Greeley Swan,
Oliver Barron, Hugh Gordon, Simeon Abbott. They marched
the 4th of August, and returned the 8th, leaving Jonathan
Hutchings, Jr., John Gordon, and John Stephens, Jr., as a
guard. On the 12th a second detachment of twenty-four men
from Fryeburg, with six from Bridgton, marched " to guard
the frontiers on Androscoggin river," led by Nathaniel
Hutchings, John Evans being second. StUl a third company,
with John Evans in command, took their post on the Andro-

75
scoggin Sept. 16th, and kept guard tUl the winter snows laid
to rest all fears of invasion. These throe several bodies of
troops were composed largely of the same men, with some
interchange to accommodate the farming operations of the
faU. The total expense is £262, 7s, Id.
A fourth Pay Roll is headed as follows :— " A. Pay Roll for
a company of men commanded by Lieut. Stephen Farrington
raised hi the County of York and Cumberland, for the
defence thereof, agreeably to Resolve of the General Court of
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, July 5, 1782, who took
their station at a New Township, called Sudbury-Canada."
This more formidable expedition kept the borders in quiet
until winter, and was undoubtedly the last effort in New Eng
land to repel Indian invasion.

The part Fryeburg has borne in the present struggle for
the life of our country, is shown by the following honorable
record. It was hoped to give some sketch of those who have
so nobly fallen, but the material has not been furnished.

Req't.13th, Charles Andrews, (died.)
12th, George Austin, "
12th, John P. Barker,
17th, Webster Barker, "
12th, WiUard Barker,
12th, Charles H. Bragdon,
23d, Richard Bradley,
16th, Levi Butters,
23d, Humphrey A. Chadbourne,
23d, Stephen Chandler,
17th, Frank C. Charles,
17th, Moses L. Charles,
12th, Sewall C. Charles,
12th, Stephen Charles,
23d, Walter Charles,
17th, Enoch S. Chase,
13th, Abner A. Cole,
12th, Thomas D. Cook,
12th, William W. Divine, (died.)
23d, Andrew J. Eastman,
23d, James Eaton,
12th, Seymour A. J'arrin.gton,
12th. Seth Farrington, (Capt.)
9th, John C. Fellows, (died.)
23d, .Jos. Frye, jr.,
11th, William H. Frye,
11th, Anjavine G-ray,
Sth, Me'llville Gray,
9th, Eichard E. Greenland,

Keg't. 23d, James M. How, (Lieut.)
17th, Simeon C. How,
12th, Samuel Ilsley, (died.)
12th, James T. Jenner,
12th, Andrew Kenison, jr.,
17th, Patrick Lawless,
23d, Harris A. P. Lewis,
17th, Francis A. Long,
23d, Chas. H. Levis,
23d, Joshua Mclntire,
23d, Oliver G. W. Mclntire,
9th, Samuel F. Mclntire,
7th, Joseph L. Mitchell,
17th, Sidney A. Morton,
17th, Wm. B. Morton,
11th, Lozien Poor,
17th, Albion Kichardson,
2.jd, Benj. C. Seavey,
12th, Marcus M. Smart,
23d, William T. Smart,
23d, Abiel F. Smith,
l7th, Daniel Smith, jr.,
9tli, James Smith,
17th, Ivory Snow,
I7tli, Samuel C. Stanley,
23d, John P. Stevens,
23d, John W. Tebbetts,
17th, Alfred E. Thomas,
9th, Benj. Thompson,

76

23d, Gilson A. Hall,
9th, Samuel H. Harnden,
23d, Enoch W. B. Hobbs, accident
ally killed.
17th, Samuel E. Holden,
17th, James G. Holt,
9th, Thos. K. Holt,
Drafted Men.
1 Albion p. Cobb,

17th, Alden B. Walker,
17th, Joseph C. Walker,
23d, Wiley Walker,
23d, James E. Webster,
17th, Joseph Wiley,
23d, Stephen J. Wiley,
12th, SuUivan J. WiUey.

Henry Andrews,
Ira Berry,
John Bullard,

George Lord.

(died.)

Webster Ela,
Samuel Frye,
Samuel F. Frye,
WUliam S. Heald,
Lewis C. Hobbs,
Jos. H. Johnson,
Asa S. Mclntire,

Under the Call op Oct. 17, 1863.
Harrison G. Morton,

G. H. Kichardson,
Reuben H. SmaU,
John P. Stevens,
Geo. W. Thompson,
Dexter Walker,
Stephen/J. WUey.

Ebenezer Pickering,
George Eichardson,
Reuben W. Shirley,
John W. Towle. Lost part of his hand
at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, '62.
Isaac Walker,
Jonathan Webster,
John Webster. Fell on board Gunboat
while forcing the passage of the
Mississippi below New Orleans.
John H. Wiley,
WilUam WUey.

The following citizens of Fryeburg have enlisted in regi
ments out of the State, or have been in the regular service of
the army or navy.
John Andrews, (died.)
George W. Cook,
Orland Day,
John L. Eastman,
Seth W. Eastman,
Daniel B. Gray,
John C. Gray,
Augustus Lord,
Charles Lord,
Enoch Lord,
Charles Mansfield,
Charles Osgood,
Charles H. Powers, (Lieut.) Fell at
ChancellorsviUe, May 3, '63.
An obituary notice of Lieut. Powers in the Oxford Demo
crat of July 24, 1863, gives the chief incidents in his life as
follows : — " Born in Bridgton, March '37. In '52 removed to
Fryeburg — left us in '56 for Western Pennsylvania — -where he
had just been admitted to the practice of law, when in Aug.
'61, he enlisted in the 105th Penn. Regiment. He was pro
moted to be 1st Lieut. Feb. '62 — ' participated in the battles
of Malvern HiU, Bristoe's Station, Bull Run (2d,) Fredericks
burg and Chancellorsville, where he so nobly offered his life a
sacrifice upon the altar of his country.' The highest testimo
nials to his character and conduct are given by his brother
ofiicers."

77
Had friends furnished the material it would have been
pleasant to give some brief sketches of the brothers, An
drews, both of whom though not faUing in the battle field,
gave up their lives for principles of liberty which they had
early learned from a father's precept and example ; — of Joseph
Colby Walker — the sturdy son of a worthy sire — and who in
person and character brought back to us many of the choicest
traits of the grand-father, whose name he bore ;— of Barker
and Webster, Fellows, Cobb and Divine, whose common sac
rifices show that we are but one people, though our blood
may be from different sources — and that through this crucible
of common sufferings we are being fused into one nationality
— all antipathies of race blotted out — and all traces of clan
ship forgotten — the great principles of human equality and
man's common brotherhood, forever established. Such a re
sult will be worth all the sacrifice and suffering through which
it is attained.

The foUowing letter from Daniel Webster, while at Frye
burg, wiU show some of the characteristics of the place as he
saw it. It corresponds exactly with the account whicli his
fellow lodger, Mr. McGaw, gives of the business and social life
in Fryeburg, sixty years ago. One thing is worthy of notice,
Mr. Webster found at Fryeburg a volume, which could not be
obtained in the Libraries of Dartmouth. The letter is the
more wiUingly inserted, as the parts referring especially to
Fryeburg, are omitted in the published letters of Mr. Webster.
Mr. Webster to Mr. Merrill, Hanover, N. H.
Fryeburg, June 7, 1802.
My Dear Friend. I have frequentiy taken my pen to write
to you since I have arrived here, and have as often laid it
down again without executing my purpose. The truth is, I
was willing to write you something a little better than my
correspondents generaUy have the fortune to receive.
But after aU I am commencing in my old way, resolved not
to delay till chance might inspire me with an idea worth your
reading, lest you should suppose me backward in entering

78
into a correspondence which I contemplate with pleasure. You
must therefore console yourself by reflecting that correspond
ence is a kind of commerce where the greatest gain per cent.
uniformly attaches to the greatest capital ; and that there is
as much to be learned in writing a good letter as in reading
one. Besides, you wUl remember that I am in Pigwacket, a
most savage name, and you will, therefore, suppose a most
savage country. Whenever, therefore, I am dull and blun-
derhig, you must not charge the fault upon me, but upofl
Pigwacket. Thus I . shall shift much responsibility from my
own shoulders.
I will, if you please, devote this to giving you some little
account of my situation, business, amusements, and so forth,
and beg of you a description of yours. Whatever relates to
my school you can guess in the general, and particulars can
not be interesting. This viUage is new but growing, already
much crowded with Merchants, Doctors, and Lawyers. There
are here a good number of men of information and conversi-
ble manners, whom I visit vrithout ceremony and chat with as
I should with you and Bingham. Among them are Mr. Dana,
whom you know, and Mr. McGaw, who boards and lodges
with me. Fame has told me, (though she is said to be a no
torious liar,) that you are a finished gallant ; it will be natural,
therefore, for you to inquire about the number and beauty of
the misses. You know that new towns have usually more
males than females, and old commercial towns the reverse.
In Salem and Newburyport, I am told, the majority of females
is immense. When I resided at Exeter, I thought petticoats
would overrun the nation. In Fryeburg, I hope our sex will
continue the mastery, though the female squadron is by no
means contemptible. I have seen nearly thirty white muslins
trail across a ball room on an evening. In point of beauty I
do not feel competent to decide. I cannot calculate the pre
cise value of a dimple, nor estimate the charms of an eyebrow,
jet I see nothing repulsive in the appearance of Maine misses.
When Mr. McGaw told me he would introduce me to the
Pigwacket Constellation, it sounded so oddly that I could not
tell whether he was going to show me Virgo, or Ursa Major,
jet I had charity to put it down for the "former, and have
found no reason to alter my decision. Being a pedagogue
and having many of the ladies in school, I cannot set out in a
bold progress of gallantry, though I now and then make one
of them my best bow and say a few things, piano, as the
musicians have it.

79
When I go into the study of a friend, I look about and
enqiure for the books he is reading. To save you that trouble
I wUl tell you my reading at present. I think it may be
advantageous to communicate mutually an account of our
studies, and reciprocate any new ideas that are worth it. Am
now upon Williams' Vermont, which I never read before. It
is my object to investigate some facts relating to the political
history of the United States. I have been perusing, as an
amusement, the " Pursuits of Literature," the book which
has excited so much curiosity among the learned, and called
down so much condemnation from the democracy. I am not
certain you can read it, because I do not recollect having
seen it at Hanover. I think it is well worth a reading. The
sentiments of the Poem, itself, and the abundance of Notes,
bring to my memory Sheridan's elegant metaphor of " a neat
rivulet of type murmuring through a meadow of margin."
Report has just reached me that the Marshal of New
Hampshire, is removed. I confess I did not much expect it,
but these are Jefferson's doings, and they are marvellous in
our eyes.
Adieu, my good friend, D. WEBSTER.
P. S. I congratulate the people of Hanover on the election
of their Anniversary Orator, and wish him better success
than some of his predecessors.
Wednesday morning, June 9th. Since I wrote the within,
which I had intended for the mail, Messrs Hall and Whit
man have called on me. I am quite sure you did not know
of the opportunity of sending me by them. They tell me
that politics stand one hundred and twenty to fourteen, —
good, — good, — the sun is everywhere rising, — the waning orb
of democracy must soon be eclipsed, — the Penumbra begins
to come on already. Pray put a line in next mail for one
who is much your friend. D. W.