EarlySettlementExhibit

This is text written by Nancy. ….and they came to the Sandy River to settle.

Prior to anyone putting down roots here, the area had been the home to some random Indian families, and trappers and hunters who came to find furs. Neither group left any meaningful footprint. But the word about the rich river land, the abounding natural resources spread to more civilized areas in what was still the District of Maine, part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Kennebec River proved to be the waterway that allowed the settlement to begin. Stephen Titcomb, Robert Gower, James Henry, Robert Alexander, James M’Donnel under the guidance of two hunters – Thomas Wilson of Topsham and a Mr. Scott of Winthrop came to the Sandy River in 1776 with a view of making a settlement. The party came up the Kennebec River in canoes as far as Hallowell, which was generally known at that time by the Indian name of Bombahook. From Hallowell they proceeded on foot through the sparsely settled district to Mr. Rumford Smith’s at Readfield Corner (Winthrop’s early name). Leaving Mr. Smith’s, the last house on the route, they proceeded by compass on a west-northwest course supposing they would come to Farmington and the “great intervale”, the object of their pilgrimage. They came out in the area of what is now New Sharon; they crossed the river and continued along its northern bank….where they made camp. Using basswood bark as a substitute for a chain, they located six lots.

While the Topsham party was exploring the region, other persons were looking toward the Sandy River valley for a home. It was understood that the Kennebec patentees claimed the lands in the plantation. Before the boundaries were permanently established, every one supposed the Sandy River Township would fall within the limits of the patent. In 1777, an association was formed at Hallowell between Topsham and Hallowell explorers, known as “the Proprietors of a Township on Sandy River”, which later was known as “Reuben Colburn and his associates”. Colburn, who lived in Pittston, had come from Dunstable, Mass. and was regarded as a man of excellent business capacity. His Associates received a grant and Joseph North surveyed the township. However, by the time this survey was completed, several families had already settled [1783] in the area, on lots they had claimed. By now, people are venturing forth from areas beyond Hallowell.

The year was 1781 and Stephen Titcomb was pushing through the snow from Readfield on snowshoes, to remain in the area during sugar season. As soon as the snow abated, he returned to Readfield for his family, and along the way encountered Joseph Brown and Nathaniel Davis with their wives headed to the new country. Stephen loaded up his team of oxen and pack horses with provisions and his family and his brother, Samuel, and returned to Sandy River, where he found the provisions he had grown the year before. In the course of that year, Nehemiah Blodgett and Jonathan Knowlton came with their families to take possessions on the lots they had selected the year before. In November, Samuel and Jonas Buttlerfield arrived from Dunstable, Mass. bringing their families and goods in wagons. Just before winter closed in, Peter Corbett joined the little band of pioneers with his family, making the total of 8 families who passed the first winter together in what would become Farmington.

During the year of 1781, the “Associates” built a bridge across Wilson Stream near Farmington Falls. A saw-mill was put in operation on the Temple Stream by Colburn and Pullen in November [Walton Mill Pond]. And although the saw-mill was a rude affair, it was the only help they had from machinery in building their houses for the next eight years. And during that same winter stones for the first grist-mill were hauled from Winthrop and was put into operation in August.

Twelve new settlers arrived during the year [1782] – most with their families. Enoch Craig, Robert Kannady, Seth Greeley and his brother Joseph and Samuel Bullen moved in from the Augusta area. Ezekiel and Amos Page located about the same time. Massachusetts soon contributed settlers Jesse Butterfield, who joined his brothers, Solomon Adams from Chelmsford, and Ebenezer Sweet.

1783 The first meeting of Colburn and Associates was held in the township was held at the house of Samuel Butterfield in Oct 1783. Immigration continued to go steadily forward. Three families coming from Damriscotta were Francis Tufts, Benjamin Weathern and Thomas Hiscock. From neighboring town of Bristol came Jacob Eaton, his brother Joseph, and Moses Starling, who settled upon the mill lot. Other permanent settlers were John Rice, and Benjamin Whittier, Church Brainerd, John Huston and Simeon Russ.

1784 brought John Austin and his wife Jerusha, who for nearly ten years was the only “doctor” in the region and Reuben Lowell, who settled on the west side near Jesse Butterifeld. The “Associates” held their second meeting in the settlement with the completion of the survey side lines, Joseph North and Solomon Adams who had done the work. Dividends had been paid by most settlers, but Samuel Buttlerfield, Church Brainerd, and Solomon Adams were chosen a committee to make a dispositon of the lots on which dividends had not been paid. Ebenezer Sweet had built a small tannery, which was the first this side of Winthrop. Stephen Titcomb also raised the first framed barn in the township. Before winter set in, six new settlers arrived. Moses Chandler brought his family from Winthrop, William Gould made a permanent farm next to his brother, Samuel Keen and William Blackstone had come from Damariscotta. The next two years saw little new settlers, but by 1787 there was rapid growth. Silas Perham and Silas Gould came from Dunstable. Samuel Knowlton and Samuel Sewall arrived. Gersham Collier settled on what would be called Porter’s Hill. Zaccheus Clough, Peter Gay and Abraham Page Jr. arrived, and David and Ephraim Cowan, who had been frequent visitors to the town, made permanent settlements.

In 1788, Lemuel Perham, Eliphalet and Oliver Bailey arrived along with John F Woods who all brought their families from Dunstable. Francis Tufts built a dam at Farmington Falls where he erected a saw mill and a grist mill belong the dam, making in one of the best in the state at the time. During the winter, the first school was opened in the log-house of Robert Gower, and taught by Lemuel Perham Jr. Mr. Perham was an excellent teacher and scholars were drawn from all parts of the settlement to received the benefit of his instruction.

During the years of 1789 and 1790, the township and its settlers finally resolved the attempt to obtain title to their lands by the Kennebec Proprietors and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. With the efforts of Dummer Sewall, Esq. Of Brunswick, and two of the early settlers, Samuel Butterfield and Francis Tufts making a trip to Boston to meet with the Senate of Massachusetts, the “Sandy River Lower Township” in the County of Lincoln, they were awarded the ownership of the township by the court dated Feb 4th 1790. While negotiations were pending, the settlement rapidly grew. Oliver Hartwell, Samuel Stowers, and Asa Cree took up farms on Bailey Hill. Ephraim Butterfield, Jotham Smith and Ebenezer Jones moved onto farms they afterwards occupied.

The following year began the immigration from Martha’s Vineyard, which gave so many valuable citizens to the township. Andrew and Elijah Norton came on an exploring expedition and selected a permanent location for their father. During that same year, Eaton and Starling built permanent mills at West Farmington to take the place of those built by Colburn and Pullen.

The Census taken in 1790 gives the number of inhabitants as 494 and the births of children in the town books record 63 births in the years preceding 1790.

From then on, the settlement continued to grow. But formal organization was required to establish schools and roads and formal government. Almost all the river lots, and many of the back lots had been taken. Since most of the best mills were located in Farmington Falls, that area wanted to be the center. Within the next 3 years a variety of proposals were brought before the townspeople. Several letters were written to the General Court of Massachusetts with each subsequent proposal, depending on the opinions of the signers. Eventually, an agreement was reached, and the town’s request for Incorporation was granted. [insert a copy of the incorp. Doc and maybe a transcription]

By the year of Incorporation, the town’s occupants included Supply Belcher, Moses Starling, Benjamin Butler, Benjamin Whittier, John Church, Thomas Wendall and Thomas Flint, and Thomas Parker. Each of these men became significant members of the community in varied capacities.

Here's another one from Nancy:

Early Explorations:

The year: 1776. Stephen Titcomb, Robert Gower and others came to the Sandy River Valley out of the Topsham area to explore. Word of the rich, fertile land along the river had spread via hunters and trappers who had visited this area for years. They told of a small Indian Village in what would become Farmington Falls. The eventual homesteads they set out for them selves were measured using nothing more than a compass and some basswood bark.

In the years following this early exploration, others came from Damriscotta to explore and to also claim a piece of the Sandy River Valley. Stephen Titcomb, reputed to be the earliest settler, cleared land and planted potatoes, corn and turnips. He also built a log home to occupy when he returned.

To reach the Farmington area, travel was up the Kennebec River to Hallowell. From there, these hardy men had to travel to Winthrop where the last house would be on their route. From there, they followed Indian paths through the woods. The names of these early explorers continue to show up in Farmington’s early records – Tufts, Knowlton, Titcomb, Gower, Bullen, Butterfield and Corbett.

The year 1781 finds the Titcomb Family snowbound in Readfield on the way to their new home in the Sandy River Valley. Parker’s History of Farmington tells us eight families spent the first year here. New settlers arrived during that next year. And others would follow. By 1790, the families numbered 98. A saw mill had been built by Colburn and Pullen, early proprietors of the settlement. The mill was improved by Moses Starling. This mill provided the lumber that would build some of the earliest framed homes.

Among the earliest families were the Bailey, Butterfield, Gould, Chandler, Perham and Jennings families from Dunstable, Mass. The Knowlton, Hiscock, Eaton and Craig families were from Damriscotta, Maine. Martha’s Vineyard sent the Butler, Allen, Cothren, Davis, Holley, Parker, Smith and Stewart families. The Cony, Church, and Cowen families were early settlers of Hallowell, and later moved on to the Sandy River Valley. The remainder of the early families was from various towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

These early settlers were highly skilled - furniture makers, joiners (carpenters), mill owners, husbandmen (farmers), and educators. Each contributed to the settlement, using their skills to build and sustain a growing community. These same men were ambitious to plan for the future while carving a town out of the wilderness. A rudimentary school system was planned, religious needs were satisfied, and by 1794 a town was incorporated to create an organized body that remains in tact today. Early town lines were established and individual lots were created.

The town’s center was created by a strange turn of events. Moses Starling, one of the earliest settlers, purchased a large parcel on the West side of the Sandy River. He decided to sell portions of his lot to others; but his selling price was higher than those of lots on the East Side. Naturally, people chose to purchase the lesser expensive lots. Even though there is a village on the West side, and in Farmington Falls, the site of the very earliest settlement, Farmington’s center of business is primarily on the East side of the river.

The early settlements of the town were greatly influenced by proximity to mills that could provide sawn lumber, ground grain and other necessities. The Sandy River provided water power for such mills both in the center of town and at Farmington Falls; Temple Stream flowing into the Sandy River on the West side provided another source of power; and Barker Brook in the area of town called “Fairbanks” provided still another source of power. Early mills were built in each of these areas utilizing the river and larger streams. But little did the early settlers know how powerful the Sandy River could become. Freshets throughout the town’s history have wrought havoc on any planted field or building near its banks, including bridges necessary for transportation. Even as late as 1987, bridges were destroyed by high water.

As time passed, cemeteries were established, churches and schools were built and later abandoned, and Franklin became a county in 1838. Farmington seemed to be the best choice for a county seat. So the County Government negotiated with the Trustees of the Center Meeting House and that became part of the county’s judicial system. A jail was built and offices were set up in a building in the center of town. Lawyers abounded, but the jail was rarely full. Some of the town’s earliest settlers sent their sons on to Bowdoin College, and they returned as doctors, lawyers, and educators.

Farmington has had the famous and not-so-famous hail from its boundaries. We boast of a renowned opera diva in Madame Nordica. We celebrate a famous inventor in Chester Greenwood. But it’s the not-so-famous folks that have remained the main-stay of Farmington – the folks who might have patented one small invention to improve a life-style (Farmington had over 70 patentees), or one Leonard Atwood who sold his patents to Otis Elevator Company. Or it could have been the guy who drove spikes into railroad ties for the Androscoggin Railroad line into town in 1858; or another who shoveled gravel onto the railroad bed of the Narrow Gauge line that provided transportation for goods and people into the northern sections of the County. It might have been the can maker who provided containers to the booming corn canning industry that flourished in the area after 1865, or the man who raised a sturdy pair of oxen that could plow acres and acres of fields. It might have been the gunsmith and split-bamboo fly rod maker who created quality equipment for the “sports” who visited the area in search of the biggest deer or largest trout. Each and every person who has lived in Farmington since 1794 has had an influence on the town as we know it today.

Farmington remains an environmentally clean, safe and economically stable place to live. We can only hope our predecessors think we’ve been good stewards of our town.