The Bethel Journals

 

The 1886 Journal

 

Compiled by Donald G. Bennett     May 3, 2007

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Bethel Chair Factory

 

Voters seemed more than ready to give their approval for the town to construct a large factory building when a proposal was received in June 1886.

 

Bethel

January 8, 1886

 

Years from now how the people will talk “about that spell of weather we had the 1st of Jan. ’86”.

 

At Bethel’s 1886 annual town meeting voters were disappointed with town financial reporting.

 

The following motion of advice was passed.

 

“Moved that the Auditor be requested to procure a Blank Book and to enter within the same all accounts and demands presented against the Town”.

 
 
 

 

 


The Journal     Chair Factory     Town Reports     School Reports    Gould Academy   Names in 1886

 

                                                  News in Brief

 

In Bethel there was a continuous dialog among men in the village about prospects of creating some type of manufacturing plant. Shoe manufacturing was mentioned early in the year.

 

At the end of February, the entire valley was swept with a blizzard that could be rated the “storm of the century”.  Town meetings were delayed; mail was cancelled for more than a week; two railroad snowplows derailed near Locke’s Mills; extremely severe drifting left travel by foot the only means of movement.

 

At the March annual town meeting in Bethel, voters expressed their displeasure at the loose manner used to present the town’s financial reports.  At that time, the town was not printing an annual town report.  A motion was made from the floor that the treasurer should buy a blank ledger book and use it to record all financial transactions. In another similar motion the voters required that the selectmen prepare a printed report by the time of the next annual town meeting.

 

After the town meeting, Bethel’s correspondent reported that gossip on the streets of Bethel included a scheme for the town to build a factory building and then invite the Paris Sled Company to occupy the building with their business.

 

In another attempt to provide free high schooling for Bethel scholars, a plan was put forth to make Gould’s Academy a town high school. The Trustees of the Academy Fund decided that they could unite with the town in a free high school without forfeiting their fund.  “Article 17 – to see if the town will vote to raise a sum of $500 in connection with the Academy fund for the support of a high school to be free for all scholars residing in town.”  The voters passed over this article. It would be a number of years before tuition free high schooling would be available to Bethel scholars.

 

Bethel’s Superintending School Committee was responsible for the oversight of 22 district schools that were located over nearly 15 miles from Milton Plantation in the east to West Bethel Flat Road in the west. As part of the requirement for the town to produce a printed report of the year’s school operations, the school committee prepared their first report of the school system.

 

In Gilead, the town’s main concern was the repair of its suspension bridge over the Androscoggin River.  Newry’s most often reported mill manufacturing activities were those of Mort Thurston in North Newry and Jacob (J.A.) Thurston at Newry Corner.  In Locke’s Mills, the Mount Abram Hotel was social and hospitality center of the village.

 

An East Bethel post office was established in 1886 and Eugene Bean was appointed post master.  This post office was also a stop in the distribution of mail from Locke’s Mills to Hanover.

 

In June, what turned out to be Bethel’s major event of the year and of the last years of the 19th Century occurred.  An opportunity to attract a chair manufacturing business was communicated to a number of parties in Bethel by a Mr. James Barrows of West Paris. These talks led to a quick submission of a petition to hold a special town meeting. The town meeting was held on July 3, 1886 which voted in favor of the town financing the constructing a mill for manufacturing chairs which would be leased to Mr. Barrows.

 

Once the town meeting adjourned work to accomplish the intention of the voters progressed very rapidly. In December that year the factory’s new steam engine and boiler were successfully started for the first time.

 

 

The Journal

 

1886

 

January

 

 

1-1-1886 (Advertiser):

 

         Locke Mills:  There was a Christmas Tree at the new church on the 24th of December – loaded with presents for young and old.

 

1-8-1886 (Advertiser):

 Locke Mills: There was a New Year’s Eve ball at Mount Abram House with good attendance. Program included an oyster supper, music by the Locke Mills Brass Band with John Henry Haselton of Norway, basso and prompter. Charles H. Felt has taken a large job of the selectmen of Greenwood to cut and haul the birch from the town farm to Cummings’ Bros. mill. He will buy another horse to mate with his plus a team of oxen. Horace G. Gerry has started piling spool strips at Tebbett’s Manfacturing Co – “the lumber comes on the cars”. Fred Kilgore from Newry is teaching school in the Howe Hill District.  George Cross of Lewiston has been plastering the Currier Hall rent.

 

West Bethel: E.R. Briggs is canvassing for the Boston Globe, and says he will send it to any address for fourteen months for one dollar.  Albion P. Mason was very much surprised on December 25th by receiving a nice cross cut saw from his eldest son, Millard. Little Martie Mason reads his “Advertiser” every week.

 

Bethel: Years from now how the people will talk about “that spell of weather we had about the 1st of Jan. ’86.”  St. John Hastings is talking of adding 28 feet to his barn and putting in a silo.

 

 Newry: Logs are moving fast towards the rivers. Lumbermen on Sunday River, it is estimated will use 200 tons of hay this winter. An excellent singing school is in progress conducted by J.R. Howard. Mr. Howard who is a very fine teacher gives his time and talent asking for no compensation. Mr. (J.A.) Thurston generously gives the use of his hall. Thurston is soon to have some dowel lathes for his mill here at the Corner.

 

Albany: Most of our teams are in from the woods. The heavy rain is putting our roads in bad condition. Many people in town are sick with colds; some whole families are attacked without any seeming exposure.  Our Collector, Osgood Drew, paid our State tax on the Second.

 

North Newry: There was a Christmas festival at the Branch school house, consisting of declamations, recitations, dialogues and a drama entitled, “A Regular Fix”.  O.C. Littlehale, H.F. Thurston and wife, Dennis Kilgore, Myra Libby, Cora Sanborn, Nellie Kilgore, Mosie Bartlett, Lear and Willie Widber, and Herman Powers took part. Also another drama entitled, “A Night at Notting Hill,” in which Mosie Bartlett, Cora Bennett, George Wight, Alice Fisk and Walter Fish took parts. A song played on the banjo and sung by Herman Powers followed a tableaux and music by Mrs. I.P. Kilgore on organ and W.W. Kilgore on cornet. W.W. Kilgore is finishing a school on Sunday River which the teacher left as a bad bargain. We are having a very high freshet. An oyster supper and dance January 2 and a good time and a large attendance at C.R. Bartlett’s.

 

Middle Interval: The Middle Intervale sewing circle is having a little trouble. The President has resigned.

 

1-19-1886

Bethel:  “The shoe factory at Bethel is being talked up and several thousand dollars have been subscribed - it looks now as if the undertaking will be pushed forward.”

1-22-1886 (Advertiser):

          Bethel:  Our miller, N.F. Brown is very accommodating to his customers and has all of the grinding that he can do. E.S. Kilborn is purchasing large lots of lumber for his mill and it is a great help to many of our farmers. The Salvation Army is well at work and Pattee’s Hall is filled to overflowing. Men are led to think that there should be some preparation for the soul’s repose in the everlasting future and there is something besides dollars and cents to satisfy the soul’s hungry craving. 

          Business is lively especially near the railroad station. There are daily three to six cars switched off and loading with pulp timber and other products of our woods. John S. Swan loads three cars a week with potatoes paying there for 50 to 55 cents a bushel. They are hauled from the lakes, from Andover and all the surrounding country. Abner Davis died in Boston and will be buried at Forest Hill Cemetery. He was about 72 years of age – an upright and prominent man who will be greatly missed in this community.

 

1-29-1886 (Advertiser):

          Locke Mills:  There was a horse trot at Locke Mills the other day between O.P. Farrington and Walter B. Rand. Farrington won the purse.  Busy time at E.E. Rand’s he is buying potatoes and paying 55 cents a bushel. There will be a lecture on the Life and Character of Napolean Bonaparte given by Alden Chase, Esq. of Bryant’s Pond at the new church, Locke Mills on Monday January 25th. The receipts will go toward furnishing the new church. Admission will be 10 cents a piece. The post office at East Bethel is discontinued.

          Bethel: The Salvation Army meetings are well attended and some conversions have taken place. J.W. Swan the photographer will be in town on February 1 for five days. It will be his last visit. Edith Walker, daughter of Seth Walker, has gone to Portland to take lessons in painting and music.

          Milton Plantation: The Milton Hotel is doing a good business as usual. Everyone likes Mr. Coffin as he is the best and most obliging of landlords. In addition to his hotel business he has the liquor agency, a grocery store and deals in horses.

          Gilead:  J.W. Bennett is having 40 cars of birch wood shipped here from Shelburne station. Business at this station is better than ever. Some seven to ten cars are loaded daily with pulp wood, spool stock and slab wood, etc. Fred Coffin, Willie Peabody and Alva Bryant are attending school at Bridgton Academy.

 

February

2-5-1886 (Advertiser):

          West Bethel:  A.S. Bean has several teams hauling birch from the bog to his mill. Mr. B does a large business at his mills which gives employment to many men who are willing to work for reasonable wages. Nettie Mason has been giving lessons in painting and drawing to a class here. A subscriber to the Advertiser from out of State feels cheated that she does not see West Bethel news each week. The correspondent’s reply was that we are a small village that does not afford much news each week – please inform her through these columns. Charles Ruggles is night watchman for Bean’s mill – a good, trustworthy fellow for that position.

          Locke Mills: The Tebbetts Mfg. Co. started sawing birch this week. The ladies social circle met last week at the home of Mrs. Charles Lapham – about 75 were present. They realized six dollars for the society.  A quantity of poplar is being hauled into the village for shipment to Yarmouth.  The horse trot scheduled for last Saturday was postponed due to water on the cleared part of the pond where the trot was to take place.

          South Bethel:  Our school closed last week. At the next lyceum to be held at the school a farce, “More Blunders than One”, will be presented. There is talk of having a trial of speed between two Éclair colts, each four years old, at Locke Mills. One colt is owned by A. G. Woodsum of Locke Mills and the other by R.J. Virgin of this place.

 

2-12-1886 (Advertiser):

          South Bethel: Fine sledding is being improved with more poplar being hauled to the station and the mills. Lumber is beginning to accumulate in the mill yards but Mr. Virgin does not plan to produce dowels until March until orders for uncommon sizes are received. A lively time at the lyceum last Saturday night. Question discussed – “Resolved that the coinage of the Bland dollar should be stopped” – decided in the affirmative 40 to 10. Question next Saturday – “Resolved that the rights of suffrage should be extended”. Thanks to those who came from other towns to help us.

          Bryant’s Pond: A school meeting was called in the village last week to see if the district would vote to raise money for a free High School. The movement was voted down. It was then proposed to raise a fund by subscription for the same purpose if the district would vote to have the school.  This proposal was voted down so consequently there are many children here who must continue to pick up their education in that “Great Moral Nursery”, the streets of a county village.

 

2-19-1886 (Advertiser):

          Bethel: Mrs. H.T. Pingree, late of Mayville, has just completed a quilt six and one-half feet square, containing twenty six hundred and eight pieces. She also exhibited a pretty log cabin quilt containing one hundred squares. She is making a quilt for each of her children and some of her grandchildren.  H.C. Barker has sold his shop and lot on High Street to C.C. Bryant but he has reserved the back chamber in order to finish up his work. Rev. Hardy has returned home from Lewiston where he went for doctor consultations. He was advised to rest from preaching at the present on account of malaria he contracted due to lack of sunlight. Correspondent (J.G. Rich) comments that he should come to Greenwood where “we have plenty of that celestial orb shining all about us and making our hearts respond to it warmth and light”. Katie Locke, our assistant post master, has gone to Fryeburg this week for a vacation and to attend a friend’s wedding. Laura Hall will return home at the last of the month from the New England Conservatory where she has been taking music lessons for this and the past several winters. She will be pleased to receive students - $10 for 20 lessons.

 

          Locke Mills:  E.E. Rand has shipped from this station 44 car loads of pulp wood in the last four weeks to Berlin Falls, NH for parties from Yarmouth. Emerson Curtis is going to move to West Paris on account of lack of rents in this place. We would think that some of the monied men here would build houses to rent. They would be taken at sight. J.C. Ridlon has a good stable to put your teams in and sets a good table for fishermen.  E. Batchelor caught a pickerell near the village bridge that weighed five and one-quarter pounds.

 

          Gilead:  Herbert Coffin has returned from Florida and is driving a team on the Wild River road but expects soon to go to Boston for bookkeeping. J.P. Skillings started his mill on the 8th.  J.W. Bennett has added some fifteen feet to the smoke stack of his mill. Charlie Bennett wishes the man who borrowed his overcoat, neck handkerchief and gloves would return them.

 

          South Bethel: Owing to the storm the lyceum for last week was cancelled. The thaw has interrupted the trotting on the pond where for that past two week the horsemen have had great sport exercising their high steppers. We see from the posters that the weekly dances have resumed – this week at the Elms Cottage. L.I. Bryant has moved to Locke Mills where he is in charge of the grist mill.

 

2-26-1886 (Advertiser):

            Bethel: Two of our best men are helpless for life, Dr. N.T. True and Oliver H. Mason. They have been active and industrious members of society and more, they have done much and more in shaping other minds on the right side. Let them have our sympathy and prayers. Rev. Mr. Hardy occupied his pulpit last week although too weak to preach. Dr Twaddle’s horse got away from him near the station – ran more than a mile to his home with the sleigh upright – then smashed it on a tree in the doctor’s dooryard. Col C.S. Edwards and J.G. Rich have both raised large families and their wives are dead, the children grown and gone. Thus each has been keeping house by himself this winter. This is lonesome work – so ends the voyage of life, scattered and gone. Will the living members of the 13th Maine Regiment send their addresses to A.M. True, Secretary of the Association, Bethel, Maine. O.H. Mason with his usual generosity has given the Bethel Library Association ten dollars. We called on Dr. N.T. True last week finding him comfortable but in needs help getting around the house – after years of writing for the press he now spends most of his time reading.

 

          Locke Mills: The school in Locke Mills district closed Friday, a term of eight weeks. There were 29 scholars.  J. Gayton Abbott was the teacher. The school has given good satisfaction to scholars and parents. Frank C. Kilgore of North Newry taught the school at Howe Hill District where there were 12 scholars. The term was 12 weeks long. Mr. kilgore kept a very good school and was much liked. Two students, Perry and George Lapham, were not tardy during the term.

 
 

Mount Abram House - social and lodging center of Locke Mills.  Front of the building faced Mt. Abram.  Photo:   property of Stephen T. Seames.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 


Click photo to enlarge

 

March

3-1-1886

Bethel’s annual town meeting was convened at Pattee’s Hall on Spring Street in the center of Bethel Hill village.

 

Note: In 1886 the town did not own or regularly rent an office. The selectmen hired office space for their meetings from different businessmen in town. Sometime later and after Odeon Hall was finished in 1891, the selectmen were authorized to rent office space on an annual basis or were given authority to work out their office needs without specific voter approval for how they did it.

 

       Samuel F. Gibson was voted moderator for the annual town meeting. Stephen S. Abbot, 27, of South Bethel was elected Clerk. Then the meeting was adjourned (due to storm conditions that blocked roads and prevented travel by voters on Monday, March 1st, 1886) until Saturday, March 13, 1886 at 10:00 AM at Pattee’s Hall. (See the journal for 3-13-1886 below.)

 

3-1-1886 Oxford County Advertiser: 

 

During the weekend and starting on Friday, February 26, 1886, a severe blizzard had battered the greater Bethel area. Only limited movement on foot was possible for a number of days.

 

Near Locke Mills – Monday morning about 10 o’clock there was a very bad accident on the railroad 1 ½ miles north of Locke’s Mills. Two engines with a snow plow were preceding the passenger train, when at the crossing at Walker’s Mills the plow left the rails and went end over end and bottom side up in the ditch. One of the engines was thrown from the track and badly damaged. There were eight men in the snow plow; five of them were hurt very badly. A physician was on the train and did all that could be done for them.

Another accident occurred about 5 o’clock three-fourths of a mile south of Locke’s Mills.  Two engines with snow plow were preceding passenger train. The snow being so hard the rails spread and both engines were thrown from the track. One went on its side in the ditch. The fireman jumped and was caught by the top of the cab and was struck in the middle of the back, his hip dislocated and other injuries inflicted.  He was struck in the hip and his abdomen crushed. He was taken back to Bryant’s Pond by passenger train where he was attended by two physicians. The man whose name was N.D. Martin died about 3 o’clock Tuesday morning.

         

3-5-1886 (Advertiser):

          Milton Plantation: We understand that one of our smart young men has joined the Salvation Army at Bethel and is very eloquent in the cause. Bryant and Hemingway have a very large pile of poplar at Peterson bridge ready for the drive. H.A. Bradeen is selling steam cookers which are certainly the best things of the kind ever invented.

          Newry:  Mr. C. Kimball and his wife gave a pictorial exhibition at Thurston’s Hall last Wednesday. J.A. Thurston will start his mill turning dowels on March 22nd.

          South Bethel:  Mr. Virgin started his saw mill last Monday; he has a yard full of lumber to saw. Another storm last week has delayed the lyceum again – new program for the next meeting – spelling instead of declamations – get out your spelling books. Hosea Ripley will close his singing school in Locke Mills with a concert. His services as a teacher have been engaged every night during the week – vocal and instrumental music.

          North Newry: M.L. Thurston has started his mill here; he employs eight men in and around the mill. J.W. Kilgore has finished logging and cutting birch. Frank Kilgore has returned from teaching school at Howe Hill (Locke Mills). A corn doctor and a tooth distractor have been canvassing this place lately. Dr. Hill has driven through here often.

          Locke Mills:  The weather – there has not been a team in or out of the village since last Friday. The town meeting on March 1st was adjourned for one week after electing a Moderator and Clerk. Several gentlemen staying at the Mount Abram House are trying to get home but cannot. Mr. Ridlon knows how to take care of them. Abbie Fifield has been sick with a sore throat but a doctor cannot get in to see her.  Nora Tebbetts of Lisbon, E.L. Tebbetts’ sister, is helping in the office as accountant.

          Gilead: Fred Bisbee from Bethel is clerking for J.P. Skillings.  Edith Hicks is attending the Academy at Bethel. The remains of Mellen Burnham were brought home for interment last week. I have read of blizzards but never expericenced one until last Friday and Saturday. All acknowledge it is the “King” of storms and blow for years. Many frozen ears and feet including your correspondent’s. The mill smokestack of Locke and Hastings up Wild River was blown down in the storm.

          Town meeting results: Albert Bennett, 1st Selectman; S.A. Coffin, 2nd; W.R. Peabody, 3rd; W.R. Peabody, Treasurer; J.W. Kimball, Clerk; H.P. Wheeler, School Committee; E.E. Kimball, School Agent; raised $500 to defray expenses of repairing the iron bridge due to occur soon.

          Mason: Town meeting passed quietly; G.H. Brown, Moderatory; J.C. Bean, Clerk; Selectmen: D.E. Mills, H. Hutchinson, A.H. Whitman. Treasurer: F.I. Bean; G.H. Brown, Town Agent. School Committee, J.H. Bean and Collector, F. Bean. The storm here blew portions of barn roofs away at F.I. Bean’s and Charles Murphy’s. Mr. Grover’s singing school at Bethel Flat (School) is well attended and progressing nicely.

          Albany: Strong winds here were without precedent. Barn roofs and even barns were destroyed. Some affected were – Chaplain farm, Jacob French, Alvin Shedd, Luther Abbott and Gilbert Wardwell. No teams can get through – our post-man is on foot. No word from other parts of the town as of yet. The town meeting was so thinly attended that it was adjourned after electing a Moderator.

Bethel  - The Storm: There never was such a storm of snow and wind within the remembrance of man in Oxford County, as since last Thursday. The ADVERTISER had not reached Bethel Monday. Roads are blocked everywhere – in some places ten to twenty feet drifts. Fifteen inches of snow fell Thursday and since then a complete blizzard from the northwest. Mark Swan who wife lay near death went on foot from Crookerville to Bethel and got Dr. Hill and they went down on the passenger train but in going by Walker’s Mill one engine derailed, they were running two, three men were badly hurt – the train returned to Bethel – Dr. Hill with them. So Mr. Swan could not secure the services of a physician – roads were utterly impassable. Tuesday all locomotion was on snowshoes and it will take several days to shovel out and make the roads passable.  My mail will be sent to Bethel on snowshoes tomorrow morning. I (Mr. J.G. Rich) have not left the house since last Friday. A drift one hundred feet long and ten to fifteen feet high is in front of your Bethel reporter’s house.

Lottie Lawrence is teaching a private school in District 15 (Bethel Hill). Carrie Buck of Gorham, NH, has a music class here. On account of the storm only 25 couples could attend the Knights of Pythias Ball. The house of Calvin Turner was complete consumed by fire on Monday – fire caught in the attic from a defective chimmney. Issac York was seriously if not fatally injured by a falling chimmney.

 

3-12-1886 (Advertiser):

          Locke Mills: The Grand Trunk Railroad was so blockaded with snow that they put 52 men on it to shovel it out. They all took dinner at the Mount Abram House on March 4th.  J.C. Ridlon of Mount Abram House has been fitting up his office in good shape. He has put in a very tasty display case to put his cigars in and has made other improvements. Mr. Ridlon has had a good run of customers this winter.

          The Cummings Bros. are doing a good business at their saw mill at Shadagee sawing birch into spool strips. They have two double horse teams hauling strips to Tebbetts Mfg Co. at Locke Mills. Also the sawmill at Locke Mills has employed six to eight men sawing birch into spool strips. E.E. Rand has filled his ice house with ice 21 inches thick. The town meeting of Greenwood met March 1st at Woodsum’s Hall – chose William Richardson Moderator and A.c. Libby clerk then adjourned until March 8th.  When reconvened E.E. Rand, Michael Harrington and E.L. Tebbetts were chosen selectmen; J.G. Coffin, Treasurer; E.L. Tebbetts, Town Agent; Supervisor of Schools, Michael Harrington; Tax Collector, Abner D. Bryant.

          Mason: The steam mill in Mason shut down through the blow but it has started again. Snow drifted around Charles Brown’s barn so that he could not get his cattle out to drink for a week. Fletcher Bean and Charles Murphy have been repairing their barns. Martin Stowell is rushing the birch in with a 4 ox team and 2 horse teams. A.S. Bean got six large horses on the Caribou road hauling birch. I have rode over a drift with a horse and sleigh that is 25 feet deep on the main road. I see in some orchards that the  snow is to the tree tops. Little robins are quick thick since the blow. (Florence M.L.)

          Bethel: There was $3500 insurance on Cal Turner’s buildings and furniture. He will build again this spring a cottage of the Swiss style. Col Edwards has kindly opened the doors to the Turner family after their misfortune and they will stay there for the present. It was refreshing last Sabbath seeing our worthy towns lady, Laura Hall, at the organ at the Congregational Church. We found Fred Emery busy putting up goods for his customers – fresh meats, fish, oysters, corn, apples and a full store of groceries. The Salvation Army is carrying all before it with 40 to 50 converts and renewals of back-sliders. Meetings are sustained by members of the Methodist and Congregational churches. Eben Richardson and Son are driving business, all parts of their steam mill being employed. Their grist mill is running over and you must leave your order the day before to get want you want.

          Albany: S. Lizzie Dresser has been appointed to teach the grammar department in school number five at Georgetown, Mass. Town Meeting passed quietly: Clerk, Wallace B. Cummings, Selectmen: George Beckler, John Wheeler, Shirley Hazelton; Treasurer, J.H. Lovejoy; Town Agent, Gilbert Wardwell; Constable and Collector, Osgood Drew, School Committee, Shirley Hazelton, Issac Crooker and James Kimball. Town out of debt – raised $555 for the schools; $600 for support of the poor and $1500 for labor for roads.

 

3-9-1886 (Democrat):

          Newry: We have a week of the severest weather ever known. From Wednesday of last week to Wednesday of this week we received no mail on the route. The logging camps are short of supplies and teams may suffer before the tote-teams can get through. Two persons died in Newry during the awful week – owing to the snow blockade. Town meeting got blown away down East – not even a quorum got out to open and close the meeting. A new warrant will have to be posted. For thirty-one years, the writer had always been to town meeting on the first Monday of March.

 

 

3-13-1886

Bethel: Reconvened annual town meeting elected the following officers for 1886 for one year:  Selectmen, John Barker, William R. Eames, J.D. Hastings. Superintending School Committee: A.W. Valentine, S.S. Abbott, O’Neil R. Hastings. Tax Collector: T. H. Chapman; Treasurer: Oliver H. Mason; Auditor: J.U. Purington;  Other officers elected included: Viewers of fences – 1, Surveyors of lumber – 7, Measurers of wood and bark – 11, Sealer of weights and measures – 1, Weighers of beef and coal – 1, Constables – 4

 

Article 16 – to see what direction the town will provide to the selectmen regarding the hiring of a hall for future town meetings. Voters left the decision up to the selectmen.

 

Article 17 – to see if the town will vote to raise a sum of $500 in connection with the Academy fund for the support of a high school to be free for all scholars residing in town. Passer over by the voters.

 

Article 18 – to see if the town will vote to abolish the school district system (24 widely scattered small school houses). Passed over by the voters.

 

Voters approved appropriated $50 for The Bethel Library; $1661.60 was approved for schools (the amount reguired by the state); $1,500 for roads; $1,000 for the poor; $1,800 for town expenses; total appropriations approved for the town was $10,801.56. There were 523 eligible voters who had each paid $2.00 poll tax.

 

In the April 2, 1886 edition of The Oxford County Advertiser, Bethel correspondent J.G. Rich jumped into the fray with an article titled “ Finances of Bethel”. His issue was the Bethel Treasurer’s accounting of resources. According to Rich, the treasurer was fudging the town’s ability to pay down its debt from resources on hand.  First he repeated the table of what the Treasurer had reported as resources totaling $12,910.55. Then Rich wrote, “ How much of the above resources are available to pay debt is unknown to us, however it is fair to presume that”… (1) $3,639.83 for the Clough property  (2) the town farm value of $3,200, (3) liquor and casks at $262.84. “cannot be used as assets in the sense of paying debts, therefore $7,102.67 must be taken from the total of resources which leaves an available resource of $5,807.88 and consequently a net debt of $19,472.70. Rich then turned critical of the lack of any written report for the voters to examine and wrote “We are a little surprised that so important a town as Bethel can get along without giving its citizens a printed report of the financial transactions of its officers”.

We may assume quite possibly in 2006 that Mr. Rich, based on his newspaper report published after the meeting presented his comments at the meeting – leading to motions from the floor for a written town report for the next year.

“Moved that the Auditor be requested to procure a Blank Book and to enter within the same all accounts and demands presented against the Town”. Town minutes 1886, page 481: The following motion of advice was passed.

 

 “Moved that the town instruct the Selectmen of the Town that at the next annual meeting the Selectmen furnish a full, detailed report of items to the voters of the town including within it all reports of all officers of the town.”  Another motion from the floor:

Note:In support of Justice Rich, the town finally sold the property at auction in 1890 for only $1,125. The town had been paying  W.J. Wheeler Insurance Company annually for an insured value of $1,250.

 

3-16-1886 (Democrat):

          Gould Academy: Gould’s Academy opened Tuesday, the 9th, with one hundred scholars; A.F. Sweetser, Principal and Miss Cobb of Bates College and Miss Susie B. Twitchell Assistants. The Trustees of the Academy Fund decided that they cannot unite with the town in a free high school without forfeiting their fund.

          Bethel: The general agent of the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool, England and Phildelphia, Penn., has adjusted the loss on Calvin Turner’s building (on Vernon Street), and furniture, satisfactorily – William J. Wheeler, local agent.  J.H. Swan has 4,000 bushels of potatoes in store and on the road and they are coming in at the rate of 500 bushels a day.

          Newry: The blizzard is still the talk of the town – town meeting will be next Monday, March 13th. A wood chopper’s camp was burned on Sunday River last week. Newry has no resident physician but is bound to furnish its full quota to the ranks of the medical profession.  Three are now studying to enter the practice of medicine – Warren W. Kilgore is at Bowdoin College, Frank Kilgore and Edgar Widber are at Bethel – all the same age they hail from one school district here.

          West Bethel: Flora Wheeler, Bessie Harden and Edward Wheeler have gone to Bethel to attend the spring term at Gould Academy. Mrs. Lottie Whitman is teaching a private school that has taken two boys from the district school taught by Miss Wheeler. On the 9th there was a social dance at the Grange Hall. E.P. Grover’s singing school has been well attended. For a pleasant hour taxidermist W.H. Merrow has a large collection of  birds and animals in his rooms. A.K. Scribner is manufacturing and selling knife-boxes.

 

3-19-1886 (Advertiser):

          Gilead: The southern pine for repair of the suspension bridge has arrived. A select skating party was given at the Hall by Messrs E.E. Farwell, Lincoln Burbank and H.E. Coffin. I understand that a private school is to start soon – a good idea. Both Bennett and Skillings mills have been shut down for repairs but are expected to start up soon. The Concert by the Church Choir last Sunday came off well.

          West Bethel: E.J. Mains one of our industrious farmers – a champion on sheep raising – at last reports has 54 young lambs and has not lost a one. The school at the Flat district taught by Bertha Grover was highly spoken of by the school committee in the town meeting report. Bessie Harden is attending the academy at Bethel.

 
       Bethel: Profits of the liquor agency over the past year were $600. Mr. Chapman, the agent, says there has been quite a falling off in the sales since the Salvation Army came to Bethel and fears that if a stop is not put to their works the agency will not pay the running expenses for another year. The town officers are greatly exercised between the two. At the Parish meeting of the First Congregational Church it was voted to shingle one-half the roof this year.  The Ladies Circle intends to fresco the walls which will put the church into good condition.

The Oxford County Advertiser displayed this advertisement on its front page for a number of issues in 1886.
 
       The latest gossip here is to build suitable buildings and invite the Paris Sled Factory to move here and occupy. Gould Academy is running full blast with about one hundred scholars, many from distant towns. H.F. West, Esq., of Upton sends two  daughters.

 

3-23-1886 (Democrat):

          Albany: Lizzie Dresser is now teaching in a grammar school at Georgetown, Mass.  J. Henry Briggs of Woodstock has purchased the Alvin Upton farm and will move in immediately.

          East Bethel: Zenas W. Bartlett and Carrie M. Swan were married in Portland on the 16th of March and are now spending a few weeks in Boston. A.M. Bean has cut and landed on the banks of the Androscoggin River 325 cords of poplar. Fred C. Bean is at work for Tebbett’s Mfg. Company at Locke Mills.

          Newry: Town meeting was held on March 13th.  Moderator: S.R. Widber; Clerk and Treasurer: J.S. Brown; Selectmen: S.R. Widber, W.B. Wight and Oscar B. Littlehale; Supervisor of Schools, Stephen B. Foster. The town voted to raise a money tax for the repair of roads instead of a highway tax and J.B. Littlehale was chosen Commissioner. The town voted to change the town meeting date to the second Monday in March. Last Monday a festival was held at the Poplar Tavern by the North Newry Ladies Sewing Circle – it was to raise money for religious purposes.  Those attending enjoyed an oyster and baked bean supper with pastries – also gave generously to the fund.

          Bethel: Tuesday evening Rev. John Moore lectured in the Congregational Church vestry on the following: “Geological History of the Earth and Man” , Wednesday, “Antiquities of Ancient Egypt”, then the following Tuesday and Wednesday he will lecture on “Darwinism and Evolution” and “Ancient America”.  Seventy-five friends and neighbors of Samuel D. and Emily J. Philbrook took over their elegant home one evening last week to help the honored couple celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. (Mrs. Philbrook was the daughter of Ira C. Kimball of Bethel; they were married March 18, 1866.)

 

3-26-1886 (Advertiser):

          Albany: A foot and one half of damp snow – business is at a standstill. The crows are getting hungry and to relieve them from suffering C.L. Johnson is bringing his double-barrel shotgun to bear on them. At one shot he killed ten and another – seventeen. Loggers are returning from the woods with rather small pay. One man said that after paying his board he had just one-half dollar’s worth of tobacco more than what he started with. School district 1 has chosen A.G. Bean as agent.

          Bethel: A.E. Herrick has started building his new house (on Broad Street) with lumber from the mill of Locke & Hastings (Wild River). Samuel T. Stowell, 81, has kept snowfall records for 54 years. The most in any year was 17 feet (204 inches). This year up to March 16 we have had 80 inches; last year we received 124 inches. We expect much building in the coming season. Last week’s buffoonery about the liquor agency was not meant to be disrectful of religion. We only wanted to show the incongruity of the thing – multitudes want religious awakening and at the same time sustaining a rum agency with six hundred dollars profit.

          West Paris: Our chair factory is filling up. I learn that 13 more upholsterers are expected from New York soon. Mr. Kimball when here a week ago, was out looking for another building for his chair business, said to be much larger than this one built by the citizens last fall.

 

3-30-1886 (Democrat):

          Newry: Sledding could not be better right now. Potatoes are moving to market as fast as possible – Mr. John Swan the buyer at Bethel has been full for the last three weeks – unable to get (rail) cars fast enough to clear his store (on Railroad Street). Mort Thurston (at the Branch) is sawing dowel squares for his brother, J.A. Thurston.

          Bethel: About 15 inches of snow has fallen as I write this column. Many strangers in town this past week attending court – case was Hastings, Hammons & Co versus Taylor of Byron. There were three referees: George A. Wilson, Waldo Pettingill and Frank T. Brandly. Case involved title to many of the farms in Roxbury (north of Rumford). The Messrs Philbrook and Trafton are selling cattle from Bethel to Brighton, Mass. Many of the lumber teams are leaving the woods – report a very hard winter. Mary H. Chapman has finished her sixth term of school in Gorham, NH, judged very successful.  S.M. Locke, the venerable bear hunter of Byron was in Bethel last week. He has trapped 30 bears.

          Gilead: The selectmen have started to repair the suspension bridge. There will be a town meeting on the 31st to raise more money to repair the bridge. J.W. Kimball has held the office of postmaster for 30 years. Who has held the office longer? His son, Elmer, is the assistant who looks after the mail in a very satisfactory manner.

 

4-2-1886 (Advertiser):

          Locke Mills: Potatoes are coming to this place briskly. Seven teams arrived in one day coming from as far away as Andover, Byron, Roxbury and Rumford. E.E. Rand is paying 50 cents a bushel.

          Gilead: Repairs have commenced on the (suspension) bridge. The private school under the instruction of Nora Burbank commenced on the 20th with 18 scholars. The members of the John E. Willis Post of Gorham assisted by members of the Brown’s Post of Bethel gave a grand Camp-Fire at the Hall last Friday evening. Readings, speeches and war songs were features of the evening. Martial music was furnished by the full drum corps of the Willis Post. An oyster and pastry supper was served free to members of the posts. About thirty five members from Gorham and ten from Bethel were present.

          Bethel:  Elder Sessions, an Mormon elder from Salt Lake is in Bethel and the vicinity visiting friends. The Elder has a plurality of wives, nine we think and is the father of 50 children. One of his sons manages business at home and we understand that he is wealthy. Twenty five of his children are married and we understand that he has lots of grandchildren. He is writing up his genealogy. J.G. Rich who has a reputation of snaring rabbits recently emptied two traps into a bag – but the docility of one captured his attention. When Mr. Rich emptied the bag he discovered that one “rabbit” was a skunk. (This anecdote turned out to be an April Fool’s story.) Teams owned by W.W. Mason, O.H. Mason and Charles Mason came out of the woods last week. They have landed on Umbagog Lake and River 3,750,000 feet of spruce, cedar and pine. They sell their logs to Berlin Mills Co. and to Lewiston Steam Mill Co.

          C.E. Ward has purchased of Frank Young his job printing press, type, etc and is ready to fill orders with neatness and dispatch in this line of work. Calvin Bisbee has the best store of sugar cured hams ever tasted and sells them cheaply. He sells eggs at 12 cents a dozen and sells maple syrup at 25 cents a quart.

          Calvin Turner is out of the woods attending to his sick children. Mr. Turner has suffered several misfortunes this winter with the burning of his house and sickness in his family – he has the sympathy of our community. Col Edwards has some very nice mixed stock – Holstein and Durham. A.M. Edwards, Esq., of Lewiston High School, Herbert Edwards of a firm of merchants in Bridgton and Mrs. Seldon Phipps of Milan, NH, all children of Col. Edwards were at home last week on a visit.

 

4-6-1886 (Democrat):

          East Bethel: Warm spring weather – huge snow drifts are melting and many farmers at work in their sugar orchards. The Zenas Bartletts have returned from Boston. On the 31st they entertained many of their friends with music and refreshments. Porter Farwell has let his farm to G. Nason and has moved his family to William O. Holts.

          Albany: Our men who went to Wild and Sandy Rivers have returned and report a very small profit while those who stayed in town report a good business. P.P. Dresser and Son ended a successful season hauling their pine, birch and poplar to the banks of Crooked River and Knight’s Mill at North Waterford.  Others finishing the logging were: J.A. Kimball, John Flint, George W. French and J.F. Lord.

          Bethel: Our village is full of strangers waiting for the pay for winter in the logging camps. E.A. Smith has hauled from Bethel to Cal Turner’s camp at the headwaters of the Androscoggin more than 100 tons of freight at $8 a ton. April 3rd he takes his last load of grain to the camps. Mr. Turner is one of very few operators who pays his men before they leave the camp. Turner has the sympathy of all who know him due to the death of his oldest daughter from typhoid fever (his losing his house to fire). She had assumed care of the family after her mother’s death a few years ago.

 

4-9-1886 (Advertiser):

          East Bethel: The Dramatic Club of this place gave a very interesting program of entertainment featuring music, drama, dialog and tableau. Performing were: Mrs. Tavie Bean, Mrs. Etta Bartlett, and Mrs. Aggie Howe. Dialogs were: The Enrolling Officer and Taking a Photograph. Tableaus were: Two O’Clock in the Morning and Good Night. Songs – Song of the Whipporwill and We Had Better Bide a Wee. Drama: The Rewards of Crime.

          Locke Mills: L. Tebbetts has put a nice organ into his house purchased of W.J. Wheeler of South Paris. There will be a trotting of fast horses in the place next Saturday and every Saturday until further notice.

          West Bethel: A.S. Bean and C.J. Mason have returned from Portland with a car load of groceries and other goods which they always keep in good supply to accommodate their numerous customers. Milton Holt has a car load of goods on order that is expected this week. Mr. and Mrs. John P. Scribner will observe their 55th wedding anniversary on the 7th but traveling is too bad to allow them to go out to celebrate.

          Newry: The Thurston Bros. broke camp after getting out three million board feet of lumber. J.A. Thurston is equipping his mill at the Corner with saws for cutting long lumber.

          Albany:  Our mills are all at work. Fernald & Flint have a large stock of long and short lumber in their yard. Stephen Libby is running his board saw and has a quite a lot of short lumber in his yard. A.S. Bean has about the usual stock in the yard at his steam mill. Arthur E. Clark commences work this week at the chair factory in West Paris.

          Bethel: Lively times on our streets as men from the woods are spending money on buying new clothes from Ceylon and Ed Rowe. Judge Foster has contributed one half of a hundred dollars to the 1st Congregational Church fund for shingling and frescoeing the church.

 

4-13-1886 (Democrat):

          Oxford County Officers: Sheriff – Jordan Stacy of Porter (P.O. Kezar Falls). Deputy Sheriffs in Bethel: Alvin B. Godwin and Cyrus Wormell.

          Albany: Snow has disappeared very fast, streams are filling and mills are busy. Fernald & Flint are sawing short lumber. Oxen and horses (made surplus by the end of winter logging) are being sold quite freely at quite fair prices.

          Gilead: We have an addition to the winter in the shape of a snow storm – enough to cover the ground and improve sleighing. Sugar will be busy now tapping trees and making sugar.  Town meeting Saturday to elect a new treasurer who became a selectman  and to see about bridge repairs.  Camp fire meeting at the hall on March 26th was a great success. Five gallons of oysters were consumed.

 

4-27-1886 (Democrat):

Locke Mills: J.F. Libby has gone to Gorham, New Hampshire to  take charge of the high school.  There will be a ball at J.C. Ridlon’s on May Day night with Young’s Orchestra furnishing music. I understand that the Grand Trunk Railroad plans to build a new depot here.

West Bethel: At our district school meeting on the 17th, E.B. Shaw was chose Clerk and Nahum Mason was re-elected Agent. A barber shop is soon to open here – something we have never had in this village.

Bethel: Warm dry weather has melted the snow making roads passable. Business is resuming normal activity. Moses A. Mason is making extensive repairs to his old barn which he will use to store hay, using the new barn to house stock. The First Congregational Church society are about shingling and frescoing their church.  Logs are out of Bear River; Sunday River is full from its source to its mouth. A large number of men are improving the driving pitch to get the logs into the main river.

Gilead: The mercury has been at  80 three days running.  Repairs to the suspension bridge are far enough along to let teams pass but the railing is not yet finished. Abraham Lary drove home the best looking team of oxen that I have seen in some time.  A large jam of logs has formed above the suspension bridge and a crew of men have been at work since Tuesday with slow progress. The river is jammed full.

 

5-4-1886 (Democrat):

          Bethel: Snow in the woods is melting fast and the river is kept at a good driving pitch. Religious interest continues in the Salvation Army. Sadie Green now leads the meetings. Last Sabbath the hall was filled to its utmost capacity.  A.E. Herrick has commenced to put up his new house on Broad Street. Members of the Twelthf Maine Regiment are asked to send their name and address to Major A.M. True of Bethel. The next reunion will be in Portland on September 21st, 1886. Memorial services will be held at Evergreen Cemetery on the afternoon of Memorial Day. Rev. Mr. Sylvester and his wife have left to attend the Methodist Episcopal conference. It is the choice of the people that he will be returned as he is very much liked by all. The Waterspout Mountain Farm, an excellent stock farm,  is offered for sale – a good bargain for someone. According to the record there have been 21 snow storms this past winter. We have had no rain since April 4th and the roads are dry and dusty, grass is suffering for want of rain – the Androscoggin River has fallen six feet and the logs in Sandy (probably meant Sunday River) River are on dry ground.

          West Bethel: Milton Holt had four tons of sugar on hand when the recent price advance occurred. W. Dexter Mills is the agent for the sale of Bay State Fertilizer. Edward Wheeler has left Gould Academy to assist his father on the farm. Flora Wheeler has gone to Gorham, N.H. to be assistant teacher in the village school.

          Locke Mills: Charles Felt is at work at Mt. Abram House – painting, papering and white-washing. Mr. Smith is at work for E.L. Tebbetts finishing rooms in the attic.

          Newry: It has been very drive this spring. The drive on Sunday River has been hung up since last Sunday for want of water. Chick pox is in town.

 

5-11-1886 (Democrat):

          West Bethel: A Sabbath School was organized here by Benjamin M. Clark,  Superintendent. It will be held at 3:00 o’clock every Sunday. A large drive of logs passed here in the Androscoggin this week. A crew of 30 men pitched their tents at the mouth of Pleasant River. Another drive is following it, not far behind. Our village school starts on the 9th.

          Wilsons Mills: April has been drier than people here have ever known. Water is very low in the Magalloway.  Large jam occurred at the Aziscoos Falls.