The The
1890 Journal Part
III – July – September May 3, 2007
July
Newry: Names – Mrs. Will Frost, Mrs. Howard
Thurston, Mrs. J.S. Allen, G.B. Knapp.
Mason:
Corn is small; haying will come early.
F.I Bean has finished his job as census enumerator. Names: E.T. Mains, Mrs. Charles F. Brown, J.H. Bean.
Mayville: “July 6, 1890,
the Second Congregational society voted to disband and closed the doors of the
church edifice to the public as a resort for public worship and the descendants
of the “prodigals” returned to the house of their father’s, less than a mile
distant, a free bridge making the way more easy, though by vote of the town no toll
was collected of persons passing to and from religious meetings.”*
*
“While the “Town Cattle Show and Fair” with race course attached was kept
intact the meeting house was used as an EXHIBITION HALL but when all this
(fair) became defunct there was no further use for the structure and it was
sold during the month of May, 1909, demolished, some of the timber going into
an addition to the Novelty Works (in the 1940’s, Hanover Dowel) building.”
(Leonard B. Chapman):
Our village has five billboards 60
feet long and 8 feet high with bills of Forepaugh’s great (wild west) show to
be here August 12th. One mile of pipe has been laid in the past
week. Ward K. Swan and Albion Holt are putting in a foundation for a house on
Newry: Names – Mrs. C.C. Harlow, J.H. Baker - Frank
Bisbee shingled his barn; A.H. Powers has painted his house.
Mason:
Names – Henry W. Judkins, Deacon J.H. Lovejoy of
The
largest freight bill ever paid to the Grand Trunk Railroad (at
Gilead: S.D. Hebron (or is it Hobson?)
of Island Pond, Vermont, has bought of Charles E. Dole of Portland, 38,000
acres of wild land situated in Coos County, New Hampshire, and joining the
Gilead line. Price paid was $100,000.
Mr. Edwin Elliot, engineer in Mr. J.W.
Bennett’s steam mill in
August
East Bethel: Most of the farmers have finished their
haying and report a good hay season. The dance last Thursday evening was
attended by a large crowd. Over fifty couples enjoyed the novelty of
springboard dancing. A number are going on the excursion next week and everyone
is going to the circus (Forepaugh’s Circus and Wild West Show, Bethel, August
12, 1890)
Mason: A.S. Bean has finished haying on both
of his farms in Mason. The dreaded drought was averted and vegetables are growing
well: peas, string beans and potatoes are plentiful.
Newry:
Thurston’s steam mill at Newry Corner is down with a broken shaft. We
are expecting a minister to occupy the Newry parsonage before long. A good deal
of hay has been gotten in this week in fine condition. Gilead: Hay is better than
expected; blueberries seem scarce on the mountains; weekly temperance meetings
are being held by the Rev. Messrs. More and McLucas in the town hall.
:
The show was heavily promoted
in
The town paid four
men $2.00 each to perform police duties at the circus.
8/12/1890 Democrat:
Bethel:
The Odd Fellows hall is taking shape rapidly. Mr. Cummings of West Paris has a
number of men pushing work ahead and will have it finished this week. Rev. Daniel Evans is supplying the pulpit of
the Congregational Church during August. Roscoe Cross of Bethel was returning from
Berlin, NH, where he had gone to sell meat and vegetables when he and his rig
were hit by the Grand Trunk Train No. 1 by the Lead Mine Bridge in Shelburne.
The horses were killed and he may have been fatally injured. Spinal injuries
have let the man paralyzed. Mrs. J.C. Brown and Mrs. Sylvanus Bennett of Albany
had driven to town to sell eggs and berries when their horse was frightened by
two young men, one on a bicycle and one on a bronco. One of the ladies was
thrown from the carriage. Eggs and berries
were destroyed. The two men secured the horse, repaired the damage and paid the
ladies for the loss or so it was reported.
Mason: A fire at George D. Morrill’s house that
had caused great alarm in the neighborhood when first discovered has caused
less damage than originally thought. Mrs. Morrill lost many clothes and the
writer hopes that neighbors can help her in this regard. The heat on Monday and
Tuesday was the greatest of the season and unbearable for man and beast.
Newry: Henry
Ryerson of Lowell, Mass., has come to cut the hay on his farm at Newry
Corner. Crops need a steady rain instead
of the showers followed by a dry wind. E.B. Knapp and his wife and Horace
Foster and his wife have gone to Parmachenee for a week’s visit.
West Bethel:
A.S. Bean is raised the frame of his new barn this
week. When completed it will be the
biggest barn in Bethel. George A. Grover has harvested 1,150 quarts of
strawberries this season. The assessor’s report of livestock in Bethel on April
1, 1890 shows the following: horses, 559; oxen, 165, cows, 646, young cattle,
938 and sheep, 1460.
Albany:
Several men from Otisfield are in town to help with haying. S.W. Libby has returned from employment at a
mill in Newry. Several families are enjoying
summer visits from other friends and family who live away.
North West Bethel:
Herman Skillings rides in a fine looking top buggy. M. Penley has sold
his meat cart. S.L. Mason works at
Bethel Hill.
8/19/1890 Democrat:
Bethel:
Friday the 13th, the Italians that work for the Bethel Water
Company celebrated the anniversary of one of their patron saints. About night
they became hilarious and some of them became pugnacious. Pistols and knives were frequently used with
one man shot through the neck and another badly cut. Sheriff Wormell made several arrests. Fred Leach a long time freight agent at the
Grand Trunk station died Saturday morning. The grain crop is ripening but with
the prospects of a light yield, potatoes are also adversely affected due to the
lack of rain. The blueberry crop is a failure. Gilbert Tuell is pushing his
work on Albert Burbank’s house. Mr. Cummings has the Odd Fellows hall covered;
he employs six men who are pushing their work. In the last twenty years there
has not been as much building activity in Bethel as is seen now. The boarding houses are full of guests and
the Chair Company is driven with orders.
“The Ladies
Circle (of the Congregational Church) has the great pleasure of announcing to
the public that a midsummer benefit concert in aid of the proposed Garland
Memorial Chapel will be given at the Congregational Church Monday evening,
August 18th, by Miss Alice Stoddard, soprano, Miss Emily Lawler,
contralto, Mr. Charles E. Dufft, baritone, Mr. William E. Reiger, tenor, Mr.
J.C. Read, tenor, and members of Dr. Kittredge’s church choir on Madison Avenue
and the 5th Avenue Baptist choir, New York. The concert is to be under the direction of Prof. William R. Chapman of
New York, formerly of Bethel. Mr.
Chapman as organist, pianist and director will arrange a programme sure to give
great pleasure to his many friends who are justly proud of his musical
abilities and remarkable success as leader of the Rubenstein Club of New York
and leader of other musical clubs of the highest artistic excellence. The
generous offer of these talented artists spending the summer among us will
bestow the greatest pleasure upon many in our community whose tastes are in
harmony with what these accomplished visitors will offer for an evening’s rare
enjoyment.”
Mason: The circus Tuesday drew most of our
people to Bethel Hill. Hardly a corporal’s guard were left at home and those
were gray haired grandfathers and grandmothers to care for the grand children
who were left at home. J.C. Bean and daughter
and H.G. Mason have gone to Boston for the Grand Army encampment.
Newry:
C.A. Baker, W.N. Powers, Amos Frost and Sam Frost went to Boston last Monday to
attend the Grand Army reunion. Everybody and everybody’s boys and girls went to
the circus Tuesday.
Gilead:
Many of the farmers are not yet through with their haying and many are
getting more than they expected. Corn is making rapid growth in this weather
and potato bugs are not so plentiful. T.H. Chapman of Milwaukee is stopping
with William Chapman. Most everybody went to Bethel to see 4-Paw and the Wild
West.
Bethel:
Gilbert Tuell with eight men has A.L. Burbank’s house about ready for the
plasters. Fritz Goddard is putting in the foundation for a house on the corner
of Elm and Railroad Streets. A. Holt and Ward Swan have their houses on Elm
Street nearly ready for the masons. The corn factory is ready for packing and
some pieces of corn will be ready for picking by September 1st. The Water Company will have water into the
village by September 1st.
While out riding with his wife and three children, Dr. Tuell was thrown
from the carriage. The horse ran out of control for more than a mile before Mr.
William Kendall was able to leap aboard and rein in the animal. Fortunately no
one was seriously injured.
Mason: Our army veterans have returned from
Boston and report the grandest time of their lives. They will always remember
it as the one great event of a lifetime. John Philbrook of Bethel has been in
town buying cows for the Brighton market. Cows are in good demand and bring a
fair price. Leon H. Tyler has commenced butchering; he will drive as far as
Bethel Hill.
September
9/2/1890 Democrat:
Bethel:
A very severe rainstorm on Wednesday saturated Bethel; the Androscoggin River
rose four feet. Several pieces of sweet corn are ready for picking but most
will need another two weeks of warm weather. The Water Company workmen are at
work in the village now; they are pushing to be done by October 1st. The Chair factory is driven with orders. Summer boarders are on their way home but
most boarding houses have the rooms re-engaged for September.
North
West Bethel: T. H. Chapman of
Milwaukee is at the Homestead Farm where he is having stumps blasted. Ned
Skillings of the Grand Trunk R. R. is on vacation but will soon be back on his
brakeman’s job. Ned Stearns is building a 20 x 40 foot ell.
West
Bethel: A.S. Bean will use 250,000
feet of lumber in the construction of his large barn. Potatoes are being dug to
avoid the ravages of the muck worm which is also damaging other crops. Although the corn crop is late the weather
has been favorable recently and farmers hope that the rains will hold off early
frost.
9/9/1890
Democrat:
Newry: The canning of sweet corn is to begin next
Monday in Bethel so I am told but there is little planted in this town. E.B.
Knapp is on the war path setting his bear traps.
North West Bethel:
Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Wright have closed their house and gone to join the
Harrington Concert Company. Mason: Corn here is maturing rapidly and will be
ready for the shop if we have no frost. North Albany: The Bean brothers are hauling their hemlock
bark to Bethel.
Gilead: The people are building a parsonage here
at the village. William Chapman is filling his silo at the rate of 30 tons a
day. He has 16 acres to cut and he has a crew blowing out stumps. The Temperance Revival which has been going
on here has done a lot of good. A lodge of Good Templars is to be instituted
here soon.
West
Bethel: The Grand Trunk fence crew
has been working near here for the past week. Our Sabbath school is well
attended this summer. Mr. and Mrs. O.J. Pierce of Chicago have been staying
with C.C. Merrill where Mrs. P. could visit the scene of her childhood on the
homestead farm of the late Col. Eli Twitchell.
Bethel:
The corn shop opened Wednesday and it is getting some fine corn. They (the new
shop near the depot) are supplied with water by the Bethel Water Company. Ira
Jordan of Locke Mills has bought the store formerly occupied by Woodbury and
Purington of the heirs of R.A. Chapman. They will immediately repair the
building and occupy it for a general store and dwelling. Deacon J. U. Purington
has raised his house eleven feet and put a new story under it in the past week.
Mr. Roberts of Hanover has charge of the work. Gilbert Tuell has charge of the
joiner work. Fassett and Thompson of
Portland made the plans. S.D. Philbrook has sold three lots on Church Street
and the parties plan to build immediately.
Copy of an advertisement
announcing Governor Burleigh’s win in the September 1890 election.
9/16/1890 Democrat:
Bethel:
The rain last week has retarded work of all kinds around town. The water
company has their pipes laid on Main, High, Chapman and Broad Streets and it is
ready to supply the Grand Trunk R. R. with water. The corn factory is busying with the annual
canning and the chair factory has many orders to fill. Ira Jordan has moved
into the Chapman store and tenement.
J.M. Philbrook is sending more cattle to the Brighton market. Bethel
people are attending the state fair in Lewiston.
Newry: State election passed off very quietly in
Newry. The vote for Governor ended with
two more votes for the Democrat. The vote for Representative was a tie, not bad
for Newry. The Widow Harlow is selling her crops and preparing to move to
Buckfield. Corn is rising and pigs are
cheap, a dollar with buy a good one four weeks old.
East
Bethel: The farmers are picking and drawing their (sweet) corn to the
factories.
West
Bethel: A wet spell is not very agreeable to farmers who want to dig their
potatoes to avoid further muck worm damage and rot. It also has prevented some from attending the
state fair in Lewiston.
Albany:
Our farmers are picking their Lima beans but the crop is not as good as last
year; some of the corn taken to the corn factory has been rejected because it
was deemed to be too ripe. The corn canners have draped themselves with more
authority in the fall than in the spring. Our farmers must look at their
contracts more carefully. 9/30/1890 Democrat:
East
Bethel: Our first frost occurred
on Thursday, September 25th, but the farmers were prepared for
it. Potatoes are rotting in the ground
and beans are very much damaged by the wet weather. William E. Swan of
Massachusetts has sold his residence and land to James M. Bartlett.
West
Bethel: A new floor has been put into our village school house by our
enterprising school committee. This week will close the harvesting of sweet
corn. Fall apples find a ready market at $2 and $2.30 per barrel.
North West Bethel: School began September 15th. Miss Florence Twitchell teaches in District
#3 and Miss Arvilla Grover teaches in District #29. There are busy times at the
Chapman Homestead Farm – plowing, etc.
Mason:
The first frost of the season and kills high and low but everyone had fair warning.
The last loads of sweet corn were picked yesterday.
Bethel: Corn canning at
Bethel closed Friday; 275,000 cans were packed and mostly #1 corn. The Grand
Trunk R.R. is laying its pipes from the Water Company’s pipes to their stand
pipe. Mr. York our photographer received four chairs on Thursday from the
Our schools opened Monday the 15th of
September. Dr. John G. Gehring is giving much time to
their organization under the new system.
9-19-1890
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