October 2, 1894 Democrat

 

Wilson’s Mills

 

Mrs. M.H. Fickett died at Wentworth’s Location September 18th at age 88. The burial was from her old home on Sept. 21st. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. S.S. York with singing by the Errol choir, Ina Akers, organist.  (She was my great, great grandmother. DGB)

 

Mason

 

F.I. and J.H. Bean sold quite a load of hogs to Philbrook. Two weighed 440 and 415 pounds besides several smaller ones.

 

Gilead

 

The school houses have been undergoing repairs and the schools opened Monday. Miss Mollie Barker of Bethel is in charge of the school in the village.  Districts 2 and 3 united under the charge of Miss Celia Leighton of Gilead.

 

 

 10/9/1894:

 

Gilead: Marshall Hastings is attending the grammar school at Bethel. “Jack” Chapman is at Hebron Academy. Miss Marion Chapman entered Smith College. Mr. Han C. Chapman returned to Colby College.

 

The Broad Street and Mechanic Street school houses and lots were sold at public auction on Friday afternoon (10/19/1894). The Broad Street lot is about 2 1/2 by 5 rods and was sold to Eben Kilborn for $450. The Mechanic Street lot is about 4 by 7 rods and was sold to Ira Jordan for $400. Both purchases included the buildings on each piece of land. The sale was held at the school house on Broad Street

 

Bethel 10/9/1894: A boiler and steam heating apparatus are being set up in the Elms Hotel. W.F. Lovejoy & Sons, of the Bethel House, will occupy the Elms, and close the other hotel during the winter.

 

Gilead 10/9/1894:  October 1st, Mr. D.R. Hastings the new postmaster appointed by the government, opened his new office, which is neatly fitted up in the Hodgman store. The retiring postmaster, Mr. J.W. Kimball, has served in this capacity for thirty-eight years.

 

Mrs. D.L. Austin who is quite ill is under the treatment of a Faith Science doctor of Portland and Mr. Eugene Green of Providence who is also a Faith Science practitioner.

 

There are two or three cases of typhoid fever at the village.

 

Rumford Falls 10/16/1894:

 

Huts are being erected up along the Swift River valley to accommodate the railroad men.

 

The Paper Co is putting in a sulphite plant of their own near the mill and is employing a large number of men.

 

The Fletcher sulphite mills, which were obliged to delay their completion owing to the stringency of the money market, are now busy building again.

 

Rumford Falls is in the same situation as two years ago  with no place to accommodate those who are coming here to work. Every house is filled and it looks like new workers will have to find board outside of town.

 

10/16/1894:

 

Bethel : The cider mill near the corn factory is running full blast. A hydraulic press capable of exerting a pressure of 200,000 pounds is now used in the business. Piping is completed for the evaporator that will handle over forty bushels of apples a day.

 

Lightning struck the iron stack on Wyman’s corn factory. Part of the lightning bolt ran down a guy wire and tore up several lengths of the Grand Trunk fence. Another branch of the same lightning strike ran down the stack into the engine room, thence through the whole set of buildings following the water and steam pipes. Curtis Abbott, bookkeeper, Mr. Wyman and C.L. McGoon were in the office and not more than ten feet from the place where the current left a pipe and leaped through the floor. Mr. Wyman was paralyzed for a few seconds but soon recovered. The event occurred on a day when the full crew was not working.

 

West Bethel

Bean’s Hotel in this village is nearly completed and is to be run as a public house of the first order as well as a boarding house for Mr. Bean’s many workmen.

 

In the Flat Road cemetery, D.B. Grover has had a substantial and elegant granite monument place in his family lot.  It will mark the burial place of one of the most prominent families in town. Mr. Grover is preparing to leave for his California home.

 

A.S. Bean has also had placed a monument of about the same size and proportions over the grave of his father and other members of his family. Also, John Bean has placed a substantial marble monument on his lot

 

10/23/1894

 

Bethel

 

Four large hot air furnaces, Portland portable furnaces, have been installed in the basement in the Cole Block. They are set and in working condition. Mr. L.F. Grover did the job of putting together and piping. The steam heating apparatus has been removed from the Cole Block, owned by the Bethel Savings Bank.

 

Rev. Mr. Jordan and Hon. E.W. Woodbury attended the Congregational conference at Berlin, NH.

 

Gould Academy competed in field day events at the Norway fair grounds. Gould lost their cup.

 

The Broad Street and Mechanic Street school houses and lots were sold at public auction. The Broad Street lot is about  2 and 1/2 by 5 rods and was sold to Eben Kilborn for $450. The Mechanic Street lot is about 4 by 7 rods and was sold to Ira Jordan for $400.  Both purchases included the buildings on each lot.

 

Milton Penley has moved his family from Northwest Bethel to this village. His meat business will now be carried on in the store under the Bethel Library. (In 2008, this building stands at  9 Church Street.)

 

The Methodist society ladies held a successful harvest fair in Pattee’s Hall. More than 100 tickets were sold for the supper.  Items sold included artificial and cut flowers, vegetables, ice cream, fancy articles.

 

West Bethel: On October 11th, there was a grand opening ball at the new Bean’s Hall. The supper was highly praised. “When ‘Alph’ undertakes to do a good thing he always does it. To Mr. Bean’s credit no intoxicating drinks were seen about the place.

 

Mr. Milliken has taken possession of the farm he just purchased from D.B. Grover. Grover will soon move to his California home.

 

10/30/1894 

 

West Bethel:

 

E.B. Shaw had three sheep attacked by dogs. The sheep had to be killed. Selectman H. N. Upton has been investigating the matter. The dogs are still at

large.

 

Bethel: The Bethel Chair Co. has purchased a large amount of stumpage of birch, spruce and hard wood of Elias Thomas near Bethel and will operate this winter. Lumber taken from this land will be manufactured at the Bethel mill.

 

Accounting for the new Bethel Grammar School:  In the town report for 1894, the expenses were broken down as follows:

 

 

NOVEMBER

 

11/6/1894

 

East Bethel:  W.H. Tracy of Locke Mills has opened the store at this place and moved his family into Miss Helen Bartlett’s rent. There was a thunderstorm November 1st.

 

North Newry: Dennis Kilgore has moved the post office to Poplar Tavern. He is to run the house for the ensuing year. S.A. Eames (probably the manager) has moved out.

 

Newry: The cider mills are about ready to close up operations after running full blast for a number of weeks.

 

11/13/1894:

 

Bethel 

 

Advertisement in the Democrat:

 

Gould Academy, Bethel, Maine. 

E.M. Simpson, A.B., Prin., Latin, Greek and Mathematics— Miss Lucia H. Morrill, History, English and Modern Languages—Miss Jennie M. Wood, Science, Free-Hand Drawing and Book-keeping. This school offers a thorough English education and fits for the various New England college and technical schools.  Fall term closes Friday, November 16th. Winter term of twelve weeks opens Tuesday, December 4th.  For particulars, address.    G.R. Wiley, Sec., Bethel, Maine

 

West Bethel:

 

A bear story. Mr. Charles L. Abbott found a bear actually eating one of his sheep but did not have his firearm.  He attacked the bear vigorously with stones hoping to drive him up a tree but with a full meal in his belly the bear decided to just leave.

 

A.S. Bean’s mill is not running this week.

 

Mr. Moses Mason of Albany was on his way to the Bethel Hill cider mill with a load of apples and cider barrels when he tried to secure a loose barrel without stopping his team. He fell from his wagon and the wheels passed over both of his legs below the knees breaking one and badly bruising the other. He was found, taken to his home and a surgeon telegraphed for.

 

Bethel:

 

A large order was received  at the corn factory, the labeling crew are again busy. The cans are packed in cases only as needed.

 

Ira Jordan is making preparations to move the Mechanic Street school house to a different location on the same lot. The building is to be fitted into a cozy rent. He will convert the school house into a double tenement.

 

J.C. Billings’ blacksmith and carriage shop has been undergoing repairs recently.

 

Mr. E. C. Rowe bought the house of Alvan Godwin at auction sale. A small amount of personal property was sold to other bidders.

 

At a recent meeting of the Bethel Library Association it was voted to spend $15 for the latest books on the market.

 

11/20/1894

 

Rumford Falls: The Rumford Falls Trust Company chartered by the legislature of 1893, will open for business on January 1, 1895 and possibly as early as December 1, 1894. The business depression of 1893 caused the delay until now.

 

Monthly payrolls of corporations and firms here now amount to more than $20,000. There are thirteen manufacturing establishments, five contractors, thirty stores, eleven professional offices and twenty other business places. The Swift River Railroad (Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes Railroad) insure additional business at Rumford Falls.

 

PARIS AND NORWAY RAILWAY

 

The article of association of the Paris and Norway Railway have been approved by the railroad commissioners, and the following subscribers have chosen directors: George L. Beal, Norway; John F. Hill, Augusta; H.L. Shepherd, Rockport; George E. Macomber, Augusta.

 

The company expects to begin the construction of an electric road between South Paris and Norway villages in the spring.

 

Newry: Jim Spinney  is getting out dowel and stave timber for J.A. Thurston.

 

Mason: D.E. Mills has a small job drawing ship knees to West Bethel.

 

West Bethel:  Business is quite lively at this place. Thirteen cars were counted standing on the sidings loaded and being loaded. E.G. Wheeler has sold his apples to Philbrook & Howe of Berlin, N.H. Messrs Shaw and Tyler are holding theirs for higher prices.

 

Bethel:  Charles L. Davis has been delivering a large amount of coal in the village for $6.50. We have eleven inches of snow here to insure good sleighing.  The senior class at Gould Academy chose bottle-green and pink as their class color.

 

All are busy at the chair factory and the finishing shop has been opened every evening for several weeks past.

 

Fred L. Edwards has been buying large quantities of apples this fall. They are now stored in the cellar under the I.O.O.F block. 

 

At the corn factory, the last case of corn has been labeled.

 

11/27/1894

 

Niagara Falls News—New Turbines:  Front page of the Democrat reported that the falls WILL SOON BE TAMED, The great turbine wheels set up—one hundred thousand horsepower to be developed soon—probable effect upon the falls—the great tunnel.

 

The illustration for this article shows a plane of the dynamo being lowered into its concrete housing. Four years have been spent laboring to get ready for the turbines to be installed.

 

Maine News:  How much do you estimate is the amount that sportsmen bring into Maine in a year?  Game Commissioner Stanley said about $3,000,000.  A conference of game commissioners from around New England was held at the State House.

 

Bethel:  Miss Mary True and her pupil have gone to Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to visit Prof. Alexander Graham Bell and family at their country estate. They have recently returned from Boston where they attended the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the Horace Mann school for deaf mutes.

 

The Ladies Club will re-open the “Sanding-Brook” school in Odeon Hall on December 11th.

 

A union service of Bethel churches will be held Thanksgiving evening.

 

For the past week our court room (in the lock-up) has been the liveliest place in the village. One case involved stealing a harness and was tried before Justice Rich.  While awaiting a decision, the prisoner went home on bail.  Mr. Cotton, overseer of the town farm, will appear on the charge of abusive treatment of one of the farm’s inmates. Cases are set for Monday and Tuesday.

 

West Bethel: E.B. Shaw is repairing the heating apparatus in the school house. A.S. Bean has arrive home from New York and business is lively at the mill.

 

Gilead: The much talked of long awaited horse sheds have materialized in the back of the church building—very useful, but not ornamental, they are comfortable for the horses and convenient for the drivers.

 

Mr. Fairbrother who was so badly scalded in the Wild River railroad accident is recovering and will soon be able to return to his home in Portland.

 

Newry:  J.S. Allen has bought stumpage of N.S. Baker and is cutting dowel and stave timber for J.A. Thurston. O.E. Baker is sawing timber for J.S. Allen.

 

Our selectmen have spent some days endeavoring to establish the line between Andover West Surplus and Newry.

 

DECEMBER    

 

12/4/1894 

 

Bethel: C.E. Bisbee has bought the Clark Street house of Mrs. Harding and is currently remodeling it. Davis Lovejoy will clerk for Mr. Bisbee replacing Fred Roberts who is leaving for China, Maine.

 

Some of the young men home from college are: Edwin Gehring, Boston School of Technology; and  Herbert Rowe from Harvard.

 

Dr. Tenney, oculist, will be at Bethel House for two days, December 5th and 6th. It will be his last visit here for a year.

 

Grafton:  Reports say that M.L. and J.A. Thurston will put into the streams two million feet of spruce. A part of the timber will be landed on the Bear River in Newry and part on the West Branch in Andover Surplus.

 

12/11/1894

 

Bethel: Gould Academy opened its winter term with the same corps of teachers as the fall term.

 

Mr. F.E. Young of the Bethel Chair Company was in Boston looking after holiday business.

 

Notice was posted as follows:

 

Concerning the Sanding Brook School in Odeon Hall. “The Deestrick Skule in the Sanding Brook District will begin Tuesday, December 11, ’94” And continue for thirteen weeks under the charge of Mrs. Cyrene S. Littlehale. Skule will commence at 7 1-2 o’clock P.M. (This was apparently a W.C.T.U. program which would be supervised by a male committee—part of the effort by the W.C.T.U. to use Odeon Hall facilities to keep young people away from drinking.)

 

West Bethel: E.B. Shaw is moving potatoes at 40 c. a bushel.  Farmers seem anxious to sell at that price and there are quite a good many for sale. Apples are also in greater supply than demand.

 

12/18/1894

 

East Bethel: Mr. and Mrs. Moses A. Kimball celebrated their Golden Wedding on December 10th. Moses had married Miss Catherine Young of Greenwood. Their three daughters and only son live in Massachusetts.

 

Bethel:  Mr. Wiley from Milford, NH, has been here shipping apples. He has started for the West with 10 car loads purchased in Bethel and vicinity. He will return later and ship another lot.

 

There have been frequent fire alarms this week. Most fires were quickly extinguished but in the case of a fire at Miss Sarah Hall’s Drug Store she lost new stock just received for Christmas.

 

Harvey C. Philbrook is loading wood on cars at West Bethel to send 1,200 cords to Lewiston.

 

Mrs. Laura A. Bartlett, widow of Curatio T. Bartlett, died in Bethel on December 14th. She was 78. Funeral service was held at the home of her son Leland Bartlett (Eli Twitchell homestead in Mayville.)

 

West Bethel:  Charles Dunham has improved his dairy herd by adding a new strain of Jersey blood and is going to breed for quantity as well as quality.

 

East Bethel:  Mrs. Daniel S. Hastings of Ubet, Montana, visited J.D. Hastings and other relatives here last week. She will visit her daughter, Mrs. Ernest Skinner, at Dorchester, Mass. Her son Harold is at Wesleyan University, Conn., and will join her in Dorchester.

 

Newry: Charles Douglass is moving the steamer North Star lately purchased in Hanover, to the lakes. It takes a strong team and lots of time.

 

E.B. Knapp spent Thanksgiving in Boston. He took his firs along with him to sell.

 

Everything a farmer has to sell is way down, but taxes have not fallen.

 

12/25/1894

 

Bethel: The past week has chiefly been devoted to Christmas preparations. There is very little snow on the ground in the village but some large logs are being hauled from the Abbott lot to Morrill’s mill. W.C.T. U. meetings are continuing—two petitions are in circulation:  one, for the legislature to grant municipal suffrage to women and, two, the other is in the interest of temperance– in effect that the selling of liquor shall be brought to harmonized with the constitution.

 

After returning from Boston recently, Dr. John G. Gehring is arranging to expand his poultry business. Bethel Chair Company has been rushing for the past week getting off holiday orders.

 

Gilead: There was a masquerade ball at the hall—a pleasant affair for the dancers. Music was furnished by the Gorham orchestra—and a large party from Gorham attended.

 

East Bethel:  C.R. Kimball, D.W. Cole and C.C. Swan are riding in handsome new sleighs.

 

West Bethel: Our school supervisor has not been able to hire a teacher for the school in the village.

 

Mason: S.O. Grover took the scholars of our school for a ride to Bethel where they visited the old “Deestrick Skule” at Odeon Hall.

 

Pages– Home 1 | Jan-Mar 2  |  [Apr-May 3 | Jun  4  | Jul-Sep 5  |  Oct-Dec 6  |  Town Report 7  |  School Report 8  |  Names 9  | Railroad 10

 

Donald G. Bennett, The Bethel Journals , PO Box 763, Bethel, ME 04217

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1894 Bethel Journal

Part Four—October to December 1894

 

FROM THE W.C.T.U

 

“The most pleasant place for our young men to spend their evenings is in the reading room (Odeon Hall).”

 

Halloween

Bethel: 

 

One joker celebrated the last night of October in a Fourth of July style. Thursday morning, Perkins barber shop and Bryant’s meat market were decorated with strips of burlap, dry goods boxes, cord wood and bundles of fencing wire from Brown’s hardware store. Part of a woodpile near the chair finishing shop (Rialto Hall) was piled up on the sidewalk.