Donald G. Bennett

The Bethel Journals

PO Box 763

Bethel, Maine

 

1894 Bethel Journal

Names

 

 

Newry:  Richard Trask and Amy Atherton were united in marriage January 1st, at the residence of the bride's father, Mr. C. D. Atherton, of this town. (In 1914, my grandparents, Howell and Daisy Crosby, bought the Atherton property then owned by Paulus Lowe.)

 

Bethel: Milton Penley of Bethel has been appointed by the governor agent of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 10/23/1894,  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.)

 

Bethel: Fred Edwards has started on a new milk route of about 20 customers.

 

Bethel Selectmen for 1894—Henry Farwell, Horatio N. Upton, and Jarvis C. Billings.

 

E.S. Kilborn has bought the George Hapgood building opposite the Odd Fellows Block. Charles Benson will move his goods from the store he now occupies to this vacant stand.

 

Gilead: Dr. C. D. Hill of Bethel went through town vaccinating all who wished to avail themselves of this wise precaution. (In Bethel, Dr. Hill was chair of the Bethel Board of Health.)

 

Ed Coburn has leased for the summer the famous hotel, "Anglers' Retreat" at Middle Dam. The house will be opened for sportsmen about the first of May. Ed and Charles Coburn are up at the place getting in ice and making repairs.

 

Horace Purington, the school (new grammar school) house contractor and two workmen arrived Wednesday. Several men were put to work on the stone work and the brick layers will start next week.

 

Bethel: Library association elected officers: President, Mrs. Ceylon Rowe; Vice President, Mrs. A.E. Herrick; Secretary, Annie Frye; Treasurer, Cora Burnham; Librarian, Mrs. Cloudman; Trustees, Mrs. O.M. Mason, Miss Burnham, Alfred True, Fannie Merrill, Mrs. F.B. Chandler.

 

John B. Chapman has bought the Grover buildings of the academy trustees, paying $150.  He will tear down the old barn and shed and will move the house down High Street to a lot between Coburn’s shoe shop and the chair factory finishing shop on Main Street.  George Hapgood has rented the house.

 

Fred Clark and Eli Stearns will open a meat and vegetable market in the room back of Hiram Perkins barber shop. They expect most of their business to be carried on with the out of town summer hotels.

 

Oxford County Convention at Paris Hill:  Augustus M. Carter of Bethel was a candidate for register of deeds as was J. Hastings Bean of Mason. After three ballots, Bean was chosen as nominee.

 

SOCIAL:  George Bourne Farnsworth’s Tennis and Croquet Club held a picnic on Paradise Hill. The club is in a flourishing condition and is made up of the following young people: president, Fred B. Merrill, vice president, Bertha Wiley; patronesses, Mrs. Gehring; Eva Twaddle, Alice Russell, Alice Andrews, Florence and Barbara Carter, Ethel Richardson, Sadie Mason, Joan Stearns, Robert Foster, Walter Lawrence, Mr. Deering and George Farnsworth. Among the invited guests to the picnic were Mrs. Rich and daughters, Mrs. Fannie Merrill of the Bethel House, Mrs. Prof. Chapman and daughter, Edwin Gehring and Alice B. Chamberlain. After the picnic and entertainment, the party rode through the village in a hayrack singing college songs. (The Gould Academy field house is named for this Farnsworth.)

 

Mill brook dam—Bethel:  James Hodgdon has a large crew men building a dam across the “mill brook” on the old Clough place. This dam is all stone,  280 feet  long  and 19 feet high and tapers to 8 feet at the top.  Mr. Hodgdon expects to get a head of 20 feet when it is completed.  A mill to work up small lumber will be run in a portion of the former corn shop.

 

Mason: About 10 PM September 12th, A.G. Lovejoy’s farm buildings were burned to the ground. Peter Chaissong, 27, of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia was arrested on suspicion of setting the fire by Detective Wormell and Officer Barker. Justice Rich found probable cause to keep the prisoner; he was held over without bail until the October term of the supreme court.

 

Bethel: On July 18th, John S. Swan of Bethel married Mrs. Lucy A. Coombs of Gorham, NH. Rev. Fickett of the Methodist church officiated. The couple took the afternoon express to Old Orchard and other places.

 

Gilead :  10/9/1894: 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.

 

Edwin Gehring and Herbert Rowe of Gould Academy class of 1894 went to Boston to take entrance exams for the (Massachusetts) Institute of Technology.

 

Fred A. Clark, 50, was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm (July 3 Democrat news) and instantly killed.  He had been giving Clint Barker a shave but had left to go home to his wife. He was hit on Vernon St opposite the Twitchell house where coincidently his wife was visiting Mrs. Wight in the Twitchell house. She was stunned by the same strike. She was not aware that her husband had been killed.

 

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.

 

Monday the Village Corporation met in the Volunteer hose company house to elect officers and transact business. A large crowd attended. G.R. Wiley read the warrant. The following officers were chosen: Moderator, R.A. Frye; Clerk, G.R. Wiley; Assessors, H.C. Andrews, J.U. Purington, and J.C. Billings; Treasurer, Ellery Park; Auditor, R.A. Frye; Collector ( 2 and ½ percent) Eli Barker; Engineers, J.C. Billings, S.N. Buck, and A.W. Grover.  Twelve fire police were chosen.

 

11/6/1894 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.

 

 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.

 

December 1894, 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.

 

 

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