Hampden Cor., Mar. 2, 1909.
My Dear Mr. Taber:
I send you today some facts and incidents relative to the early
settlers of Unity. They are at your disposal. You may use them as you
choose, alter, eliminate or add to them to suit your pleasure. I have
written them in a hurried, offhand manner, without time to review and
make alterations.
Sincerely your friend,
R. W. MURCH.
At the time my grandfather, Simeon Murch, moved into Unity, the country
was an unbroken forest east of Augusta, so that people were guided
by blazed lines (spotted trees). The method of moving was unique, but
neither comfortable nor convenient. As there was no road, the only
means of travel at hand was on horseback. A strong bedtick was fixed
astride the horse’s back, and the furniture was packed on each side.
The load was completed by putting father, then one year and a half old,
on one side, and an older sister on the other to balance. Thus they
moved from Gorham to what is now the town of Unity, grandfather walking
on one side of the horse and grandmother on the other.
Upon arriving at their destination, they found a small opening and a
log house which grandfather had provided the year before. Here they
began life in the wilderness. There were no stores, no shops of any
description, no mills, nor any of the conveniences of modern times.
They had not to wait long for food, for beans, potatoes and other
vegetables could be used as soon as grown, but corn before it could be
used had to be converted into meal, and there being no mill nearer than
Winslow, it had to be carried through the woods, by spotted trees, to
that town, to be ground. A number of neighbors would go together, each
taking a bushel of corn on his shoulders. They travelled a distance
of eighteen miles to the mill. They stayed in the mill all night and
returned the next day with the meal, less what two quarts would make,
which the miller took for toll.
Game was plentiful, the streams and brooks abounded with fish, so that
all they had to do was to go to the stream with hook and line and
in a few moments they could catch all they needed for their present
use. In those early times, shad and herring came up the outlet to the
“twenty-five mile pond.” After the Sinclair dam was built, I have heard
my father say that one could stand on the shore, and, with a sieve,
dip up a year’s supply of herring in a few moments.
In the clearing of the land in those days, there was a great deal of
hard work to be done, which required a number of men, such as rolling
large logs together to be burned. In such cases the neighbors used to
assist each other by changing work.
One day while a party were at work piling logs, they heard a loud and
prolonged squealing. It was evident that there was trouble among the
hogs, so they started for the point from which the noise came, and saw
a bear carrying off a hog. They gave chase and got so close upon the
bear that he dropped the hog, made for the woods and escaped. They
saved the hog, but it was so mutilated it had to be killed.
The first carriage that passed through Unity was a queer contrivance.
It consisted of two spruce poles fastened together at a convenient
distance apart. It was drawn by a bull fastened between the small ends
of the poles, the large ends dragging on the ground. On these poles was
fastened a large box suitable for what was to be transported. This was
an improvement on the horseback method. This car was driven by Thomas
Fowler.
We have but little conception of the struggles and hardships the
pioneers had to endure. They could not, as now, go into a store
and purchase clothing and footwear. In fact, these things were all
home-made, except boots and shoes. One pair of the latter had to do
service for a number of people. My father told me that at one time
there was only one pair of shoes in the neighborhood. Children had to
go barefoot the year around, except for the covering the mother could
furnish by knitting and old clothes.
Nowadays every family has its supply of wood on hand; then it was
supplied from day to day, as needed. Trees were twitched to the
dooryard when not too large, but large trees were hauled in sections
and cut for use from day to day. In winter it was sometimes pretty cold
for boys who had no shoes to protect their feet from the snow while
preparing wood for the fireplace. In order to avoid standing barefoot
on the snow, a large chip was heated and carried out to stand upon
until it became cold, when it was reheated. This method was adopted
only in cases of emergency.
The following is from Bunker Carter, who told me the story many years
ago. He said the first men who ever came to what is now Unity to make a
settlement were Mr. Carter and Mr. Ware. They came up the outlet of the
pond and landed on the “horseback,” did a little work and went back.
But the following year, Mr. Carter and another man, a Mr. Philbrook,
came back and made a settlement in the vicinity of the “horseback,” but
I have forgotten the exact locality.
What I have written of the hardships of my forefathers is just a type
of the struggle of all the pioneers of the town. Notwithstanding their
hardships, they were a contented people. The sun shone on their little
clearings as warmly and as brightly as it ever did on the larger
clearings of the wealthy, and the birds sang as sweetly as ever they
did in the parks of the nobles. They looked out on the growing crops
covering the charcoal stumps of the clearings, with thanksgiving to God
for what they enjoyed and for the bright prospects before them in the
results of their promising crops. They were happy, happier, I sometimes
think, than the people who now cultivate the large open fields of the
lands our forefathers struggled so hard to clear.