_Ladies and Gentlemen_:
We have gathered today to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary
of the founding of our town. One hundred years of continuous growth
and continuous prosperity lie behind us. In 1804, the primeval forest
stood here undisturbed save where, here and there, some hardy settler
had made a clearing for his home. In 1904 a prosperous town has taken
its place.
As we recalled the past, as we recalled that from which we have
developed, it seemed fitting that we should celebrate our progress and
that we should invite to rejoice with us those who are interested in
the present development of the town, and those who also knew it in its
earlier days.
You have responded loyally to the summons, and, in the name of the
citizens of Unity, I welcome you here today. Come to our homes--they
stand open to you; appeal to our hospitality--you will not find it
lacking; visit the scenes of your childhood--you will be welcome.
You are our guests. It is our pleasure to make you feel that you have
indeed come _home_; that the old town welcomes back her sons and
daughters with joy and pride, and asks in return only their loyalty and
support.
* * * * *
The human mind has always a passion for beginnings, for the first
things in a man’s or nation’s life, and it is for the gratification
of this natural interest that I have been asked to give before this
assembly a few facts which I have gathered from time to time concerning
the beginnings and early history of Unity.
It is only a few days since I was informed that this labor would
devolve upon me, otherwise I might have presented the subject matter in
greater detail and more pleasing form.
A hundred and twenty-five years ago, Unity was like the greater part of
Maine, all forest land. Not an axe nor a hammer had been heard within
its limits. Occasionally, a wandering Indian passed through, or a
settler in search of a home, but that was all, until two of the latter,
Carter and Ware, journeying across the country, pitched their tent near
the outlet of Unity pond and finally settled there.
This is the first settlement of which we have any record, and the
first name by which the town was known was the Twenty-five Mile Pond
Plantation, so called from its distance from Fort Halifax in Winslow,
which still stands. It was at the time of the Indian troubles and
the new settlers were soon driven from their home, but when these
difficulties had ceased, Carter returned and became the founder of one
of the early families of the town.
In 1782, Stephen Chase, many of whose descendants are today citizens of
Unity, came riding through the forest with his family, a strong, hardy
man, ready to battle with difficulties in clearing and settling the new
land. His settlement was on the “horseback,” near the east shore of the
pond, but later he built the first frame barn and frame house in the
town, on the site now occupied by the residence of F. A. Whitten.
Stephen Chase was a preacher of the Society of Friends, and for many
years ministered to the people in that capacity. He lived to the age of
eighty years, and his wife attained the remarkable age of one hundred
and six years.
A few years after Mr. Chase’s settlement, in the field notes of Hayden,
the surveyor, this minute was made: “I found upon the stream leading
from Unity pond to the Sebasticook a man by the name of Mitchell,
building a mill upon what I called a very good mill privilege.” This
was on the site of the present Moulton Mill. The first grist mill of
which we have any knowledge was built upon the rapids, just above
this. A rude dam was constructed, and water conducted through a hollow
log, onto an overshot wheel, which furnished power for the mill.
Civilization having advanced thus far, new settlers were not lacking.
Between 1792 and 1810, the following men came to the town: Clement
Rackliff, Benjamin and Lemuel Bartlett from Limington; Simeon Murch
from Gorham; John Melvin from Manchester, N. H., the latter settling on
a farm now owned by his grandson, John Thompson. This same Mr. Melvin
brought with him apple seeds and planted the first orchard in the town.
Joseph Woods came from Standish and settled on the farm now owned by
Wesley Woods. Mark Libby, Robert Carll, Henry Farwell and John Perley
arrived here at about this time. They came on horseback, sometimes
guided only by the blazed trees, bringing with them their tools, a few
household implements and indomitable courage.
We find in the records that it was during this early period that the
first barn was built on the F. A. Whitten place, and the second, which
still stands, on the C. C. Fowler farm. A grist mill also was built at
the Farwell Mills.
Rufus Burnham, M. D., for whom the town of Burnham was named, moved
to town and afterward purchased the first stove ever brought into
Unity. This was set up in the house now occupied by the speaker. Other
settlers were Cornforth, Kelley, Parkhurst and Hunt.
The first settlements had been made on the “horseback”; here and there
a house arose in different parts of the town, but the real trend of
civilization tended now toward the central part of the town, or what
is now the J. H. Cook district, and it is there that we find houses
were going up and schools and churches built. This was called “The
Settlement,” and it was at this time the business center.
A man by the name of Brackett lived on the place now owned by C. S.
Cook, and manufactured clocks and oilcloth carpeting. The first store
was kept by a man by the name of Hopkins, in the house now belonging
to George Murch. In this same settlement, Joseph Ames made hand rakes,
and beyond to the eastward was the dwelling of Dr. Knowles, who served
thirty years in succession as town clerk. Houses were erected on the
sites of the present Varney, Hussey and Larrabee homesteads, and the
settlement became large and prosperous for the period.
Meantime, municipal government was to be thought of. The first
plantation meeting was held at the home of John Chase, on June 30,
1803, and the second at the residence of Lemuel Bartlett. The first
town meeting was held at the home of Benjamin Rackliff, an innholder.
* * * * *
Like the Massachusetts brethren who founded churches almost before
they founded their homes, these settlers early looked to the religious
welfare of the community. Before a church building could be thought of,
two societies had been formed, the Friends and the Baptists, the former
under the leadership of Stephen Chase, the latter under John Whitney.
The first church, however, of which I find any record was built by the
Methodists, not far from the home of Peter Ayer, in 1826. One year
later, the Friends’ church was built, on the site of the present church
of this denomination. A Congregationalist church, erected on the main
road, near the B. B. Stevens place, was afterward moved to the village,
and, the society having disbanded, was sold and taken down. The present
Union church was finished in 1841.
But even earlier than this, the little settlement on the hill, in spite
of the work incident to settlement in a new and uncleared land, had
remembered the need of education, had felt the stimulus that leads
fathers to wish for their sons a better education than they themselves
had, and had built schoolhouses for their youth.
A little after the nineteenth century came in, clearings were made and
business was transferred to Unity Village, or Antioch, as it was then
called. The first schoolhouse built at the village was on the Pond
road, beyond Bartlett’s barn, and was moved to the C. E. Stevens place,
afterward to the present site of Harrison Damon’s house, and is now
occupied as a dwelling by A. W. Harding. The old brick school building
followed, which stood on the site of the old White schoolhouse, both of
which have been superseded by our present modern building, which ranks
among the finest in the villages of the state.
These are a few of the facts which may be of interest to you. Of the
life of the period, interesting though it is, I have no time to speak.
Our ancestors were honest, hardworking, God-fearing men, who struggled
for existence at home in the early life of our state; and when the call
came, four went out bravely to help conquer the British. These men were
John Melvin, Thomas Fowler, James Packard and Nathan Parkhurst.
In the war of 1812, eleven responded to the call: Robert Blanchard,
Nathaniel Stevens, Josiah Murch, Elisha Bither, George I. Fowler,
Archelaus Hunt, Eben Reynolds, Robert Carll, Nathaniel Carll, Dean
and Mark Libby. Two went to the Mexican war: Otis Whitmore and Joseph
Bither. I find on the roll the names of eighty who fought loyally for
the Stars and Stripes in the Rebellion of 1861. Those who remained at
home, worked with a will, we read in the records of the industries
that now sprang up. A grist mill was built, now called “Conners’
Mill,” which is nearly a hundred years old; plows and stoves were
manufactured by T. B. Hussey; a grist and cloth mill was put up at the
Farwell Mills; other mills followed in different parts of the town, and
factories were built.
Among the early California pioneers who went around Cape Horn in the
ship, Hampden, in 1849, were Hon. Crosby Fowler and his brother,
Dutton, Stephen and Joseph Rackliffe. In 1852, Charles Taber and Gorham
Hamilton went by way of the Isthmus, and in 1854, J. F. Parkhurst,
Crosby Fowler and Wilbur Mitchell went to Missouri, bought two hundred
head of cattle, and drove them over the mountains to California.
It should be noted as an item of interest that one of the masts of the
ship, Constitution, was cut on the C. E. Fowler place and hauled to the
Sebasticook river by sixteen yoke of oxen, one pair being necessary to
haul the rum.
But the glory of a town, like that of a nation, is in the men and
women that it sends forth. Unity has sons who have won high place in
the business, the political and the educational world. Go to Florida
and you will find there as manager of the Ponce De Leon, one of the
largest hotels in the country, a son of our former hotel keeper, John
L. Seavey. One of the worthy citizens of Jackson, Mich., is John T.
Main, M. D., formerly of Unity; Nelson Dingley, Jr., who was afterward
governor, member of Congress, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,
spent his boyhood days here.
Hon. John Crosby, whose eloquence has electrified vast audiences, first
practiced upon the school boys of Unity; George C. Chase, now the
honored president of Bates College, is a native of our town; the noted
painter, Walter M. Brackett of Boston, was also born in Unity.
_Friends and Fellow Citizens_:
We are proud of our ancestors and their work, we are proud of our town
as you see it today, and if this anniversary shall strengthen our
pride, shall increase the loyalty of our citizens, and cause our hearts
to beat with a stronger love and patriotism for our native town, those
who have labored for this day will feel that the recompense has indeed
been sufficient.