The Narraguagus Valley Some Account of Its Early Settlement And

T HE N AR R A G U A G U S V A L L E Y S$ M E A C C O U NT $ F IT S E AR LY SE TTL E M E N T AN D SE TT L E R S Y M ILLIKEN A. B J . A glan ce at the map of the western part of Washington County will show that any treatment of the early settlement arra ua u s or upon the N g g River , necessarily involves more less e t of the histori s of Steuben , Milbridge , Harring on and Cherry l fie d . e 4 U Steuben was form rly township No . , East of nion ” 5 N . e River , and 0 comprised the territory now includ d in the herr field towns of Milbridge and Harrington . The town of C y 1 1 is composed of No . , Middle Division , Brigham Purchase , and of the northeastern part of what was formerly Steuben . All that part of Cherryfi eld lying south of the mills on the first 1 8 2 6 be or lower dam was , prior to , a part of Steu n , and was called Narraguagu s to distinguish it from the settlement in the “ ” was southwestern part , which called Head of the Bay , and “ ” the postoffice at Cherryfield was called Narraguagus un til - fi $ within some twenty ve years past . What is now the ourishing town o f M ilbridge was a part of Harrington until 1 848 . Har 5 1 7 9 1 rington ( No . ) was incorporated as a town in , Steuben h r fi l 1 1 18 1 6 4 1 7 9 5 C er e d . ( No . ) in , y ( No ) in , and the northeast T H E NARRAGUAGUS VALLEY. I part of Steuben was annexed to Cherryfi eld in 1 8 26 . find that t . prior to the incorporation of Harring on , that township and No 1 1 herr field r , C y , held their plantation meetings and kept thei records as one organization . At that time most o f the settlers in Harrington lived at M ill River , where the earliest settlement o w rr to was made . There was n settlement at hat is now Ha ing n village until several years later . r r I have found it impossible to asce tain the date o f the ve y . e earli st settlement upon the river , or the name of the man or men who felled the first tree and erected the first rude dwelling . There is a tradition that a man named Sprague had a home on the point below the creek near the house of the late David Small, and it is said that signs and relics of his forge are still to be found there . e fix The earliest settl rs , whose coming can be ed by any D well authenticated tradition , were Jabez Dorman , John ens m r I . o e , chabod Willey and Samuel Colson They came at or 17 5 7 . n . about the same time , Dorman came from Kennebu k m Willey and Densmore , and probably Colson , ca e from New Hampshire . Willey was English born , or born soon after his - r e . parents cam over His wi fe , Elizabeth Bumfo d , was born in rr . r Londonde y, Ireland He settled on the side of the hill nea m where Marshall Guptill now lives . His sons were Willia , I . chabod , John , Charles and James His daughters , Susan married Samuel Colson , Elizabeth married John Jordan, Molly married D Eben owns , Annie married Allen Downs , Abigail married D . Wm . White and Jane married Samuel avis Jane , the youngest, survived all her brothers and sisters and died about 1 8 8 2 at the 9 6 . age of years All the Willeys in all the region round about , few and they are not , are the descendants of this Ichabod and . W Elizabeth ( Bumford ) Willey . Mr illey was a millwright Narr u by trade and built the first mill on the ag agus River . Old people remember him as a large man o f great strengt h and en durance , though not so strong as he sometimes felt when a little elated . des William , the ol t son of Ichabod , married Elizabeth Pink . e P . ham Their children wer . Samuel , William , Robert . Richard T E N R E H A RAGUAGUS VALL Y . P . Polly m . John Door , Betsey m . Robert Leighton and $V m . Loring ilson . r Ichabod , J . , married Sally Fernald . Children , Abraham , John J . , Sabin P . Abigail m . Orrin Hall , Lydia m . Robert Pink ham , and Sally m . Maj or Dinsmore . John , third son of Ichabod , married Fanny Guptill . Chil . G. A. dren , Wm , Joseph , Amasa P . Maria m . Samuel Colson , e Olive m . J . B . White , Jane m . Oliv r Willey , and Elvira . Charles , fourth son of Ichabod , married Hannah Guptill . B. Children , Ichabod , Charles , Oliver and Orrin , twins , Daniel , . 1 Andrew and Alvin B Susan m Wm Carlton , Frances m . 2 . E F . Jacobs , and D E Nickels , Nancy m . Wm . Carlton and Eliza m . Bridgham . e Samuel Colson settled on the hill where Nathan C . Tuck r now lives . His sons were John , who went to Robbinston while young, Samuel , Alexander , Gerrish , Timothy , James and Moses . 1 . 2 His daughters , Sarah m Ben Ingersoll , Thomas Cushing, . e Molly m John Anderson , Lydia m . Tenn y, Fanny m . f John Brady . It is safe to a firm that all the Colsons in the western part o f the county are the direct descendants of Samuel Colson , named above . Jabez Dorman married Mary Godfrey and s ettled on the lot now occupied by Hannibal Curtis , j ust west of the Lynch hill , so called , and the lot continued in the possession of his descend ants , male or female , until within a few years . His children — were Nathaniel died at sea a young man . Ephraim m . Nabby Wilson , Benj amin m . Weston , Samuel m . Ruth Kingsley , Hannah m . Benjamin Sanborn , Olive m . Marshall Hill , Mary m . Benj amin Wakefield , Lucy m . Elias Foster ( Cooper ) , Hilda rl . m . Ca aw and Annie m Wm Lynch While the de cen an ts s d of the daughters are quite numerous in the county , but very few of the name re main . John Densmore— now called Dinsmore— settled on the lot next south o f the Dorman lot, where the widow of G . F . Dins more now lives . The Dinsmores of Lubec , Trescott and Whit ing , as well as all in this vicinity , are descendants of John Dens more . It may be well to remark in passing that in the early T H E NARRAGUAGU S VALLEY . the D , r days , name was sometimes called enbo and the e is at o least one family in Lubec who call themselves Denb , but are descendants of the same John Densmore . John Lawrence must have been one of the very early set . tlers on the river . He was by birth an Englishman His wi fe is said to have been a Townley . They came here from North Y we armouth in this State , and settled at what call the upper r r m . T co ner , very near where the Al f ed S all house is hey had but one child $ his name was John . He was a small child when m ’ r his parents came here . He grew to an s estate and ma ried r r Jenny Rol fe , whose parents lived in the Inte vale District nea where the schoolhouse now stands . John and his young wife settled on the lot now in possession of Gilbert Sproul and there raised a large family of sons and daughters . The sons were m . D . John m . Wilson , Aaron Lucy Leighton , aniel m S . o a umner , Larkin m . a Kingsley, William m Reyn lds , 1 2 3 . o James P m Amy Patten , an Alline , Matilda J nes , and rn x . Alpheus . His daughters were Polly . Ale Leighton , Jane m m m . W . Ca pbell , Sally m Amos G Guptill , Nancy m Otis Tucker . r . T r and Betsey m Geo ge Guptill O f all these , Nancy ucke and Betsey Guptill , are the only survivors . But the descendants of the sons and daughters are very numerous and are to be found . e all the way from St John to San Francisco , and ach one per fectly ready and willing to receive his or her distributive share o f the great Lawrence Townley estate that has waited so long for a claimant . 17 62 In , John Small came from Cape Elizabeth and settled M - on the lot below the creek , near the ethodist meeting house in Milbridge . His son Elisha , a fterward so well known as Deacon Small , was then four or five years old . He was the oldest son - by a second wi fe . He had several older half brothers . One o f D these , Jonathan Small , took up the lot next south o f the ea . T T Small lot , the same a fterwards owned by Joseph ucker . he sons of Jonathan were John , Joseph , Timothy , Daniel and James . o D The sons f John were John , Larkin , avid, Al fred and William . T H E NARRAGUAGUS ALLE V Y . T o he s ns o f Joseph were John , who was drowned at the 14 r r age o f in the rive nea the island now occupied by Mrs . a Driscoll, and Joseph , f ther of Joseph now living in Steuben .

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