1850 U. S. census: Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA. Occupation: Physician.
MARRIAGE INFORMATION:
First married to Nancy Woodburn on September 12, 1793 at Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts. She was born on June 20, 1763 and she died on October 24, 1807, at Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This marriage produced two children, a son Woodman, and a daughter, Delia.
A child of this marriage, Nancy Woodburn Rice, was born on January 24, 1794, married to Henry Ebenezer Dibblee on January 14, 1827, and died on July 4, 1832. Henry Ebenezer Dibblee was born on January 12, 1803.
DEATH INFORMATION:
Age at death: 84 years, 7 months, and 19 days.
Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA town vital records records his death as follows:
Dr. Charles Rice. Died March 1, 1854 85 yrs about. [Note: His name is not Dr. Charles Rice; it is Dr. Samuel Rice; Dennysville death record shows his name, in error, as Dr. Charles Rice.]
OTHER INFORMATION:
He was a doctor.
He died at eighty-five (85) years old.
The family of Dr. Samuel Rice and Elizabeth Putnam lived in the following places:
Place/Date
New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts 1809
Houlton, Aroostook County, Maine 1811
Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada 1823
Dennysville, Washington County, Massachusetts 1850
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 16, 1895
HOULTON MEN AT WOODSTOCK.
Something About Joseph Houlton [1756-1832], Aaron Putnam [1773-1849], Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Dr. Charles D. Rice [1810-1853].
[No. 55]
The early history of Woodstock is of necessity somewhat interwoven with that of Houlton and a few words are now in order about the men whose names appear at the head of this chapter. For much of the information that will be given the writer is indebted to “The Story of Houlton” by Francis Barnes published in 1889.
The legislature of Massachusetts in the year 1799 granted to the trustees of the Academy in New Salem, a half township of wilderness land to be located in the eastern part of Maine, then a district under the jurisdiction of the State of Massachusetts. The academy trustees appear to have had a voice in the selection of their land and they wisely secured a tract to the north of the granite belt that strikes across eastern Maine through New Brunswick to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The half township allotted in accordance with their wishes, included the southern half of the present town of Houlton, and contained 11,520 acres. Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] of New Salem, visited the place in the summer of 1801, and was very favorably impressed with the quality of the soil, the beautiful stream a branch of the Meduxnakik, that flowed through it, and the wealth of forest that grew on its banks. Under his supervision the grant was surveyed and laid out in lots for settlers that summer by Park Holland. For some time nothing further was accomplished and as the act of the legislature required that six families should become actual settlers within a limited period, the lands were soon in danger of being forfeited.
Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] was then in the prime of manhood and the owner of a good farm in New Salem. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and others who aided in the formation of the settlement at Houlton were similarly situated. Yet they resolved to relinquish the comforts of civilization and to begin life anew in the unbroken forests of north eastern Maine. It surely required much resolution thus to plunge into the pathless wilderness and effect the establishment of a settlement in so wild and unknown a region so far removed from the coast and not even having a navigable river for the transport of supplies.
There was a woman at the bottom of the movement and that woman was Lydia Putnam [1732-1820]. Her maiden name was Lydia Trask [1732-1820] and she was no common woman as the sequel will show. Her father [John Trask 1704-1755] had served under General Wolfe in the old French war, and died with him upon the plains of Abraham. She married Amos Putnam [1722-1799] and by his death was left a widow with five children. She resided with her youngest son Aaron [1773-1849] at the time the grant was made to the New Salem Academy. In the year 1810 the trustees of the academy sold their half township to ten purchasers in the following proportions, viz., one fifth part to Joseph Houlton [1756-1832]; one-eight part each to Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823], one tenth each to John Putnam [1762-1827], Joshua Putnam [1772-1835], Rufus Clowes and John Chamberlain; and one twentieth each to William Bowman, Consider Hastings and Thomas Powers. Of these purchasers Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was son of Lydia (Trask) Putnam [1732-1820], John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835] were her husband’s nephews, Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] had married her second daughter Sarah [1762-1843] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823] had married her oldest daughter Hannah [1754-1832]. Her nieces Elizabeth [1775- 1850] and Eunice [1766-1837] (sisters of John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835]) married Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Samuel Kendall [1748-1835] - men who afterwards filled a leading place in the early life of Houlton and Woodstock. Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] wife was Isa Patrick [1773-1867] of Weston, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1804, Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Joseph Putnam [sic - probably Joshua Putnam (1772-1835)or John (1762-1827)] started from New Salem in quest of their future homes. They hired an Indian with his canoe to take them through the wilderness to the river St. John by the old historic Indian route up the Penobscot and then by the Mattawamkeag and the Chiputneticook lakes to Eel river. When they had arrived at the lakes they unwisely allowed their Indian guide to return, and in the attempt to make the portage from North Lake to Eel river lake they lost their way and wandered for miles in the woods. By making a dip net out of a shirt they managed to scoop up a few fish from a stream that teemed with trout and thus saved themselves from starvation. They finally reached the St. John river about thirty five miles below the town of Woodstock thoroughly worn out and exhausted. These two pioneers with the assistance of the Woodstock settlers soon after cleared a rough pathway of Bulls Creek; to their plantation at Houlton. The trees were “blazed” along they way and the route was familiarly known as “the spotted line.” It could only be traversed on horse back or on foot. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] returned to New Salem for his family and the next year they set out for their new home. From Boston they sailed to St. John and up the river to Fredericton. Here they were obliged to embark their goods and chattels in a small boat in which, after the usual tedious passage, they reached the old ferry landing below Bull’s Creek. The younger men of the party proceeded on through the woods by the spotted line and during the summer made small clearings to ensure possession of their lots.
Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] now decided to remain with his family on the bank of the river St. John until some further progress had been made at Houlton. He accordingly bought out the stand where Daniel McSheffrey, the old sergeant of DeLancey’s brigade, had kept tavern, near the old ferry. Here he began keeping store and tavern with the usual entertainment for travelers who were then few and far between. The store was the first one in the Woodstock settlement. Rev. Frederick Dibblee [1753-1826] in his diary mentions the fact of Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] residing at the ferry landing in the autumn of 1805, and he makes incidental mention of him from time to time during the next few years in such common places as the following:
“November 9, 1806 - Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] killed my oxen; the pair weighted 1448 lbs.”
During their residence at Woodstock the family attended the parish church of which Mrs. Putnam (probably the mother) [Lydia (Trask) Putnam 1732-1820] was a communicant member in 1807. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was granted a tavern license in 1806 by the York County Sessions of the Peace on payment of the customary fee of ten shillings and the license was renewed the three following years. While he lived at Woodstock his family consisted of his wife, his mother, and his sons Amos [1794-1849] and Jay Stillman [1803-1880] aged 9 and 3 years respectively; also a boy, whom he took to bring up, named Joseph Goodenough. His third son Lysander [1806-1886] was born at Woodstock Sept. 21, 1806 [sic - birth December 27, 1806].
In the autumn of 1809 Aaron [1773-1849] and his cousin John Putnam [1762-1827] moved to Houlton. It is said that he did not accumulate much money by store keeping at Woodstock. While there, however, he showed his enterprise by being the first to employ a horse to haul a tow boat from Fredericton to Woodstock: others speedily followed his example and thenceforth the boats were built with a view of substituting horse power for man power. Soon after his arrival at Houlton Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] again displayed his spirit of enterprise by building a mill dam across the creek. It was washed away and rebuilt a number of times before it became permanently fixed. He built a grist mill which was a great accommodation to the little settlement. There was no miller in charge but any of the settlers who chose could grind their wheat or corn, and rude was the mill it was an improvement upon the hand mills that many of the settlers in other places had to depend upon for the first year or two.
The next of the Houlton colony that claims our attention is Samuel Rice M. D. [1769-1854] who with his son Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was afterwards even more prominent at Woodstock than at Houlton. Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] married Aaron [sic: should be John and Joshua] Putnam’s sister Elizabeth [1775-1850]. He was a physician in good practice at New Salem in the year 1807 when he purchased from William Bowman his share of the Houlton plantation. He moved with his wife and family to Houlton in 1811. His children were: (1) Mary [1819-1866] who married her cousin Franklin Houlton; [1814-1877] (2) Elizabeth [1813-1866] who married in Eastport [sic: married December 25, 1842 in Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada]; (3) Charles [1810-1853], of whom more will be presently said; (4) Samuel [1815-1884] who entered the ministry and removed to Ontario. In addition to their own children the doctor and Mrs. Rice brought with them three of her sister Mrs. Kendall’s children. After a year’s experience in a log house they moved into a more commodious frame dwelling built by a carpenter named Wormwood, who came to Houlton shortly after the doctor settled there. This was the first frame house built at Houlton; there were not more than three frame houses in the Woodstock settlement at that time. After the decease of old Doctor Larlee of Northampton, Doctor Rice [1769-1854] was the only physician in the vicinity of Woodstock, and his calls in that direction became more and more frequent until at length, at the solicitation of the inhabitants, he decided to remove thither. He bought land and raised his house and moved there in 1820. It was completed by Shephard Cary of Houlton, then a very young man, and was considered quite a mansion in its day. The house was afterwards bought by the late A. K. Smedes Wetmore Esq. and is now occupied by Mrs. James P. Wetmore; it is still in good condition. For nearly thirty years Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] pursued the practice of his profession at Woodstock with credit to himself, and usefulness to the public. He spent his declining years with his two daughters in the United States. His son Charles [1810-1853] studied medicine at Bowdoin College and succeeded his father at Woodstock where he soon established quite a reputation as a skillful physician and in the course of an extensive practice acquired considerably property.
When Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] first came to Woodstock he might be seen almost any day jogging along on horse back over the rough country roads, his saddle bags well stocked with medicines. As he grew older and the roads improved he found the wagon an easier means of locomotion. He was the first in Woodstock to drive a chaise and the arrival of that vehicle excited the wonder and admiration of the juveniles whose greatest ambition was to ride in it. As the Woodstock settlement progressed Dr. Rice [1769-1854] found it to his interest to move into town, and he accordingly built a new house opposite the Roman Catholic chapel; this house was afterwards occupied by George Strickland and later by Col. R. B. Ketchum.
Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] in addition to his skill as a medical man was one of Woodstock’s most useful and active citizens. Being by birth an American he was naturalized as a British subject. He was appointment surgeon to the militia forces of the country. He possessed excellent natural gifts as a public lecturer, clothing his ideas in easy and familiar language and his appearance on the platform was always hailed with pleasure. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Mechanics Institute was established at Woodstock about the year 1847.
In social intercourse Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was always cheerful and sometimes gay; he possessed rare conversational powers and always contributed his full proportion of amusement to whatever company he happened to be among. He resided for years in the upper part of town. He became much interested in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and in the end became a convert to his peculiar religious views which he endeavoured to propagate among his friends with little success. After some years he removed to Eastport where he died of hemorrhage of the lungs. His widow [Jane Rhoda (Porter) Rice 1822-1890] returned to Woodstock where she lived for many years.
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 30, 1895
ROBERT A. HAY
And His Reminiscences of Woodstock as it was in 1821
For the short sketch of the life of one of Woodstock’s most esteemed and enterprising citizens in former days the writer is largely indebted to his nephew Mr. George C. Hay, principal of the Victoria school St. John, and also to his daughter Mrs. W. S. Corbett of Woodstock. The reminiscences that follow for the sketch were written by the late Mr. Hay for the Carleton Sentinel and appeared in that paper in November 1879. It is to be regretted that he did not place on record more of his recollections of Woodstock’s early days.
Among the many men who came to Woodstock in its infancy and by energy and perseverance help to build it up was Robert A. Hay. He was born in Digby, N. S., March 15th, 1808, and died at Woodstock, Dec. 10th, 1882. His father, John Hay, died in 1817, and that is the year the family removed to New Brunswick. The family consisted of an elder brother the late William Hay, who lived in St. John and afterward at Norton, Kings county, and a younger sister, Mrs. Thomas C. Upham who is still living at the age of 82 in Boston. He married Jane McKean of Richmond. Two children survive him - Mrs. W. S. Corbett, and Mr. Brundage hay both of Woodstock.
Mr. Hay came to Woodstock when only fourteen years of age. He was fond of relating that coming in sight of what was then a mere hamlet on a beautiful evening in early summer, its picturesque situation so impressed him that he determined to make it his home. No citizen was concerned more in the growth and material progress of the city of Woodstock than he. In early life he engaged in the mercantile and lumbering business and was the head of the firm of Hay & Brundage. He afterwards purchased the foundry of the late Nelson Baker, enlarged it and carried it on with advantage and profit to the town and himself. He was about the first to employ the use of steam in his business. The old foundry situated below the creek did quite a large business in its day and was the precursor of Small & Fishers foundry. He took an active part in all public works, and was the chief promoter of the first railway that entered the town - the Woodstock branch, whose president he was for several years. Failing health compelled him to retire from active business pursuits many years before his death, but his interest in the public affairs of the city of his adoption remained undiminished until a lingering and severe illness brought his active and useful career to a close.
Mr. Hay’s early reminiscences of Woodstock are as follows: “On the 26th day of July 1821, I landed in the Parish of Woodstock from a small boat towed by one horse from Fredericton; we were only 3 ½ days on the passage, which was then considered pretty good time.
It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to know who some of the first settlers in this parish were, so I will begin at Bull’s Creek and continue up to the parish line. First was Captain Bull, a fine, hale, pleasant old man full of fun; he was a whig in politics and took delight in teasing his tory neighbors, but they all respected him and never had any social party without inviting him as they knew it would be a dull affair unless he was present.
The next was old Mr. Rogers, a very quiet inoffensive man, who owned the farm on which Mr. Charles Bull now resides.
The next was Charles Ketchum, a first rate, honest man, and a good neighbor, but a high tory. It was said that tory notions were so strong in him that he would not sleep in a room in which a picture of George Washington hung on the wall.
The next was Rev. Parson Dibblee, a good man and much respected by all who knew him; he was the first minister of the Gospel in this parish; he owned a large tract of land reaching from Roger’s up to the glebe or church land.
Next above the church land was the Griffith property; a small part of this land had been sold to Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854], who had recently removed here from Houlton, and built a fine house, at the time the largest in the parish. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was the only doctor in the parish for a number of years. He could be seen every day, rain or shine, jogging along on horse back, with his saddle bags well stored with medicine for his patients, for you know that there were no apothecary shops here in those days, not foe many years after. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was a very kind man and a good doctor. At the time I refer to the Griffith farm was occupied by Benjamin and Robert Griffith; their father, Major Griffith, had died some years previous but their mother was still living.
The next was the Bedell farm, occupied by the old squire and his sons. William J. was then married, the other sons were not married but lived with their father. The young men kept a small store, owned a tow boat, and carried on lumbering pretty largely for those times. The old Squire was a first rate man who, in the absence of Parson Dibblee, read the service in church, and he did most of the marrying. He was one of the best of neighbors, kind to his family and everybody else, always pleasant and willing to lend a helping hand to the poor; but one had to be careful on approaching him not to touch “church and state” if they did he would fire up in a minute; he was a high tory and a good man.
The next was the Peabody farm, at that time occupied by three brothers James, Charles and George: this property had formerly been owned by a man named Clark who had sold out.
Next above was the farm owned by William Dibblee (“Uncle Bill”) and old bachelor who lived with his mother, a very old woman: this property is now owned and occupied by Mr. Charles W. Raymond. Then comes the John D. Beardsley farm now occupied by Mr. Charles Beardsley: then the Jackson property and then the Slocomb property.
Next we come to Michael Smith’s (“Uncle Mike”) a fine property at present owned by Mr. William D. Smith. Mr. Smith was a very kind, good and inoffensive man, who had no enemies but many friends; he raised a large family many of whom are still living.
Next was Squire James Upham, also a first rate man, and adjoining him was his brother William Upham (“Uncle Bill”) as he was generally called. He had no family but consoled himself for that want by the use of his fiddle, which he was very fond of.
The next farm was owned by the late George Bull, a son of old Captain Bull. This property formerly belonged to Captain Jacob Smith, and was sold by him to Mr. Bull, his son-in-law. This property joined the one owned and occupied by Captain Jacob Smith, who lived himself in the same house on the south side of the creek now known as the old waggon shop, but at the time a very respectably house. Captain Smith was a fine, healthy, robust old man, always ready for a trade, very active in business, very fond of a good horse and loved to ride at a Jesu pace. There are many funny anecdotes told by his furious driving in the early days of the settlement, when there were no roads. They had very many fine horses in those days; Woodstock has always been noted for good horses, but I think the horses then were quite equal to those of the present day. The property on the north side of the creek was owned by Captain Richard Smith, son of Captain Jacob Smith: he was also a very good kind of man but, unfortunately was troubled with the palsy, which caused his death a few years after.
Next came Mr. Anthony Baker - the property is now owned, as I am told, by Rev. Thomas Todd.
Captain Thomas Phillips owned and occupied the next property. The Captain kept a small store, carried on considerable lumbering, and had a tow boat. It must be remembered that it was no small matter to own a tow boat in those days; I do not think there were over five or six on the whole length of the river from Fredericton to Wakefield; and these boats were very small and would only carry about sixty barrels.
David Jackson occupied the adjoining property and next above is the property lately owned by Mr. Charles Marven, but at the time I came to Woodstock not occupied at all, so far as I know.
We now come to the property owned by the late Colonel Richard Ketchum, now owned by Mr. John Fisher; the upper line of this farm is also the parish line. The late Colonel Ketchum was a man of a great deal of push and energy, always full of business. He ever took great interest in the welfare of the country and was always ready to lend a helping hand to the new settler and others whom he thought worthy of his aid; he had a large family who all have passed away.
All these people of whom I have written were loyalists and the most of them high tories, and notwithstanding their many privations they appeared to enjoy themselves and to be as happy as people are in the present day, except only when Captain Bull would stir up their bile by speaking favorably of General Washington; then you might look for a breeze especially if our friend Charles Ketchum was round. There is another thing that I might mention of these old settlers, of course in those days at their social parties or social gatherings the bottle went freely round and as a natural consequence, their words flowed pretty freely, but no man can say that he ever saw any of them intoxicated, they would have considered it a disgrace.”
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
MARRIAGE INFORMATION:
First married to Nancy Woodburn on September 12, 1793 at Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts. She was born on June 20, 1763 and she died on October 24, 1807, at Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This marriage produced two children, a son Woodman, and a daughter, Delia.
A child of this marriage, Nancy Woodburn Rice, was born on January 24, 1794, married to Henry Ebenezer Dibblee on January 14, 1827, and died on July 4, 1832. Henry Ebenezer Dibblee was born on January 12, 1803.
DEATH INFORMATION:
Age at death: 84 years, 7 months, and 19 days.
Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA town vital records records his death as follows:
Dr. Charles Rice. Died March 1, 1854 85 yrs about. [Note: His name is not Dr. Charles Rice; it is Dr. Samuel Rice; Dennysville death record shows his name, in error, as Dr. Charles Rice.]
OTHER INFORMATION:
He was a doctor.
He died at eighty-five (85) years old.
The family of Dr. Samuel Rice and Elizabeth Putnam lived in the following places:
Place/Date
New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts 1809
Houlton, Aroostook County, Maine 1811
Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada 1823
Dennysville, Washington County, Massachusetts 1850
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 16, 1895
HOULTON MEN AT WOODSTOCK.
Something About Joseph Houlton [1756-1832], Aaron Putnam [1773-1849], Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Dr. Charles D. Rice [1810-1853].
[No. 55]
The early history of Woodstock is of necessity somewhat interwoven with that of Houlton and a few words are now in order about the men whose names appear at the head of this chapter. For much of the information that will be given the writer is indebted to “The Story of Houlton” by Francis Barnes published in 1889.
The legislature of Massachusetts in the year 1799 granted to the trustees of the Academy in New Salem, a half township of wilderness land to be located in the eastern part of Maine, then a district under the jurisdiction of the State of Massachusetts. The academy trustees appear to have had a voice in the selection of their land and they wisely secured a tract to the north of the granite belt that strikes across eastern Maine through New Brunswick to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The half township allotted in accordance with their wishes, included the southern half of the present town of Houlton, and contained 11,520 acres. Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] of New Salem, visited the place in the summer of 1801, and was very favorably impressed with the quality of the soil, the beautiful stream a branch of the Meduxnakik, that flowed through it, and the wealth of forest that grew on its banks. Under his supervision the grant was surveyed and laid out in lots for settlers that summer by Park Holland. For some time nothing further was accomplished and as the act of the legislature required that six families should become actual settlers within a limited period, the lands were soon in danger of being forfeited.
Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] was then in the prime of manhood and the owner of a good farm in New Salem. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and others who aided in the formation of the settlement at Houlton were similarly situated. Yet they resolved to relinquish the comforts of civilization and to begin life anew in the unbroken forests of north eastern Maine. It surely required much resolution thus to plunge into the pathless wilderness and effect the establishment of a settlement in so wild and unknown a region so far removed from the coast and not even having a navigable river for the transport of supplies.
There was a woman at the bottom of the movement and that woman was Lydia Putnam [1732-1820]. Her maiden name was Lydia Trask [1732-1820] and she was no common woman as the sequel will show. Her father [John Trask 1704-1755] had served under General Wolfe in the old French war, and died with him upon the plains of Abraham. She married Amos Putnam [1722-1799] and by his death was left a widow with five children. She resided with her youngest son Aaron [1773-1849] at the time the grant was made to the New Salem Academy. In the year 1810 the trustees of the academy sold their half township to ten purchasers in the following proportions, viz., one fifth part to Joseph Houlton [1756-1832]; one-eight part each to Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823], one tenth each to John Putnam [1762-1827], Joshua Putnam [1772-1835], Rufus Clowes and John Chamberlain; and one twentieth each to William Bowman, Consider Hastings and Thomas Powers. Of these purchasers Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was son of Lydia (Trask) Putnam [1732-1820], John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835] were her husband’s nephews, Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] had married her second daughter Sarah [1762-1843] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823] had married her oldest daughter Hannah [1754-1832]. Her nieces Elizabeth [1775- 1850] and Eunice [1766-1837] (sisters of John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835]) married Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Samuel Kendall [1748-1835] - men who afterwards filled a leading place in the early life of Houlton and Woodstock. Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] wife was Isa Patrick [1773-1867] of Weston, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1804, Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Joseph Putnam [sic - probably Joshua Putnam (1772-1835)or John (1762-1827)] started from New Salem in quest of their future homes. They hired an Indian with his canoe to take them through the wilderness to the river St. John by the old historic Indian route up the Penobscot and then by the Mattawamkeag and the Chiputneticook lakes to Eel river. When they had arrived at the lakes they unwisely allowed their Indian guide to return, and in the attempt to make the portage from North Lake to Eel river lake they lost their way and wandered for miles in the woods. By making a dip net out of a shirt they managed to scoop up a few fish from a stream that teemed with trout and thus saved themselves from starvation. They finally reached the St. John river about thirty five miles below the town of Woodstock thoroughly worn out and exhausted. These two pioneers with the assistance of the Woodstock settlers soon after cleared a rough pathway of Bulls Creek; to their plantation at Houlton. The trees were “blazed” along they way and the route was familiarly known as “the spotted line.” It could only be traversed on horse back or on foot. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] returned to New Salem for his family and the next year they set out for their new home. From Boston they sailed to St. John and up the river to Fredericton. Here they were obliged to embark their goods and chattels in a small boat in which, after the usual tedious passage, they reached the old ferry landing below Bull’s Creek. The younger men of the party proceeded on through the woods by the spotted line and during the summer made small clearings to ensure possession of their lots.
Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] now decided to remain with his family on the bank of the river St. John until some further progress had been made at Houlton. He accordingly bought out the stand where Daniel McSheffrey, the old sergeant of DeLancey’s brigade, had kept tavern, near the old ferry. Here he began keeping store and tavern with the usual entertainment for travelers who were then few and far between. The store was the first one in the Woodstock settlement. Rev. Frederick Dibblee [1753-1826] in his diary mentions the fact of Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] residing at the ferry landing in the autumn of 1805, and he makes incidental mention of him from time to time during the next few years in such common places as the following:
“November 9, 1806 - Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] killed my oxen; the pair weighted 1448 lbs.”
During their residence at Woodstock the family attended the parish church of which Mrs. Putnam (probably the mother) [Lydia (Trask) Putnam 1732-1820] was a communicant member in 1807. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was granted a tavern license in 1806 by the York County Sessions of the Peace on payment of the customary fee of ten shillings and the license was renewed the three following years. While he lived at Woodstock his family consisted of his wife, his mother, and his sons Amos [1794-1849] and Jay Stillman [1803-1880] aged 9 and 3 years respectively; also a boy, whom he took to bring up, named Joseph Goodenough. His third son Lysander [1806-1886] was born at Woodstock Sept. 21, 1806 [sic - birth December 27, 1806].
In the autumn of 1809 Aaron [1773-1849] and his cousin John Putnam [1762-1827] moved to Houlton. It is said that he did not accumulate much money by store keeping at Woodstock. While there, however, he showed his enterprise by being the first to employ a horse to haul a tow boat from Fredericton to Woodstock: others speedily followed his example and thenceforth the boats were built with a view of substituting horse power for man power. Soon after his arrival at Houlton Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] again displayed his spirit of enterprise by building a mill dam across the creek. It was washed away and rebuilt a number of times before it became permanently fixed. He built a grist mill which was a great accommodation to the little settlement. There was no miller in charge but any of the settlers who chose could grind their wheat or corn, and rude was the mill it was an improvement upon the hand mills that many of the settlers in other places had to depend upon for the first year or two.
The next of the Houlton colony that claims our attention is Samuel Rice M. D. [1769-1854] who with his son Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was afterwards even more prominent at Woodstock than at Houlton. Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] married Aaron [sic: should be John and Joshua] Putnam’s sister Elizabeth [1775-1850]. He was a physician in good practice at New Salem in the year 1807 when he purchased from William Bowman his share of the Houlton plantation. He moved with his wife and family to Houlton in 1811. His children were: (1) Mary [1819-1866] who married her cousin Franklin Houlton; [1814-1877] (2) Elizabeth [1813-1866] who married in Eastport [sic: married December 25, 1842 in Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada]; (3) Charles [1810-1853], of whom more will be presently said; (4) Samuel [1815-1884] who entered the ministry and removed to Ontario. In addition to their own children the doctor and Mrs. Rice brought with them three of her sister Mrs. Kendall’s children. After a year’s experience in a log house they moved into a more commodious frame dwelling built by a carpenter named Wormwood, who came to Houlton shortly after the doctor settled there. This was the first frame house built at Houlton; there were not more than three frame houses in the Woodstock settlement at that time. After the decease of old Doctor Larlee of Northampton, Doctor Rice [1769-1854] was the only physician in the vicinity of Woodstock, and his calls in that direction became more and more frequent until at length, at the solicitation of the inhabitants, he decided to remove thither. He bought land and raised his house and moved there in 1820. It was completed by Shephard Cary of Houlton, then a very young man, and was considered quite a mansion in its day. The house was afterwards bought by the late A. K. Smedes Wetmore Esq. and is now occupied by Mrs. James P. Wetmore; it is still in good condition. For nearly thirty years Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] pursued the practice of his profession at Woodstock with credit to himself, and usefulness to the public. He spent his declining years with his two daughters in the United States. His son Charles [1810-1853] studied medicine at Bowdoin College and succeeded his father at Woodstock where he soon established quite a reputation as a skillful physician and in the course of an extensive practice acquired considerably property.
When Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] first came to Woodstock he might be seen almost any day jogging along on horse back over the rough country roads, his saddle bags well stocked with medicines. As he grew older and the roads improved he found the wagon an easier means of locomotion. He was the first in Woodstock to drive a chaise and the arrival of that vehicle excited the wonder and admiration of the juveniles whose greatest ambition was to ride in it. As the Woodstock settlement progressed Dr. Rice [1769-1854] found it to his interest to move into town, and he accordingly built a new house opposite the Roman Catholic chapel; this house was afterwards occupied by George Strickland and later by Col. R. B. Ketchum.
Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] in addition to his skill as a medical man was one of Woodstock’s most useful and active citizens. Being by birth an American he was naturalized as a British subject. He was appointment surgeon to the militia forces of the country. He possessed excellent natural gifts as a public lecturer, clothing his ideas in easy and familiar language and his appearance on the platform was always hailed with pleasure. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Mechanics Institute was established at Woodstock about the year 1847.
In social intercourse Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was always cheerful and sometimes gay; he possessed rare conversational powers and always contributed his full proportion of amusement to whatever company he happened to be among. He resided for years in the upper part of town. He became much interested in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and in the end became a convert to his peculiar religious views which he endeavoured to propagate among his friends with little success. After some years he removed to Eastport where he died of hemorrhage of the lungs. His widow [Jane Rhoda (Porter) Rice 1822-1890] returned to Woodstock where she lived for many years.
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 30, 1895
ROBERT A. HAY
And His Reminiscences of Woodstock as it was in 1821
For the short sketch of the life of one of Woodstock’s most esteemed and enterprising citizens in former days the writer is largely indebted to his nephew Mr. George C. Hay, principal of the Victoria school St. John, and also to his daughter Mrs. W. S. Corbett of Woodstock. The reminiscences that follow for the sketch were written by the late Mr. Hay for the Carleton Sentinel and appeared in that paper in November 1879. It is to be regretted that he did not place on record more of his recollections of Woodstock’s early days.
Among the many men who came to Woodstock in its infancy and by energy and perseverance help to build it up was Robert A. Hay. He was born in Digby, N. S., March 15th, 1808, and died at Woodstock, Dec. 10th, 1882. His father, John Hay, died in 1817, and that is the year the family removed to New Brunswick. The family consisted of an elder brother the late William Hay, who lived in St. John and afterward at Norton, Kings county, and a younger sister, Mrs. Thomas C. Upham who is still living at the age of 82 in Boston. He married Jane McKean of Richmond. Two children survive him - Mrs. W. S. Corbett, and Mr. Brundage hay both of Woodstock.
Mr. Hay came to Woodstock when only fourteen years of age. He was fond of relating that coming in sight of what was then a mere hamlet on a beautiful evening in early summer, its picturesque situation so impressed him that he determined to make it his home. No citizen was concerned more in the growth and material progress of the city of Woodstock than he. In early life he engaged in the mercantile and lumbering business and was the head of the firm of Hay & Brundage. He afterwards purchased the foundry of the late Nelson Baker, enlarged it and carried it on with advantage and profit to the town and himself. He was about the first to employ the use of steam in his business. The old foundry situated below the creek did quite a large business in its day and was the precursor of Small & Fishers foundry. He took an active part in all public works, and was the chief promoter of the first railway that entered the town - the Woodstock branch, whose president he was for several years. Failing health compelled him to retire from active business pursuits many years before his death, but his interest in the public affairs of the city of his adoption remained undiminished until a lingering and severe illness brought his active and useful career to a close.
Mr. Hay’s early reminiscences of Woodstock are as follows: “On the 26th day of July 1821, I landed in the Parish of Woodstock from a small boat towed by one horse from Fredericton; we were only 3 ½ days on the passage, which was then considered pretty good time.
It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to know who some of the first settlers in this parish were, so I will begin at Bull’s Creek and continue up to the parish line. First was Captain Bull, a fine, hale, pleasant old man full of fun; he was a whig in politics and took delight in teasing his tory neighbors, but they all respected him and never had any social party without inviting him as they knew it would be a dull affair unless he was present.
The next was old Mr. Rogers, a very quiet inoffensive man, who owned the farm on which Mr. Charles Bull now resides.
The next was Charles Ketchum, a first rate, honest man, and a good neighbor, but a high tory. It was said that tory notions were so strong in him that he would not sleep in a room in which a picture of George Washington hung on the wall.
The next was Rev. Parson Dibblee, a good man and much respected by all who knew him; he was the first minister of the Gospel in this parish; he owned a large tract of land reaching from Roger’s up to the glebe or church land.
Next above the church land was the Griffith property; a small part of this land had been sold to Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854], who had recently removed here from Houlton, and built a fine house, at the time the largest in the parish. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was the only doctor in the parish for a number of years. He could be seen every day, rain or shine, jogging along on horse back, with his saddle bags well stored with medicine for his patients, for you know that there were no apothecary shops here in those days, not foe many years after. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was a very kind man and a good doctor. At the time I refer to the Griffith farm was occupied by Benjamin and Robert Griffith; their father, Major Griffith, had died some years previous but their mother was still living.
The next was the Bedell farm, occupied by the old squire and his sons. William J. was then married, the other sons were not married but lived with their father. The young men kept a small store, owned a tow boat, and carried on lumbering pretty largely for those times. The old Squire was a first rate man who, in the absence of Parson Dibblee, read the service in church, and he did most of the marrying. He was one of the best of neighbors, kind to his family and everybody else, always pleasant and willing to lend a helping hand to the poor; but one had to be careful on approaching him not to touch “church and state” if they did he would fire up in a minute; he was a high tory and a good man.
The next was the Peabody farm, at that time occupied by three brothers James, Charles and George: this property had formerly been owned by a man named Clark who had sold out.
Next above was the farm owned by William Dibblee (“Uncle Bill”) and old bachelor who lived with his mother, a very old woman: this property is now owned and occupied by Mr. Charles W. Raymond. Then comes the John D. Beardsley farm now occupied by Mr. Charles Beardsley: then the Jackson property and then the Slocomb property.
Next we come to Michael Smith’s (“Uncle Mike”) a fine property at present owned by Mr. William D. Smith. Mr. Smith was a very kind, good and inoffensive man, who had no enemies but many friends; he raised a large family many of whom are still living.
Next was Squire James Upham, also a first rate man, and adjoining him was his brother William Upham (“Uncle Bill”) as he was generally called. He had no family but consoled himself for that want by the use of his fiddle, which he was very fond of.
The next farm was owned by the late George Bull, a son of old Captain Bull. This property formerly belonged to Captain Jacob Smith, and was sold by him to Mr. Bull, his son-in-law. This property joined the one owned and occupied by Captain Jacob Smith, who lived himself in the same house on the south side of the creek now known as the old waggon shop, but at the time a very respectably house. Captain Smith was a fine, healthy, robust old man, always ready for a trade, very active in business, very fond of a good horse and loved to ride at a Jesu pace. There are many funny anecdotes told by his furious driving in the early days of the settlement, when there were no roads. They had very many fine horses in those days; Woodstock has always been noted for good horses, but I think the horses then were quite equal to those of the present day. The property on the north side of the creek was owned by Captain Richard Smith, son of Captain Jacob Smith: he was also a very good kind of man but, unfortunately was troubled with the palsy, which caused his death a few years after.
Next came Mr. Anthony Baker - the property is now owned, as I am told, by Rev. Thomas Todd.
Captain Thomas Phillips owned and occupied the next property. The Captain kept a small store, carried on considerable lumbering, and had a tow boat. It must be remembered that it was no small matter to own a tow boat in those days; I do not think there were over five or six on the whole length of the river from Fredericton to Wakefield; and these boats were very small and would only carry about sixty barrels.
David Jackson occupied the adjoining property and next above is the property lately owned by Mr. Charles Marven, but at the time I came to Woodstock not occupied at all, so far as I know.
We now come to the property owned by the late Colonel Richard Ketchum, now owned by Mr. John Fisher; the upper line of this farm is also the parish line. The late Colonel Ketchum was a man of a great deal of push and energy, always full of business. He ever took great interest in the welfare of the country and was always ready to lend a helping hand to the new settler and others whom he thought worthy of his aid; he had a large family who all have passed away.
All these people of whom I have written were loyalists and the most of them high tories, and notwithstanding their many privations they appeared to enjoy themselves and to be as happy as people are in the present day, except only when Captain Bull would stir up their bile by speaking favorably of General Washington; then you might look for a breeze especially if our friend Charles Ketchum was round. There is another thing that I might mention of these old settlers, of course in those days at their social parties or social gatherings the bottle went freely round and as a natural consequence, their words flowed pretty freely, but no man can say that he ever saw any of them intoxicated, they would have considered it a disgrace.”
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
1850 U. S. census: Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA. Occupation: Physician.
MARRIAGE INFORMATION:
First married to Nancy Woodburn on September 12, 1793 at Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts. She was born on June 20, 1763 and she died on October 24, 1807, at Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This marriage produced two children, a son Woodman, and a daughter, Delia.
A child of this marriage, Nancy Woodburn Rice, was born on January 24, 1794, married to Henry Ebenezer Dibblee on January 14, 1827, and died on July 4, 1832. Henry Ebenezer Dibblee was born on January 12, 1803.
DEATH INFORMATION:
Age at death: 84 years, 7 months, and 19 days.
Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA town vital records records his death as follows:
Dr. Charles Rice. Died March 1, 1854 85 yrs about. [Note: His name is not Dr. Charles Rice; it is Dr. Samuel Rice; Dennysville death record shows his name, in error, as Dr. Charles Rice.]
OTHER INFORMATION:
He was a doctor.
He died at eighty-five (85) years old.
The family of Dr. Samuel Rice and Elizabeth Putnam lived in the following places:
Place/Date
New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts 1809
Houlton, Aroostook County, Maine 1811
Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada 1823
Dennysville, Washington County, Massachusetts 1850
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 16, 1895
HOULTON MEN AT WOODSTOCK.
Something About Joseph Houlton [1756-1832], Aaron Putnam [1773-1849], Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Dr. Charles D. Rice [1810-1853].
[No. 55]
The early history of Woodstock is of necessity somewhat interwoven with that of Houlton and a few words are now in order about the men whose names appear at the head of this chapter. For much of the information that will be given the writer is indebted to “The Story of Houlton” by Francis Barnes published in 1889.
The legislature of Massachusetts in the year 1799 granted to the trustees of the Academy in New Salem, a half township of wilderness land to be located in the eastern part of Maine, then a district under the jurisdiction of the State of Massachusetts. The academy trustees appear to have had a voice in the selection of their land and they wisely secured a tract to the north of the granite belt that strikes across eastern Maine through New Brunswick to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The half township allotted in accordance with their wishes, included the southern half of the present town of Houlton, and contained 11,520 acres. Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] of New Salem, visited the place in the summer of 1801, and was very favorably impressed with the quality of the soil, the beautiful stream a branch of the Meduxnakik, that flowed through it, and the wealth of forest that grew on its banks. Under his supervision the grant was surveyed and laid out in lots for settlers that summer by Park Holland. For some time nothing further was accomplished and as the act of the legislature required that six families should become actual settlers within a limited period, the lands were soon in danger of being forfeited.
Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] was then in the prime of manhood and the owner of a good farm in New Salem. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and others who aided in the formation of the settlement at Houlton were similarly situated. Yet they resolved to relinquish the comforts of civilization and to begin life anew in the unbroken forests of north eastern Maine. It surely required much resolution thus to plunge into the pathless wilderness and effect the establishment of a settlement in so wild and unknown a region so far removed from the coast and not even having a navigable river for the transport of supplies.
There was a woman at the bottom of the movement and that woman was Lydia Putnam [1732-1820]. Her maiden name was Lydia Trask [1732-1820] and she was no common woman as the sequel will show. Her father [John Trask 1704-1755] had served under General Wolfe in the old French war, and died with him upon the plains of Abraham. She married Amos Putnam [1722-1799] and by his death was left a widow with five children. She resided with her youngest son Aaron [1773-1849] at the time the grant was made to the New Salem Academy. In the year 1810 the trustees of the academy sold their half township to ten purchasers in the following proportions, viz., one fifth part to Joseph Houlton [1756-1832]; one-eight part each to Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823], one tenth each to John Putnam [1762-1827], Joshua Putnam [1772-1835], Rufus Clowes and John Chamberlain; and one twentieth each to William Bowman, Consider Hastings and Thomas Powers. Of these purchasers Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was son of Lydia (Trask) Putnam [1732-1820], John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835] were her husband’s nephews, Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] had married her second daughter Sarah [1762-1843] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823] had married her oldest daughter Hannah [1754-1832]. Her nieces Elizabeth [1775- 1850] and Eunice [1766-1837] (sisters of John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835]) married Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Samuel Kendall [1748-1835] - men who afterwards filled a leading place in the early life of Houlton and Woodstock. Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] wife was Isa Patrick [1773-1867] of Weston, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1804, Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Joseph Putnam [sic - probably Joshua Putnam (1772-1835)or John (1762-1827)] started from New Salem in quest of their future homes. They hired an Indian with his canoe to take them through the wilderness to the river St. John by the old historic Indian route up the Penobscot and then by the Mattawamkeag and the Chiputneticook lakes to Eel river. When they had arrived at the lakes they unwisely allowed their Indian guide to return, and in the attempt to make the portage from North Lake to Eel river lake they lost their way and wandered for miles in the woods. By making a dip net out of a shirt they managed to scoop up a few fish from a stream that teemed with trout and thus saved themselves from starvation. They finally reached the St. John river about thirty five miles below the town of Woodstock thoroughly worn out and exhausted. These two pioneers with the assistance of the Woodstock settlers soon after cleared a rough pathway of Bulls Creek; to their plantation at Houlton. The trees were “blazed” along they way and the route was familiarly known as “the spotted line.” It could only be traversed on horse back or on foot. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] returned to New Salem for his family and the next year they set out for their new home. From Boston they sailed to St. John and up the river to Fredericton. Here they were obliged to embark their goods and chattels in a small boat in which, after the usual tedious passage, they reached the old ferry landing below Bull’s Creek. The younger men of the party proceeded on through the woods by the spotted line and during the summer made small clearings to ensure possession of their lots.
Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] now decided to remain with his family on the bank of the river St. John until some further progress had been made at Houlton. He accordingly bought out the stand where Daniel McSheffrey, the old sergeant of DeLancey’s brigade, had kept tavern, near the old ferry. Here he began keeping store and tavern with the usual entertainment for travelers who were then few and far between. The store was the first one in the Woodstock settlement. Rev. Frederick Dibblee [1753-1826] in his diary mentions the fact of Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] residing at the ferry landing in the autumn of 1805, and he makes incidental mention of him from time to time during the next few years in such common places as the following:
“November 9, 1806 - Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] killed my oxen; the pair weighted 1448 lbs.”
During their residence at Woodstock the family attended the parish church of which Mrs. Putnam (probably the mother) [Lydia (Trask) Putnam 1732-1820] was a communicant member in 1807. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was granted a tavern license in 1806 by the York County Sessions of the Peace on payment of the customary fee of ten shillings and the license was renewed the three following years. While he lived at Woodstock his family consisted of his wife, his mother, and his sons Amos [1794-1849] and Jay Stillman [1803-1880] aged 9 and 3 years respectively; also a boy, whom he took to bring up, named Joseph Goodenough. His third son Lysander [1806-1886] was born at Woodstock Sept. 21, 1806 [sic - birth December 27, 1806].
In the autumn of 1809 Aaron [1773-1849] and his cousin John Putnam [1762-1827] moved to Houlton. It is said that he did not accumulate much money by store keeping at Woodstock. While there, however, he showed his enterprise by being the first to employ a horse to haul a tow boat from Fredericton to Woodstock: others speedily followed his example and thenceforth the boats were built with a view of substituting horse power for man power. Soon after his arrival at Houlton Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] again displayed his spirit of enterprise by building a mill dam across the creek. It was washed away and rebuilt a number of times before it became permanently fixed. He built a grist mill which was a great accommodation to the little settlement. There was no miller in charge but any of the settlers who chose could grind their wheat or corn, and rude was the mill it was an improvement upon the hand mills that many of the settlers in other places had to depend upon for the first year or two.
The next of the Houlton colony that claims our attention is Samuel Rice M. D. [1769-1854] who with his son Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was afterwards even more prominent at Woodstock than at Houlton. Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] married Aaron [sic: should be John and Joshua] Putnam’s sister Elizabeth [1775-1850]. He was a physician in good practice at New Salem in the year 1807 when he purchased from William Bowman his share of the Houlton plantation. He moved with his wife and family to Houlton in 1811. His children were: (1) Mary [1819-1866] who married her cousin Franklin Houlton; [1814-1877] (2) Elizabeth [1813-1866] who married in Eastport [sic: married December 25, 1842 in Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada]; (3) Charles [1810-1853], of whom more will be presently said; (4) Samuel [1815-1884] who entered the ministry and removed to Ontario. In addition to their own children the doctor and Mrs. Rice brought with them three of her sister Mrs. Kendall’s children. After a year’s experience in a log house they moved into a more commodious frame dwelling built by a carpenter named Wormwood, who came to Houlton shortly after the doctor settled there. This was the first frame house built at Houlton; there were not more than three frame houses in the Woodstock settlement at that time. After the decease of old Doctor Larlee of Northampton, Doctor Rice [1769-1854] was the only physician in the vicinity of Woodstock, and his calls in that direction became more and more frequent until at length, at the solicitation of the inhabitants, he decided to remove thither. He bought land and raised his house and moved there in 1820. It was completed by Shephard Cary of Houlton, then a very young man, and was considered quite a mansion in its day. The house was afterwards bought by the late A. K. Smedes Wetmore Esq. and is now occupied by Mrs. James P. Wetmore; it is still in good condition. For nearly thirty years Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] pursued the practice of his profession at Woodstock with credit to himself, and usefulness to the public. He spent his declining years with his two daughters in the United States. His son Charles [1810-1853] studied medicine at Bowdoin College and succeeded his father at Woodstock where he soon established quite a reputation as a skillful physician and in the course of an extensive practice acquired considerably property.
When Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] first came to Woodstock he might be seen almost any day jogging along on horse back over the rough country roads, his saddle bags well stocked with medicines. As he grew older and the roads improved he found the wagon an easier means of locomotion. He was the first in Woodstock to drive a chaise and the arrival of that vehicle excited the wonder and admiration of the juveniles whose greatest ambition was to ride in it. As the Woodstock settlement progressed Dr. Rice [1769-1854] found it to his interest to move into town, and he accordingly built a new house opposite the Roman Catholic chapel; this house was afterwards occupied by George Strickland and later by Col. R. B. Ketchum.
Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] in addition to his skill as a medical man was one of Woodstock’s most useful and active citizens. Being by birth an American he was naturalized as a British subject. He was appointment surgeon to the militia forces of the country. He possessed excellent natural gifts as a public lecturer, clothing his ideas in easy and familiar language and his appearance on the platform was always hailed with pleasure. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Mechanics Institute was established at Woodstock about the year 1847.
In social intercourse Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was always cheerful and sometimes gay; he possessed rare conversational powers and always contributed his full proportion of amusement to whatever company he happened to be among. He resided for years in the upper part of town. He became much interested in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and in the end became a convert to his peculiar religious views which he endeavoured to propagate among his friends with little success. After some years he removed to Eastport where he died of hemorrhage of the lungs. His widow [Jane Rhoda (Porter) Rice 1822-1890] returned to Woodstock where she lived for many years.
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 30, 1895
ROBERT A. HAY
And His Reminiscences of Woodstock as it was in 1821
For the short sketch of the life of one of Woodstock’s most esteemed and enterprising citizens in former days the writer is largely indebted to his nephew Mr. George C. Hay, principal of the Victoria school St. John, and also to his daughter Mrs. W. S. Corbett of Woodstock. The reminiscences that follow for the sketch were written by the late Mr. Hay for the Carleton Sentinel and appeared in that paper in November 1879. It is to be regretted that he did not place on record more of his recollections of Woodstock’s early days.
Among the many men who came to Woodstock in its infancy and by energy and perseverance help to build it up was Robert A. Hay. He was born in Digby, N. S., March 15th, 1808, and died at Woodstock, Dec. 10th, 1882. His father, John Hay, died in 1817, and that is the year the family removed to New Brunswick. The family consisted of an elder brother the late William Hay, who lived in St. John and afterward at Norton, Kings county, and a younger sister, Mrs. Thomas C. Upham who is still living at the age of 82 in Boston. He married Jane McKean of Richmond. Two children survive him - Mrs. W. S. Corbett, and Mr. Brundage hay both of Woodstock.
Mr. Hay came to Woodstock when only fourteen years of age. He was fond of relating that coming in sight of what was then a mere hamlet on a beautiful evening in early summer, its picturesque situation so impressed him that he determined to make it his home. No citizen was concerned more in the growth and material progress of the city of Woodstock than he. In early life he engaged in the mercantile and lumbering business and was the head of the firm of Hay & Brundage. He afterwards purchased the foundry of the late Nelson Baker, enlarged it and carried it on with advantage and profit to the town and himself. He was about the first to employ the use of steam in his business. The old foundry situated below the creek did quite a large business in its day and was the precursor of Small & Fishers foundry. He took an active part in all public works, and was the chief promoter of the first railway that entered the town - the Woodstock branch, whose president he was for several years. Failing health compelled him to retire from active business pursuits many years before his death, but his interest in the public affairs of the city of his adoption remained undiminished until a lingering and severe illness brought his active and useful career to a close.
Mr. Hay’s early reminiscences of Woodstock are as follows: “On the 26th day of July 1821, I landed in the Parish of Woodstock from a small boat towed by one horse from Fredericton; we were only 3 ½ days on the passage, which was then considered pretty good time.
It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to know who some of the first settlers in this parish were, so I will begin at Bull’s Creek and continue up to the parish line. First was Captain Bull, a fine, hale, pleasant old man full of fun; he was a whig in politics and took delight in teasing his tory neighbors, but they all respected him and never had any social party without inviting him as they knew it would be a dull affair unless he was present.
The next was old Mr. Rogers, a very quiet inoffensive man, who owned the farm on which Mr. Charles Bull now resides.
The next was Charles Ketchum, a first rate, honest man, and a good neighbor, but a high tory. It was said that tory notions were so strong in him that he would not sleep in a room in which a picture of George Washington hung on the wall.
The next was Rev. Parson Dibblee, a good man and much respected by all who knew him; he was the first minister of the Gospel in this parish; he owned a large tract of land reaching from Roger’s up to the glebe or church land.
Next above the church land was the Griffith property; a small part of this land had been sold to Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854], who had recently removed here from Houlton, and built a fine house, at the time the largest in the parish. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was the only doctor in the parish for a number of years. He could be seen every day, rain or shine, jogging along on horse back, with his saddle bags well stored with medicine for his patients, for you know that there were no apothecary shops here in those days, not foe many years after. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was a very kind man and a good doctor. At the time I refer to the Griffith farm was occupied by Benjamin and Robert Griffith; their father, Major Griffith, had died some years previous but their mother was still living.
The next was the Bedell farm, occupied by the old squire and his sons. William J. was then married, the other sons were not married but lived with their father. The young men kept a small store, owned a tow boat, and carried on lumbering pretty largely for those times. The old Squire was a first rate man who, in the absence of Parson Dibblee, read the service in church, and he did most of the marrying. He was one of the best of neighbors, kind to his family and everybody else, always pleasant and willing to lend a helping hand to the poor; but one had to be careful on approaching him not to touch “church and state” if they did he would fire up in a minute; he was a high tory and a good man.
The next was the Peabody farm, at that time occupied by three brothers James, Charles and George: this property had formerly been owned by a man named Clark who had sold out.
Next above was the farm owned by William Dibblee (“Uncle Bill”) and old bachelor who lived with his mother, a very old woman: this property is now owned and occupied by Mr. Charles W. Raymond. Then comes the John D. Beardsley farm now occupied by Mr. Charles Beardsley: then the Jackson property and then the Slocomb property.
Next we come to Michael Smith’s (“Uncle Mike”) a fine property at present owned by Mr. William D. Smith. Mr. Smith was a very kind, good and inoffensive man, who had no enemies but many friends; he raised a large family many of whom are still living.
Next was Squire James Upham, also a first rate man, and adjoining him was his brother William Upham (“Uncle Bill”) as he was generally called. He had no family but consoled himself for that want by the use of his fiddle, which he was very fond of.
The next farm was owned by the late George Bull, a son of old Captain Bull. This property formerly belonged to Captain Jacob Smith, and was sold by him to Mr. Bull, his son-in-law. This property joined the one owned and occupied by Captain Jacob Smith, who lived himself in the same house on the south side of the creek now known as the old waggon shop, but at the time a very respectably house. Captain Smith was a fine, healthy, robust old man, always ready for a trade, very active in business, very fond of a good horse and loved to ride at a Jesu pace. There are many funny anecdotes told by his furious driving in the early days of the settlement, when there were no roads. They had very many fine horses in those days; Woodstock has always been noted for good horses, but I think the horses then were quite equal to those of the present day. The property on the north side of the creek was owned by Captain Richard Smith, son of Captain Jacob Smith: he was also a very good kind of man but, unfortunately was troubled with the palsy, which caused his death a few years after.
Next came Mr. Anthony Baker - the property is now owned, as I am told, by Rev. Thomas Todd.
Captain Thomas Phillips owned and occupied the next property. The Captain kept a small store, carried on considerable lumbering, and had a tow boat. It must be remembered that it was no small matter to own a tow boat in those days; I do not think there were over five or six on the whole length of the river from Fredericton to Wakefield; and these boats were very small and would only carry about sixty barrels.
David Jackson occupied the adjoining property and next above is the property lately owned by Mr. Charles Marven, but at the time I came to Woodstock not occupied at all, so far as I know.
We now come to the property owned by the late Colonel Richard Ketchum, now owned by Mr. John Fisher; the upper line of this farm is also the parish line. The late Colonel Ketchum was a man of a great deal of push and energy, always full of business. He ever took great interest in the welfare of the country and was always ready to lend a helping hand to the new settler and others whom he thought worthy of his aid; he had a large family who all have passed away.
All these people of whom I have written were loyalists and the most of them high tories, and notwithstanding their many privations they appeared to enjoy themselves and to be as happy as people are in the present day, except only when Captain Bull would stir up their bile by speaking favorably of General Washington; then you might look for a breeze especially if our friend Charles Ketchum was round. There is another thing that I might mention of these old settlers, of course in those days at their social parties or social gatherings the bottle went freely round and as a natural consequence, their words flowed pretty freely, but no man can say that he ever saw any of them intoxicated, they would have considered it a disgrace.”
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
MARRIAGE INFORMATION:
First married to Nancy Woodburn on September 12, 1793 at Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts. She was born on June 20, 1763 and she died on October 24, 1807, at Athol, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This marriage produced two children, a son Woodman, and a daughter, Delia.
A child of this marriage, Nancy Woodburn Rice, was born on January 24, 1794, married to Henry Ebenezer Dibblee on January 14, 1827, and died on July 4, 1832. Henry Ebenezer Dibblee was born on January 12, 1803.
DEATH INFORMATION:
Age at death: 84 years, 7 months, and 19 days.
Dennysville, Washington County, Maine, USA town vital records records his death as follows:
Dr. Charles Rice. Died March 1, 1854 85 yrs about. [Note: His name is not Dr. Charles Rice; it is Dr. Samuel Rice; Dennysville death record shows his name, in error, as Dr. Charles Rice.]
OTHER INFORMATION:
He was a doctor.
He died at eighty-five (85) years old.
The family of Dr. Samuel Rice and Elizabeth Putnam lived in the following places:
Place/Date
New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts 1809
Houlton, Aroostook County, Maine 1811
Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada 1823
Dennysville, Washington County, Massachusetts 1850
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 16, 1895
HOULTON MEN AT WOODSTOCK.
Something About Joseph Houlton [1756-1832], Aaron Putnam [1773-1849], Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Dr. Charles D. Rice [1810-1853].
[No. 55]
The early history of Woodstock is of necessity somewhat interwoven with that of Houlton and a few words are now in order about the men whose names appear at the head of this chapter. For much of the information that will be given the writer is indebted to “The Story of Houlton” by Francis Barnes published in 1889.
The legislature of Massachusetts in the year 1799 granted to the trustees of the Academy in New Salem, a half township of wilderness land to be located in the eastern part of Maine, then a district under the jurisdiction of the State of Massachusetts. The academy trustees appear to have had a voice in the selection of their land and they wisely secured a tract to the north of the granite belt that strikes across eastern Maine through New Brunswick to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The half township allotted in accordance with their wishes, included the southern half of the present town of Houlton, and contained 11,520 acres. Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] of New Salem, visited the place in the summer of 1801, and was very favorably impressed with the quality of the soil, the beautiful stream a branch of the Meduxnakik, that flowed through it, and the wealth of forest that grew on its banks. Under his supervision the grant was surveyed and laid out in lots for settlers that summer by Park Holland. For some time nothing further was accomplished and as the act of the legislature required that six families should become actual settlers within a limited period, the lands were soon in danger of being forfeited.
Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] was then in the prime of manhood and the owner of a good farm in New Salem. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and others who aided in the formation of the settlement at Houlton were similarly situated. Yet they resolved to relinquish the comforts of civilization and to begin life anew in the unbroken forests of north eastern Maine. It surely required much resolution thus to plunge into the pathless wilderness and effect the establishment of a settlement in so wild and unknown a region so far removed from the coast and not even having a navigable river for the transport of supplies.
There was a woman at the bottom of the movement and that woman was Lydia Putnam [1732-1820]. Her maiden name was Lydia Trask [1732-1820] and she was no common woman as the sequel will show. Her father [John Trask 1704-1755] had served under General Wolfe in the old French war, and died with him upon the plains of Abraham. She married Amos Putnam [1722-1799] and by his death was left a widow with five children. She resided with her youngest son Aaron [1773-1849] at the time the grant was made to the New Salem Academy. In the year 1810 the trustees of the academy sold their half township to ten purchasers in the following proportions, viz., one fifth part to Joseph Houlton [1756-1832]; one-eight part each to Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823], one tenth each to John Putnam [1762-1827], Joshua Putnam [1772-1835], Rufus Clowes and John Chamberlain; and one twentieth each to William Bowman, Consider Hastings and Thomas Powers. Of these purchasers Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was son of Lydia (Trask) Putnam [1732-1820], John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835] were her husband’s nephews, Joseph Houlton [1756-1832] had married her second daughter Sarah [1762-1843] and Varney Pierce [1755-1823] had married her oldest daughter Hannah [1754-1832]. Her nieces Elizabeth [1775- 1850] and Eunice [1766-1837] (sisters of John [1762-1827] and Joshua Putnam [1772-1835]) married Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] and Samuel Kendall [1748-1835] - men who afterwards filled a leading place in the early life of Houlton and Woodstock. Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] wife was Isa Patrick [1773-1867] of Weston, Massachusetts.
In the summer of 1804, Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] and Joseph Putnam [sic - probably Joshua Putnam (1772-1835)or John (1762-1827)] started from New Salem in quest of their future homes. They hired an Indian with his canoe to take them through the wilderness to the river St. John by the old historic Indian route up the Penobscot and then by the Mattawamkeag and the Chiputneticook lakes to Eel river. When they had arrived at the lakes they unwisely allowed their Indian guide to return, and in the attempt to make the portage from North Lake to Eel river lake they lost their way and wandered for miles in the woods. By making a dip net out of a shirt they managed to scoop up a few fish from a stream that teemed with trout and thus saved themselves from starvation. They finally reached the St. John river about thirty five miles below the town of Woodstock thoroughly worn out and exhausted. These two pioneers with the assistance of the Woodstock settlers soon after cleared a rough pathway of Bulls Creek; to their plantation at Houlton. The trees were “blazed” along they way and the route was familiarly known as “the spotted line.” It could only be traversed on horse back or on foot. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] returned to New Salem for his family and the next year they set out for their new home. From Boston they sailed to St. John and up the river to Fredericton. Here they were obliged to embark their goods and chattels in a small boat in which, after the usual tedious passage, they reached the old ferry landing below Bull’s Creek. The younger men of the party proceeded on through the woods by the spotted line and during the summer made small clearings to ensure possession of their lots.
Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] now decided to remain with his family on the bank of the river St. John until some further progress had been made at Houlton. He accordingly bought out the stand where Daniel McSheffrey, the old sergeant of DeLancey’s brigade, had kept tavern, near the old ferry. Here he began keeping store and tavern with the usual entertainment for travelers who were then few and far between. The store was the first one in the Woodstock settlement. Rev. Frederick Dibblee [1753-1826] in his diary mentions the fact of Aaron Putnam’s [1773-1849] residing at the ferry landing in the autumn of 1805, and he makes incidental mention of him from time to time during the next few years in such common places as the following:
“November 9, 1806 - Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] killed my oxen; the pair weighted 1448 lbs.”
During their residence at Woodstock the family attended the parish church of which Mrs. Putnam (probably the mother) [Lydia (Trask) Putnam 1732-1820] was a communicant member in 1807. Aaron Putnam [1773-1849] was granted a tavern license in 1806 by the York County Sessions of the Peace on payment of the customary fee of ten shillings and the license was renewed the three following years. While he lived at Woodstock his family consisted of his wife, his mother, and his sons Amos [1794-1849] and Jay Stillman [1803-1880] aged 9 and 3 years respectively; also a boy, whom he took to bring up, named Joseph Goodenough. His third son Lysander [1806-1886] was born at Woodstock Sept. 21, 1806 [sic - birth December 27, 1806].
In the autumn of 1809 Aaron [1773-1849] and his cousin John Putnam [1762-1827] moved to Houlton. It is said that he did not accumulate much money by store keeping at Woodstock. While there, however, he showed his enterprise by being the first to employ a horse to haul a tow boat from Fredericton to Woodstock: others speedily followed his example and thenceforth the boats were built with a view of substituting horse power for man power. Soon after his arrival at Houlton Mr. Putnam [1773-1849] again displayed his spirit of enterprise by building a mill dam across the creek. It was washed away and rebuilt a number of times before it became permanently fixed. He built a grist mill which was a great accommodation to the little settlement. There was no miller in charge but any of the settlers who chose could grind their wheat or corn, and rude was the mill it was an improvement upon the hand mills that many of the settlers in other places had to depend upon for the first year or two.
The next of the Houlton colony that claims our attention is Samuel Rice M. D. [1769-1854] who with his son Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was afterwards even more prominent at Woodstock than at Houlton. Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854] married Aaron [sic: should be John and Joshua] Putnam’s sister Elizabeth [1775-1850]. He was a physician in good practice at New Salem in the year 1807 when he purchased from William Bowman his share of the Houlton plantation. He moved with his wife and family to Houlton in 1811. His children were: (1) Mary [1819-1866] who married her cousin Franklin Houlton; [1814-1877] (2) Elizabeth [1813-1866] who married in Eastport [sic: married December 25, 1842 in Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada]; (3) Charles [1810-1853], of whom more will be presently said; (4) Samuel [1815-1884] who entered the ministry and removed to Ontario. In addition to their own children the doctor and Mrs. Rice brought with them three of her sister Mrs. Kendall’s children. After a year’s experience in a log house they moved into a more commodious frame dwelling built by a carpenter named Wormwood, who came to Houlton shortly after the doctor settled there. This was the first frame house built at Houlton; there were not more than three frame houses in the Woodstock settlement at that time. After the decease of old Doctor Larlee of Northampton, Doctor Rice [1769-1854] was the only physician in the vicinity of Woodstock, and his calls in that direction became more and more frequent until at length, at the solicitation of the inhabitants, he decided to remove thither. He bought land and raised his house and moved there in 1820. It was completed by Shephard Cary of Houlton, then a very young man, and was considered quite a mansion in its day. The house was afterwards bought by the late A. K. Smedes Wetmore Esq. and is now occupied by Mrs. James P. Wetmore; it is still in good condition. For nearly thirty years Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] pursued the practice of his profession at Woodstock with credit to himself, and usefulness to the public. He spent his declining years with his two daughters in the United States. His son Charles [1810-1853] studied medicine at Bowdoin College and succeeded his father at Woodstock where he soon established quite a reputation as a skillful physician and in the course of an extensive practice acquired considerably property.
When Doctor Samuel Rice [1769-1854] first came to Woodstock he might be seen almost any day jogging along on horse back over the rough country roads, his saddle bags well stocked with medicines. As he grew older and the roads improved he found the wagon an easier means of locomotion. He was the first in Woodstock to drive a chaise and the arrival of that vehicle excited the wonder and admiration of the juveniles whose greatest ambition was to ride in it. As the Woodstock settlement progressed Dr. Rice [1769-1854] found it to his interest to move into town, and he accordingly built a new house opposite the Roman Catholic chapel; this house was afterwards occupied by George Strickland and later by Col. R. B. Ketchum.
Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] in addition to his skill as a medical man was one of Woodstock’s most useful and active citizens. Being by birth an American he was naturalized as a British subject. He was appointment surgeon to the militia forces of the country. He possessed excellent natural gifts as a public lecturer, clothing his ideas in easy and familiar language and his appearance on the platform was always hailed with pleasure. It was largely through his instrumentality that the Mechanics Institute was established at Woodstock about the year 1847.
In social intercourse Dr. Charles Rice [1810-1853] was always cheerful and sometimes gay; he possessed rare conversational powers and always contributed his full proportion of amusement to whatever company he happened to be among. He resided for years in the upper part of town. He became much interested in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and in the end became a convert to his peculiar religious views which he endeavoured to propagate among his friends with little success. After some years he removed to Eastport where he died of hemorrhage of the lungs. His widow [Jane Rhoda (Porter) Rice 1822-1890] returned to Woodstock where she lived for many years.
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
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From THE DISPATCH (Woodstock, Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada)
October 30, 1895
ROBERT A. HAY
And His Reminiscences of Woodstock as it was in 1821
For the short sketch of the life of one of Woodstock’s most esteemed and enterprising citizens in former days the writer is largely indebted to his nephew Mr. George C. Hay, principal of the Victoria school St. John, and also to his daughter Mrs. W. S. Corbett of Woodstock. The reminiscences that follow for the sketch were written by the late Mr. Hay for the Carleton Sentinel and appeared in that paper in November 1879. It is to be regretted that he did not place on record more of his recollections of Woodstock’s early days.
Among the many men who came to Woodstock in its infancy and by energy and perseverance help to build it up was Robert A. Hay. He was born in Digby, N. S., March 15th, 1808, and died at Woodstock, Dec. 10th, 1882. His father, John Hay, died in 1817, and that is the year the family removed to New Brunswick. The family consisted of an elder brother the late William Hay, who lived in St. John and afterward at Norton, Kings county, and a younger sister, Mrs. Thomas C. Upham who is still living at the age of 82 in Boston. He married Jane McKean of Richmond. Two children survive him - Mrs. W. S. Corbett, and Mr. Brundage hay both of Woodstock.
Mr. Hay came to Woodstock when only fourteen years of age. He was fond of relating that coming in sight of what was then a mere hamlet on a beautiful evening in early summer, its picturesque situation so impressed him that he determined to make it his home. No citizen was concerned more in the growth and material progress of the city of Woodstock than he. In early life he engaged in the mercantile and lumbering business and was the head of the firm of Hay & Brundage. He afterwards purchased the foundry of the late Nelson Baker, enlarged it and carried it on with advantage and profit to the town and himself. He was about the first to employ the use of steam in his business. The old foundry situated below the creek did quite a large business in its day and was the precursor of Small & Fishers foundry. He took an active part in all public works, and was the chief promoter of the first railway that entered the town - the Woodstock branch, whose president he was for several years. Failing health compelled him to retire from active business pursuits many years before his death, but his interest in the public affairs of the city of his adoption remained undiminished until a lingering and severe illness brought his active and useful career to a close.
Mr. Hay’s early reminiscences of Woodstock are as follows: “On the 26th day of July 1821, I landed in the Parish of Woodstock from a small boat towed by one horse from Fredericton; we were only 3 ½ days on the passage, which was then considered pretty good time.
It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to know who some of the first settlers in this parish were, so I will begin at Bull’s Creek and continue up to the parish line. First was Captain Bull, a fine, hale, pleasant old man full of fun; he was a whig in politics and took delight in teasing his tory neighbors, but they all respected him and never had any social party without inviting him as they knew it would be a dull affair unless he was present.
The next was old Mr. Rogers, a very quiet inoffensive man, who owned the farm on which Mr. Charles Bull now resides.
The next was Charles Ketchum, a first rate, honest man, and a good neighbor, but a high tory. It was said that tory notions were so strong in him that he would not sleep in a room in which a picture of George Washington hung on the wall.
The next was Rev. Parson Dibblee, a good man and much respected by all who knew him; he was the first minister of the Gospel in this parish; he owned a large tract of land reaching from Roger’s up to the glebe or church land.
Next above the church land was the Griffith property; a small part of this land had been sold to Dr. Samuel Rice [1769-1854], who had recently removed here from Houlton, and built a fine house, at the time the largest in the parish. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was the only doctor in the parish for a number of years. He could be seen every day, rain or shine, jogging along on horse back, with his saddle bags well stored with medicine for his patients, for you know that there were no apothecary shops here in those days, not foe many years after. Dr. Rice [1769-1854] was a very kind man and a good doctor. At the time I refer to the Griffith farm was occupied by Benjamin and Robert Griffith; their father, Major Griffith, had died some years previous but their mother was still living.
The next was the Bedell farm, occupied by the old squire and his sons. William J. was then married, the other sons were not married but lived with their father. The young men kept a small store, owned a tow boat, and carried on lumbering pretty largely for those times. The old Squire was a first rate man who, in the absence of Parson Dibblee, read the service in church, and he did most of the marrying. He was one of the best of neighbors, kind to his family and everybody else, always pleasant and willing to lend a helping hand to the poor; but one had to be careful on approaching him not to touch “church and state” if they did he would fire up in a minute; he was a high tory and a good man.
The next was the Peabody farm, at that time occupied by three brothers James, Charles and George: this property had formerly been owned by a man named Clark who had sold out.
Next above was the farm owned by William Dibblee (“Uncle Bill”) and old bachelor who lived with his mother, a very old woman: this property is now owned and occupied by Mr. Charles W. Raymond. Then comes the John D. Beardsley farm now occupied by Mr. Charles Beardsley: then the Jackson property and then the Slocomb property.
Next we come to Michael Smith’s (“Uncle Mike”) a fine property at present owned by Mr. William D. Smith. Mr. Smith was a very kind, good and inoffensive man, who had no enemies but many friends; he raised a large family many of whom are still living.
Next was Squire James Upham, also a first rate man, and adjoining him was his brother William Upham (“Uncle Bill”) as he was generally called. He had no family but consoled himself for that want by the use of his fiddle, which he was very fond of.
The next farm was owned by the late George Bull, a son of old Captain Bull. This property formerly belonged to Captain Jacob Smith, and was sold by him to Mr. Bull, his son-in-law. This property joined the one owned and occupied by Captain Jacob Smith, who lived himself in the same house on the south side of the creek now known as the old waggon shop, but at the time a very respectably house. Captain Smith was a fine, healthy, robust old man, always ready for a trade, very active in business, very fond of a good horse and loved to ride at a Jesu pace. There are many funny anecdotes told by his furious driving in the early days of the settlement, when there were no roads. They had very many fine horses in those days; Woodstock has always been noted for good horses, but I think the horses then were quite equal to those of the present day. The property on the north side of the creek was owned by Captain Richard Smith, son of Captain Jacob Smith: he was also a very good kind of man but, unfortunately was troubled with the palsy, which caused his death a few years after.
Next came Mr. Anthony Baker - the property is now owned, as I am told, by Rev. Thomas Todd.
Captain Thomas Phillips owned and occupied the next property. The Captain kept a small store, carried on considerable lumbering, and had a tow boat. It must be remembered that it was no small matter to own a tow boat in those days; I do not think there were over five or six on the whole length of the river from Fredericton to Wakefield; and these boats were very small and would only carry about sixty barrels.
David Jackson occupied the adjoining property and next above is the property lately owned by Mr. Charles Marven, but at the time I came to Woodstock not occupied at all, so far as I know.
We now come to the property owned by the late Colonel Richard Ketchum, now owned by Mr. John Fisher; the upper line of this farm is also the parish line. The late Colonel Ketchum was a man of a great deal of push and energy, always full of business. He ever took great interest in the welfare of the country and was always ready to lend a helping hand to the new settler and others whom he thought worthy of his aid; he had a large family who all have passed away.
All these people of whom I have written were loyalists and the most of them high tories, and notwithstanding their many privations they appeared to enjoy themselves and to be as happy as people are in the present day, except only when Captain Bull would stir up their bile by speaking favorably of General Washington; then you might look for a breeze especially if our friend Charles Ketchum was round. There is another thing that I might mention of these old settlers, of course in those days at their social parties or social gatherings the bottle went freely round and as a natural consequence, their words flowed pretty freely, but no man can say that he ever saw any of them intoxicated, they would have considered it a disgrace.”
W. O. RAYMOND.
Items in [] added by Ruth Watkins (Pew) Jaynes for clarification
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