Families - Aroostook MEGenWeb - Genealogy, Family History

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Edward DAIGLE
1942

Leonard GAGNON
1942

Edison HOUSTON
1940

ASHBY

... Mr. Ashby moved into the deserted cabin and began to clear up land. When he had lived there five years, the state, through one of its local land agents, gave him a deed of 160 acres. This American title not only gave him the land but all in the land as far down as the center of the earth; and all on the land as far up as the center of the earth. As there was no game law then,. he owned all the wild animals that came onto the farm. While they remained there the birds in the woods, the fish in the brook and even the Wild Geese while they were flying over. All the timber that grew on the soil was his, and all metals and minerals, if any in the soil were his. All this a land holder was entitled to at that time under a State Deed in Aroostook at that time. Mr. Ashby was rich in one way and poor in another way, but he liked the free independent life in the woods, and did not care to exchange it for any other. He finally married, reared a large family, underwent the hardships that all the pioneers at that time were obliged to endure, and toiled, and stayed and sweat like many others of that time to provide food and clothing and a good, but poor home for his family. And all this time $10,000 in gold coin was lying under a rock a few rods from the doorstep.

BUBAR

Dave Buber was a giant; he was over six feet tall; his feet were an awful size, his hands were not small. Along the banks of the Aroostook hunt and fish all day, and eat a pile of onion chives as big as a cock of hay. As heavy as two common men he had the strength of four. He'd lug a load upon his back that weighed a ton or more. He ate raw clams and suckers, shore cives and white pine bark. Always as harmless as a baby and as hungry as a shark.

In the spring of 1833. three young people, two men and a woman, came on foot over the old Portage road from Tobique to the Aroostook river. One of them, a giant in stature, carried their worldly goods in a big pack on his back, and it was noticed that he was barefoot. The pilgrims were Charles and David Buber and their sister, Lyda Ann. They were leaving their home on the St. John river, and hoped to find a home and better their condition on the banks of the Aroostook. ...

BURTSELL, DOYLE, LOVELY, McDOUGAL, TWADDLE

In the spring of 1822, five other families came; none of them settled in the limits of the present village, but all settled within the limits of the town. They were John Twaddle, John Lovely, Margaret Doyle, Alexander McDougal and David Burtsell. McDougal soon after moved to the settlement on the Reach. John Lovely settled at the mouth of the Lovely brook, and for him the brook was named. He was a blacksmith and skilled at making edged tools: If space permits, I'll tell of one of his son's wives who still lives in the old place. She has passed the century mark in years, and for more than 80 years has made her garden on the same patch of ground. No one has lived in Fort Fairfield as long as she has. When she was 90 years old, she walked 10 miles one morning to visit her baby, a kid of 65 years. A train of cars goes thundering by her house several times a day, but she never rode on the cars. William Dorsey has lived in town almost as long. He was born in 1823, and claims he was born in the town.

CAREY

In 1822 the Cary family came to Houlton. They were closely related to the Houltons. In this family was one boy, Shepard, who turned out to be a great businessman. He built the first store in Houlton in 1826. Then he erected a grist mill; sawmills and a foundry. He cut roads through the forest, cleared large tracts of land and engaged in extensive timber operations. He bought whole townships of land on the Allagash river, and cleared land, where he raised hay and grain for winter use. We are told that he once made a stick of pine timber six, feet square and 40 feet long, and it took ten heavy horses to haul it to the river. If that stick of pine had been erected as an obelisk at Houlton, it would, today, be one of the wonders in the nation. Mr. Cary was sent to the State Legislature 13 times, and to Congress one term in 1843. In 1857, he brought the first mowing machine and the first top buggy to Houlton, and these were probably the first that ever came to Aroostook. He accumulated a large fortune, and did more to build up the town than any man that ever lived there. He died August 9, 1866.

COCHRAN

Cochran was a millwright by trade and a good one. He constructed the mill entirely out of material at hand. Every wheel was made of wood, the belting was made of moose hide tanned by the Indians and the mill stones he made from two boulders lying on the shore. The linen for bolting was woven by an Acadian woman at Violette Brook; the nails used in covering the structure were made from discarded horseshoes and scraps of old iron found around the timber camps. The boards were cut out with a whip saw, and the timber was hewn with a broad ax. Cochran never got his land from the Canadian government but at the close of the Aroostook war the State of Maine deeded him a block of land a mile square at the mouth of the Caribou stream. He died and was buried on the banks of the Caribou, and lies in a neglected grave. Many of his descendants still live in Aroostook.

DORSEY

Mr. Dorsey settled near the mouth of the Johnson brook, and Weeks built his cabin nearby. Dorsey was an Irishman and when the soldiers came he cast his lot with the Americans, and gathered much information regarding the events transpiring in New Brunswick during that exciting time. He reared a large family and many of his sons and daughters made homes and died in Fort Fairfield. One of his sons, William, is still living and claims to be the first white child born within the limits of the present town. The Dorseys of today are, many of them, wealthy, prominent, business men and own large sections of the town and village.

FITZHERBERT

From the best information I can gather, it appears that James Fitzherbert was the first real settler and came in the fall of 1820. He built a log house and stable, also a log blacksmith shop. The New Brunswick government gave him a certificate for a large tract of land provided he stayed a certain length of time and worked at his trade, that of a blacksmith. He settled with his family on the Fitzherbert brook and kept a tavern in connection with his blacksmith business. He built a long, log raft that was used as a bridge when the stream was high and teams could not ford or cross, on the ice; it was called the floating bridge. He was an Englishman and said to be related to the English Queen Victoria by a morganatic marriage of the queen's father. A big sum of money was recently left to his heirs in England on account of that marriage, and at this writing it looks as though they were about to get it. He built the first frame house on the river, and it was at this house that land agent McIntyre was captured. When the Aroostook war came, he did what he could to assist the English. His property was confiscated and he fled to New Brunswick. Many of his descendants, however, are still living at Fort Fairfield. For years the little settlement was called "the Fitzherbert place."

HOULTON

In the spring of 1807, Joseph Houlton came. He was a man of means and education, and a brother in law to Aaron Putman. He left his large family at Woodstock and struck across the woods to found a home. He cleared some land, sowed wheat and planted potatoes. This was the first planting done in Aroostook south of the Madawaska settlements. Late in August, Mrs. Putman got tired of living at Woodstock, and with her 14 year old daughter, started on horseback through the woods to find her husband. Her nephew, Amos Putman, went along to guide them. After going 10 miles, they came to the end of the trail and had to leave the horse and travel through the bushes on foot. The day was hot, and the little party was loaded with baskets and bundles, and when they came to the edge of the clearing, Mrs. Houlton's strength gave out and she was obliged to stop. Upon the hill her two sons and husband were at work reaping their first crop of wheat; they were called, and at once went to work and built a little camp on the spot for the wife and mother. Soon after a log house was built near the camp. This was the first house in Houlton, built in the fall of 1807.

Mrs. Houlton was the first white woman to set foot on the soil of Houlton. James Houlton, her son, also built a log house soon after at the top of the hill near a spring. His young wife then came from Woodstock, and soon after presented him with a daughter, the first child born in the settlement. This girl, Caroline, died at the age of 16 years. We are told that Joseph Houlton and sons took their first load of supplies from Woodstock to his new farm on a wheelbarrow with a grindstone for the wheel.

Joseph Houlton built a rude grist mill in 1809. No toll was taken for grinding the settler's grain. This good man, for whom the town was named, died August 12, 1832.

PUTMAN

On November 18th, 1801, the trustees of New Salem Academy sold the grant to 10 persons viz: Aaron Putman, Varney Pearce, Joseph Houlton, John Putman, Joshua Putman, Rufus Cowles, John Chamberlain, Wm. Bowman, consider Hasting and Thomas Powers. These men about all lived in New Salem and were all related by marriage or otherwise. None of them were poor men, and two of them, Joseph Houlton and Aaron Putman were wealthyOn November 18th, 1801, the trustees of New Salem Academy sold the grant to 10 persons viz: Aaron Putman, Varney Pearce, Joseph Houlton, John Putman, Joshua Putman, Rufus Cowles, John Chamberlain, Wm. Bowman, consider Hasting and Thomas Powers. These men about all lived in New Salem and were all related by marriage or otherwise. None of them were poor men, and two of them, Joseph Houlton and Aaron Putman were wealthy.

Now this grant was bought for speculation, but reports had come from men who had been to the wilderness exploring other grants of the isolated, desolate condition of the country, and no buyers could be found. The laws of the state required that six families must settle on those grants inside of five years, or the conveyance would be void.

The grant was surveyed by Park Holland in 1802. As no buyers came, and the allotted time was slipping away, Aaron Putman made plans to go north and occupy the land. In the spring of 1805, Mr. Putman, with his family and several young men, set sail from Boston, and after a stormy passage landed in Woodstock. Twelve miles away toward the west, through the trackless forest lay the grant. Everything had to be carried through the woods on a spotted line. Putman set the young men to cutting trees, and returned to Woodstock and opened a store.

The men who bought this grant, bought a pig in a bag, for the state had the choice of location; but the location proved to be one of the finest half townships in the territory.

RUSSELL

Michael Russell came, in the spring of 1820. He settled on the east side of the Aroostook river. a short distance above the falls. On one side of the falls is a natural fish way cut by nature through the rock. In the spring thousands of salmon used to pass through this narrow channel on their way up river. In this channel, Mr. Russell used to hang a salmon net, and in his day he caught tons of salmon. He probably took more salmon from the Aroostook river than any other man who ever lived. The little notch in the rocks is to this day called "Russell's hole." Mr. Russell was an Irishman and remained neutral, during the border trouble. He became an American citizen under the treaty. Very many of his. descendants are now living in Fort Fairfield.