Coos County
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The name Shelburne may be formed from shel, or shal, or the Saxon sceol (shallow) and burn or bourn, a brook. Why or wherefore this town was so named we know not. The village is six miles below Gotham. Shelburne abounds in grand mountain scenery, not to be excelled by any town in the state; no drive of the same distance equals or offers more variety in beauty of scenery than the one ten or twelve miles from Gorham down the Androscoggin, on its right hand bank through Shelburne to Gilead, and then up the river on the easterly bank, crossing it at Leadmine bridge. The beauties and charms of the town have been finely described by Augusta Larned, and we extract as follows from her graphic articles in the Christian Register. — Editor
The river which waters Shelburne is not divided into "four heads," neither is there much gold nor "bdellium" nor "onyx stone" found here, nor in adjacent lands. It is called Androscoggin, and it keeps the secret of beauty as sacredly as did that river of the first paradise.
The great mass of the White Mountain group blocks up the valley with its wedgelike form to the south. Madison is here easily king of the vale, as his broad side is turned genially toward us, — a mighty canvas on which the sun paints its innumerable freaks and fancies. The peak of Adams "perks" itself up over the high shoulder of Madison, as if standing on tiptoe to peep into the valley. In some states of the atmosphere, the whole line of its west side can be dimly seen separating itself from the mass of its more forward brother. Behind Madison, to the southeast, rises the broad, lazy back of Washington, with the "ledge" showing white on its near side, and the Summit House to be made out in clear weather. It is a lion couchant, with head turned tranquilly eastward. This group is like the altar of a cathedral toward which the devout turn to pray; but the nave, choir, and aisles are hardly less beautiful than the high seat shadowed by the wings of the cherubim. To the east rise the long slopes of Moriah, a line mountain of peculiarly rich purple hue. Nearer to us, and close to the river, is thickly wooded Winthrop, with the great, smooth granite ledge on its side, up which Moses Ingalls once had the temerity to climb. The ledge looks much like a very steep barn roof, a hundred feet high, and smooth as glass. Bold Moses glided over it like a bird; and for his courage was presented with a farm, so the story goes.
On the west side of the river rise Mts. Hayes and Baldcap, both strongly ma iked and individual mountains. To the north are the softly-folded Gilead hills melting into every shade of blue and violet, and with the great bend of the Androscoggin at their feet, enclosing many fairy dike islands all feathered over with the most delicate and living green.
The valley is like a beautiful child nourished by grim guardians. They bring to it rain and dews and wild brooks tumbling over stony beds, and keep it perfect in verdure. The Androscoggin fairly leaps for joy. It is a swift, untamed river. Its feet run night and day toward the sea, and murmur round its multitude of islands in the extremity of haste. These thickly wooded islands, perfectly virginal and lonely, are a feature of the river. At the famous Lead-mine bridge, two miles above, they are seen in the full perfection of their feathery beauty. On the bridge, the eye climbs up the blue wall of Madison as a bird scales the house. You seem to be in the very heart of the mystery, where the hills will tell you all their secrets. Near the bridge, on the east side of the river, a Detroit gentleman has built a vast, fifty-thousand-dollar house of the native stone and pebbles picked up from the top of the ground. It is among the first of those rich men's dwellings built here, which are springing up all over the land. From my window I see the picturesque gables of a New Yorker's cottage across the river. So Shelburne has at last been discovered by the opulent. I have travelled much through these hills, but I know of no other place which presents more perfect pictures of White Mountain scenery, whose dower is beauty rather than Alpine grandeur.
These mountain intervals, with the elms grouped for the artist eye, have a peculiar charm. They are unlike other meadows, for their smiling beauty makes a gem like contrast to the rugged setting of the hills. There is little cultivation up here. A good many of the old clearings on the mountain-sides seem growing up to wildness. One asks why these heights are not used for sheep pastures. The shepherd's pipe would sound as sweet here as in the Arcadian vales. It is a world of grass, still and soundless, save for the noises of nature, which seem to punctuate the silence, and to make the great unwritten poem easier to read. A world of grass and leaves and flowing water and granite and earth piled up into the sky. What joy to come into this world, where there is no dirt, no smoke, no importunate ringing of hells, no tramps or beggars, no barking of dogs or crowing of cocks. You wake in the night, and feel that you are in the very tabernacle of the Lord, held in a sacred bond of peace. The air is of delicious sweetness. It has no harsh quality; but, at night, a blanket is not amiss. There is no doctor nearer than Gorham, six miles distant. When I asked how the people managed for medical attendance, the answer was that the people are seldom sick. Look on these mountains and live, seems to be the great command written on the bases of the bill. It is delightful to come into a region where there is no poverty visible to the naked eye, and the mutterings of the conflict between capital and labor are not heard. The hill folk are conservative, like their mountains. They move slowly; but everywhere there is comfort, and often some attempt at fashion. The old village with the station and post office has been somewhat changed. Several new boarding-houses have been put up in various parts of the valley, and are generally filled during July and August. Nothing ever happens here in this blessed land. The events are driving afield with horses or oxen or digging in the potato patch. What a contrast to the life of the tramp in Madison Square! The genus tramp is scarcely known up here. Occasionally one appears in the village and the rumor runs through the country.
One needs to be all eye in these days up here, when the thunder growls around the horizon, and little showers come up without warning, and bring the most splendid cloud scenery. They gather in vast, solid, sculptured masses over the White Mountain group, and sweep with a broad wing over the whole land, blotting out miles and miles in gray rain, letting in sudden gleams of light, turning the nearer slopes to the most brilliant purple, clearing suddenly to blue spaces, changing every moment, and bewildering one with beauty. Never have I seen such cloud-scenery as this, such wonderful shifting and play of light and color, such welts of purple and green and cerulean, torn and shattered and knit up again in a moment, as if by the power of some celestial Penelope, who is forever unravelling her work and netting it up anew. This valley does not raise much wheat or corn, but it raises clouds by a spell stronger than Merlin's. I rejoice in this granite formation, which gives fine, hard roads and soon dries after a showier, leaving the earth bright and shining, as if new-minted and stamped with the superscription of God. The deciduous forests, with only a sparse mingling of fir and pine, give great cheerfulness to the landscape. We have a beautiful waterfall on the side of Baldcap; but why mention particular beauties, when every prospect is so fair, and each day seems a golden possession in the treasure-house of life?
Topography, Population, Etc. — The Androscoggin river divides Shelburne nearly in the center, receiving the waters of two parallel ranges of mountains. Battle river is the largest tributary on the southern side, and Lead-mine brook on the northern. The town is six miles square, bounded north by Success, east by Gilead, Me., south by Bean's Purchase, and west by Gorham. The intervals vary from a few rods to half a mile in width, and were formerly covered, as the encircling mountains are now, by a mixed growth of spruce, hemlock, pine and hard wood. Mt. Moriah is the highest elevation, 4,771 feet in height.
The town was granted to Mark Wentworth and six others, and was surveyed in 1771. In 1820, when it was incorporated, the population was 230. In 1859 it was 480, but after the building of the Grand Trunk railway, and the establishment of the machine-shops and lumber-mills at Gorham, the younger people kept moving away, till by the last census the population is only 252.
This first or original grant of Shelburne was made in 1768; but, as on a survey there was not found habitable land enough to allow the proprietors to comply with the provisions of the charter, a second grant was made, which included the present territory of Gorham (Shelburne Addition), which see. This second grant was nominally signed by Gov. John Wentworth, November 21, 1770, but was really not issued or recorded until January 14, 1771. It is needless to give the charter. It had all the ornate and magniloquent verbiage peculiar to those documents, and made these conditions: 1st, that the grantees should construct a good carriage road four rods wide through the tract within two years; 2d, that there shall be twelve families resident on and cultivating some portion of the land on the first of March, 1774, and sixty families actually settled on the grant by the first of March, 1779, under penalty of forfeiture of the grant; 3d. that all white or other pine trees fit for masting the .Royal Navy should be preserved for that purpose, and not to be cut or felled without especial license; 4th, that a town-plot shall be laid out into town lots of one acre, one for each grantee, near the center of the town; 5th, payment of annual rent on and after March 1, 1771, of one ear of Indian corn, if demanded; 6th, that every proprietor, settler or inhabitant shall pay annually, beginning on March 1, 4780, one shilling proclamation money for every 100 acres he owns, settles or possesses.
Names of Grantees. — Mark Hunking Wentworth, Daniel Pierce, Daniel Rogers, John Rindge, Danie Hinder, Isaac Rindge, Jotham Kludge.
Description of Original Grant. —"Beginning at a hemlock tree, marked, standing in the Province Line, about three-quarters of a mile south of Little Ameroscogin River, and from said hemlock runs north eight degrees east by the needle on the Province line six miles to a maple tree, marked, and standing in the Province line aforesaid, thence turning off at right angles and running north eighty-two degrees west six miles to a beech tree, marked; thence turning off at right angles and running south eight degrees west six miles to a red birch tree, marked; thence turning off again at right angles and runs south eighty-two degrees east six miles to the hemlock tree in the Province line began at, containing by admeasurement twenty-three thousand and forty acres."
EARLY Settlers. — The history of the brave men and women who left the comforts of civilization to make a home in the wilderness a century and more ago, and the records of their privations and sufferings would startle their descendants. Their rude shelters were constructed without any regard for comfort; the only thing attempted was a protection from rain and snow. The ravages of the bears and wolves in this neighborhood were exceedingly terrific. The inhabitants were also subjected to Indian invasions. They endured not only the hardships of isolation and cold, attacks from wild beasts, devastation by mountain torrents, loss by freshets, but experienced the terror of the war whoop, and felt the tomahawk and scalping-knife.
One of the first of these pioneers was Hope Austin, who came to Shelburne in 1771, and began a clearing on the north side of the river, near the Maine line. The snow was five feet deep when his wife walked up from Bethel, carrying one child in her arms, while two others clung to her skirts. Mr. Austin had neglected to provide even temporary shelter for his little family. But spruce boughs were handy, and in a short time a roof was thrown over the log cabin, some rough boards nailed together for a door, the snow shoveled out and a fire built between stones or green logs. Here they lived, making occasional improvements, until prosperity enabled him to build a more convenient frame-house. Of the family of five children, Mary and Judith remained single. Lydia and Hannah married Samuel Wheeler, James married Sally, daughter of Joseph Lary, Jr., of Gilead, and built a handsome two-story house a little below his father's. Of his children, John and Caverno died, and Dearborn married Rose, daughter of Rev. Ezekiel Coffin, and lived at home till after the death of his father, when he moved to Gilead, and the name of Shelburne's first resident was dropped from her records. Mr. Hope Austin is remembered by elderly people of to-day as a pleasant-spoken old gentleman, very much bent, walking back and forth from his house to the mill, with his hands clasped behind him. The Austins, as a family, were pleasant, hospitable and industrious.
Daniel Ingalls, one of the earliest settlers, lived just across the river, and was Mr. Austin's nearest neighbor. He was much esteemed for his high moral character. Religion was a part of his daily life, but he was cheerful and could even make a dry joke now and then. Moses, his oldest son, was a sailor; energetic, resolute, and rather rough. He married Susan Heath. They had four sons, Daniel, Frederick, Robert and Fletcher. Robert, third son of Moses, married Rowena Hills, and bought the farm on Clemens brook, cleared by the Evanses. He was one of the most prominent men in the place, tilling many offices with honor and ability. It is remarked of him, as of J. R. Hitchcock. ''He always recognized an acquaintance, rich or poor, high or low, with the same readiness and courtesy." His daughter Caroline, a most estimable lady, died at Gorham in 1870. Rufus, son of Robert, married Emeline, great-granddaughter of Capt. Joseph Lary, of Gilead. She died, and Mr. Ingalls married Hattie McKentry.
Fletcher Ingalls, the younger son of Deacon Daniel, like his father, was of a very high moral nature. Every birth-day he religiously kept as a day of fasting and prayer. At a time when intoxicating liquors were free almost as water, he was a firm advocate of temperance. The Cold-Water Army, an organization designed to embrace the youth of both sexes, was his conception, and the first temperance lecture given here was by his appointment. He married Mercy Lary. His daughter Polly married Barker Burbank, son of Capt. Eliphalet Burbank, of Gilead. Mr. Burbank was a practical farmer, a successful merchant, and a lawyer of considerable ability. He built a large, handsome house a short distance from his father-in-law, acquired a comfortable fortune, and reared a family of fourteen children. Payson married Mary Smith, and has six sons. Martin married Mary, granddaughter of Capt. Joseph Pinkham, one of the first settlers of Jackson. Judge Robert Ingalls Burbank, of Boston, now owns the homestead, and has added to it till his estate is the largest in town. The Ingallses have always borne a stainless name, and in wealth, social position and age, rank as one of the first families of Shelburne.
The names of Messer, Peabody and Hubbard are closely entwined, and their descendants comprise a large proportion of our present population. [A sketch of Stephen Messer is given in the history of Gorham.] Nancy Messer, a daughter of Stephen, married Amos Peabody, and after living in Gilead and Randolph came to Shelburne and settled on Peabody brook, where three of their children, Aaron, Nancy and Allan, have since resided. Their son Stephen married Hepzibeth Evans and cleared the adjoining farm. He was intimately connected with town business, and also with the affairs of the church. He was never very strong, but lived to the age of fifty, when he died with that scourge of his family, consumption. Enoch, another son of Amos Peabody, married Judith Wheeler, and lived for several years next to his brother Stephen, then moved to Berlin, Stark, and, finally, to Milan. Betsey Messer, daughter of Stephen Messer, married Thomas Hubbard and lived at Andover, Dracut and Bradford, Mass., before they came to Shelburne. Mrs. Hubbard rode from Massachusetts on horseback. They reared a large family of children. Afterwards they lived on the farm now owned by John Head, and finally settled near the top of what is now known as the Great Hill. Of their children, Erastus and Rufus married daughters of Abraham Wilson and removed to Whitefield. Enoch and Leonard married daughters of Amos Peabody. Jefferson married a daughter of George Green, and for twenty-five years was station agent of the G. T. R. at Shelburne. No other proof is needed of his honesty and fidelity. Maria Hubbard married Joshua Kendall.
Thomas Green began a home in the heart of the forest; by good calculation and economy he not only made a living, but laid up considerable property. In his old age his mind became feeble and disordered, and though worth enough to buy half the town, he was haunted by a fear of starvation. One evening in early spring he came out of his room and went out at the back door. He was never seen again. Edward, a son of Thomas, married Nancy Birdin. Three of his children, Lyman. Darius and Manson, ten grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, resided in Shelburne in 1881. George, another son of Thomas, when he became of age, received $100 in cash, and a piece of land on the Magalloway. He sold this land, bought a lot just across the river from home, built a tiny house containing only a kitchen and bedroom, and set up housekeeping by himself. Three or four years after he married Hannah Lary. As fast as his means allowed he built additions, till, in 1817; it was a long two-story house, with large, square rooms above and below. It was furnished for a tavern, and for more than fifty years afforded accommodation for the travelling public. The large yellow globe for a sign on which the date was given, was an object of great interest to the boys in those days. People from Upper Coos on their way to Portland, frequently fifteen or twenty double-teams at once, stopped here to bait their horses. When the Grand Trunk railway was built, the glory of Green's tavern departed. Mr. Green was an honest, plain-spoken man. It is said of him that, knowingly, he would not defraud a person of a single cent. Jonas, youngest son of Thomas Green, a hard-working, stern, and somewhat unsocial man, lived on the home-place until the death of his parents; married, first, Mercy Lary, second, her sister Susannah. Oliver, his youngest son, bought the Green tavern-stand in 1880, and remodeled it into a summer boarding-house.
Samuel Wheeler was a Revolutionary soldier, and dearly loved to recount the dangers he had passed and the privations he had endured. His clearing was on Ingalls brook close to the base of the mountains, where the sun lay warmly till past noon, and the cold, northwest wind could not strike. In the cold season of 1816, when snow fell every month of the year, he was the only one whose corn got ripe enough to grow again. The next spring he sold it for two dollars a bushel. Among his children were Samuel, Lucy, and Amos. His home, the place on which he settled, is now in possession of his decendants, and is the only farm in town which has been inherited in a direct line for four generations. Samuel Wheeler, Jr., was a licensed preacher, and conducted religious exercises in the absence of regular ministers. He married, first, Lydia Austin, second, her sister Hannah. His children were Austin, Joseph, Samuel, Hannah (Mrs. Reuben Hobart), Margaret and Judith (Mrs. Enoch Peabody), of Stark. Austin was well educated and talented, and became a Free- Will Baptist minister. Samuel, grandson of the old soldier, married Eliza Burbank, by whom he had four children. By a second marriage he had four children also. A few years ago he removed to the Austin farm, which he purchased, and his son Ellery became the owner of the old homestead.
Jonathan Evans and Benjamin Clemens came to Shelburne early and nearly at the same time. They were both soldiers of the Revolution, and probably stationed at Fort Ticonderoga. Daniel Evans, son of Jonathan, married Phila Clemens, and cleared the farm afterwards owned by Otis Evans. He was a man of influence and wealth, owning what is now four farms. Otis Evans, son of Daniel, who for three-quarters of a century led an upright life in Shelburne, the town of his nativity, died October 13, 1886. Mr. Evans was a hard-working and successful farmer, and well informed upon the general topics of the day. His wife was Martha Pinkham. They have descendants in Gorham and Shelburne. Jonathan Evans, Jr., married Mary Lary, and lived on the Charles Philbrook farm. He was a large, portly man, and his three sons, Hazen, Jabez and Augustus, resembled him in this particular.
Bazeleel Gates, who married Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Evans, moved here with his family, and bought the farm owned by William Newell. Caleb, the youngest son, married Bathsheba Porter and remained at home. They had four children, Woodbury, Cass, Matilda and Frank. Woodbury married a daughter of Hazen Evans, and is in trade at Gorham. Jefferson Gates married Maria Porter, and lived on the farm adjoining his brother Caleb's. He died in 1866.
Simeon Evans was a brother to Jonathan, and came from Massachusetts about the same time. Ezekiel, Elijah, Lydia and John were his children. Ezekiel married a lady in Massachusetts. They had a large family of children, of whom Mrs. Moses Hazeltine was a resident of Shelburne. In 1781 Capt. Jonathan Rindge, one of the most respected of the early settlers, came. Elijah Evans, son of Simeon, lived on the Hitchcock interval. His son Henry married Joanna Leighton, and built the Hitchcock cottage, where he lived several years. Afterward he bought the place owned later by his son-in-law, Trustam Minard. John Evans, third son of Simeon, died leaving seven children, among them were twin girls, afterwards Mrs. Abram Wilson and Mrs. Palmer. Mr. Clemens had a large family, but none of his decendants are now in town except those connected with the Evanses.
Jonathan Peabody came from Andover when young, married Phebe Kimball, of Bethel, and had five children, Priscilla (Mrs. Ben Bean), Phebe, Sally (Mrs. John Messer), Amos and Oliver. He afterward married Prudence Patterson, a widow with three children, Betsy, Jennie and Hosea. From this marriage there were five more children, Mercy (Mrs. Amos Evans), Philena, Charlotte (Mrs. Nathan Newell), Asa and Jonathan. Oliver Peabody married Susy Messer and lived with his father. His children were John, Loammi, Nancy (Mrs. Noah Gould), Eliza, Betsey, Sally (Mrs. Peter Runnels), and Samuel. Jonathan Peabody, Jr., had three wives. His first wife and the mother of his children was Eliza Coffin, of Gilead. Three of his children, Warren, Augustus and Eliza, married, respectively, Mary, Lydia and Charles Tenny.
Jonathan Lary, son of Joseph Lary, Jr., married Susan Burbank. They had five children — Rachel and Elmira, Selina, Voltaire and Churchill. Dearborn Lary, son of Capt. Joseph Lary, of Gilead, married Polly Chandler, a sister of John Chandler, and had a large family of children. Frank succeeded to the old homestead. Elon settled in Gorham.
Peter Poor came in 1772, and in August of 1781 was killed by a band of Indians, after they had made an attack on Bethel and Gilead, Me.
In 1772 Nathaniel Porter settled here, and lived just below the stock-farm, and had a family of eight girls and one boy. He was fond of fun and practical jokes, and was the first blacksmith in town. The story of his shoeing the old buck so he might chase the boys on the ice is familiar to many.
Col. Head was an uncle of Gov. Head. Two sons settled here. Elsie married Hazen Evans. Among others were Jeremiah Gould and his son Noah, Jonathan Bullard and his son Dr. Bazeleel, John Chandler, Sam and Edwin Thompson, and William Newell and his descendants.
In later times Harvey Philbrook was a prominent and popular man. He furnished a good illustration of the advantages of natural gifts over a school education without those. He filled every town office from highway surveyor to representative, did a large and lucrative business in buying and selling cattle, and acquired a handsome property. He died in the prime of life, regretted by all who knew him.
Dr. Oliver Howe was a student of Dr. John Graver, and came here when quite a young man. He married Esther Burbank, built the house now known as the Winthrop House, and is the only physician who ever lived in Shelburne for any length of time. He died in 1860. Mr. Howe was a man of tall, erect form, graceful in appearance, affable in speech, and a perfect gentleman of the old school. Hiram Cummings owned the upper half of the Great Island, and the farm opposite. He was a successful book farmer, as experimenters are derisively called. He moved to Paris, Me., about 1879.
Of the old names, Evans, Hubbard, Philbrook, Green and Ingalls are still among the prominent ones of the town.
INDUSTRIES. — For some years the people could only attend to clearing the land and raising food for their growing families. The largest and straightest trees were reserved for the frames of new houses; shingles were rived from the clearest pine; baskets, chair bottoms, cattle bows, etc., were made from brown ash-butts, and ajl the rest were piled and burned on the spot. Thousands of feet of timber and cords of wood were thus consigned to the flames as of no value. Corn, potatoes, wheat and rye grew abundantly on the new soil, enriched by the fallen leaves of many centuries. Plenty of sugar could be had for the making, and moose, deer and the delicious brook-trout were free to all, regardless of the game officer. On every clearing could be seen a little patch of blue blossomed flax. This was pulled, broken, combed, carded, spun and wove, entirely by hand, and made into tow "pants" and tow-and-linen shirts for men's summer wear, into serviceable checked-dresses and aprons, and the nicest of bed and table linen. A day's work was spinning two double-skeins of linen, carding and spinning four double skeins of tow, or weaving six yards; and for a week's work a girl received fifty cents. Mrs. James Austin has had a hundred yards out "bleaching" at once. Wool was worked up in about the same way, and all through the fall and winter the scratch, scratch of the cards, the hoarse hum of the big wheel, the flutter of the flies on the little wheel, and the rattling of the loom machinery, made cheerful music in the log houses. Piles of fleecy blankets and stockings were packed away against the marriage of the girls. Pressed quilts were part of the outfit, lasting for years, often to the third generation. Mrs. Hepzibeth Peabody had one over fifty years old. It was originally a bright green lined with straw color, and quilted with blue in inch squares. Mrs. Aaron Peabody had a blue one quilted in little fans. Mrs. George Green had several. One was quilted in feather- work, with a border of sun-flower leaves, and then cross-quilted in straight lines. Mrs. Ezekiel Evans was usually called upon to mark out the patterns, and the best quilter was the belle of the company.
To keep the snow from getting into the low shoes, gayly striped socks were worn, and every child could knit double- mittens in herring-bone or fox and-geese pattern. Peggy Davis could knit the alphabet; and in a pair of mittens she once knit for Barker Burbank, she knit a verse.
[Miss Margaret Davis was a member of Lot Davis's family. At the age of twelve years she became perfectly blind. Her education was necessarily limited. Schools for the deaf, dumb, and blind were not for her. She had learned to read and write, and to "work" letters on coarse canvas. She became celebrated for her skill in sewing, spinning, and knitting. At one time Barker Burbank was exhibiting a pair of yarn mittens to some friends at his home. "Well," said' one, "those mittens are really fine; but there is an old blind woman up in Gorham who can match them." "Well," said Mr. Burbank, "I will bet twenty-five dollars there is not a woman in the state of New Hampshire who can do it." "Aunt Peggy" heard of it, and for a few nights she did not retire to bed as early as usual. She required no light, and in the night the house was quiet. In a few days she sent Mr. Burbank a pair of mittens. She had composed three or four verses, and, stitch by stitch, had knit them in the mittens: —
"Money will make you many friends,
But do not prize them high;
For
should misfortune make you poor
Such friends will pass you by."
Then came a few words of counsel, telling him that there were things of more worth than wealth or position. After that she "knit" several pairs of these for her friends, one pair of which is now owned by Abner Davis, of Jefferson. She died in Jackson at the home of her niece, Mrs. Joseph H. Dearborn. This history of the knitter and the mittens is furnished by Abner Davis. — Editor.]
Others took pride in knitting remarkably fast. Many could knit a pair of double-mittens in a day; but the best job in that line was done by Nancy Peabody. Her brother Allen came out of the woods and wanted a pair of mittens as he had lost his. There was no yarn in the house, nor rolls, but plenty of wool. Miss Peabody carded, spun, scoured out and knit a pair of double-mittens (white), and had them ready for her brother the next morning.
No sooner had the new settlers begun to be comfortable than they cast about them for ways and means to make money. The nearest market was Portland, eighty-six miles away. Hay, grain and potatoes were too bulky to pay transportation; but Yankee ingenuity soon overcame that difficulty. The hay aud grain was transformed into butter, cheese, pork or beef. Wood was condensed into potash, and in that state was easily carried away. The process of making potash is quite complicated and interesting. The wood was cut eight or ten feet long, piled, and burned to ashes. Leaches capable of holding ten or fifteen bushels were placed over a trough made from a large tree, filled with the ashes, and the resulting lye boiled down to a black, sticky substance called salts. Sometimes it was sold in this state at $5 a hundred, but where business of any amount was done, it was further reduced to potash. Then it was dissolved, boiled down again, and then baked in a long brick oven till changed to a white powder, called pearlash, which was used in bread. Mrs. Enoch Hubbard got her first print dress by bringing ashes from off the hill and selling them for nine pence a bushel.
Mills. — The first grist-mill was put up by the Austins on Mill brook. William Newell, Sr., worked there after he sold out to Mr. Gates. Afterward, saws were put in, and Stephen Peabody sawed the lumber for his house on shares. Clear pine boards, twenty -four inches wide, cost him only $6 a thousand. Still later the Newell brothers put in machinery for sawing shingles and spool-wood. The mill was washed away in the freshet of 1878, and has not been rebuilt. Another grist-mill stood on Scales's creek, now called State-line brook. On Clemens's brook were two saw-mills; one owned by Lawson Evans and one by Jefferson Hubbard. The Wheelers owned one on Ingalls brook, and Enoch Hubbard one on Lead-mine brook. All of these mills were local conveniences, not moneymaking enterprises. No manufacturing of importance is now conducted.
Logging has always been a standard industry. The pine went first. Nothing else was fit for building purposes in those days. Millions of nice timber have been taken from the intervals, and as much more from the uplands and hillsides. Mr. Judkins, from Brunswick, was one of the first contractors, paying from seventy-five cents to $1 per thousand, delivered on the rivers. Years later Stephen Peabody hauled from Success for $1.83 per thousand. Barker Burbank was agent for the undivided lands, and did an extensive business. No large pine trees can now be found. The Lead-mine valley has always been famous for nice spruce and hemlock.
The first merchant was Thomas Green, Jr., and he had a potash manufactory in connection with his store. Years after, George Green and Robert Ingalls opened a store, first in partnership, then separately. The Bisbee brothers and William Hebbard each tried trading for a time.
The earliest carpenters were Mr. Peabody and his son Oliver; they framed C. J. Lary's barn, the second framed barn in town. Some men made a living by making sap-buckets, ox-yokes, or sleds. Others shaved shingles. Jacob Stevens made money by burning charcoal, and delivering it at the glen. Col. Porter was the first blacksmith, followed by John Chandler, Sumner Chipman, James Hall, and Isaiah Spiller. Joseph Conner made cart-wheels. Judge Ingalls had a brick-yard, and employed four or five men, about 1855. There were also shoe-makers in town.
"Chopping-bees" were quite popular while people were clearing their farms. Men often went five or six miles and considered a good dinner and what rum they could drink as am pic pay for a hard day's work. "Raisings" and "haulings" brought together all the people in town, and were as handy for the diffusion of news as a local newspaper. Formerly girls attended "huskings" and boys "quiltings," and after the work was done they had a dance. "Quiltings " and " huskings " are now out of date, and have been superseded by the "sewing-circle" and other modern enjoyments.
When Stephen Messer returned from a visit to Andover he brought in his hand a willow stick for a whip. On reaching home he drove that stick into the ground near his house, just above Moose river, Gorham. The magnificent tree that sprang from it is the parent of all the English willows in this vicinity. Those in front of R. P. Peabody's were broken from the Clemens willow, near Moses Wilson's, and were planted at least forty years ago.
Doubly imprisoned by mountain walls and trackless forests, the early settlers seldom communicated with the outside world. Fryeburg was the nearest village, and people went there on foot, carrying their supplies on their backs in the summer, and in the winter using snow-shoes and hand-sleighs, which was much the easier way. Girls were good walkers, and thought nothing of going from Capt. Evans's to Fletcher Ingalls's to meeting, or from one end of the town to the other to attend singing- schools, huskings, dances, or quiltings. One young girl walked over the mountains to attend protracted-meeting at Milan. Oxen were used for farm work, and as soon as roads could be cut, the teaming and most of the riding was done with them. Horses were kept by a few, and long journeys were made on horseback, and it was no unusual thing for a man to take his wife and one or two small children up behind him. Sleighs were in use long before wagons were thought of. A lady of seventy-seven says she was out "berrying" when the first wagon she ever saw passed by, but when she told her folks of the "four-wheeled carriage," they only laughed at her, never having heard of such a thing. The roads naturally run along as near the intervals as possible, and no material change has ever been made. Longer ago than the ''oldest inhabitant" can remember, a rope-ferry run across from Manson Green's interval. Alfred Carlton kept a large boat that was sculled across, and later Enoch Hubbard put in a rope-ferry against his interval. The road came up from the river just below Moses Wilson's.
After good roads were built and the teaming from the upper part of the country passed this way, Shelburne became a lively place. Three taverns found plenty of custom, besides occasional company at Barker Burbank's and Capt. Evans's. John Burbank's tavern was a long, low, unpainted house, the sign hung on a post at the west end. Like all public places at that time, an open bar was kept where liquor sold for three cents a glass. John Chandler's, near Moses rock, was a two-story house, painted red with white trimmings. George Green's, at the village, was a stage station and postoffice, and the best tavern between Lancaster and Portland. A huge gilt ball hung out from the ridge-pole, and on it in black letters was "George Green, 1817." Horr Latham and others drove the stage to Lancaster twice a week. In the fall of 1815 Randall Pinkham made his first trip in the employ of Barker Burbank. He drove two horses, one forward of the other, on a single wagon.
In the spring of 1851 Enoch Hubbard built a bridge across the river from the Great Rocks, but owing to some defect it did not stand. Nothing daunted by his failure, the next spring Mr Hubbard built again, and petitioned the selectmen for a road. It was refused, not from any particular fault in the bridge, but because many wanted it further down the river at Gates's or Green's. But people found it much more convenient than the ferry; and at last the county commissioners came down and laid out the dug way. The natives called it the Great River bridge, but it was re-christened Lead-mine bridge by city visitors. It did good service for fifteen years. The next one was built by the town; Merrill Head, Caleb Gates, and Jotham Evans building committee. An abutment of stone was put in by Moses Mason in place of the old log one, and a bridge built under the direction of Nahum Mason. This was blown down in November, 1870, and re-built the following winter by Enoch Hubbard and John Newell.
The building of the Grand Trunk railway through Shelburne began in 1851. Upon its completion, Jefferson Hubbard was appointed station agent, which position he held until his death in 1877.
RELIGION. — Many of Shelburne's first settlers were pious men and women, and the Sabbath and family worship was strictly observed in their new homes; but the first public religious services were conducted by Fletcher Ingalls. Every Sunday for years "Uncle Fletcher's"' house was well-filled, many walking four or five miles. Young girls went bare-footed, or wore their everyday shoes and stockings till within sight of the house, when they stopped under a big tree and put on their best morocco slippers and white stockings. The seats were benches, kept carefully clean, not quite so comfortable as the cushioned pews in the chapel, but better filled, and we think the long, dry sermons Mr. Ingalls used to read were received without cavil. People believed as they were taught, instead of wandering off into speculation by themselves. The reading over, exhortations were made by Samuel Wheeler, Edward Green and others. The singers were Nathaniel Porter, Jonathan Lary and his sisters, Betsey, Hannah and Mercy, in fact, most of the worshipers took part in this exercise. Sometimes a stray shepherd chanced along and fed this flock. Messrs. Pettengill, Jordan, Hazeltine, Trickey, Austin Wheeler and Elder Hutchinson were Free-Will Baptists, Sewall, Hidden, Richardson and Burt, Congregationalists. Scores of interesting and curious incidents are related of these primitive christians, who at least possessed the virtue of sincerity. One summer the drouth was very severe, threatening to destroy the crops. At the conclusion of the regular Sunday services Deacon Green requested all those who were interested and had faith in prayer to meet at his house to pray for rain. Their petitions proved not only fervent but efficacious, for, before they were finished, a terrible thunder-shower arose, and the deacon's shed was blown clear across the road.
The first church of which we find any record was organized in 1818 as the Church of Christ, with seventeen members; among them were Edward Green, Lydia Ordway, Samuel Wheeler, Anna Wheeler, Reuben Hobart, Anna Hobart, Amos Peabody, Mehitable Ordway, Laskey Jackson. Alepha Hobart, Cornelius Bearce, Lydia Bearce, John Wilson, Lucy Wheeler. The signatures are written on stiff, unruled paper, yellow with age, and would form an interesting study to those who read character by the handwriting. The best specimen is the name of Lucy Wheeler, very fine and distinct, and written with good black ink.
In 1832 a meeting-house was built; Robert Ingalls, Edward Green, George Green and Barker Burbank being building committee. It was dedicated as a free church. Jotham Sewall preached the dedicatory sermon, and four or five other clergymen, Free-Will Baptist and Congregational were present. The best singers in town had been well trained by the chorister, John Kimball, and the long, difficult Easter- Anthem from the "Ancient Lyre" was skillfully rendered.
A schedule of time for the year 1838 gives the Congregationalists twenty-four Sundays, the Free-Will Baptists twenty-five, Universalists one, and Methodists two. Whenever the pulpit was unoccupied Deacon Burbank or Fletcher Ingalls read a sermon, or Samuel Wheeler and others exhorted.
In 1841 a new organization was formed, called the Shelburne Free-Will Baptist Church. The covenant is in the hand-writing of Stephen Hutchinson, and article 3d provides that "we agree to exercise a suitable care one of another, to promote the growth of the whole body in christian knowledge, holiness and comfort, to the end that we may all stand complete in the will of God." Article 8, "We will frequently exhort, and if occasion require, admonish one another according to directions in Matt. 18. We will do this in a spirit of meekness considering ourselves lest we also transgress, and as in baptism we have been buried with Christ and raised again, so there rests on us a special obligation to walk in newness of life." Delegates were sent regularly to the quarterly conferences with a report of the religious condition of the church. In 1848 the membership had increased to thirty-three. Of these most have since joined the Church Triumphant.
The Congregational church was formed many years ago, but there was no regular organization of Methodists till Daniel Barber was stationed here in 1861. During the following two years there was a great revival. Night after night lively and interesting meetings were held at Mr. Palmer's, Mr. Hebbard's or Mr. Hall's. Mr. Sinclair succeeded Mr. Barber; but though he came over from Bartlett every other Sunday, braving the cold winds and deep snows, the interest gradually abated. From this time till the reform movement, only occasional meetings were held. City ministers, "Orthodox" or Episcopal, sometimes preached half a day during the summer. The old church was fast going to ruin, to say nothing of the people themselves. During this "reform movement" temperance lectures and meetings for two years occupied public attention. A "Reform Club" was organized; and it is said that every person in town, with one exception, signed the pledge. Like all such movements this ran its course. The religious element again felt the need of the offices of the church and regular religious services, and the Reform Club meetings changed to prayer meetings. Mr. W. W. Baldwin, the Methodist minister stationed at Gorham, came down half a day each Sabbath, and an interest was awakened that increased during the next year, when Mr. Chandler preached. The meeting-house was repaired and re-dedicated in September, 1877. The death of Miss Fannie Hubbard the following spring broke up the choir. In 1881 Mr. Williams, a Congregational minister, stationed at Gilead, pleached Sunday afternoons; an organ was purchased; a communion service presented by the sewing circle, and a baptismal bowl by Mrs. R. I. Burbank. Mr. Gridley succeeded Mr. Williams, in 1883. His pastorate closed in April 1887.
There is now a neat Union meeting-house in a pleasant location on the south side of the river where Rev. Mr. Trask, of Gorham, holds services. An active Sunday-school is connected.
Schools. — We have no means of knowing how the first generation obtained an education, but it is hardly likely there were regular schools where the children would be obliged to go long distances through the woods. Perhaps some went back to Massachusetts, while others learned at home. A little later we find plenty of well-educated men and women. In Moses Ingalls's family were three good teachers, Frederick. Nancy and Robert. Some seventy years ago Robert, or as he is more commonly known, Judge Ingalls. kept school near Moses rock. Among his scholars was a half -grown boy, whose parents had recently moved from Randolph. In those days Randolph was considered far removed from the benefits of civilization, and Mr. Ingalls naturally concluded the boy would be behind others of his age. "Can you read?" he inquired, taking up the old Perry's spelling-book. "I can read my A, B, C's," replied the boy, bashfully hanging his head. Slowly slipping his finger along he repeated the alphabet correctly. "Very well. Now can't you say a-b ab?" "l can try, " was the modest answer. With the same slow precision that lesson was read, then the next, and the next, and not till Mr. Ingalls found out that with one exception his new pupil was the best reader and speller in school, did he see where the laugh came in. Barker Burbank also taught here, and was called one of the best instructors of the times, often spending a whole noon-time explaining some of Walsh's problems to a puzzled scholar. To this school came the Stowell boys, the Thompson boys and Ezekiel Evans's girls. Back of the Philbrook House, close to the foot of the mountain, stood a school-house, where Hannah Mason taught. Sometimes schools were kept at Capt. Evans's or Samuel Emery's. Susan Gates, Sally Austin, Elsie Head and Lydia Porter were teachers of fifty years ago; and good teachers they were, too, though they never heard of a Normal school nor a Teacher's Institute.
The Bean Hill school-house, just below H. P. Gates's was moved up about half way between Allan and Roswell Peabody's, and here Merrill C. Forist taught school and penmanship. Mrs. John Willis kept one term in William Ne well's barn at the "Dugway" corner. Isabel Gates, Mrs. C. J. Lary, Mrs. M. L. Burbank, Judge Burbank and Manson Green were a few of many experienced and popular teachers.
The law allowing women a voice in school meeting is of no practical value in this conservative town, and on general principles we doubt its propriety. Sanford Hubbard, while examining committee, was said to be very thorough in his examinations, and whoever received a certificate was considered amply qualified to teach all the studies required.
The way in which the first generation acquired the art of singing is as hard to ascertain as how they learned the alphabet. As most of the parents were singers, perhaps the children took it up naturally. The first singing-masters that those now living can remember were Reuben Hobart and John Kimball. "Mr. Kimball could sing more base than any six men now-a-days." No doubt they could all make good music from the pieces in the "Handel and Haydn Collection," and the "Ancient Lyre," but, heard across the wide waste of years, perhaps it sounds sweeter to-day than at first. Jefferson Hubbard taught in the church some forty years ago, and used a book in which figures were used to denote the sound. Horatio Newell was the last singing-master here, and taught in the red schoolhouse above the village.
The town has now a good system of schools, a board of education, and able teachers.
White Mountain Stock Farm. — Judge Robert Ingalls Burbank, of Boston, Mass., a native of Shelburne. has never lost in his active duties and life of the city his love and reverence for the charming town of his birth, and has added to its wealth and attractions in making this large farm from the large homestead of his father, Barker Burbank, who was for many years the most prominent man in all this section. To this home the Judge has added the farms formerly owned by Fletcher Ingalls, Nathaniel Porter, Oliver Peabody, Edward Green, and "Echo Farm," formerly the Hazeltine place. This makes a manorial estate of over three miles in length, comprising in its whole extent the fertile interval land along the Androscoggin. The " manor-house," a large two-story building erected about 1840, by Barker Burbank, stands in the center of an amphitheater of a rare and peculiar beauty, and although modernized, retains many of its old-time features. On the lawn back of the house, among other attractions, stands the stone settee formed in blasting "Granny" Stalbird's rock into railroad underpinning, and rescued by the Judge from destruction. [* A history of this remarkable woman is given in Jefferson. When quite aged she was called on a mission of healing to a sick woman in Shelburne. Overtaken by night and a terrible storm of wind and rain, she could not keep the road, and drove her horse under a projection of granite which jutted from a ledge by the roadside. Here the brave woman held "watch and ward" until the afternoon of the next day, before the pest abated. From that memorable day Granny Stalbird's rock has preserved her heroism and remembrance of her kindly deeds. The stranger who is shown the settee finds his pulse beat faster while listening. to the tribute tradition presents to her labors, endurance and skill.] On this farm the Judge has a fine herd of high-grade cattle, Jersey, Ayrshire, Holstein, Swiss, etc., and many farms in Massachusetts have paid large prices for pure blooded animals reared here. Parker C. Burbank, a graduate of the scientific department of Dartmouth college, is the superintendent. Peacocks, goats, doves, Shetland ponies, a Rocky Mountain eagle, and a bear, are some of the pets of the place.
Judge R. I. Burbank, son of Barker and Polly (Ingalls) Burbank, and grandson of Captain Eliphalet Burbank, is also grandson of Fletcher Ingalls, who built the first framed house in Shelburne. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1843; from 1811 to 1810 was private secretary of Daniel Webster; afterwards entered the Massachusetts bar, and made his home in Boston. He has held many offices, has been city councillor, state representative, state senator, chief justice of one of the courts, and a prominent militia officer. He is also a writer and lecturer of note, especially on agriculture, for which he has great natural taste, and has occupied a lecturer's chair at Dartmouth.
Lead Mine. — About 1820 Amos Peabody discovered fine specimens of galena on Great, or as later called, Lead-mine brook. Shafts were sunk in 1845 and 1846, and a rich deposit found. Considerable capital was invested, and mining was conducted for some years and abandoned. In 1856 another short-lived attempt was made to work the mine. In 1879 and 1880 a stock company, composed with one exception of Portland men, commenced operations, expended some money, and finally abandoned work. A specimen, nearly of cubical form, weighing 2,400 pounds, was taken from the mine and exhibited in London, England, in 1851, attracting much attention.
Hotels. — The summer hotels in such a romantic town as Shelburne are objects of peculiar attraction in the summer, and all are of merit and give satisfaction to their guests.
The Philbrook House is one of the finest among the mountain regions. It lies in the valley like a pleasant English country seat in Devonshire or Essex It is like this, too, in providing accommodations for only a limited number of guests. Those who have the good fortune to be located here once, will remember its generous hospitality as a marked episode in their life. A. E. Philbrook, proprietor.
Grove Cottage, Charles E. Philbrook, proprietor, is a fine resting-place in the midst of lovely rural scenery.
On the south side of the valley at the "village" is the long-established hostelry The Winthrop House, the "hotel " of the town. During its existence many distinguished people have been its guests, and become satisfied with its neat, airy rooms, its quiet, unobtrusive service and well-cooked meals. Charles C. Hebbard, the proprietor, is also the postmaster. A bell is hanging in the room, and when mail is to be called for, the postmaster or assistant is speedily brought by ringing it.
Side by side with the Winthrop is Silas J. Morse's Mountain Cottage, a summer house very much valued by sojourners here. Other places there are whose doors are opened to the tourist or artist who wishes to revel in the natural beauties of Shelburne.
A. S. Jewett carries on merchandising, and is an enterprising and "pushing" business man. He has recently put up a mill and is engaged in the manufacture of the native woods into various products.
Soldiers. — Shelburne has always done her part in her country's service. Many of her early settlers were in the Revolution, among them were Wheeler, Evans, Jonathan Lary and Benjamin Clemens. Samuel Wilson, Hosea Young, Thomas Marston, Peter Wheeler, Reuben Hobart were soldiers in the War of 1812. During the War of the Rebellion many enlisted from Shelburne and did noble work in that brave struggle for the right. Nearly all are mentioned in Col. Kent's comprehensive and valuable article, "Soldiers of Coos." Albion Abbott enlisted in the Fifth N. H. Vols., and was probably killed at Fredericksburg, as was Solomon Wilson. Henry Gates was in the Fourth Maine Battery, was in eleven engagements and never wounded. Ira Gates was in the Thirteenth Mass. Woodbury Jackson, John Newell, Dele van Hubbard, Rufus Hodgdon, William Ingalls, served in the Second New Hampshire; Ellery Wheeler was a corporal in the Seventh N. H. Darius Green and Leland Philbrook were in service; Sanford Hubbard, Albert Green and Harlan Ingalls, enlisted in the navy. Isaiah Spiller served in the Fifth Maine Battery. William Ingalls, Rufus Hodgdon and Leland Philbrook died in service.
Town Clerks and Selectmen from 1839. — 1839. Oliver B. Howe, clerk; Robert Ingalls, Otis Evans, Stephen Peabody, selectmen
1841. T. J. Hubbard, clerk; Robert Ingalls,
Alfred Carleton, Barker Burbank, selectmen.
1842. Samuel Peabody,
clerk; T. J. Gates, Jotham F. Evans, Barker Burbank, selectmen.
1843. Robert Ingalls, clerk; Oliver B. Howe, Thomas J. Gates, J. F.
Evans, selectmen.
1844. Robert Ingalls, clerk; Robert Ingalls, H.
Philbrook, B. B. Head, selectmen.
1845. T. J. Hubbard, clerk; Harvey
Philbrook, B. Burbank, B. B. Head, selectmen.
1846. T. J. Hubbard,
clerk: B. Burbank, H. Philbrook, B. B. Head, selectmen.
1847. R.
Ingalls, clerk, R. Ingalls, J. F. Evans, D. L. Austin, selectmen.
1848. B. Burbank, clerk; B. Burbank, H. Philbrook, D. L. Austin,
selectmen.
1849. O. B. Howe, clerk; J. F. Evans, C Gates, S.
Chipman, selectmen.
1850. O. B. Howe, clerk; B. Burbank, S. Chipman,
selectmen.
1851. O. B. Howe, clerk.
1852. O. B. Howe, clerk: B.
Burbank, H. Philbrook, V. L. Stiles, selectmen.
1853. T. J. Hubbard,
clerk; B. Burbank, T. J. Hubbard, H. Philbrook, selectmen.
1854. O.
B. Howe, clerk; B. Burbank, B. B. Head, D. L. Austin, selectmen.
1855. T. J. Hubbard, clerk; T. J. Hubbard, O J. Lary, D. M. Head,
selectmen.
1856. T. J. Hubbard, clerk; T. J. Hubbard, H. Philbrook,
C. J. Lary, selectmen.
1857. Samuel Peabody, clerk; B. Burbank, J.
F. Evans, L. B. Burbank, selectmen.
1858. Geo. H. Pinkham, clerk; J.
F. Evans, B. Burbank, B. B. Head, selectmen.
1859. O. B. Howe,
clerk; Robert Ingalls, Caleb Gates, Manson Green, selectmen.
1860.
E. D. Green, clerk; Robert Ingalls, Manson Green, D. Evans, selectmen.
1861. E. D. Green, clerk; Robert Ingalls, Daniel Evans, Harvey
Philbrook, selectmen.
1862. L. B. Evans, clerk: Manson Green, B. B.
Head, Henry E. Ingalls, selectmen.
1863. L. B. Evans, clerk: B. B. Head,
Daniel Evans, Jotham F. Evans, selectmen.
1864. S. B. Hubbard, clerk; T.
J. Hubbard. James H. Hall, Joel Emery, selectmen.
1865. E. D. Green,
clerk; T. J. Hartford, B. Burbank, Charles Philbrook, selectmen.
1866. E. D. Green, clerk; D. P. Evans, Charles Philbrook, Loren B.
Evans, selectmen.
1867. E. D. Green, clerk; D. P. Evans, L. B.
Evans, J. F. Evans, selectmen.
1868. E. D. Green, clerk: D. P.
Evans, L. B. Evans. E. P. Burbank, selectmen.
1869. T. J. Hubbard,
clerk; S. B. Hubbard, L. B. Evans, Ansel C. Evans, selectmen.
1870. E.
D. Given, clerk: S. B. Hubbard, H. T. Cummings, W. B. Gates, selectmen.
1871. T. J. Hubbard, clerk: T. J. Hubbard, H. Philbrook, B. F. Lary,
selectmen.
1872. E. D. Green, clerk: H. Philbrook, Manson Green, L.
B. Evans, selectmen.
1873. E. D. Green, clerk: Manson Green, L. B.
Evans, A. C. Evans, selectmen.
1874. E. D. Green, clerk: Manson
Green, Ellery Wheeler, A. C. Evans, selectmen.
1875. E. D. Green, clerk:
A. C. Evans, E. Wheeler, E. P. Burbank, selectmen.
1876. S. B.
Hubbard, clerk; A. C. Evans, E. P. Burbank, H. A. Stevens, selectmen.
1877. S. B. Hubbard, clerk; A. C. Evans, E. P. Burbank. H. A. Stevens,
selectmen.
1878. S. B. Hubbard, clerk; A. C. Evans, J. B. Head, Jackman
Wheeler, selectmen.
1879. H. C. Green, clerk; A. C. Evans, J. B. Head,
J. Wheeler, selectmen.
1880. H. G. Green, clerk; A. C. Evans, B. F.
Lary, E. P. Green, selectmen.
1881. A. E. Philbrook, clerk; A. C.
Evans, B. F. Lary, C. J. Lary, selectmen.
1882. A. E. Philbrook;
clerk; A. C. Evans, B. F. Lary, C. E. Philbrook, selectmen.
1883. A. E.
Philbrook, clerk; A. C. Evans; B. F. Lary, C. E. Philbrook, selectmen.
1884. A. E. Philbrook, clerk; A. C. Evans. B. P. Lary, C. E.
Philbrook, selectmen.
1885. A. E. Philbrook, clerk; A. C. Wheeler,
H. G. Green, A. E. Philbrook, selectman.
1886. A. E. Philbrook,
clerk; A. C. Evans. C. E. Philbrook, B. F. Lary. selectmen.
1887. A.
E. Philbrook, clerk; A. C. Evans, H. G. Green, Albion S. Jewett,
selectmen.
The coming generations of Shelburne will owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mrs. R. P. Peabody for her labors in rescuing so much of the early history of the town and its settlers from oblivion. Her work has been conscientiously done, and we are indebted to her published work in the Mountaineer, and subsequent assistance, for what we have given.
Contributed 2025 Jun 01 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Coos County, New Hampshire by Georgia D. Merrill, published in 1888, pages 867-887.
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