PRESENT AT STATEHOOD - 1820 Porter, Part 2

 A Tale of a Settler and a House

The History of Porter written by William Teg in 1957 has the following entry in its “First Settlers” chapter:

Having bought the land in 1794 John and his wife, Sally, moved to Porter from Farmington, New Hampshire in 1796 with their infant son, Benjamin. After the move they would add seven more children to their family. 

The French homestead was located on what is now called the Gilman Road as shown on the 1858 map of Porter, indicated by the red arrow below.

The 1820 Census below enumerates the French household, 3 of whom it was reported were engaged in agriculture:

1 Male 10-15 years – John Jr., age 14

1 Male 16-18 years – Aaron, age 18

1 Male 18-25 years – Jacob, age 22 (Benjamin, age 24,married in 1818)

1 Male 45 years and over – John, age 45

1 Female under 10 years – Lucy, age 9

1 Female 10-15 years – Kezia, age 11

2 Females 16-25 years – Sally, age 20, and Mary, age 16

1 Female 45 and over – Sally, age 46

1 Male 10-15 years – John Jr., age 14                           

 

John died in 1836 and Sally survived him by 20 years before her death in 1856.  They are buried in what is now called the French-Gilman cemetery located near their homestead farm where their old stones have been lovingly replaced by the one below.

The 1875 map of Porter shows that the farm passed to their youngest daughter, Lucy, who had married Jesse Bickford in 1849.  Jesse and Lucy had one daughter, Veldima, born in 1852. 

Lucy died in January 1878 at the age of 66.  Their daughter, Veldima,  married W. Frank Gilman in 1882 and the couple set up household with her father, Jesse.  To their union seven children were born, three of whom died in infancy:                    

Lucy E. – died September 1886 at 6 months

Cora M. – died December 1888 at 2 months; and

George W. – died April 1888 at 10 months 

The 1900 Census enumerates the other four children along with their parents, Frank and Veldima, and their grandfather, Jesse.  They were Arthur (born 1882), Viola (born 1883), Jesse (born 1886) and Herman (born 1890).

The photo below, dated July 1909, shows the Jesse Bickford farm.  The original part of the house built in 1804 by John French was a log cabin. 

Jesse Bickford died in 1910, joining his wife in the French-Gilman cemetery.

Frank and Veldima Bickford Gilman remained on the farm joined in 1918 by the beginnings of another generation when their son, Arthur, married Olive Gray as shown on the 1920 census.

Frank died in 1940 and Veldima died in 1944, when they also joined family members in the French-Gilman cemetery – the last generation to do so. 

Arthur and Olive Gray Gilman had one child, a daughter, named Dorothy Janet born in 1921.  Dorothy “Dottie” married Clayton Locke (born 1917) in 1946 after she had completed her college degree and he had completed his time of service overseas in World War II.  They, like other generations before, set up household as a married couple sharing her childhood home with her parents.  They had two children, Paul (born 1949 and died 2010) and Patricia (born 1953).  This photo taken in 1959 shows the homestead looking much the same as it does today.

Clayton and Dottie became involved in the newly formed Parsonsfield-Porter Historical Society and served as officers of the Society for many years, Clayton as its President and Dottie as its Treasurer.  In their dotage, again like generations before, their daughter Patty and her husband Dennis Parker, came to live with them on the homestead farm until their deaths – he in 2013 and she in 2016.  They are interred in the Kezar Falls Burial Ground.  Patty and Dennis continue to live on what was the original John French homestead – present not just at statehood but still standing 200 years later.

PRESENT AT STATEHOOD - 1820 Parsonsfield, Part 2 – Rufus McIntire

Rufus McIntire, our next featured resident of Parsonsfield at the time of statehood, was born the third son of Micum and Rhoda (Allen) McIntire on December 19, 1784 in York, Maine.  A relatively newcomer to Parsonsfield in 1820 he would play an important role not only in the town but in the state. 

In a piece by his eldest daughter, Miss Mary Rolfe McIntire, appearing in the History of Parsonsfield written in 1888, she writes this of her father:

In the publication The War of 1812 in Person: Fifteen Accounts by  United States Army Regulars, Volunteers and Militiamen edited by John C. Fredriksen, letters from Captain McIntire (written to John Holmes with whom he had studied law in Alfred) relate his experiences during the war from July 1813 – March 1815 at Sackets Harbor, New York.  In the last published letter dated March 4, 1815 he writes…

"The army will probably in a month or two be disposed of when I  shall be at liberty to look out for a stand and at my age you know it will be necessary to do it immediately, but the great question is, where?  I have it in contemplation to visit the western country as far as the Indiana or Illinois territories and satisfy myself of the prospects there before I return to Maine… Is the prospect in the District of Maine sufficiently encouraging as ought to destroy all thoughts in me of immigrating into the western woods? ...I have an idea that, at present, law business in Maine must be small and lawyers plenty in general, tho’ perhaps some particular openings may offer where a beginner might with advantage commence.  Do you know of any such?”

 Continuing his daughter’s account:

Perhaps timing was everything.  In the year of McIntire’s arrival in Parsonsfield, 1817, Reverend Benjamin Rolfe (1^st settled minister for the Congregational Church) died, his widow, Mary, returned to Massachusetts, and the parsonage was purchased by newly arrived Rufus.

Built in 1795 the house was located on Middle Road at the intersection of Merrill Hill Road and, according to the Congregational Church records, was “40 feet long, 30 feet wide, 2 stories high with clapboards and shingles”.  This picture was taken in 1917, then the Weeman homestead.  According to the 1856 map below, Mr. McIntire had a store nearby.  The house and store no longer exist.

In 1819 he married Nancy Hannaford of Parsonsfield.  At the time of the 1820 census his household consisted of:

               1 male 10-15 years of age

               1 male 16-44 years of age

               1 female under 10 years of age

               1 female 16-25 years of age 

               1 female 26-44 years of age

Rufus (age 35 or 36), his wife Nancy (age 24) and their first child, Mary Rolfe McIntire (born September 1819) account for 3 of the above 5 enumerated.  Who the other 2 are is unknown except that the census listed one person in the household as “Foreigner, Not Naturalized” which we would assume is the older female, perhaps domestic help.  

We learn, in the History of Parsonsfield, that on April 3, 1820 the town was called “to choose a Representative to the First Legislature of Maine to convene at Portland on the last Monday of May.”  Reverend John Buzzell received the most votes, but declined the honor, and a second town meeting was called on the 20^th of the same month for the same purpose.  The honor this time went to none other than Rufus McIntire. 

In all Rufus and Nancy would have 8 children before her death in 1830 at the age of 34:

               Mary Rolfe, born 1819

               Annette, born 1821

               James Otis, born 1822

               Alonzo, born 1822 and died 1823

               Eveline, born 1825

               Malcolm, born 1826 and died 1829

               Rufus Jr, born 1828

               Malcolm, born 1829 or 30 and died in infancy 

In 1832 Rufus married his late wife’s younger sister, Mary.  She bore him two more children before her death in 1838 at the age of 30.  They were Malcolm, born 1835, and Nancy Hannaford McIntire, born before 1838. 

It is at this point in his life that Rufus McIntire would become involved in a little known conflict which resulted in the Maine we know today.   In her book, State O’ Maine, by Louise Dickinson Rich she writes, 

“Early in her statehood, Maine was faced with an emergency rising out of the highly ambiguous Treaty  of Versailles of 1783.  This was the Aroostook War.  Very few histories mention this little war at all, and yet it was a real and serious matter that nearly plunged the United States and Great Britain into full-scale conflict.  The bone of contention was the boundary line between what were at the time of the treaty Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, but what became New Brunswick and Maine….It was perhaps only a question of definition, but over twelve thousand square miles of the richest stands of yellow pine in the world were involved, a treasure that neither country would willingly sacrifice.” 

The following account of the Aroostook War is from a CD entitled, Maine: An Encyclopedia, Research and Education Edition by Jim Henderson as part of the 150th celebration of Maine Statehood in 1970.  Rufus had just recently been appointed State Land Agent in 1839 when hostilities heightened. 

“The nation's only war declared by a state and the nation's only bloodless war. It began in 1837 when New Brunswick officials arrested a Maine state land surveyor who was conducting a census in the northeastern regions of the state which were also claimed by New Brunswick.

Maine citizens were outraged. Because the federal government took no action, the Maine legislature authorized $10,000 for the defense of the disputed territories.  A military road was authorized to aid in the movement of troops from Bangor to Houlton.  Another, later to be known as the Airline, was authorized to link Bangor with Calais, but was never completed. 

An expedition of 200 men led by state land agent Rufus McIntire arrested several Canadians, including the New Brunswick warden of the disputed territories, James McLaughlin.  New Brunswick officials were now upset and arrested several of the Maine volunteers including McIntire.

In 1839 the Maine legislature, furious over the arrest of McIntire, then appropriated $800,000 and raised a militia of 10,000 men to defend the northern territories. Patriotism and flag waving swept the entire state, and other states were promising support. No longer able to ignore the dispute, Congress authorized $10 million and raised a 50,000-man militia to defend Maine's land claims.

The only fighting of this war occurred in a Houlton barroom where both British and American troops were drinking.  When someone offered a toast to Maine's success, a brawl broke out that resulted in several black eyes and bloody noses.

Battle was avoided when Daniel Webster negotiated a peaceful withdrawal and new boundary with Alexander Baring, Lord Ashburton.  The treaty became known as the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and established Maine's current northeastern boundary in 1842. "

The four daughters of Rufus, all unmarried, remained in the home caring for their father until his death on April 28, 1866.  He is interred in the Middle Road Cemetery along with his two wives.