On July 17, 1974, a group of 12 people met in the North Room of the Cherryfield Academy Building to discuss the possibility of organizing a Historical Society. The organizational meeting was held July 31, The following officers were elected:
- Margery Brown, President
- Betty Herring, Secretary
- John P, Harriman, Vice President
- Clarence A. Tucker, Treasurer
Joseph Foster, aided by John C. Fralish, Jr., compiled our by-laws. The name Cherryfield-Narraguagus was chosen because a part of the present town was once the village of Narraguagus, part of the town of Steuben and we hope to include all towns of the Narraguagus Valley in the Society. Our by-laws are are such that any records and artifacts collected pertaining to a given town can be turned over to a Historical Society that may be organized in that town sometime in the future.
Mr. Fralish, a of the Cumberland County Historical Society of Carlisle, Pa., was vacationing in town this summer, We ato him for all his help. Among other things he cataloged three cemeteries complete with maps. The Small, Old. and Willey Hill cemeteries. a listing of all the known cemeteries (names and dates) in Cherryfield thru the work of Ruth (Robbins) Myrick, Larry, Ted and Margery Brown. Ruth also has lists of most of the cemeteries in Steuben, Milbridge, Harrington and Columbia.
We are grateful to the Union Trust Company for furnishing us with copies of the 1896 “birds-eye view” map of Cherryfield. We are selling these for $2 as a fund raising project.
We have been given quite a few books, papers and artifacts and the promise of more once we have a place to display them. We hope to have a museum if we can locate a building to use. At present we are working on plans for a Bi-Centennial Celebration.
The end of the year finds us with 121 members and $264.80 in the treasury.
****************
COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN
- Cemeteries Charles Wakefield
- Librarian/Archivist Edward Patten
- Genealogy Margery Brown
- Historian Margery Brown
- Publicity John P. Harriman
- Membership Barbara Peterson
- Bicentennial Barbara Patten and Ellen Tenan
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Joseph Foster Edward Fatten Fredrick Kneeland
PROJECTS FOR THE COMING YEAR
A Bicentennial Celebration … probably in 1976
Microfilming of the Narraguagus Times that are in the County Court .
Does anyone have copies prior to Nov. 1899? First issue July? 1896.
Cataloging of the Older Houses in Town.
Do you know when your house was built?, by whom?, how many different families have called it “home”? If so will you write it down and send it to us?
A Building to use as the Cherryfield-Narraguagus Historical Society Museum.
Does anyone have an unused building available?
*********************
FROM THE PAST
2nd Brigade, 10th Division of the Massachusetts Militia
Cherryfield, Massachusetts; Headquarters, Hampden
May 5, 1818 One Captain, one Lieutenant, 4 sergeants, one drum, one fife, 48 rank and file, 32 muskets, 32 bayonets, 32 cartridge boxes, 31 iron ramers, 32 scabbards and belts, 55 flints, 27 wires and brushes, 14 knapsacks, 402 cartridges with balls.
1st. Captain Elijah Willis* 1803-1805
2nd. ” Wm. Campbell 1805-1810
3rd. ” Joseph Adams 1811-1815
4th. ” T. Lewis 1815-1818
5th. ” R. C. Campbell 1818-1819
6th. ” William Small 1820-1826
7th. ” James Wakefield 1829-1833
8th. ” _?_ H. F. Campbell*
9th. ” Caleb Burbank
10th. ” S. F. Adams
* Who was Elijah Willis? I have never come across the name Willis in any of the material that I have read so far, nor can I place this Campbell. There may have been a name before the initials. Some of the writing in that book was difficult to read.
*********************
The Society meets the 2nd. Wednesday of each month at the Cherryfield Academy Building. I invite each and everyone in Cherryfield and surrounding towns to join with us to make this an active, interesting and informative Historical Society. Dues are $1.00 a year payable January of each year. Enclosed is an application for your convenience.
Margery Brown, President
Cherryfield-Narraguagus Historical Society
Cherryfield, Maine 04622
