OFFICERS & DIRECTORS:
The following officers were elected at the April 14th meeting: Margery Brown, President; Florence Boorse, Vice-President; and Joanne Willey, Secretary/Treasurer. John Brace, Reuben Wood and Eleanore Mueller were appointed Directors.
FOURTH OF JULY:
The activities will take place on Saturday, July 3rd. “Pat & Mike’s” Hot Dog Stand is planned and the museum will be open most of the day. The Salmon Run Race will be in the early morning and the Parade will
be at 4:00 pm. Other planned activities are Children’s Games, Pie Eating Contest, Hole-in-One Contest, Rubber Duck Race and many more. Helpers are needed for our day to be a success, so call Margery or Joanne if you are available. This is our major fund-raising event of the year and we hope that it will be successful again this year,
DUES & ADDRESSES:
The same system is being used again this year to indicate how much each member owes for dues (*** means 1993, 1992 and 1991; ** means 1993 and 1992; * means 1993 only). Please notify us when your address changes, so your newsletters will reach you promptly. Dues unpaid for three years means the member will be dropped from the mailing list, tie appreciate members who pay dues when due and keep us up to date on addresses,
HIGH SCHOOL CHRONICLE – VOL 1 NO 2 – JUNE 1887 (con’t from last issue)
The following advertisements appeared in this edition:
Peter Smith Groceries, etc.
- H. Cook Champion Mowing Machines, National Rake, UTK Harrows and Yankee Swivel Plows
Miss S J Ricker Fashionable Dressmaker
W C & A Ricker Blacksmith
Feeney The Tailor
Mrs. C A Ricker Music Teacher
Cherryfield House B. McGouldrick, Proprietor
C P Nickels Groceries, Dry Goods & Lumber
E K Wilson Box Shooks, Barrel1 Heads, Wash Boards & Job
Plaining
C J Milliken, MD Office in Drug Store, next door to P. 0.
F S Nickels, Dentist – Office over C P Nickels Store (I shall be at my office in Cherryfield the first ten days of each month)
Frank Feeney Get cash for Eggs, Furs, Game and all kinds of
Rare Birds for mounting
D S Wilson & Co. Corn, Flour, Groceries, etc.
Billiard Saloon & Hair-Dressing Rooms (over P. Smith’s store) Geo. Cunningham, Prop.
Milliken & Campbell Attorneys at Law & General Insurance Agents
H H Bowles Pianos, Organs, Sewing Machines & Musical Merchandise, Watches, Clocks, Jewelry, silverware, guns, pistols, Ammunition, Fishing Tackle, also Hammocks, Croquet Sets and Base Ball Goods
S S Hutchinson Patent Medicine, Paint & Oil, Toilet & Fancy Goods,
Jewelry & Silver-plated ware, Spectacles & Eye Glasses, Trunks & Valises, A Fine Line of Stationery.
Mrs. G E Church’s Millinery – Summer Hats or Bonnets, Reduced Prices
J Monohon, Jr. Canned Goods of all Kinds, Fruit, Confectionery, Cigars & Tobacco, Flour, Grain, Fancy & Family Groceries, Crockery & Hardware
Frank Feeney Hats & Caps, Gent’s Furnishing Goods, Agent for Largest Laundry in Boston, Collars & Cuffs Laundried for 2 cents each.
W M Nash Grand Opening of Wall Paper & Trimmings this week, also Dry & Fancy Goods, Clothing, Hats & Caps, Boots & Shoes, etc. At Prices as Low as the Lowest.
G R Campbell & Co. Staple & Fancy Goods, Fancy & Family Groceries, Boots & Shoes, Crockery & Hardware, Ladies Dress Goods, Gent’s Clothing and Hats right from the Hub, Bradley’s Red Beach & Cumberland Superphosphates,
Manufacturers of Long Lumber, Laths, Shingles & Clapboards.
Dr. S M Inman Dentist. Office at Residence, First Door above P. O. Will be at my branch office in Milbridge during the first week of each month.
G W Wakefield & Sons – At Our Old Stand on the Lower Dam in Cherryfield. All kinds of Castings and Machinery for Mill, Ship & County Work
A S Willey Solicitor of Subscriptions for The Machias Republican
S Hutchinson & Son Wheelwrights and Carriage Makers.
FOR SALE! A New Tent (12 1/2 x 10 feet). Price $10, Complete. Ready to set up. Frank Feeney.
GENEALOGY:
Schoppee Genealogy, written in 1932 – a photocopy has been donated.
Bangor Historical Society Magazine – a set has been ordered (being published by the Maine Genealogical Society.
CHERRYFIELD ACADEMY BUILDING:
The Town has been renovating the building with matching funds received from a grant – funds for this work were also provided by the Cherryfield Academy Trustees and the Cherryfield Public Library. Money from the grant was also used to build the new fire house – ambulance building on Route #182. The Academy Building has been insulated, vinyl siding has been installed and all new windows on the first floor. The Town Office section has been rebuilt along the north wall and the assessors will have the former section. The Library will now have both the North and South Rooms, New handicapped bathroom facilities have been installed and the heating system has been upgraded. The blackboard and teachers’ platform have been retained. A Committee is working on plans for the restoration of Union Hall (second floor in the building), which will require handicapped access if it is to be used by the public.
The Library has applied for a grant for renovation of the North Room to provide an appropriate area for children.
It is wonderful to see this historic building preserved and in use each day in a time when so many buildings are left to deteriorate or be demolished.
SCHOOL PICTURE:
A picture of the Grammar School students (7th and 8th grades) has been donated. The following students have been identified: John Driscoll, Velora Grant, Larry Wass, Arthur Sprague, Neil Farnsworth, Jate Buzzell, Glen Tenan, Frank Nash, Billy VanWart, Lawrence Bray, Mary Stewart, Agnes Corliss, Abigail Wingate, Josephine Ames, Lydia Will, Mary Hartford, Anna Strout, Louise Strout, and Maggie Mahaney. Two other girls were listed as Strouts, but no first names were given. There was also a Connors girl. The teacher was Sophie Baker, Let us know if you can tell us who else might have been in that group.
DUNBAR:
The Descendants of Robert Dunbar of Hingham, MA was published last year. The author is Ann Theopold Chaplin, RR 2 Box 668, Center Barnstead, NH 33225. The book is available for $40,80 + postage from New England Historical & Genealogical Society, 101 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02116. It includes some of the early Dunbar families that settled in this area.
NARRAGUAGUS TIMES, November 3, 1899:
Thomas G, Newenham left Sunday evening for Central America where he is general manager for a lumbering company, doing a large business exporting mahogany and red cedar. Mr. Newenham will be gone at least 2 years.
Dr. Sullivan, the well known eye and ear specialist of Portland, will be in Cherryfield at the Cherryfield House for one day only, next Monday Nov. 6.
MEMBERSHIP LISTS:
Let us know if you feel we should make the membership list available to members for a fee for copying and postage. Some have requested this.
ESSAY CONTEST:
The winners this year were: First Prize, Jyl Endre of Harrington Elementary School, “The Frye & Flynn Shipbuilding Co.,”; Second Prize, Connie Look of Harrington Elementary School, “The Worcester Wreath Co.”; Third Prize, Angela Curtis of Cherryfield Elementary School, “The Nash-Wakefield House”. The prizes were awarded at the Society’s May meeting and each of the winners read her essay.
TOWN MEETINGS:
The earliest town meetings were held in private homes. Cherryfield and Harrington, at the time they were still Plantations 11 and 5, held joint meetings. As most of the early books are missing, we don’t know just when they started holding separate meetings, but probably at the time Harrington was incorporated in 1796.
In 1842 and 1843, the meetings were held in Harrison Hall. In 1844 and 1845, they were held in the District #1 schoolhouse (Upper Corner School). In 1846 and 1847, they were held at the Lyceum Hall. In 1848, the meeting was at Lyceum Hall, but was adjouned for two weeks to reconvene at Harrison Hall.
Harrison Hall must have burned during this year as the meeting in 1849 was held in the District #1 schoolhouse again. At this meeting, the Town voted to raise $3,000.00 for building a new town hall/school house. George H. Devereux Esq. made “a liberal and generous offer to convey the land that Harrison Hall stood on to the town to build a new hall”.
At a Special Town Meeting, September 22, 1849, the town voted to rescind the vote (to raise the $3,000,00) and have the Selectmen pay off all debts incurred. This leaves us without knowing how and when Cherryfield Academy and Union Hall were built. Does the “all debts incurred” cover the cost of the building which was built on donated land?
The town meeting of 1850 and 1851 were also held at the District #1 schoolhouse. From 1852 on, they were held at Union Hall. The first year that Cherryfield Academy was in the Academy building was 1852. The last meeting held in Union Hall was in 1963 when the town voted to hold meetings at the American Legion Hall as it was difficult for many people to climb the stairs at Union Hall. Meetings had always been held at 10:00 a.m.. This was changed for the 1968 meeting to 7500 p.m. In 1974, after the town office moved to the Academy building, the meetings were held in the Main room. Now that the Main room has been renovated for more office space, the town meeting for 1993 was held at the Cherryfield Elementary School.
From the 1903-4 Town Report. The Snow Account came to $497.21 (the appropriation had been only $100.00 – must have been a bad snow year!). The Pauper Account was $2,213.62 ($1,000.00 having been appropriated). The overseers of the poor, in their report, state “The Amasa P. Willey bequest to the town for the poor came at an acceptable time and is highly appreciated”. In addition to the Pauper Account was the Insane Poor Account of $503.30. In those days the names of the people were published with an occasional explanation of why and how they were supported.
Charities listed were: Hiram Burnham Post (G.A.R.) $15.00; Cherryfield Free Public Library $50.00 (and from the State $5.00) and the Cherryfield Band $25.00.
SCHOOL ACCOUNTS:
Teachers Salaries (22 teachers for the year) $2,939,00 Conveyance 155,00 Janitors (there were 19) 121,75 Fire Wood 261,85
Cherryfield Academy 1,150,00 Text Books 335.52 C1eaning Schoo1 houses 79.50
Repairs, Insurance, Incidenta1s 573.40
Tunk Schoolhouse (They sold the old one for $10,) 815.49
There were 552 children between the ages of 5 and 21 on April 1, 1904.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
CHERRYFIELD: The questions often asked is why Cherryfield and not Blueberryfield? Blueberries, as an industry, didn’t get started until the mid 1800’s. Cherryfield was known by this name before it was incorporated in 1816, Tradition has it that the Indians referred to this area as “the place on the Narraguagus River where the fields of cherries grow”.
In a book, donated to the Society and which had belonged in one branch of the Willey family, someone had written that Ichabod Willey, the first settler, had written home to New Hampshire that his first night here was spent sleeping in a field of cherry trees. Therefore, he named his town Cherryfield.
Another descendant of Ichabod’s suggested that tradition had it that Ichabod had travelled to Cherry Valley, New York (at that time a part of the original Londonderry NH Grant) to visit some relatives just prior to leaving New Hampshire for the Narraguagus River, so he might have named it after the Cherry Valley.
There is no other Cherryfield in the United States, only a Cherryville in one of the mid-western states.
On a recent trip to Nova Scotia, the Browns found a Cherryfield on the map. Following Route #10, through mountainous country with small towns (some only houses along the road), they reached New Germany and found they had missed Cherryfield, After an inquiry at a gas station, they found 5 houses along the main road and 6 more houses on a side road with a sign saying they were in Cherryfield, Mrs. Naomi Huntley of Medford, NS (age 93) said that in the 1920’s and 1930’s the Davidson Lumber Company of Maine did extensive lumbering in that area and they had built many houses for their workers, Most of the houses were later moved or torn down. Her husband had worked for the company for a time. Further research may tell if the name of the town was there first or if the lumber company gave it that name.
NARRAGUAGUS:
We are told that the name Narraguagus is an Indian name meaning “wide and shallow” which certainly applies to our river, except at flood time. The book “Geographical Names of New Brunswick – Rayburn” states that Narraguagus was formerly the name of present day Penobsquis, NB. There is a Guagus stream that flows south into Lower North Branch Little Southwest Miramichi River. Derived from Micmac “Gwaagus”, possibly meaning “rough stream”.
CIVIL WAR: James H, Mundy, 21 Hillside Rd,, Scarborough, ME requests information (letters, diaries, photographs) on men who served in the 6th Maine Regiment, Contact Mr, Mundy or Lyman Holmes, PO Box 123, Machias, ME 04654.
MORRISON/SHIELDS: Bev Petersen, 16305 Chandler Blvd., Mishawaka, Indiana 46544 requests info on John MORRISON/Fanny SHIELDS m 13Marl843 at Houlton (ch: James H,, George H., Harriet M., Samuel R., Emily J., Thomas C., John T., Aretta, Benjamin, Charlotte, Douglas, Iepay, Norvell, Jess T,, Anna F., Bertha Etta (Berde), Charles L., Helen and Carey.