Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

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THE ACADEMY BELL 15 Literatu THE EARLY HISTORY OF FRYEBURG As a student of Fryeburg Academy and a native of the town of Fryeburg, I am much interested in the early his- tory of the town and Academy. It seems fitting at this time, the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of this town, to look back a little on the early history. In and around Fryeburg is the place that the Pequawket Indians made their hunting grounds. You probably have all heard of the battle at LoveWe1l's pond, so I will not go into detail concerning it. The Pequawket Indians were practi- cally annihilated in this battle. In the early days Fryeburg was called Pequawket or Pigwacket. In 1762 Col. Joseph Frye was given a grant of land six miles square, anywhere that he chose west of the Ossipee River, to the mountains. Col. Frye was given this grant by the General Court of Massachusetts in recognition of his distinguished services in the army. Col. Frye first took his view of the Saco valley from the top of Stark's Hill. It might be interesting to touch on some of the important points in Col. Frye's life. Joseph Frye was born in Andover, Mass., in 1711. Frye was an engineer, later becoming a soldier. In the army he rose rapidly from ensign to colonel. He was in many of the important battles in the early history of our country. On Nov. 14, 1775, Frye was made Brigadier Gen- eral. This is the highest office that he ever held. Col. Frye came here in March, 1762, and ran out his township. The township was organized with forty-three proprietors. It is interesting to note that one of these was Capt. John Stark, who later made himself famous in the battle of Bennington in the Revolution. While speaking of the Starks it is interesting to know that Capt. William Stark, a brother of Capt. John Stark, was also one of the original proprietors of the town. rWilliam Stark was a Tory and he remained loyal to King George 'III during the Revo- lution, fleeing to the British Provinces withother loyalists from this part of the country. His'.rights' in the itown were confiscated during the Revolution and the proceeds used in building the road through Crawford Notch. . '

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14 THE ACADEMY BELL ing the following officers were elected: President, Harland Ballard, Vice-President, Beatrice Thompson, Secretary and Treasurer, Mildred Hill. The idea of the club is to receive benefits from the talks given by influential business people and to raise money for equipment for Gordon Hall. The speakers we have had at our meetings are Mr. LaCasce, . who gave a talk on the value of commercial studies, and Mrs. Eastman, who spoke on the way one should appear when applying for a position. Miss Coburn spoke on the benefit of the secondary school education and responsibility. A whist party was given in March. Sixteen dollars were cleared. Next year we are looking forward to raising money for a filing set. On April 25, guest night was held, each member bring- ing a guest. Games, cards, and dancing were enjoyed. Refreshments were also served. LATIN CLUB Miss Ruth Johnson, the Latin teacher at Fryeburg Academy, has introduced into our school life the Circulus Latinas, a society for furthering the interest already being taken in the Latin course by the Freshman and Sophomore classes. Those attaining an average rank of C+ or over are eligible for membership. The meetings are held once in two weeks on Monday evenings in the Academy Hall. A regular business meet- ing occupies the first part of the evening, then a social en- tertainment follows wherein the early Roman days are kept in mind. One meeting was given up to the making of a map of Ancient Rome, and another was devoted to short talks on Roman customs. On guest night the club enter- tained the members of the Freshman and Sophomore class- es who are ineligible for membership. Each evening dif- ferent members are responsible for the refreshments at the close of the program. The officers are as follows: Consuls, QPresidentsJ Ruth Wiley, Asa O. Pike, Jr.g Scriba, fSecretaryJ Bertha Rog- ers, Quoestor, CTreasurerJ James Merrill, Aediles, CExec- utive Committeel Clyde Johnson, Luella Matheson, Farn- ham Brooksg Censor, Miss Johnson. RUTH WILEY, F. A., '29,

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16 THE ACADEMY BELL The town was divided into sixty-four land-rights, Col. Frye having the greatest number of rights. One right was reserved for the first Protestant minister and one for the ministry. These were known as the parsonage lots and are still spoken of by that name. One right was for Harvard College and one for the common schools. The rest of the land-rights were divided among the other proprietors. The condition of the grant was that Col. Frye should have fifty families settled here within six years, each family to have a home and some cleared land. He was also to have a minister in the town within six years. Col. Frye gave a bond to back these statements with. Col. Frye was one of the early settlers. He built a large colonial house on the hill at Fryeburg Center in 1768. He also opened the first store. The old cellar hole of this house may be seen today. Deacon Simon Frye, a nephew of Col. Frye, was another early settler. He settled in what is known as the Menotomy Neighborhood, bringing his family here in 1767. Simon Frye was one of the prominent men of the town. He was buried in the back cemetery at Menotomy. The inscription on the gravestone is still plain and can be easily read. Dr. Joseph Emery, the first physician of the town, was another early settler, coming here from Andover, N. H., in 1768. He built his home on what is known as the drift road just in back of where the barn connected with Fryeburg Tagfern now stands. Dr. Emery opened a store here about 17 5. Rev. William Fessendenwas the first settled minister. He came here about 1775 and settled on one of the parson- age lots at Page's Hill. His house stood a little way in from the main road about opposite where Dexter Wiley now lives. His salary as voted by the town was S45 for the first year with an increase of five pounds each year until it became 570. One third of this salary, for the first six years, was to be paid in Indian corn and rye. Rev. William Fessenden preached here regularly till 1788. He died in May, 1805. Of the early settlers these were the most prominent in the town. The first white child born in Fryeburg was Betty Spring, Sept. 18, 1764. . I will now tell briefly of early transportation. The sup- plies that the first settlers had were shipped from Boston to Biddeford and from there up the Saco in bateaux. They came up the river through the outlet into Lovewell's pond, thlereby landing their supplies within a short distance of the V1 age. The road running from Main street up by the Tavern