Pennell Institute - Whirlpool Yearbook (Gray, ME)

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8 THE PENNELL WHIRLPOOL the artillery, and there he conducted target practice for the soldiers. Out of this ground have been plowed many buckshot and other missiles which were mistakenly supposed by some to have heen fired by the Indians. The oldest farmhouse in Gray, said to be about 200 years old, is the one formerly occupied by George R. Doughty. It was built by the Reverend Nathan Merrill, and in this house the first religious service of the Free Will Baptist Church was held. In 1772 Daniel Libby, one of the first settlers, donated land for a meetinghouse, a burying ground, and the land where the Town Hall now stands. The mectinghouse was also used for town meetings. The first business of the town was started at North Gray about 1750. This was a proprietors’ saw and grist mill, the owners of which lived in loston. About 1776 Jabez Matthews came from Massachusetts and bought the mill, which was later called Webster's Mills. A post office was located there, also a pottery. A doctor was among the settlers there. One of the prominent men of the town, Esquire McClellan, lived there, and built near the foot of the hill a large two-story house which was afterwards owned by the Mayalls. In 1800 the first woolen mill in the United States was built at North Gray by Samuel Mayall, who came here from England for this purpose. At that time the English were bitterly opposed to manufacturing in this country, and tried to prevent Mr. Mayall from carrying on his business, but he was so wary that they did not frustrate his plans. Both the first mill, a wooden building, and the brick buildings which succeeded it, were partially burned several years ago, but the ruins are still visible. In 1871 or 181? the manufacture of metallic studded sleighs was begun by Smith and Cobb at South Gray in the old tavern. This business was car- ried on successfully for several years, and gave employment to many men. These sleighs were invented by Mr. Hugh Smith. One of the most widely known people of Gray, Simon Greenleaf, who first practiced law here, later became recognized as one of the ablest of jurists. The Greenleaf Law Library in Portland was named in his honor. Dr. William Warren Greene began the practice of medicine in Gray, and later became one of the most skillful and best known surgeons in the United States. The inventor of the buttonhole machine was a grandson of Daniel Greene, one of the leading men in the business world. Among men whose ancestors had a large part in making the history of Gray are Charles Deering of Chicago, of the Deering Harvester Company, and Cyrus 11. К. Curtis, a descendant of Joseph Cummings of this town. ]t seems a matter of some wonder that the village of Gray should have been located where it is instead of in a part of the town where there is water power, but the reason appears to be that this is the natural center of the town and also of a large surrounding territory. In the time of stage

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1762—Y E TOWNE OF GRAY—1932 The permanent settlement of the Plantation of New Boston was made in 1762. Previously two settlements had been made. The first was in 1739, when a clearing was made near the present M. C. К. К. depot. The planta- tion was surveyed and a few lots plotted. The second settlement was made about 1750. The earliest conveyance of land, given by the proprietors of a township, contained the following conditions, which were laid upon them and their heirs forever: “To do one-sixtieth part towards building a meet- inghouse for the public worship of God and settling а gospel minister, clearing all roads, building bridges and providing suitable instruction for the youth in said town. We do not know who braved the hardships of that first attempt to settle New Boston, as the records have long ago disappeared. In August, 1777, the inhabitants of New Boston petitioned for an act of incorporation, and on June 19, 1778, the town of Gray was incorporated, taking the name of one of the proprietors of New Doston, Thomas Gray. There were over sixty families in the town at this time, and it is said that about fifty men from Gray were in the army during some period of the Revolutionary War, many of these being honored for brave service. The old garrison house stood on the land of Captain Jonas Stevens, in charge of

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THR PENNE OM Б INO PO WE 9 coaches, all eame through Gray from Paris, Augusta, Portland, Bridgton, Alfred, and other places. In 1833 there were three taverns and three gro- сету stores here, and long trains of farmers came from Vermont and New Hampshire with loads of farm produce on their way to Portland. Gray was a central place for “musters.” political meetings, and con- ventions of all kinds, and here in the old church Neal Dow delivered his first speech for Prohibition. Today the village is mainly residential, and the business is almost wholly done by garages and filling stations. The generation is fast passing which remenibers the fireside stories of the grandmothers who told of days when bears were often seen and wolves howled at night in the lone woods. Young . merica of the Gray of a half century ago needed no Wild West shows or moving pictures to get thrills, for adventures with bears and other wild animals were frequently met. We well know that much of the success of our ancestors is due to the men of the families, and while we would give to them all due praise, vet we would not forget the share which the mothers bore in the hardships of those early days. Their loneliness in the wilderness, their anxiety in days of siek- ness, when no doctor could be had, their patience in trouble, and their cour- age, which knew no fear, should be held in everlasting remembrance in the hearts of their descendants. WARREN MANCHESTER, 33. WOODROW THOMAS WILSON If I were to tell you of the achievements of a great man at the begin- ning of our country 1 would tell you of Washington, but for a man of our present 20th Century, | choose Wilson. Woodrow Thomas Wilson, twenty-cighth president of the United States, was born at Staunton, Virginia, on December 2%, 1856, aud died at Washington, D. C., on February 3. 1924. Не was the son of Scotch- Irish parents, who had lived in Pennsylvania, Canada and Ohio. James Wilson, his paternal grandfather, emigrated from Ireland in 1807, When Wilson was about a усаг old his father, Rev. Joseph К. Wilson, became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, where the family remained until 1870. Then Mr. Wilson moved to Columbia, South Caro- lina, where he was a professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Woodrow Wilson was prepared for college under a tutor. Пе attended Davidson College in Pennsylvania for a year, and spent a year in home study under his uncle. [n 18375 he entered Princeton University. During his four years of college life he excelled in debating апа public speaking. lle was unquestionably one of the most brilliant men of the class of 59, vet