Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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STANDISH . As Town Clerk and Custodian of Standish Town Records, many inquiries of the early history of the Town and subsequent events through the years are frequently asked me. The early history of the Town, as you read between the lines, is full, not only of history, legends of hardships, privations and suff ferings, but show the determination of these early settlers to hew out a place to live where freedom of those ideas which they considered sacred could be carried out. Waterways have long played an important part in the settle ment of the early towns of Maine. Exploring parties would go up the rivers, like the Saco, Presumpscot, and many others, and cruise the country in search of good land, good hunting, and for the old growth white pines, which were in good de- mand for ship masts. In the early l800's, what is now called Standish Corner, was a Tavern Town, with large barns where numerous oxen were fed and sheltered. The Taverns took care of the drivers and helpers. Stores and blacksmith shops were much in evidence. In the early history of Maine, we find that many large grants of land were made to men or companies as a reward for military service. Moses Pearson had commanded a company at the siege and capture of Louisburg. He requested a grant of land be given to Captain Humphrey Hobbs and Captain Moses Pearson and Company. This petition was granted April 20, 1750 for a township six miles square, 22,640 acres, to be known as, Pearson and Hobbs Town. This soon became known as Pearson- town, until, November 50, l785, when it was incorporated and mamed,NStandishH, in honor of Captain Miles Standish, the Hero of Plymouth. It was on June 9, 1752 that a meeting, which corresponds to our present Town Meeting, was hold. They chose a Moder- ator, a Clerk, and Treasurer. A committee was chosen to sur- vey and lay out the land of this new town, giving the tracts to some who would perform much needed services, like building a saw mill, or grist mill. In April of the following year it was voted, for the encouragement of the first settlers, that there be erected, at the expense of the proprietors, a fort at what is now Standish Village. What is now called the HTown Pumpn was inside that fort. In all the droughts that have plagued the State, we find that the well dug then has al- ways furnished an abundance of water. An interesting note is found in the old records of how six men employed as guards at the fort for a period of one month received eight pounds. This gave them about six dollars and forty cents each. Ebeneger Shaw, who built the first saw mill, was given the mill privilege and two hundred acres of land.

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THE HOUSING PROBLEM Today, we in the United States face a serious crisis, the housing problem. At this time there are more families than ever before and the average family likes to be situated near work, stores, and schools. How that most of the men in the armed forces have come home and are married they find no place to live. Many of them are finishing their schooling with the help of the G.I. Training Program, but even on the campus there are not enough houses to permit them to live with their families. Not only is it just the Ex-G.I.'s that have no place to live, but also the many displaced persons who want to come here from all over Europe because there is no other place for them to go. Due to high cost and scarcity of building materials and fixtures, the average person cannot afford to build his own home. The housing projects and prefabricated houses have helped this problem in some places, but the average house is so expensive that were it not for the Government loans these projects would be useless. In the rural districts there are some vacant places that could be used for living quarters if they were developed, but unless a person could earn a living by farming or some other nearby occupation, the expense of traveling to and from work would be too great for anyone to benefit from living in the country. - In the cities, there are many bad slum districts where people live in surroundings that are unfit for human beings. Some landlords in large apartment houses are strict in their rulings excluding families with children. They do not allow children under certain ages due to the extra noise and damage that they cause. The only solution I see to this problem is for people to wait, if possible, until prices go down where they should be and then once more to build and own their own homes, Patricia Brown 'Sli

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Those early years were hard and trying for the new sett- lers. Thehonly condition for building on a grant of land was a house sixteen by eighteen feet, with a seven-foot shed. In addition he was to clear five acres of land. It was not until l768 that there was an ordained minist- er. Reverend John Tompson was the first minister of the Town Reverend Jonathan Gould, the secondg and Reverend Daniel ' Marrett, the third. Small pox and dyphtheria were the dreaded diseases of those early days. Sometimes whole families would be wiped out. Members of the family, as long as they were able to do so, would attend to the burial. i Mention is made in the records of a Josiah Shaw who was ambitious enough to build a two-story house. He removed the second story when his friends persuaded him that it was dang- erous to have so high a building, as it was apt to be blown off in a high wind. That is the house where William DeLoia and family now live. It was formerly owned by the late Rufus E.. Gray, but he never occupied it himself. The first grist mill was on the farm now owned and occu- pied by Norman A. Smith. It was nearly a mile from the main road and on the brook that crosses the road near the Smith house. There were two dams and a overshot wheel that went with the mill. In the early days cattle and hogs were allowed to run at large anywhere. So-called hog and sheepnmarksn were recorded with the Town Clerk. Here are a few taken at random:HJames Moody's mark is a swallow's tail out out of the left ear. Simon Sanborn's mark is a hole in the right ear. Caleb Rowe's mark is a half-penny out of the under part of the left ear.H Families or individuals who through sickness, death of the wage earner, or other causes, became objects of charity, were often put up at auction and set off to the lowest bidder for care and board. Religion played a large part in the lives of the early settlers. A church was built in l769, probably where the old fort stood. Some of this lumber later went into a church that stood where the Hanold factory new stands. ln l806 the Unitarian Church was built. Later, HDue to differences in religious mattersu, the present Congregational Church was built. The early records of the Town would almost give the idea that the settlers considered Town Meetings a part of their social life. They were brief but frequent. It is not uncommon to find a record of a meeting and, within a week, to find another was called to undo all that had been transacted at the previous one. .