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

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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. .

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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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Wages for men on the roads were brought up at nearly every Town Meeting. In 1738, they voted to pay men 66 cents per dayfll hourslg oxen the sameg for a plough 33 cents. Usually when it was voted to build a piece of road, it would specify going from one neighbor to another and then add, uFollow the Trail as now ian. It is no wonder that roads used to be so winding. Our present Maine Central Railroad, a branch of the Boston and Maine, was, at one time, the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad. The original survey ran up the valley, between Almon Marean's farm and Standish village, bypassing Sebago Lake and Steep Falls Villages. Standish voted to hire money and take Q20,000 in stock. At that time prominent in Town affairs from Steep Falls were Coolbroths, Tuckers, Sanborns, and Baileys. The story went, no doubt much exaggerated, that these men and others put on a banquet for the railroad paowle, witf plenty of liquid refreshments. After the change in the railroad location, nSquireH Swasey was able to have the Town relieved of its financial A obligations, as the first location was a part of the agreement whereby Standish voted to buy the amount of stock. We have a great many odd names for the different communities, such as: Pudding Hill, Oak Hill, Mount Hunger, Cooper Town, Harmonville, Paine Neighborhood, Paddy York Hill, York's Corner, Cabbage Yard, and Deer Hill, to say nothing of other Neighborhoods. The number of these little communities brings to mind the family cemeteries scattered over the Town. There are nearly forty that are listed, as having veterans of different wars buried there. This is in addition to a great many which have no veterans buried in them. No comments on the Town would be anything like complete, without mention of nPoet Thomas Shawn who lived near Sebago Lake Village. He could strike off unlimited numbers of verses on any event that took place in the Town. At one time following a day of training of soldiers, when some of the irresponsible element went on a wild spree partly demolishing a church which stood in the Square, the Poet wrote a long poem which ended with a prediction that: nFire and brimstone would come down on the Town, as the result of the wickedness.U In the matter of education we have come a long way since November 27, 1786, when the Town, at a special meeting, voted to raise 3a5,oo for a school master for at term of three months. Included in the vote, it was specified that he should be boarded around. In 1792 this was increased to about Q500.00 and no mention made of board. This was the period when School Agents hired teachers and it was not always that teaching qualifications secured the position. One young teacher when asked how she was getting along replied uPretty good. I am not much of a Grammarist,