The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1870-03-31
THE HISTORY OF DoDDLEToWN.
CONTINUED
DODDLETOWN, March 90, 1870

Doddetown and defined its geographical status in
my last; in this proceed to give some account
of its
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
| The territory known as Doddctown was
formerly called Washington Plantation; so named
i'll honor of my illusrious namesake, G.. Washing
ton, who, until the advent of the late lamented A.
Lincoln, reputed to be the Father of his Cou n
try; since that period he has fallen into the back
ground, and is now known only as his country's
grandfather by former marriage.
The first '' clearing" in the plantation was made
by my venerated grandfather, Job Doddles He
came here in '93, bringing with him wife, seven
sons and three daughters; the same number of each
sex that claimed to be the children of his Scriptura
namesake.
| do not find mention in the family record tn at
Mrs. d. ever advised him, like her Scriptura proto
type, to course God and die"; but there is trad-
ton in the family that it would have saved the ven
cradle man deal of domestic trouble, if he had
obeyed the latter part of the injunction in early
life Had he lived in these days, when &c incom-
pabty of temper" is recognized as sufficient
cause for divorce, it is highly probable that there
would have been, at least, ten less Dodlles in the
world than there were when he moved into Wash
ington Plantation. The youngest member of his
family, at that time tluttering in yellow flannel be-
came in due course of time and nature, the father
of your correspondent.
| Immediately after establishing his residence in
the plantation, my grandfather "took up" as it
was termed twelve lots of one hundred acres each,
in the immediate vicinity of that part Of the town
now known as The Forks. The proprietors of the
plantation, by Il sort of tact consent, allowed every
" settler" who moved in to take up lot for HIM
self and one for each Of his boys. Under this custom
my grandfather entitled to "take up eight
lots; one for himself and for each one OF his
seven boys Learning that he had also'' taken up'
one for his wife, and one for each Of his three
girls, the proprietOrs were disposed to remonstrate
ana sent on their Surveyor. Eakim Spudge, Esq,
to forbid any such wholesale appropriation My
grandfather, however. succeeded atisfying the
Surveyor that it all right, on the ground that
| Mrs. d. wore the pantaoons more than half the
time, and that the chances were altogether in favor
of the probability that his three girls would all turn
to boys soon or late. The result was that the Sur
ycyor ran out the twelve lots, as taken UP by my
grand father, and about three months afterwards
married his oldest daughter; she survived her mar
riagc but short time, and then he took the second
one; thereby securing to himself two of the lots
!
Thus commenced the relationship between the
Doddes and spudgc families; of which last named
family shall have occasion to make mention here
after.
/ 1t is due to the memory Of my highly revereed
grandfather to add here. although in so doing |
interrupt the even tenor of this history, that he
out in the war Of 1872, although an old man,
and was Colonel of the famous Regiment of which
| ;c tI,o ~
that war, called the Z" Bloody Mugs" He was ac-
tive in procuring the passage Of the act ineorpor-
ating the town, and in honor of him it was called
DoddetoWn. The act rs originally drafted read
Doddlcstown; when it passed into the hands of the
Committee on Engrossed Bills, it happened, unfor-
tunatcly, that the Chairman of that Committee
lisped, and so the 8 dropped out.
noticed in religious paper of recent date that
the inventory of the estate of the Job of Scripture
nooriety footed up 1910, 900; my grandfather Job
died poor; but he died rich i'll years, honors and
grandchildren, within year after the incorpora-
ton of the town.
Some Old Mortality, g1ubbing among the recn-
ing grave-StoneS in Scrub Oak Cemetery may
chance to come upon one bearing the following in
scription-thc dates al one leigibe: ~ )b Doddcs
Born -- Died -. This stone erected to his
memory by his disconsoatc W idow, Name Snub-
| bins"
! The inquiry will naturally suggest itself, How
happens ii that the widow OF Job DodNeS styles
herself Nancy .SAubbjnS'" The answer is readily
supplied My grandfather died in mid-wintcr; the
gryestOne could not be set until the frost was ou
of the ground the Spring following; and before
that time his ''dlsconsolate widow had married
Snubbns. AS this marriage took place when botl
parties were quite advanced in years, there nc
''issue," as the lawyers say; hence there is nc
blood-rclationship between tho Doddes and the
Snubbns's.
After the death of my grandmother-the "discon
solate wdow"-a question arose about the title to
the old homestead. 1t was finally settled however
by an article in the warrant calling town-meetng
and by vote Of the town thereon that Snubbns was
entitled to it; in that way the old Doddles home
stead passed into the possession of the Snubbins
family and there it remains to this day This is
the same place on which the celebrated Snubbins
Pippin, or Grab Apple as it is sometimes called,
was first raised.
TO resume the thread of my History which has
become little tangled up by the foregoing discur-
sion, the next settlement in the Plantation was
made at the point now known as Skunk's Landing.
The individual who commenced the settlement was
a Norwegian by nationality although his father was
a Dutchman his name, Ole Schenck. Rumor hiss
1t that he was remotely connected with the progeni-
tors of Ole Bull, the celebrated vionst. There is
really no foundation for the rlmor, however, ex-
cept that Ole Bull was ardently fond of cdt-gut and
Ole Schenck of rot-gut. The cultural eocution of
both families tends in some slight measure to con-
firm the rumor.
In process of time, under the Americanizing II.
fuence that ndturaliyes foreign names, as well as
foreign persons, Schenck was converted to Skunk,
and Ole, to Old; so that the Ole Schenck of the
past as we'll as present generation, became Old
Skunk. The original family name would, doubtless,
be stencil in the nostrs of the present proprietor
Of the odoriferous patronymic.
member of this family was captain of the
"Washington (now Doddlctown) Heavy Artillery" :"
attached to the ''Bloody Mugs commanded by Col.
Doddles, as before stated and did eminent service
in the war of 1872.
Some of your Oldest inhabitants may remember
that the British troops took possession of your city
OH the second day of September 1884, and left very
suddenly on the sixth, but are probably ignorant
to this day of the of their abrupt departure
not so with our oldest inhabitants. The s'Bloody