The Portland daily press., 1885-08-31
PARSoNSFIELD.
Celebration of Its One Hundredth
Birthday.
A Great Gathering of the Old Towns
Sons and Daughters.
Men and Events of the Towns
History.

The showers Friday night filed with dis
NAL forebodings the minds of those purpos-
ing to attend the Centennial celebration in
Parsonsfeld the next day. But Saturday
morning the sky was cloudless, and the air
clear and cool. The rain had laid the dust
and every leaf and blade of grass sparkled
with drops of water. At an early hour the
roads for miles were filed with vehicles Of
every description, crowded to their utmost
capacity with people, from the wee child,
staring in wide-eyed wonder and expectancy,
to the aged and infirm veterans, gazing with
but slightly modified delight at the un-
used scene. Fran all the surrounding towns
people came to join Parsonsield in eelebrat-
ing this the greatest event in its history. The
town is one Of the largest in the county of
York, includes an area of GO square miles,
comprises six villages and numbers 1913 in
habitants. Cedar Mountain, near the CEN
tire, and Randall Mountain, in the southeast,
are the highest elevation The country is
generally hilly, and with its many ponds,
and fertile valleys containing well cultivated
farms and flourishing orchards, hasl a beatty
and picturesqueness not surpassed by any
town in the State.
On the 2Sth of November, 1868, Francis
Small, an Indian trader at !Kittery, purchas-
ed of the Sycamore, Captain Sundy, tract
of land twenty miles square, covering all the
lands in York county between the Great and
Little Ossipee rivers. The price paid was
two large English blankets, two pounds of
powder, four pounds Of musket balls, twenty
strings Of Indian beads and two gallons OF
run. The General Court of Massachusetts,
confirmed the titles to Mr.. Small. He then
sold an undivided interest to Nicholas Shap-
leigh of Kittery. A partition OF the land
was effected by the descendants of the two
proprietors in August, III, that falling to
the share of the Shapleigh heirs being the
tract embraced in the present town of Par
sonsfield. This land was conveyed the same
day to Thomas Parsons of Exeter, N. H.,
and thirty-nine others, the original tract be-
ing six miles square. AS early as 1772 twelve
families had moved into the town, the first
settlement being made by Thomas Parsons
in the western part of the town close by the
New Hampshire State line. The town was
incorporated by act of the General Court. of
uhdoodCliuoCbbos 4tAetANlA AtOO, POPoASeAOA "
ing 800 at the time, and the name was given
it in honor of Mr.. Parsons, at whose house
(the first frame house in the town the first
town meeting was held August 30, 1885. The
first town house, begun in 1890, as church,
was finished in 1893. 1t was located at Mid
die Road village dts present site, as was the
post office, established in 1898.
In the winter the of idea celebrating the
centennial anniversary of the settlement of
the town was first mentioned, and the citizens
entered eagerly and heartily into all plans
tending to make such celebration a sue
cess. At the spring town meeting the town
appropriated five hundred dollars for the
purpose, and former residents. afterwards
made generous contributions. The date of
the sholding of the first town meeting was
the day decided upon and the little village
of North Road the place chosen-on account
Of its easy accessibility-for the celebration
Saturday. The tents were pitched in the
piper field,' ON high ridge at the upper
end of the village, from which thirty villages
can be seen. Green and Ossipee mountains
but a few miles off loomed up in all their
grandeur while the more distant and loftier
peaks of the White Mountain range could be
seen peering over their shoulders. The pro-
cession formed at the lower end of the viii
lage at $50, and marched a mile to the
grounds. 1T was headed by a cavalcade of
40 horses, followed by the Thompson and
Mitchell Posts, G. A. R., from Cornish and
Newfield. Chandler's Band came next in
line. Then body of special policemen pre-
ceded a carriage containing Hon. James W.
Bradbury of Augusta, his brother, DR..
Samuel Bradbury, Hon. l.. d. M. Sweat of
Portland and DR.. Moses Sweat of Parsons
field. Following were one hundred young
ladies dressed in white, two bearing white
and gold banner with "Parsonsfeld Centen-
NAL 17S5-1SS5, painted upon it.
The main tent was 140 feet long and so
feet wide, with raised platform at one end,
on which were the speakers of the day, the
executive committee, Chambers Band, the
large chorus, distinguished guests, reporters,
&C. The tent was crowded, and an immense
crowd was outside. 1t was estimated that
fully 10000 people were present. The ex-
ercises opened with selection by
Chandler's Band, after which the
president of the day, DR.. j. w.
Dearborn, gave cordial and hearty address
of welcome to the assembled people, which
was followed by an earnest prayer by Rev.
VIM. r. Thompson. The festival anthem
praise the Lord, was then sung by the well
trained, four-voiced chorus, composed almost
entirely of the sons and daughters of
the old rown, led by Prof L. o.
Emerson of Boston, native of Parsonsheld,
and accompanied by his daughter, Miss
Elizabeth Emerson on the piano and cor
netist from the band. The soloist was Miss
Alice Crouch of Boston, a pupil of Prof.
Emerson's. Then Mr.. III. G. 0. Smith Of
Parsonsfield read paper, giving summary
of the grants, survey and early settlements
of the town, the main points of which are
given in the brief historical sketch above
The chorus, conducted by DR.. John Wedge
wood of Cornish, formerly of Parsonsfeld,
accompanied on the piano by his daughter,
Miss Rose K. Wedgewood, then gave Ros-
sini's ''God of Israeli At the close of that
DR.. Dearborn introduced Hon. j. w. Brad
bury as the orator of the day,-"a dis
tinguished son of the town, freighted not
only with years, but with honors." An alb
obldSO VI Ill 'louOuly . OAOluSho anu stb4O
address is given below;
Mr.. Bradbury's Grafton.
Mr.. Bradbury began his address with felicitous
and feeling illusions to the early history of the
town; to the romantic circumstances of the first
grant by Sachem Sunday to Francis Small in
1868; to the permanent occupation of the terri
tory by Thomas Parsons in 1774; and to the
struggles and privati0ns of the earliest settlers
who found the land as wild as our pioneers now
find our remotest western territory. The discom-
forts of life in the rude dwellings they were first
able to provide, he said, the toll in clearing the
heavily wooded land, of walling and fencing the
fields of making the highways over the rocky SOIL
of erecting comfortable dwellings, school houses
and churches, the men of the present generation
hardly know how to appreciate.
The town has now been Incorporated century.
memory of Mr.. Bradbury, who proceeded to give
a charningly picturesque account of his youthful
recollections. His recollection, he said, went
back far enough to recall many of the early set
tiers in the town, some of whom took part in its
organization. Walter Neal, who lived half mile
above Middle Road Village, was elected pound
keeper, at the first tOwn-meeting one hundred
years ago. His brother Enoch lived Just above
him, on the other side of the road. "Of the ven
cradle forms OF my earliest recollection l recall
that of good old Parson Benjamin Rolf, the first
then embraced the whole town. / remember see
ing him in the pulpit in the large, unfinished
church situated on the small common at the Mid
die Road Village, and in his garden moving brisk