Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-07-21
For the Ellsworth American. |
Trenton-l762 to 1900.
No. Is.


the town of Trenton included within It's
limits the rock called the Punch Bowl,
the Theodore Jones lot and that said Tren
tons north line extended some distance
that every account that we have read seems
| to have taken it for granted that they were
originally, as now, a part Of the territory
of Ellsworth. and that when the Mllikens
first came to Union River they settled in
| the south part OF Ellsworth, or what IS
then the south part of township No,
built their mill and house, and did business
thee.
As early as 1888 writer expresses sur
prise and says "thst it l. singular that
Trenton and other towns should be incor-
porated in 1859 and Ellsworth not until
1900 when the township No. Ellsworth
was situated on considerable of a river with
several eligible mill sites aud the lands on
the river adjoining it covered with valna-
bile timber" aud that from 1859 until
Ellsworth was Incorporated she was taxed
by Trenton" When it is considered that
until l~o9 the principal part OF the settle
meut now supposed 70 have been in the old
Ellsworth plantation New BowdoinJ was
In the town of Trenton 1t no longer remains
a mystery. Trenton taxed her own cit
lzens. Did she also tax the citizens of New
Bowdoin: II is very natural that the mis-
al -. H.,
many changes, divisions and different sur
veys made Of the territory which now com
prise- the city limits, and yet it is an error
that deserves correction
pr Calvin Peek In a very interesting
and valuable article concerning tile early
settlers Of Ellsworth, copied in the Els
years ago said "All the oldest persons
now alive agree that Benz Miliken and
Thomas Mllikcu. his brother, were the
first persons who made any improvements
in Ellsworth. They built a double saw
mill on the site where Col. Blacks mill
now stands. | have often been told by
Mrs. Lord. wife of Capt Isaac Lord Of
Surry, that She WAS the tir-t female who
came To This place ElI,worth). She wa,
the daughter Of Benjamin Miuiken and
MAS fourteen years old when she came
here. camp was erected against large
rock behind the store OF Sam Dutlon. In
that camp her father lived and she did the
cooking tor the family of men till a house
was built"
Was not this the huge boulder spoken
of In the NIiae Gu4,Ne,r switch stood
where buttons store now stands, and
Identical with the rock called the Punch
Bowl" by John Peters, the surveyor who
run out the lot in l7e2, and where Benz
NilIiken and his son nearly thirty years
prior 10 that date built his camp and his
heroic daughter cooked for her father and
hi, crew? DO your readers realize the full
force Of her labor,? If you believe the
depo>itions Of Ephram Dyer and iona.
than Millihen the crew consisted Of thirty
men beside the father and brother Mr
Dyer also says he carried down two WON
en- in the same vessel that took BENZ Milli-
ken's crew. May not one Of these have
be eu Elizabeth's mother or other relative:
and that the two, If there at the same time.
aided each other in discharging their cul.
mary duties, while her father laid the
foundation for the future settlement and
prosperity Of the town and river?
To further Identify th!s lot as being the
same that Benz MilliArn took up, upon
which he built a house, where the Punch
Bowl stood and where he first dill bus
ness, and that it was situated in the heart
Of the present business part of the city of
Ellsworth and until lo09 was in the town
Of Trenton; the record in the register Of
deeds ONCE shows that 1t l. the same lot
that came Into possession of Theodore
Jones Dee. 10, l7,>. who al that date ob-
tanned Batholomy Grrgoire and his wlfts
title 70 the lot, the whole lot containing
lot acres and - rods.
Dr. Peck in his article SAYS Theodore
Jones, E>u., came TO this river in 1874,
came into possession of the Milliken lot
BENZ. Mllliken) where the village now
stands" This is supposed to have been
written III lo3. The description IN the
deed TO him show, it TO have been the same
lot e-surveyed BY John Peters in 1892 and
which came into Mr.. Jones possession in
l1ss as before stated. Or. Peck does not
say that Mr. Jones came into possession
in l7si.
In 1890, Theodore Jones was chosen by
the town of Trenton, one of its highway
surveyors, and in 1892 Trenton licensed
him, with Jacob Foster, to sell liquor in
that town. 1t seems, however, that in
l,00 he must have been a resident of Els
first town meeting-a copy Of which Mr..
Hopkins has kindly furnished me-that
Theodore Jones was chosen clerk aud one
of the selectmen of Ellsworth; or were
the boundary lines of New Bowdon
changed by new survey which the citi-
zens Of that town petitioned to have made
some years before? or by one of the other
surveys to locate the boundary lines of
New Bowdoin that were made after the
Gregoire survey Of 1888? or is it true that
Trenton run the plantation of New Bow
doin by assessing her taxes as some writ
ers state, until she changed her status by
becoming the town of Ellsworth, and by
what authority did Trenton govern that
plantation. if it is true that she did2
Those who read these papers must be
impressed with the conviction that if any
persons had anything to do with ancient
Trenton, or were Interested in her settle
ment, or did anything to make improve
ments, build mills or do business upon her
soil between 1868 and 1879, the Millikens,
and especially Benjamin, were pre- emf
nently the men aud that what they did was
first done upon that township and the
records of the proprietors clearly show it.
BENZ. Milliken moved to Castine in l779.
The survey and plan of John Peters
show that the north line of Trenton was
bounded on township No. in 1895 We
quote further from a survey made by him
in l7S6 to show other facts which Indicate
in another way where the south line of
said No. 8 then existed and its connection
with the north line of Trenton, viz. Now
| begin my surveying at Union river at a
spruce stub which stands on point about
80 rods above the widow Bates store, on
H. CT nf fha - .s..l.