Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1918-02-05
! Valuable Historical Manuscript.

la Valuable Historical Manuscript
1t has been my pleasure to have In m
possession for the past few weeks tn
original book Of records Of the origina
ProprIetors OF the town of Paris. Th
first record In the book 10 1875, ono hun
dre1 and eighty.two years ago, whel
Maine was part of Massachusetts,. an.
when the United States was . Britisl
province. To 60 into detail and tel
what Ia in this book would take too lonl
and too much space, but It 10 sufacien
to say that to lover of historical mat
ters, It is full of interest.
This book is the property of Mr.. Sila
Maxim, who found 1t In barrel Of OLE
rubbish in the old town meeting house
under the Baptist church on Paris Hill
when he was selectman In 1858. Il II
to become the property of the Maine
Historical Society in Portland, and vii
be among the rare volumes, to be KEEP
and passed along for the benefit of future
generations.
Those who have read the first few
pages of Mr.. Maxim's history of tht
town of Paris are familiar with some ol
the facts which this book gives us, bu
to most of the present generation the
greater part of the contents of the booh
are unfamiliar and strange.
The first set of Proprietors, or body oi
men, to whom were granted q lot oi
land known as "Number Four" lived IL
WatertowD, Waltham, Cambridge, and
surrounding towns in Massachusetts,,
and were granted Q lot of land situated
between the Connecticut and Merrimae
rivers in Massachusetts,. There had
been dispute about the boundary be-
tween Massachusetts, and New Hamp
shire for many years, and finally com.
mission was appointed by the king OF
England to determine the exact line. II
was found by this commission that the
new location of the line brought
Township Number Four" into New
Hampshire, thus making the legality OF
the grant null and void.
This put an end to anything further
being done towards settlement of that
land, and the matter was dropped, to be
taken up again by new set OF men
about twenty five years later. Some OF
the same men were among the second
lot of proprietors, and some OF their
sons also. The new grant which is the
present town of Paris was made in the
year It'll.
This old book is plainly written and
easily read, although It was written by
many hands, and many different hand
writings appear in 1t. In the older rec.
ords the old fashioned "f's" are used
where we use the letter 8, and the word.
ing is quaint and seems strange to our
day.
The book has many interesting things
regarding the early history of the town;
the building of and laying out OF the
road from Gloucester to the "Mill Lot"
go called; the trials and many attempts
to build mill; the offers to any one
who would build saw mill and grist
mill; the laying out Of the lots, and d.
vididipg and assessing same; laying out
the lot for the "First learned Protestant
minister" and lot for the "ministry, "
another lot for the schools and another
lot for Harvard College, all take us back
to another time, when the world
was 80 much different from to-day that
we can hardly realize that this busy,
bustling place can be the same forest
covered wilderness that 1t was when
this book was written.
The hands that carefully wrote out
every detail of this book have long ago
passed to the life beyond, and their
graves, and the graves of their children
and their grandchildren, have been lost
and forgotten, and If 1t were not for
these records, with others that have
been written, even their names would
have been forgotten, and buried under
the dust of oblivion.
THE HOUSE OF REUBEN HUBBARD.
About half mile directly east from
the village square at South Paris in the
woods, which are now owned by the
Richards family, and just short way
west from the house known as the Henry
Fobes place, there used TO be log cabin
In which lived Reuben Hubbard, one OF
the fret SETTLERS of "Towpship Number
Four" There is nothing left to identify
positively the spot on which the house
stood, but there is slight depression on
the top of little knoll that looks as II
1t may have been ''potato hole" OF
cellar at some remote time.
There is road leading out through
the woods to the "Stony Brook Road -
that may have been the road past his
house to the mill and the village. There
are some indications that more work has
been done on this road than would have
been done for an ordinary wood road,
and 1t is not unlikely that this road went
past his house, and connected with the
Paris Hill road.
There are few old apple trees, just
in the edge OF the woods, whose old
grabbed trunks and dead, scrsgcly
branches, show the signs of extreme old
age, and which were undoubtedly SET
out by Reuben Hubbard when the land
was cleared.
THE FIRST TOWN MEETING IN PARIS.
1t was in this old house that the frs,
town meeting In "Township Number
Four" was held on the 2lst of June,
1885. All former meetings of the pro.
prietors were held In either Watertown,
Cambridge or Wsltham, as that was
where the proprietors lived, and Maine
was an unsettled wilderness, and trip
to their land meant journey of many
days of walking or horseback riding
through the woods, with nothing to fol
low but blszed trail. This old book
gives the record of this meeting as June
21st, 17S6, and the meeting was adjourn.
ed until the next day, and then finished
at the same house.
The record of the next meeting, which
was held the following January ir
Watertown, Mass, shows that It wa,
voted to pay to Reuben Hubbard "s
pounds, IA shillings, and pence" fol
| expenses incurred while the meeting
was held at his house the previous June
LIT was also voted that in the future each
man should bear his own expenses a
the meetings, and that there should b
no general charge made against the pro
prietors. Apparently those who stayet
at home may have thought that they die
not want to pay the expenses OF thos'
who went on "junketing trip"
For several years there were no NOR
meetings held In the town, but the mex
meeting held In town was held in th'
house Of Isaac Bolster. After q numbe
of years meetings In "Township Number
-Four" became more common, and man!
meetings we're held In this old house
especially during the years 1893 and 1874
And there on Jan. Z, 1904, was held
meeting, the record of which shows tb
words "Now Paris" after "Grant Mum
ber Four" 80 that not only was the firs
meeting of the proprietors Of this gran
of land held In this house, but also tn