Gazetteer of the State of Maine, 1882 page 244
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Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

244    GAZETTEER OF MAINE.

The town was formerly a part of North Yarmouth, but was set off
and incorporated in 1789. It then included Pownal, which was set off
in 1808. The name of its principal stream, Harraseekit, was formerly
applied to the town. The first church in Freeport was formed Decem-
ber 21, 1789, by ten members dismissed from the first church, North
Yarmouth, and the Rev. Alfred Johnson was ordained the following
week. He was dismissed in 1805, being succeeded by Rev. Samuel
Veazie, who died at the age of thirty years, of consumption, the night
after he was carried from his burning house, February 6, 1809. Rev.
Reuben Nason was his successor (1810-15). He came to the office of
pastor from Gorham Academy. He is said to have been an excellent
Christian man, yet with much of the Puritanic sternness. He was
prompt to punish offences, yet quick to appreciate a joke. The boys
of the academy once put a donkey in his place at the recitation. In-
stead of becoming enraged, he simply told them that he thought they
had shown excellent taste in selecting a suitable instructor—“a donkey
. to teach donkeys”—and retired. This ended all their fun of that sort
with him. Rev. John S. C. Abbott, the historian, also preached in
Freeport for a time. There are now two Congregationalist churches,
one of which is a very handsome edifice. The Methodists, Baptists
and Free Baptists also have each a church. Freeport has an excellent
high-scliool at the Corner. There are in the town seventeen public
schoolhouses, valued at $25,000. The valuation of estates in 1870 was
$912,053. The rate of taxation in 1880 was $1.17 on $100. The pop-
ulation in 1870 was 2,457. In the census of 1880 it was 2,279.

Frenchville lies on the southern bank of tbe St. John River,
in the north-eastern part of Aroostook County, 110 miles north-east of
Houlton. It is on the stage-line from Van Buren to Fort Kent. For-
merly it was the plantation of Dionne, named for Father Dionne, who
built there the first Catholic church—St. Luce. It was incorporated
Feb. 23, 1869, under the name of Dickeyville, in honor of Hon. William
Dickey, of Fort Kent. The name was changed Jan. 26, 1871, to indi-
cate the nationality of the inhabitants.

The town is very irregular in form, lying on a south-eastern bend
of the St. John. On the south-eastern side it rests on the northern
end of Long Lake, tbe north-eastern of the Fish River Lakes. The
principal streams are Dufour, Gagnon, Rosignol, Bourgoin, and Cyr
brooks, all emptying into the St. John, and each having falls suitable
for mills. Gagnon Brook has two-saw-mills and two grist-mills, and
Cyr Brook a small saw-mill. There are other small saw-mills, a cloth-
dressing mill and a starch-factory in the town.

The soil is sandy on some streams, but there is much interval, and
the fertility is general. The crops cultivated are chiefly buckwheat,
oats, peas, wheat and potatoes. The most numerous forest trees are
maple, cedar and fir.

The Catholics have the only church in the town. Frenchville has
twelve public schoolhouses; and the children of school age number
1,112. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $80,600. In 1880 it
was $107,753. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 1^ per cent. The
number of polls in 1870 was 274. In 1880 the number was 375. The
population in 1870 was given in the report massed with townships 16
and 17, Range 5, the aggregate being 1,851. In 1880, the same were
given at 2,288.


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