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

OXFORD COUNTY.    421

lage, both of which have post-offices. At the latter, situated at the
outlet of Thompson Pond, are a stave-mill, a flour-mill and the woolen-
mills of the Robinson Manufacturing Co., (having three buildings and
nine sets of machinery, and employing 150 operatives) and a shovel-
handle factory, employing 10 men. At Welchville, on the Little An-
droscoggin, are the woolen-mill of the Harper Manufacturing Co.,
having four sets of machinery, and employing 50 persons ; and the
mill of the Mousam Manufacturing Co., making leather board, and em-
ploying 15 men. Granite shows itself frequently about the elevated
ground. The soil varies from light to heavy in the proportion of about
one to two, and is generally productive, though there is considerable
plains land which has not been found of much value. Birch, maple,
beech and oak constitute the forests. Hay is the largest crop, and a
due number of cattle are raised. Both the villages and rural districts
have the indications of thriftiness, and afford many pleasant scenes to
the eye of the traveller.

Oxford originally formed a part of Hebron from which it was in-
corporated in 1829. The first settlements were made during the clos-
ing years of the Revolution, by Captain Isaac Bolster, from Worces-
ter; John Caldwell,from Ipswich; Job and Joseph Cushman and Peter
Thayer, from Plymouth; Daniel Whitney, Daniel Bullen, Zadoc and
Abraham Dean, Elliot Richmond, Daniel and Asa Bartlett, Nathaniel
Fuller, Holmes Thomas, Zebulon Chadbourne, James Soule and James
Perry, all from Massachusetts. A valued citizen of the early period
was William C. Whitney, who settled here in 1796 and remained until
1840, doing faithful service in several important town affairs. Hon.
J. S. Keith, a later citizen, served acceptably in the State Senate, and
Hon. John J. Perry, member of Congress for two terms, was long a
resident of Oxford. Mr. Perry has recently removed to Portland.
This town sent 65 men to aid in the preservation of the Union, of whom
12 were lost. There are 59 persons in town over seventy years of
age.

In the Freeland Holmes library of 1,200 volumes, the town has an
intellectual treasure of which the people do not fail to avail themselves.
Oxford has eleven public schoolhouses, one of which is among the best
in the county. The value of the school property is $6,000. The Con-
gregationalists have an excellent church, and the Methodists have two.
There are also two Advent societies in the town. The population in
1870 was 1,631. In 1880 it was 1,655. The valuation in 1870 was
$514,049. In 1880 it was $483,246. The rate of taxation in the latter
year was 4 8-10 cents on the dollar.

Oxford County occupies about two-thirds of our New
England border, having a length of about 100 miles. Lying in near
neighborhood with the White Hills of New Hampshire, Oxford County
is emphatically the hill-region of Maine. Though it does not contain
the highest eminences in the State, it presents more lofty peaks than
any other equal extent of territory in New England. Among the most,
noted we should mention Mount Pleasant in Denmark, about 2,000 feet
in height, and peculiar in its isolation, Speckled Mountain in Trafton
and Streaked Mountain in Buckfield, striking in their appearance ; and
Mount Mica in Paris, noted for the variety and beauty of its minerals.
Granite, largely in the form of gneiss, underlies most of the county.