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

360    GAZETTEER    OF MAINE.

with his family, as eerlv as 1808, dwelt on the south bank of the Pis-
cataquis near the upper ferry; a Mr. Boobar followed ; and later
came a Mr. Weston and two Hitchborns from Bangor. About 1820,
the state opened the Bennock road from Piscataquis River to Oldtown.

This township was No. 2, Range 7, and contains 20,625 acres.
In 1816 the western half was granted to David Gilmore for making
the Dixmont road; the eastern half was the same year sold to General
J. P. Boyd. The township was incorporated in 1824, and, at the
instance of General Boyd, received the name of Kilmarnock. In 1856,
on the petition of the inhabitants, it was re-named as at present.

Medford is on the stage-line from Milo depot to Enfield. Stores
were open in the township at an early date of its settlement, but only
one or two is at present sustained. All the lands reserved for public
uses in the town are for the benefit of the schools. Medford has six
schoolhouses valued at $1,250. The valuation of estates in 1870 was
$60,321. In 1880 it was $52,885. The population in 1870 was 294
In 1880 it was 398.

Medway, in Penobscot County, is situated on the Penobscot
River at the junction of the East Branch, 70 miles north of Bangor.
Moodville lies on the south, an angle of Mattawankeag touches at the
south-east, and Molunkus in Aroostook County lies in the east. The
Penobscot crosses the town in a south-easterly course, receiving on the
way East Branch, its principal tributary, and Salmon Stream, both
from the north; and Pattakumkis Stream from the south-west.
Both the last enter the river near the south-east corner of the town.
On the Pattakumkis is a saw-mill manufacturing shingles. Medway
village is situated at the junction of the East Branch with the Penob-
scot, a mile or two south-west of the centre of the town. At this place
is an extensive tannery.

The surface of the town is rolling and somewhat broken. Gravel
Hill some 300 feet in height is the greatest elevation. The prev-
alent rock is granite. The soil is chiefly clay, but yields fairly of hay
grain and potatoes, which are the crops chiefly cultivated. The nearest
railroad station is that of the European and North American Railway
at Mattawamkeag, 12 miles distant.

Medway was organized as a plantation in 1852, and as a town Feb.,
8, 1875. Formerly it bore the name of Nicatou. This town sent 20
men to the aid of the Union cause during the war of the Rebellion.
The Congregationalists have an organized society here. The number
of public schoolhouses is six. The entire school property of the town
is valued at $3,000. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $30,637. In
1880 it was $ 79,638. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 2^
per cent. The population in 1870 was 321. In 1880 it was 628.

Megunticook Mountain,—see article on Camdem.

Mercer is the south-western town of Somerset County, and
lies 12 miles west of Skowhegan. Starks bounds it on the north, Nor-
ridgewock and Smithfield on the east, Rome, in Kennebec County, on
the south, and New Sharon, in Franklin County, on the west. The
Sandy River forms the dividing line on the north-west part of the