<\/p>\n
We do not know exactly when Obadiah Williams moved from Vassalboro to Waterville. but the first document in the Gettens Collection that refers to Obadiah Williams of Winslow, rather than Obadiah Williams of Vassalboro, bears,the date of April 16,1790 and concerns an agreement between Williams and his son. Obadiah Cleaveland Willianls. The Kingsbury history is therefore in error when it says that Dr. Williams came here in 1792, although a later historian, Dr. Whittemore. was sure that was the year when Williams built the first frame house on the Waterville side of the river. Obadiah Williams, according to this carefully preserved written agreement with his son, was already here in 1790. The paper is what was called a bond; that is, an obligation to pay a certain amount of money unless stated conditions were fulfilled.<\/p>\n
It seems that the older Williams had conveyed to his son a new grist mill the older man had recently built at Ticonic Falls. for which the younger Williams posted a bond of $900, attested by Lawyer Reuben Kidder. that read as follows: “The condition of this bond is that Obadiah Cleaveland Williams shall permit Obadiah Williams to take. during his life time, the profits of a new grist mill this day conveyed to Obadiah Cleaveland Williams, situated at Ticonic Falls. and O.C. Williams shall be obligated to the expense of securing said mill from the ice and water in such manner that it shall sustain no damage that flows from the river.”<\/p>\n
In 1792 the first dam was built at Ticonic Falls, and it has always been supposed that it was entirely the project of Nehemiah Getchell and Asa Redington.<\/p>\n
Among the Gettens papers, however, there is an important document that shows the hand of Obadiah Williams in that enterprise that would mean so much to Waterville. It is undated, but must have been signed about the time. or only slightly before, the dam was built. This ancient document is worth noting in its entirety, and its exact language. This is what it said: “I, Obadiah Williams of Winslow, in consideration of certain services and advantages to be done for me and my heirs by Nehemiah Getchell, Asa Redington and Daniel McFadden, all of Vassalboro. the said services and advantages to be hereinafter set forth, do hereby grant to Getchell, Redington and McFadden the privilege of water to be taken from Lot 104 in Winslow on the west side of the Kennebec River sufficient to carry one saw mill for a term of twenty years. or as long as they shall secure to me the above alluded services and advantages.<\/p>\n
“Getchell, Redington and McFadden shall build and support a good. sufficient dam. extending from a little ash tree standing on the shore twelve feet north of a white oak spotted on two sides, which is said Williams’ line. As much of the dam as may be necessary shall be made on the shore and all so far across the river as shall convey to the several flumes a sufficient quantity of water. If it should be necessary to build clear over to the island, a little up the river. the flume that is to carry water for the saw shall be built large enough to convey water for one or more saws in addition to the saw above mentioned, but not for more than two saws. Such water shall be for the use of saw mills only~ and for no other mills. If the builders of this dam or any other person shall apply the water to the use of a grist mill or any other mill. it shall be in the power of Williams and his heirs to stop and detain said water and let no more pass than shall be appropriated for saw mills. The builders shall begin their flume a little up river and so far from said ash tree as shall leave room for a grist mill wheel of the width required to carry a six foot bucket. Nothing in this agreement shall prevent Williams from building and occupying as many more mills of any kind as the quantity of water shall admit. provided they do not infringe on the privileges granted to Getchell. Redington and McFadden.<\/p>\n
“Williams shall also have right to raise the dam, within eight rods of where it begins. as high as he pleases in order to throw the water off of any work that he or his heirs may erect. And, as in providential events, it may so fallout that a drought may cover the land, by which means the water in the river may be dried up so that it may be insufficient to carryall the works that may be erected, said Getchell, Redington and McFadden shall then draw no more water than their proportionate part of what was expected in the first construction of their flume, which was expected to carry two saws and one grist mill. If the McKechnie heirs shall build a saw mill in company with Getchell, Redington and McFadden, they must covenant to bear their proportionate share of the dam and flume; otherwise, it shall be in the power of Williams to withhold all the water except the Getchell company’s part.”<\/p>\n
On August 8, 1792 Dr. Williams agreed to build part of the dam and make its use available to the Getchell company. This agreement consisted of two documents, one of which said: “I, Obadiah Williams, have this day agreed to build a dam from the bank of the Kennebec River at high water mark to the ledge which is about 66 feet on my south line. Said dam shall be built at least as high as the timber now is from ledge to ledge.” The second paper obligated Williams to allow use of his dam to Getchell and Redington. The name of David McFadden does not appear in this document.<\/p>\n
By the terms of this paper Williams agreed to sell to Getchell and Redington the privilege of taking water out of Williams’ dam next to the shore to carry one saw mill. Williams also agreed to build the other half of the originally planned dam in company with Getchell and Redington. The statement was then added: “It is expected, on the part of Williams, four, good, industrious hands, and on the part of Getchell and Redington, four hands of like kind, together with cart. oxen, and drivers sufficient to haul stuff for said dam, if employed from this day till the freshet shall impede the work, will be sufficient to complete the dam. But. if it shall not be completed before the waters are down so low, as they commonly are in summer, it shall be in the power of Williams to withhold the water from the mills of Getchell and Redington.”<\/p>\n
In 1793 Ebenezer Bacon, who then lived in Sidney, got into the picture. For the sum of fifty pounds Williams deeded to Bacon “a certain privilege to build a saw mill and no other kind of mill” north of Williams’ own saw mill and grist mill on Ticonic Falls. The deed called for Bacon’s right to erect what was called a double saw mill, that is one mill with two saws. It also gave Bacon the right to cross Williams’ land in order to get to the new mill. Bacon was also permitted to bring into the mill pond at all times his proportion of mill logs.<\/p>\n
Two months later in 1793 Bacon secured an interest in Williams’ own mills. The deed conveyed to Bacon one-eighth part of a saw mill at Ticonic Falls, called the McKechnie mill, together with one-eighth of all the tackle, drawup chains. The paper shows that by this time Williams’ ownership of the dam consisted of only 1\/16 part, but he still controlled the old McKechnie mill. The last sentence read: “I covenant with Bacon to let him have water to carry his part of said mill and no more.”<\/p>\n
It seems that when Williams bought Waterville’s famous Lot 104 of the old McKechnie survey, he had been unable to pay for it. When in 1750 the Plymouth Company, consisting of Sylvester Gardiner and numerous partners, bought the whole Kennebec Purchase, they proceeded to distribute the land among the several partners, who were called the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase. It is well known that Sylvester Gardiner got the land that now includes the City of Gardiner and parts of Pittston; Benjamin Hallowell got the territory where Hallowell and Augusta later developed and Florentitis Vassall the land that’ is now Vassalboro. The man who got much of the Winslow area, then including the west as well as the east side of the river, was the Plymouth partner, John Pitt. So far as is known, he never came to the Kennebec, but conducted the sale of his Maine lands from his home in Tyngboro, Massachusetts. It was probably in 1790 that John Pitt sold Lot 104 to Obadiah Williams and accepted from Williams a mortgage note. Five years later Williams was able to payoff the mortgage and on June 11, 1795 Pitt acknowledged full payment and gave Williams a full, quit-claim deed to the property, which by then had already become the most valuable piece of land in the town.<\/p>\n
After the building of the dam in 1792 mills sprang up so fast that by 1795 the dam needed enlargement and essential repairs. It was now not a matter of two or three men, but of eight who had an interest in the mills and water rights at Ticonic Falls. On August 15, 1795 an agreement was jointly signed by Nehemiah Getchell, Asa Redington, Obadiah Williams, Elnathan Sherwin, Timothy Heald, Benjamin Runnels, Ebenezer Bacon and Daniel McFadden. It provided that Getchell and Redington should defray one third of the expense of repairing and raising the height of the dam, should also pay a third of the expense of building sluiceways for the fish to pass up the river. Another third was to be paid by Williams and Bacon, while the remaining third was shared by Sherwin, Heald, Runnels and McFadden.<\/p>\n
Evidently not all was serene in the family of Dr. Obadiah Williams. On May 22, 1793 his mother, Dorcas Williams, still living in New Hampshire near the old Epping home, wrote to her son in Maine a bitter and heart-rending letter. Let us see what it said: “I am yet numbered with the living and in an unusual state of health for me, though far from true health, not being to do but little labor. The distressing condition I am reduced to by my deeds of property not being executed, and the distress and cost I sustained by the death and insolvency of the estate of Samuel, I suppose you have been informed of by Esq. Ward. He told me that you meant to come here last fall, which I rejoiced to hear, but my joy is turned to sorrow because you have not come. My land is let out for five years in order to repair the house, so that I have little to live on from that quarter. My daughter Betty and I have nowhere to live and nothing to live upon. I have been living with my daughter Bement. but cannot content myself there. You know that Betty’s portion went to pay for a part of the land I have a deed of from you. I am anxious that you should come and execute your deeds or give new ones. Until this is done we must, against our wills, accuse you of injustice. Samuel’s daughter, sick with consumption, is supported by the town. I want to converse with you and Joseph about many things I cannot express here. In compassion to me, I beg of you to do all in your power to secure justice for me and Betty.”<\/p>\n
We have no means of knowing how Obadiah Williams responded to his mother’s appeal. We can only hope he did what was right.<\/p>\n
Next week we shall hear about Williams’ relations with his son,Obadiah Cleaveland Williams, and with his son-in-law, Abijah Smith.<\/p>\n
Year: 1963<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #590, Broadcast on November 17, 1963<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[796,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}