Ellsworth Maine

Date: 26 Feb 1800 [unknown]
Location: Ellsworth, Hancock, Maine, United States
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies Maine Hancock_County_Maine

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Parent Page: Hancock County

Ellsworth Ellsworth is a city in, and the county seat of, Hancock County, incorporated as a town on February 26, 1800 from Plantation Number 7 T7 EPR The new community was named for Oliver Ellsworth, a Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Ellsworth is the only city in Hancock County and with an area of just under 94 square miles it is one of that largest cities in Maine
Click here for Ellsworth, Maine Category page

Important Dates

Date	Event
September 15, 1759	Wolfe's victory on the Plains of Abraham ended the conflict between France and England over Acadia and Eastern Maine
September 8, 1760	marked the final surrender of Montreal and New France to the British ending French control of present day Hancock County Maine
1762	Several Land Grants were made from the Livermore Survey including: Township No. 7 EPS See: Hancock County Land Grants
1763	First English settlers
February 10, 1763	The Treaty of Paris of 1763 [1] ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years’ War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there.
July 4, 1776	The Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain
September 3, 1783	The Treaty of Paris, signed officially ending the American Revolutionary War.
June 25, 1789	Hancock County was formed from a portion of Lincoln County
February 26, 1800	The town of Ellsworth was incorporated
March 3, 1809	Ellsworth acquired parts of Surry and "northerly part" of Trenton
March 15, 1820	Maine became the nation's 23rd state
February 21, 1828	A part of the town was set off and included in the new town of Hancock.
1821	The part from Surry was returned
February 27, 1869	Ellsworth was incorporated as a city

Contents 1 Villages, Locations and Settlements 2 Historical Names 3 Pioneer Settlers 4 Maps 5 Stories 6 Sources

Villages, Locations and Settlements

Villages, Locations and Settlements	Settler/Namesake/Note
Bayside
Ellsworth
Ellsworth Falls	(formerly Falls Village)
Joyville
Lakewood
Nicolin	AKA Nicolin Siding
North Ellsworth aka Hurds Corner
Surry Gore (Historical)
West Ellsworth
Wilson Corner
Winkumpaugh Corners

Historical Names

Name	Note
Bowdoin New Bowdoin New Bowdoin Plantation
Union River	Union River Settlement

Pioneer Settlers

Pioneer Settler	Arrival Year
Benjamin Milliken Sr (1728-abt.1791)	1763
Melatiah Jordan (1753-1818)
Benjamin Joy
Colonel Jones
George Lord
Nathaniel Jellison
John Jellison

Maps

• Ellsworth on Google Maps

Stories

Varney's Gazetteer of the state of Maine has the following:
      ELLSWORTH, the shire town and only city of Hancock County, is situated at the head of Union River Bay, and near the centre of the county. The territorial area is between 60,000 and 70,000 acres. Union River passes southward through the middle of the town. Branch, Beech Hill and Reed's are the principal ponds. The surface of the land is generally broken, especially on the western side of the river. Mountain Rock is reported to be the greatest elevation. The stage-road, the main thoroughfare of the town, passes through a section of metamorphic ledges, on which rest many erratic boulders. Those found between Falls Village and the "Craigs " are said to surpass all others in the county for size. The land would be regarded as generally better suited for sheep-ranges than for the cultivation of crops.

The business portion of the town is situated about the Falls. These cover a distance of 2 miles, extending from the upper and business portion known as "Falls Village" to the Bridge, having in that space a total full of 85 feet. The holding capacity of the supplying ponds is estimated at 5,500,000,000 cubic feet, and the water annually discharged over these falls at 17,500,000,000 cubic feet. The mills and factories consist of two grain-mills, an excelsior and a planing-mill, eight long-lumber mills, with a productive capacity of 40,000,000 feet of lumber annually ; five stave-mills, with a productive capacity of 25,000,000 annually. Shingles, clap-boards and laths are also made in nearly all these mills. Other manufactures are boxes, bricks, furniture, wool rolls, carriages, coopers' ware, carpenters' trimmings, iron castings, maible work, ship pumps and blocks, sails, vessels and boats, leather, tinware, etc. At North Ellsworth also there is a tannery. Ellsworth Town Hall is a brick building two stories in height, with an audience room having a seating capacity of 800. The lower story is used for a high-school. The county buildings and custom-house, with the church-edifices of the Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, Unitarian and Catholics, are also more or less impressive and pleasing structures. Shade trees, of maple and elm, from one to eighty years' growth, adorn the streets. The nearest railroad station in 1881 is at Bucksport, 20 miles distant. A railroad between the two places is projected. Ellsworth is on the Bangor and Calais stage-line, and is itself a stage centre for the southern part of the county. The Hancock County Savings Bank, located at Ellsworth, in 1880 held deposits and profits to the amount of $72,544.08. "The Ellsworth American," issued by the Hancock Publishing Company, is the only well-established newspaper in the county, having been published continuously since 1853. There is a good public library, assiduously read. The usual entertainments of a city are found here.

Benjamin Millikin is said to have been the first settler in the town, having come in 1763; and, according to the "oldest inhabitant," his daughter Elizabeth cooked the first meal prepared by white people in Ellsworth " by the side of a huge bowlder, which stood where Dutton's store now is." The next settlers were Meltiah Jordan, Benjamin Joy, Colonel Jones, George Lord, Nathaniel and John Jellison. Others soon followed these. The first children born were Edward and Susan Beal. Twenty years after its settlement the township had a population of 992. The first minister was Rev. J. Urquhart, who came in 1785. The Rev. Peter Nourse was ordained in 1812. As a plantation the township bore the name of New Bowdoin. It was incorporated in 1800, being named in honor of Oliver Ellsworth, one of the delegates to the National Constitutional Convention, held a few years subsequent to the Revolution. It comprised Township No. 7 (of the "Ten Townships"), a part of Township No. 6, and the north-west part of Trenton. The part taken from No. 6 was annexed to Surry soon after 1820, but was re-annexed to Ellsworth in 1829. Ellsworth became the shire town in 1838, and a city in 1869. James F. Davis was the first mayor. It is said that all the buildings now standing south of Main street have been erected within about sixty-five years. The first framed house is still standing in the rear of the " Clark and Davis" store. It is to be supposed that "ye olden custom" of breaking a bottle and naming the building by some bold and nimble citizen bestriding the ridge-pole when the raising was completed, was observed here. The descriptive rhyme for this house ran thus;

" This is a good frame;
It deserves a good name.
What shall we call it ?
Josh Moore's folly,
And Pond's delight.
The lawyer has got it—
It looks like a fright."

Ellsworth is the home of Hon. Eugene Hale, U. S. Senator, and of his law-partner, Hon. L. A. Emery, a few years since attorney-general of Maine. Colonel Z. A. Smith, of the Boston "Journal," was for a time a resident of the town. The city furnished 653 men for the Union cause during the Rebellion. The bounties paid by the city amounted to $49,600. Ellsworth has twenty-two public schoolhouses, and the school property is valued at $25,000. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $1,233,199. In 1880 it was $1,456,366. The rate of taxation in 1880 was 21£ mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 5,257. In the census of 1880 it was 5,051.

Sources

1. ↑ Treaty of Paris

• Varney, George J. 1886. Gazetteer of the state of Maine: with numerous illustrations.

Also See:

• Maine Genealogy Net Ellsworth
• Ellsworth on Wikipedia