Death of Ellen Walton

Ellen Walton appears in my genealogy file as the second child of Abraham and Mary (Polly) Walton, born 1802 and died 1805. The death of a three-year-old child was not uncommon in those days. I knew nothing more of about Ellen's story.

Isaiah Walton, Rhoda's father, was the sixth child in the family born in 1812. So we are talking about Rhoda's aunt here.

In researching Oxford County, ME, I bought a copy of The History of Woodstock, written by Wm. Lapham and published in a small edition in 1882. It was republished in 1983. It relates the story of the first death in Woodstock, Maine, a story I told the couple at the funeral home in South Woodstock and a story they hadn't heard.

The original being a pre-1923 publication, copyrights have expired and I'll quote the relevant passage:

"The first death in town was that of a child of Abram Walton. Mr. Walton settled on one of the lots in the east part, which was run out by Smith. He felled trees and burned them in the autumn. The next spring, he built a log hut and moved in with his family. He junked and piled his piece in early summer, and set fire to it. While it was burning, his little daughter, three years old, wandered away from the house, and was burned so severely that she died. Her name was Ellen Walton. It is said by some that this occurred the year before the Bryant brothers made a settlement in the west part, upon the grant to Dummer Academy. Walton and Hutchinson, who came in with him, did not remain many years, but moved away, the former going west and the latter building a mill at North Paris."

Elsewhere in the book Lapham credits the Bryant's with being the first settlers in Woodstock but acknowledges that E. Hutchinson and A. Walton may have been there earlier but both left so the Bryant's are credited with being founders of the community. Abraham Walton had married Ebenezer Hutchinson's daughter Mary (Polly) in 1799 - New Year's Day. There were other family members - a Walton brother and at least one other Hutchinson nearby.

The Hutchinson's, Walton's and another family, the Jordan's all migrated from Oxford County to Ohio and then to Jefferson County, Indiana. Isaiah was the last child in the family born in Woodstock (1812). The next child was born near Cincinnati (date unk) and the last two in Jefferson Co., Indiana after 1823. My records show Ebenezer Hutchinson died in Ohio in 1828.

I hadn't made another connection until this Maine trip. in 1999, Rita and I spent a few days in Jefferson County, Indiana looking for Rowlison, Walton, Hutchinson, Evans and Kinnear traces. There are two communities called Paris and Paris Crossing in the area just North of Deputy where the Walton's settled and where Rhoda was born. Could our ancestors have been responsible for naming those towns for the Maine towns they came from? Circumstantial at this point, but entirely credible in my opinion. Even likely.

Our visit to E. Hutchinson's grist mill

Rita & I were in Maine just after Thanksgiving and with a bit of detective work found the probable site of Ebenezer Hutchinson's grist mill. Ebenezer was the great grandfather of Rhoda Walton. He and his son-in-law, Abraham Walton and other family/friends were in Oxford County, Maine in the late 1790's and until about 1812. Histories of Paris and Woodstock, Maine mention them and give some clues about their stay.

The Maine histories describe a grist mill operated by E. Hutchinson on the south outlet to Moose Pond near North Paris, Oxford County, Maine. The outlet actually is in the NW corner of the pond and goes west before turning to the south and west. I guess close enough. We visited with some locals and learned that folklore mentions multiple mills in the area but each person directed us to this location on a back road along the outlet. This first photo is of Moose Pond taken looking to the Southeast from Abbott Road just north of Route 219. North Paris is to the right (west) of Moose Pond.

This appears to be the remains of a stone dam on the stream. Is this the remains of a 1812 grist mill? Probably not, but maybe. We know that Ebenezer sold the mill and it may have operated for some time afterwards. This may have been something else, but after searching around the pond, this is my candidate for most probable location.

There is a cute little gift shop at the site. Realize that this is on a small road, little more than a driveway to a distant residence, off a back road. Not a place you'd expect to find a gift shop in any event.

The young lady in the gift shop could only repeat the folklore that we'd heard from others - there was a mill at the stream here sometime in the past. She was surprised when I suggested that the mill site I was looking for had been in operation before 1800.

On the way to Moose Pond we stopped at a couple of other sites. The Woodstock Historical Society was closed for the season. It is located in the NW part of Woodstock, near the community of Bryant Pond.

At South Woodstock, we thought we'd stumbled onto a real bit of luck when we came across a real mill. It turned out to be the mill at Andrew's Pond, likely restored or rebuilt from an earlier time. It may give us some idea as to what old Ebenezer's mill might have looked like. Suppose?

There is a funeral home across the road and only a few hundred yards away. We spent some time with the couple there who took a real interest in our quest. They gave us directions to Moose Pond and told a few stories of the area's history. They had recently purchased the business from a fellow who was the fifth generation of his family in the mortuary business there. The business sign gives an established date of 1837.