Buxton, York County, Maine Genealogy
Contents
Town Clerk[edit | edit source]
Town of Buxton Town Clerk
185 Portland Roadb
Buxton, ME 04093
Phone (207) 929-6171
Buxton Website
Brief History[edit | edit source]
The township was granted by the Massachusetts General Court as Narragansett Number 1 in 1728. It was assigned to Philemon Dane of Ipswich, Massachusetts and 119 other veterans (or their heirs) who had fought in King Philip's War against the Narragansett Indians in 1675. Settlement was attempted in the early 1740s but abandoned because of the ongoing French and Indian Wars.
The first permanent settlement commenced in fall of 1750 near Salmon Falls, which was within protection of the stockaded blockhouse and trading post built in 1728 a half mile below Union Falls in present-day Dayton. Amos Chase was one of the pioneers of the town, and his daughter was said to be the first white child born in Buxton. He was a prominent figure in the area, one of the largest taxpayers, and was the first deacon of the Congregational Church in Pepperellborough (present-day Saco, ME). The first schoolhouse in Buxton was established in 1761 by Rev. Silas Moody. Narragansett Number 1 was incorporated in 1772 as Buxton. It was named by its minister, Rev. Paul Coffin for the spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire, England, for unknown reasons. Buxton, England is often incorrectly cited as the home of his ancestors, but that was Brixton as noted on page 7 of the cited source.
Settlers found the land generally level and suited for farming. Chief crops were corn, potatoes and hay. Buxton also provided excellent water power sites. The first sawmill was on the Little River, a tributary of the Presumpscot River. A gristmill called Bog Mill was built at the outlet of Bonny Eagle Pond. The biggest mills, however, were located at the series of falls on the Saco River. Salmon Falls had sawmills capable of turning out four million feet of lumber annually. Bar Mills had gristmills and a box mill. Moderation Falls in West Buxton had sawmills, heading mills and woolen textile mills which produced about 936,000 yards of cloth annually. Buxton's mill town prosperity left behind fine architecture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places are Elden's Store, the Buxton Powder House, the First Congregational Church, Royal Brewster House and Salmon Falls (East) Historic District.[1]
Historical Data[edit | edit source]
Town Histories[edit | edit source]
Vital Records[edit | edit source]
Probate Records[edit | edit source]
City Directories[edit | edit source]
Maps[edit | edit source]
Cemeteries[edit | edit source]
Churches[edit | edit source]
938 Long Plains Rd
276 Chicopee Rd
PO Box 998
20 Old Orchard Rd |
409 Long Plains Rd
197 Parker Farm Rd
22 Church Hill Rd |
Land Records[edit | edit source]
Town Records[edit | edit source]
Newspapers[edit | edit source]
Libraries and Historical Societies[edit | edit source]
- Berry Memorial Library
- West Buxton Public Library
- Dorcas Society of Hollis and Buxton Maine
- Buxton-Hollis Historical Society
- Buxton Maine USGenWeb Page
- Maine Genealogy Buxton, York County Maine
- Buxton National Historic Site & Museum
References[edit | edit source]
Adjacent towns: York Co.: Lebanon | Newfield | Sanford | Shapleigh | Carroll Co.: Wakefield | Strafford Co.: Milton
| ||||||
