freedom index

Waldo County, Maine Gen Web Site

FREEDOM, MAINE

Early Settlement*

Freedom was a part of the Plymouth Patent. The first opening was made in the forest in 1794 by Stephen Smith, a soldier of the Revolution. With the assistance of his brothers, he also built the first house in the town in the latter part of the same year. It was located a short distance south of the burying-ground in South Freedom. The next June, John Smith, subsequently known as Father Nehemiah, settled in the township. Then followed Rev. Aaron Gould, Isaac Worthing and James and Joshua Smith. Other prominent names of a little later date are Jason Wood, Frost Gerry, Gideon Robinson, Colonel Drown, Benjamin Comings, Bradstreet Wiggins, William Sibley and Rev. Reuben Keen. Still later well-known names are honorables Robert Elliot, J. D. Lamson, N. A. Luce, William Sibley, esquires; and of M.D.'s, Itahmer Bellows, Varney Blackstone and Aaron W. Gould. The plantation name was at first Smithstown, afterwards Beaver Hill. In 1813, during the last war with Great Britain, the town was incorporated under its present name, which was the choice of the inhabitants and had a political significance.

* From "A Gazetteer of the State Of Maine" by George Varney published in 1886 as excerpted from Ray's Place

History of Freedom