It appears by the records that there were four person who settled in the south part of the town by the name of Carleton, whose given names were Edward, Dudley, Moses and David, all from Andover, Massachusetts, and evidently brothers. They built the mills first known as Carleton’s mills, mentioned in the town records in 1770 for the first time when Dudley Carleton was elected a selectman, in 1771 was re-elected and in 1772 was chosen one of a committee to keep the fish course clear at Carleton’s mills.
April 3, 1775, “Voted that the Inhabitants of the Town meet at the house of Mr. David Carleton the 2nd Monday in May to see Something abought making the hour Something better, at 8 o’clock in the morning. Meeting Ajourned to house and time aforesaid.” Then follows this entry: “The Disturbance Between Brittain and America Prevented the meeting According to Ajournment.” “This Disturbance” probably was news of the battle of Lexington.
March 28, 1776, David Carleton was chosen one of the committee of correspondence and in 1779 a surveyor of lumber.
March 7, 1785, Moses Carleton was one of a committee of three “to hire a Preacher and Collect the Money to pay him.”
Edward Carleton was chosen a surveyor of lumber in 1789, and in 1792 and 1793 one of a committee to keep the fish course clear. The fish course was at Carleton’s mills, to provide a passage for alewives to the pond above, where they went to spawn. At those mills also frost fish came to spawn about the time of Christmas, and were taken in great numbers. Fish were a valuable article of food for the settlers of the town, and care was taken that the alewives should not be obstructed in their yearly visits to the fresh water ponds where they deposited their eggs and hatched their young.
The writer well remembers the fish course spoken of, and that on certain days when “the fish were running” they could be taken under regulations made by the town, while on other days the people took fish unlawfully and subject to a fine.
In 1795, Edward Carleton was chosen with others to superintend and inspect the fish course, fix the place for catching fish from Monday at sunrise until Wednesday at sunset. He was also allowed by vote of the town “three pence per light for 360 lights of sashes delivered for the Meeting house” and chosen to present the proposals to the church, by the town, for it to offer through a committee to Jonathan Fisher regarding his settlement, and that Mr. Carleton be desired to request the church by a committee to wait upon Jonathan Fisher, with the town’s proposal for an exchange of the minister’s lot and Mr. Carleton’s lot, if he settles in the town.
In 1797, “Voted that Major David Carleton have the consent of this town to bid upon the Pews as he shall please.” This was for the sale of the pews of the new meeting house, and would indicate that Major Carleton had moved to Sedgwick and without the vote as above would not have had the right to bid for the pews when they came up for sale.
From the church records it is learned that David Carleton and Mary, his wife, owned the covenant and had:
- Molly Adams Coggeswell Carleton, baptized July 4, 1784, by Rev. Seth Noble.
- Dudley Carleton, baptized July 4, 1784, by Rev. Seth Noble.
Edward Carleton and Phebe, his wife, owned the covenant and had their daughter:
- Abigail Abbott Carleton baptized by Oliver Noble, Oct. 17, 1790.
Moses Carleton and Mary his wife presented the following children:
- Leonard Carleton, Oct. 17, 1790. Rev. Oliver Noble.
- Ebenezer Carleton, July 8, 1792. Rev. Peter Powers.
- Elizabeth Carleton, Aug. 22, 1794. Rev. Samuel Eaton.
There is no record to show that Dudley Carleton was a member of the church at Blue Hill, that he had a family, or when and where he died.
The Carletons were men of activity and business energy in the earlier years of the settlement of the town. They lived nearby their mills upon lands later conveyed to Amos Allen and his sons, who also purchased from them the mills that were built and owned for many years by the Carletons, Just where stood the houses of David, Edward and Dudley Carleton, the writer has no means of definitely determining at this writing, but the house of Moses was standing in the writer’s boyhood upon the site of the present house of the late Joseph Allen. It was a two story structure in front and of one story in the rear, but what year it was built cannot now be stated, though probably shortly after the Carletons came to the locality from Andover.
In the early years of 1800, the Carletons built a ship near the mills, called the “Juno”, of which Dudley Carleton, 2nd, son of David, was master. She was 250 tons, single deck, and a full-rigged ship, in which the father of the writer made a voyage to Liverpool, England, and back to Boston as one of her foremast hands.
A number of other vessels have been built there in later years, and lumber from the mills, and wood from the landing have been scowed down the Salt pond, and passed out over the Fore Falls to form many cargoes shipped to western markets. It was no uncommon sight to see half a dozen or more vessels at anchor below the Falls receiving cargoes from Carletons or Allen’s mills and other landings along the shores of the Salt pond, in the boyhood of the writer.
Moses Carleton’s family record is as follows:
- Moses Carleton, born Jan. 10, 1785; married Nancy.
- William Carleton, born Dec. 12, 1786; married Pamela Osgood.
- Leonard Carleton, born Jan. 30, 1789; married Sally.
- Ebenezer Carleton, born March 27, 1791; married Polly Dorr, of Penobscot, Nov. 15, 1815.
- Elizabeth Carleton, born (no date given.)
- Michael Carleton, born Oct. 26, 1795; a sailor preacher at Salem, Mass.
- Polly Carleton, born Nov. 22, 1797; never married; died Sept. 20,1865.
- Parker Carleton, born April 7, 1800; died at Andover, Mass., Nov. 23, 1823.
- Betsey Carleton, born Sept. 21, 1802; married Josiah Coggins.
- Sukey Carleton, born July 4, 1805; married Jonah Dodge.
- Samuel Carleton, born Jan. 11, 1808; never married; died Jan. 10, 1862.
- Phebe Carleton, born Dec. 2, 1810.
Moses Carleton, head of this family, died Oct. 1838, aged 79; Mary his widow, August 20, 1857, aged 88 years.
Ebenezer Carleton, son of Moses, married Polly Dorr, of Penobscot, Nov. 15, 1815, and settled on the west side of the First pond, where he lived as a farmer and brou