Responses from five students in Mrs. Harris' Social Studies class can be viewed below:
Jeremy Nelson (top right)from The History of the Town of Lincoln by Dana Fellows
Jordyn Leonard
"Research your topic and summarize the ‘who, what, when, and where’ in the form of a few paragraphs."
Jeremy Nelson’s life started in Rowley, Massachusetts on March 16, 1801. He moved to Lincoln Township, Maine in 1824 at the age of 23. He bought two lots on the present-day Military Road. In the winters of 1824-1826, Jeremy taught the first school in the area. He had to ride to school on horseback and his home was 6 miles away from the school. He taught 15 students in his first year of teaching.
Jeremy paid $3.22 toward a new schoolhouse to be built in 1827. That was a lot of money in that day and age! On March 28, 1830, Jeremy married a woman named Deborah Stevens, and a year later they had their first child, Eunice. She lived to the age of 71. In 1849, they had their last child, Jere, who made the total number of kids 12. That’s a lot of children! In 1833, Jeremy was elected as a town trustee. In 1836-1838, Jeremy also became a town treasurer. In 1849, Jeremy was a collector of taxes and a constable. Jeremy died in Lincoln, Maine at the age of 80. At the time of his death, he was getting ready to write a book about Lincoln’s history.
Jeremy was a big part of Lincoln’s history because he took notes of Lincoln’s past. At one point he lent his notes to someone, but never got them back. He had to record them again from memory.
Bailee Bartash
“Create a ‘why’ question, research the answer, and create response answering the question.”
Why was Jeremy Nelson so important to Lincoln?
Jeremy Nelson was the very first teacher in Lincoln. In fact, he arrived in Lincoln five years before we officially became a town. If he hadn’t taught in those early years, his pupils probably wouldn’t have gotten the same education and the whole school would have ended up differently. That could have affected schools, students, and teachers today.
Jeremy Nelson was also the father of twelve children, and without him, some people might not be here because there were most likely a lot of people who have descended from those twelve kids.
Another reason he was so important to Lincoln was that he donated money for the new schoolhouse that we might not have if he hadn’t helped. Jeremy Nelson started the school district, and without him, the district and schools might not have existed. Jeremy Nelson was a selectman, a trustee, the town treasurer, a town agent, a land owner, a collector of taxes, and a constable in Lincoln’s early years. Those are all important roles in a town’s history and without Jeremy Nelson, those parts of history would have been different.
Adrianna Tilton
“How does this topic connect to you in your life today?”
Jeremy Nelson has had a great effect on the people of Lincoln. He affects the people of Lincoln because if he hadn’t started teaching, then we probably wouldn’t have a good school district today. Not many people had the idea of starting a school district and if they did, their idea didn’t go very far, or they didn’t have the money to do it. Jeremy created the first school district in Lincoln. Without Jeremy, we wouldn’t have a strong school system and we might not have all the education that we do now.
He taught at the high school in the winters of 1824-1826. He probably had to work hard at teaching the teenagers that attended the school. This was because they weren’t used to school because they grew up with a non-educational environment. Jeremy Nelson has changed and improved many people’s lives.
I can connect my life with Jeremy Nelson because my mother is a teacher, I am a student, and I am in the school district that he started. He had twelve children and I have five sisters. My parents have half as many kids as he did.
Works Cited
Fellows, Dana Willis. History of the Town of Lincoln. Lewiston, Maine: Dingley, 1822-1928. Print.
Goodwin, Kathryn B. Personal Glimpses of the Early Settlers of Lincoln Maine. Print.
Lincoln Historical Society. 4th ed. Lincoln. Print. “Black Binder 1&2”.