Lincoln, Maine

Responses from five students in Mr. Koscuiszka's class can be viewed below:

Emily Robinson
"Research your topic and summarize the ‘who, what, when, and where’ in the form of a few paragraphs"

Ira Dearborn Fish was born January 4, 1790 to John and Rebekah Fish. Ira married a woman named Almeda and had at least two sons and one daughter. Ira Fish died in about 1870 at eighty years old.

Ira came to Lincoln in 1825. He came here to build a sawmill on Mattanawcook Stream. In September of 1825, he and a group of other men built a dam. In the winter of 1825-26, Ira and his crew put 5,000,000 feet of pine logs in the water. That is enough to run the mill for three to four years.

On April 27, 1826, he bought 352 acres of land, and he bought 100 acres the next day. He also purchased river lots #1 and #18 and the gore that lay between them. In 1826, Ira built the first house on West Broadway. He used the house as a boarding house for men working at the sawmill and working in lumbering. This house became known as the Springer House.

In 1827, Ira Fish and a group of other people built a schoolhouse. The school was one story high. It was 18 feet by 22 feet. The windows were 7 feet by 9 feet. Ira supplied all the lumber for the school. The school was used for three years then was sold to the town for $142 in 1830.

Another important role for Ira was that he was one of the first selectmen of the town of Lincoln. On March 4, 1830 he was not re-elected for selectman. He moved to Patten in 1840.

Ira Fish accomplished many things. Out of the things he did to contribute to the town, the most important is the building of the sawmill in 1825. The lumber he supplied was used in many of the buildings, including a school building.

Ira Fish did many things to build Lincoln into the town it is today. From the logging industry to owning half the town, Lincoln would not be the same as it is today if Ira Fish had not come to Lincoln.

Jacob Nadeau
"Create a ‘why’ question, research the answer, and create a response answering the question"

Why did Ira Fish move from Lincoln to Patten, Maine?

Hypothesis: I think he moved to Patten because there is more land and there is a river so that the wood could float down to the mill.

Conclusion: My guess was wrong. When he first went to Patten, it was for a job. Then when he came back to built houses and saw mills that is when he stayed in Patten and built the nicest house there and lived on Fish Lane. He had three large barns and two great orchards. In Patten, he had a street named after him called Dearborn Street.

Brody Brown
"How did Ira Fish impact your life? Your future? Our future as a town?"

Ira and his brothers were the first people to settle on what we now call Fish Hill. He also built sawmills and houses for different people and organizations. This topic connects to my life because I drive by Fish Hill everyday. This topic also connects to me because he built houses and ran sawmills. I recently refurbished a house with my dad and my uncle also. I have also been to a sawmill in Chester.

The feelings of people living at the time when Ira Fish built the sawmill was a happy feeling, because with a sawmill the town would earn more money and then the town would be better. They would have better roads, better government, and better businesses for the town to earn money. Another feeling was pride because not many small towns had mills, and with a mill the town will get more popularity and we may become a bigger town.

Ira Fish impacted the town because he built the first sawmill in the town. This helped the town then and the town now. It helps our town now because we still have a mill but it is now a tissue and paper mill instead of a sawmill. This will affect our future as a town because this will give us money and keep our town running if we keep our mill in operation.

Works Cited

Clay, Asa G. Early Days In Lincoln. Vol. 1. Lincoln, Maine, 1937. Print.

Fellows, Dana W. History of the Town of Lincoln. Lewiston, Maine: Dingley. Inc. Print.

Goodwin, Kathryn B. Personal Glimpses of the Early Settlers of Lincoln, Maine. Maine: S.n., 1970. Print.

Hawkins, Alan H., ed. Mattanawcook Observer. 1st ed. Vol. 1. Falmouth Foreside, 1982. Print.

Hawkins, Alan H., ed. Mattanawcook Observer. 1st ed. Vol. 2. Falmouth Foreside, 1983. Print.

Hawkins, Alan H., ed. Mattanawcook Observer. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Falmouth Foreside, 1984. Print.