To the editor:
Incorporated on Feb. 21, 1867 from Mars Hill Plantation. The area was named by a British Army chaplain in 1790, who held service on the hill, and likened it to the hill in Athens dedicated to Mars. This is where the Apostle Paul declared the unknown god to the place of Athens. The community was named for a biblical place.
My heritage: August 1877, Christopher Mullen led his family to Mars Hill. After a trek from Athens, Maine, by ox team and covered wagon, Mullen arrived in Mars Hill. Bringing his wife, Ann Johnson Mullen, Joseph Edwin, 12 years old, who drove and led the family cow; Elizabeth “Lizzie,” 10 years; Henry, 8 years; William Benjamin, 4 years; and Angie, 2 years. Angie passed away by a tragic accident soon after arriving.
They were the first permanent residents of the then known Mullen Road. There was a half acre of cleared land, on which they grew turnips which they fed to the cattle. There was also a small house which Christopher bought from a farmer for 50 dollars. The family went to work and made a real home of the place. They raised potatoes. They had to haul them to Fort Fairfield to market.
Life was hard. Money was hard to come by. But there was always work to do to survive. But disaster struck in May 1886 when Ann died of pneumonia. This left Lizzie to act as housekeeper for the family until she married Charles McPherson in April 1893. About 1904 Christopher sold the farm to William Rees and went to Oregon to settle his brother’s affairs after his death. Christopher buried his brother, Jacob Mullen, in Baker County, Ore. Christopher returned to Maine where he built himself a small house on the outskirts of Mars Hill where he lived alone until his death on December 23, 1923, leaving many descendants.
This original story was written by Sara Mullen Grass (1892-1986) at the age of 75. She was Christopher’s granddaughter.
What about your heritage? Do you have roots in Mars Hill, Maine? Do any of you have family stories that took place in Mars Hill?
Look what has happened to that beautiful hill! What will our children and grandchildren have? Just a mountain that has windmills on it. Who will benefit from the wind from the windmills? It will never be the same again! Shame on all of us for letting this happen to such a wonder that God has given.
Shame! So much for progress.
Lisa M. Thomas
Bangor
