Hidden Hills
November 5, 2024
Yesterday my brother in law and I were having a discussion about history and somehow Andrew Johnson's name came up. I observed tangentially (as I am prone to do) that Lincoln's first vice president was from Paris, Maine. I had trouble embarrassingly coming up with his name which I recalled involved alliteration — but that was all I had. We looked up "Lincoln's first vice president" and it was Hannibal Hamlin. Of course it was, I thought!
Then I learned something I did not know. According to Wikipedia:
Hamlin was born to Cyrus Hamlin and his wife Anna (née Livermore) in Paris (now in Maine, then a part of Massachusetts).
Wait! I did not know that. Paris, Maine was originally Paris, Massachusetts?? (There is currently no Paris in the commonwealth of Massachusetts.)
Back to Wikipedia:
Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820 when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become a separate state. On March 15, 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state.
The land which became Paris was granted by Massachusetts on June 11, 1771, to Captain Joshua Fuller of Watertown, Massachusetts and 59 others (or their heirs) for service during the French and Indian Wars. It was the second attempt to repay the soldiers, because their first grant in New Hampshire, made on November 24, 1736, and called Township Number Four, was deemed invalid because of a prior claim by the heirs of John Mason. The land in Maine would retain the name Township Number Four.
On November 4, 1773, when the Proprietors were lotting out the township, they held a meeting at Coolidge Tavern in Watertown, Massachusetts and voted that there be reserved for the use of the proprietors their heirs and assigns forever two rods in width on the eastward side of every range line through the length of the township for the conveniency of ways if it shall be needed, establishing rangeways to prevent landlocking and segregation in the township of Paris and West Paris.
Paris was first settled near the center of the town in 1779 by Lemuel Jackson, John Willis and their families. Organized as Number Four Plantation, it was incorporated as Paris on June 20, 1793. At the establishment of Oxford County in 1805, Paris was designated its county seat and developed into a thriving community. It was noted for scenic beauty and excellent pasturage, including some of the state's best livestock and dairy farms. It also had many large apple orchards. The village of Paris Hill was established at an elevation of 820 feet above sea level, with views of Mount Chocorua and Mount Washington in the White Mountains.
West Paris is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. Originally settled in 1771 for land that what was deemed "superior for pasturage, hay crops, and orchards", West Paris became a center of Finnish immigrant settlement in the 19th century, with many if the town's current residents being descendants of the original Finnish settlers. Once part of the neighboring town of Paris, Maine, West Paris seceded from Paris and was incorporated in September 1957.
Paris Hill was originally known as "Jackson Hill", after the owner of the land at its top. The Paris area was settled beginning about 1780, and the town was incorporated in 1793. Oxford County was established in 1805, and Paris was chosen as its county seat. As Paris Hill was then the civic center of the town, the county infrastructure was built there.
So…
It appears to me that at least Paris, Paris Hill and West Paris — all now in the state of Maine — were originally in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I could not find easily (I am prone to avoid extensive research whenever possible) when South Paris was founded but perhaps it too was originally in Massachusetts??
I have requested a judge’s ruling on whether I can include these Massachusetts’ Paris’ in my count of the Paris’ I have visited. For now I am going to be conservative (NOT in that way!) and not include them pending the judge’s ruling.
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