RootsWeb is funded and supported by
Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community.
Learn more.
About Us | Contact Us | Copyright | Report Inappropriate Material
Corporate Information | Privacy | Terms and Conditions | CCPA Notice at Collection
The town of Oxford was settled in 1774 and was originally called Shepardsfild Plantation, after its owner, Alexander Shepard, Jr. of Newton. After Mr. Shepard's death, a large portion of the original grant was sold to Andrew Craigie, apothecary general of the Revolutionary War. Craige's home in Cambridge was the old Vassal house, which served as the headquarters of Washington during the siege of Boston and later was the home of the poet Longfellow. Craige was an ambitious man and encouraged both agriculture and manufacturing on his lands. He dammed the outlet of Lake Thompson, built grist and lumber mills, and had his dream of making woolen and cotton cloth. In 1792, Shepardfield Plantation was incorporated as the town of Hebron. In 1829, Hebron was divided and the western part became the town of Oxford. It was named in honor of the newly formed county in which it was situated, and which General David Learned, of Livermore, the first sheriff, christened after his old home in Massachusetts. Oxford contains the outlet of Lake Thompson and the village of Oxford, first known as Craigie's Mill, and where the woolen industry of the town was situated. Cloth-making began in Oxford as early as 1825, but was not always a prosperous business. Several of the mills burned and the firms operating the mills changed several times. About 1850, Joseph Robinson, a native of Hunslett, England, and expert dyer, took an interest in the business, and from that day forward it prospered. (excerpt paraphrased from "Joseph Robinson Parrott of Oxford" by Charles E. Waterman)
TOWN OF OXFORD RESEARCH
RESOURCES
Resources at the New
England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston,
MA
Maine
Historical Society in Portland, ME
Maine Genealogical
Society
Maine State
Archives in Augusta, ME
TOWN OF OXFORD QUERIES
Read the Latest
Queries
Post A New Query (Send To [email protected])
Visitors since February 2002
Site created and maintained by Jeff Swenson
Updated 26 July, 2007,
Copyright © 2000-2007 by Jeff Swenson