Editing Carthage, Maine (section)

==History==
First known as Plantation No. 4, Abbott's Purchase, it was part of a large tract of land bought in 1815 by Jacob Abbott of [[Wilton, New Hampshire]] from Jonathan Phillips of [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], who had purchased an even larger tract from the state of [[Massachusetts]] about 1790.<ref>[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mecweld/EarlySettlersofWeld.htm E. J. Foster, ''Early Settlers of Weld'', Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder]</ref> Plantation No. 4 was noted for extensive forests of [[pine]] and valuable formations of [[limestone]]. In 1804, William Bowley and his family from [[Bristol, New Hampshire]] settled in Plantation No. 4, and with his brother Oliver and father Gideon, built the first [[sawmill]] at what was called Bowley's Mills on the Webb River at the foot of Webb Lake. They built a [[gristmill]] the following year.<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| page = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n121 87]| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref>

The town was incorporated on February 20, 1826, and named after [[Carthage]], the ancient [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] city in what is today [[Tunisia]] in [[North Africa]]. In 1849, land was set off to form a new Plantation No. 4. By 1880, when the population was 507, Carthage had farms, two sawmills, a gristmill and a limestone [[quarry]].<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Varney
  | first = George J.
  | title = Gazetteer of the state of Maine. Carthage
  | place = Boston
  | publisher = Russell
  | year = 1886
  | url = http://history.rays-place.com/me/carthage-me.htm
  | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130201035835/http://history.rays-place.com/me/carthage-me.htm
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = February 1, 2013
  }}</ref>