Next meeting is April 22

HEBRON — Hebron Grammar School teacher Sara Otterson recently briefed the Historical Society on the life of academy and church co-founder William Barrows.

Through her Maine Humanities course on American history, she chose to write a biography on Barrows, whose ancestors from England settled in Plympton, Mass. in 1706.

From his early years working in a pig iron factory he fought in the Revolutionary War. He wrote about his involvement in George Washington’s famous blizzard crossing of the Delaware River to victory over the Hessian forces in Trenton, N.J. He also took an active part in tearing down the statue of King George III in Bowling Green Park.

After the war he was one of the original settlers in the land grant area called Shepardsfield Plantation, part of which became the town of Hebron in 1792. A deeply religious man, Barrows was instrumental in the formation of a Baptist Society, now known as the Hebron Community Baptist Church, and became Deacon Barrows.

In 1803 Deacon Barrows along with Elder John Tripp established a local academy. A building was subsequently constructed with the dual function of holding educational classes in one side and religious services in the other. Hebron Academy was thus founded in 1804.

When that building burned in 1819, there was considerable pressure from neighboring town leaders, especially those in Paris Hill, to have the academy moved there. Deacon Barrows would have none of this and gave an impassioned speech to keep it in Hebron and won the argument. Separate buildings were subsequently constructed for the school and the church.

Deacon Barrows was active in both the church and school until his death in 1836.

The next Society meeting will feature local resident Roland Godbout speaking on “The Life of a City Police Detective.” This will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, at the Hebron Town Office, 351 Paris Road. The public is invited.