It has been said that the life of a country or a community is the essential fact of history. While the history of the lives of the early settlers of Garland may be devoid of interest to the general reader, it cannot fail to be of interest to their descendants.

A very few of the first houses in Garland, including those of the first two or three settlers, were built of logs. The proprietors of the township had built a saw-mill before other houses were needed. A saw-mill has also been built in the township now known as Dexter, which accommodated the settlers of the western and northwestern sections of Garland.

Sawed lumber now took the place of logs in the construction of buildings. Nails made one by one, by the blacksmith of the township were used. The first framed house in the township was built by Joseph Treadwell for John Tyler, upon the farm now owned by Charles Brown. Mr. Treadwell was the grandfather of our present citizen, Joseph Treadwell. He came from New Gloucester, Maine, in the summer of 1802, on horseback, bringing his tools with him, cut, hewed, and framed the timber and hauled it to the building site, raised and covered the body of the house.

To the regret of many of our older citizens, this quaint old house gave place to one of more modern construction years ago.

The early houses had, as a general rule, only a single room upon the ground floor. In this, the unwieldy loom, the spinning wheel, and bed for the family found a place. There were no partitions save quilts and comforters that served as such. The pride of the housewife was a large, red dresser, with open shelves at the top, where were displayed the shining rows of bright tin dishes.

A heavy cleat door, swinging on wooden hinges, furnished with a wooden latch, indicated the place of ingress and exit.

On the outside, the door was opened by a string attached to the latch, which passed through a hole above it to the inside. When the family retired for the night, the string was pulled in for the safety of its inmates. The second floor was of rough boards or splits placed across the floor timbers, Sometimes straight poles laid closely together across the floor timbers were made to do service as a floor. The second floor was reached by a ladder.