1820 or 1829, Alexander Crockan, a Canadian, came up the St. John and Aroostook rivers looking for a mill site. Alexander Cockran, a Protestant, came from a place north of Ireland. At St. John, N.B. he married a girl named Polly Armstrong. Together they came up the St. John River to throw their lot with the early settlers along the Aroostook River, about 1828-29, was considered part of the Province of New Brunswick.
Contributed photoThe Wilbert E. Crockett family. From left, front row: Amy, Effie and Marjorie Crockett. Back row: Clair, Dana and Wilbert Crockett.
He selected a site for his home on the Caribou stream. He built a log cabin on the north bank of the stream near the present site of A.E. Crockett’s woolen mill. In 1829 he built a dam across the Caribou stream and erected a grist mill. He had an ox and crude cart and used to go down to the river to meet those who came up with the grain in bateaux or canoes to the landing. Later years he had a horse to haul the grain to the mill.
At the close of the Bloodless Aroostook War, Alexander Cockran was given by the Maine Commissioner to Locate Grants lots number 3, 4, and 9 containing 468 acres of land in what is now known as Caribou Village. He died in 1864.
