After news spread to Cheney that his old secondary school, Parsonsfield Seminary, mysteriously burned down in 1853, he began to plan the construction of a new school. Opponents of his political work and abolitionism in general were rumored to be the arsonists behind the destruction of Parsonsfield. Cheney wrote the details of the event in a diary: "the bell tower flickered in flames while the children ran from its pillar-brick walls.." The fire was believed to have killed three school children, and two fugitive slaves, leading to a brief and unsuccessful investigation.