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COLLECTIONS 



PROCEEDINGS 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



SECOND SERIES, VOLUME I 



PORTLAND 

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 
1890 



'' 

\(o 



CONTENTS. 



PAGK 

General Henry Knox. By Joseph Williamson of Belfast, Me., . 1 
The French Treaty of 1778. By William Goold of Windham, 

Maine, ........ 29 

Rev. William Screven. By Rev. Henry S. Burrage, D.D., of 

Portland, Maine, ...... 45 

The Four Judges of North Yarmouth, Maine. By Rev. Amasa 

Loring of Yarmouth, Maine, . . . . .57 

John E. Godfrey. By Albert Ware Paine of Bangor, Maine, . 79 
The Mission of the Assumption on the River Kennebec, 1646 

1652. By John Marshall Brown of Portland, Maine, . 87 

Proceedings, February, 1881, 1882, . . . . .101 

Vote authorizing the publication of the Quarterly, . . 107 

Historical Memoranda, . . . . . . .112 

Cyrus Woodman. By George F. Emery of Portland, Maine, . 1 13 
The Administration of William Gorges, 1636 to 1637. By 

Charles Edward Banks, M.D. of Vinyard Haven, Mass., . 125 
A Topographical Surmise. By William M. Sargent of Port- 
land, Maine, ....... 133 

Enoch Lincoln. By Edward H. Elwell of Deering, Maine, . . 137 
Capital Trials in Maine, before the Separation. By Joseph 

Williamson of Belfast, Maine, .... 159 

Letter Accompanying the Gift of a Photograph of the Brig- 
Boxer. By Fritz H. Jordan of Portland, Maine, . . 173 
John G. Deane. By Llewellyn Deane of Washington, D. C., . 179 

Proceedings. 1881, 1882, 197 

Historical Memoranda,. . . .... 203 

Historical Notes and Queries, .... 219 

James Shepherd Pike. By George F. Talbot of Portland, Me., . 225 
The Problem of Hammond's Fort. By Rev. Henry O. Thayer 

of Limington, Maine, ... ... 261 



'iV CONTENTS. 

PACK 

Robert Hallowell Gardiner. By Rev. AsaDalton, D.D., of Port- 
land, Maine, . . . . . . .295 

Professional Tours of John Adams in Maine. By Joseph Wil- 
liamson of Belfast, Maine, . . . .301 

Rev. Eugene Vetromile. By Hubbard Winslow Bryant of 

Portland, Maine, . . . . . . . 309 

Leaves from the Early History of Dresden. By Rev. Charles 

E. Allen of Cedar Grove, Maine, .... 31 :{ 

Historical Memoranda, . . . . . . .321 

Book Notices, ........ 32 

Editorial Items, ........ 335 

James Tift Champlin, D.D., LL.D. By Rev. Henry 8. Bun-age, 

D.D., of Portland, Maine, . 337 

Campaign against the Pequakets. By James P. Baxter of Port- 
land, Maine, ..... 353 

The British Occupation of Penobscot during the Revolution. 

By Joseph Williamson of Belfast, Maine, . . : j s , 

Madam Wood, the First Maine Writer of Fiction. By William 

Goold of Windham, Maine, ... ,401 

Ashur Ware. By George F. Talbot of Portland, Maine, . . 409 

Proceedings. December, 1882, ... 423 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



Portrait of Gen. Henry Knox, 

Portrait of Cyrus Woodman, ... I 13 

Map of Maine, showing chain of boundary line, . 189 

Portrait of James Tift Champlain, D.D., LL.D., . . .337 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX 




*"*-** 



CEN. HENRY KNOX 




MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 

A Memoir read before the Maine Historical Society, November 16, 1881. 

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. 

I HOLD in my hand for presentation to the Society, a time- 
stained pamphlet, entitled "A Catalogue of Books, Imported 
and to be Sold by Henry Knox, at the London Book-Store, a 
little Southward of the Town-House, in Cornhill, Boston, 1772." 
The pamphlet is interesting, not only as showing the literature 
of that period, but as almost the earliest introduction to the 
public of a young man, then unknown to fame, but who was des- 
tined to be connected with many important events in the history 
of our country ; who devoted the best years of his life to the 
establishment of independence, liberty and social order; who 
was honest, generous and self-sacrificing, and who, as the inti- 
mate friend and companion of Washington, strengthened the 
hand and encouraged the heart of the great Commander through 
all the trying scenes of the Revolution. 

The recent visit of our Society to the home of Knox in Maine, 
and the more recent commemoration of the siege, in which he 
was so prominent an actor, renders a brief review of his life 
and character not inappropriate to the present occasion. 

Knox was born in Boston, on the twenty-fifth day of July, 
1750. The place of his birth, an obscure house in Sea street, is 
still standing. His paternal ancestors were of the sturdy Scotch- 
Irish stock, which, mingling with that of Saxon origin, has dif- 
fused itself with a vigorous growth throughout the whole coun- 
try. It was the race to which John Stark, Robert Fulton, Cal- 
houn, Houston, Andrew Jackson, Horace Greely, and a host of 
men, alike famous in the field and in the forum, have boasted 
with pride that they belonged. 



2 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

William Knox, his father, was a shipmaster, and died abroad. 
The care of a widowed mother and of an infant brother thus 
devolved on young Knox, at the age of twelve years, just as he 
had completed his grammar-school course. From the recollec- 
tion of his attentive and affectionate solicitude for these rela- 
tives he derived the highest satisfaction in after life. Upon the 
death of his father he obtained employment with the principal 
booksellers of the town. Their store was frequented by British 
officers, with whom he became on friendly terms. From their 
acquaintance and conversation he acquired a taste for military 
science, which was improved by reading. Possessing an inquisi- 
tive mind and a desire for knowledge he availed himself of the 
advantages around him, and soon became conversant not only 
with general literature, but with the French language, in which 
so many standard works upon the art of war have been written. 
He was also fond of studying the illustrious examples of antiq- 
uity in the Lives of Plutarch, and of other writers whose pages 
are equally rich with the spoils of time. His course gave early 
presage of eminence. Before reaching majority he was chosen 
an officer of the grenadiers, a company distinguished for its mar- 
tial appearance and the precision of its evolutions. His profi- 
ciency in the theory and practice of the military art gave him a 
commanding position among the young men of Boston. When 
the Boston Massacre took place Knox was early at the scene. 
His account of it appears in the published report of the trial. 
He endeavored to keep the crowd away, and remonstrated with 
Captain Preston for allowing the soldiers to fire upon unarmed 
citizens. 

Soon after Knox became established in business on his own 
account, the low mutterings of the thunder which preceded the 
storm of the Revolution began to be heard. The burning words 
of Otis, that "great incendiary of New England," as he was 
called, against writs of assistance and other manifestations of 
British aggression, had already inspired the souls of his hearers 
in Faneuil Hall, and were re-echoed by Patrick Henry in Vir- 
ginia, by his defiant resolutions against the Stamp Act, and his 
startling cry of " Give me Liberty or give me Death ! " At this 
early period, notwithstanding his associations, the heart of Knox 
was deeply engaged in the cause of his country, He felt the 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 6 

cause of the colonies to be a righteous one, and to its vindica- 
tion he yielded every consideration. When hostilities became 
imminent he hesitated not a moment what course to pursue. 
The fair prospect of increasing wealth, and even the endearing 
claims of family and friends had no power to divert the deter- 
mined purpose of his mind. Ere long the Boston Port Bill put 
an end to the prosperity of the town, and with it the prosperity 
of the young bookseller. "At that time," says a contemporary, 
" Knox's bookstore was a great resort for British officers and 
Tory ladies, and it was long remembered as one of great display 
and attraction for young and old, and as a fashionable morning 
lounging-place." Behind its counter Knox first met Nathaniel 
Greene, afterward his compatriot during the Revolution. Be- 
hind its counter, too, his fine person, engaging manners, and 
rare- intelligence, first attracted the attention of Lucy Fluker, a 
young lady of high intellectual endowments, fond of books, and . 
especially the books sold by Knox, to whose shelves she had fre- 
quent recourse. Their acquaintance, thus formed, soon ripened 
into mutual love, and resulted in a happy union. 

Miss Fluker was the grand-daughter of General Samuel 
Waldo, whose name is inseparably connected with the history 
of eastern Maine. Her father, " a high-toned loyalist, of great 
family pretensions," and royal secretary of the Province, op- 
posed the engagement, as indeed did all the young lady's con- 
nections, who were tories, and had for her more advantageous 
matrimonial prospects. They regarded her as ruined in future 
social esteem and personal happiness, by wedding one who had 
espoused the cause of rebellion. The consequences were de- 
picted to her in lively colors. She was told that while the other 
members of her family were in the enjoyment of luxury, she 
would be eating the bread of poverty and dependence ; that 
there could be but one issue to the conflict ; and that the power 
of Great Britain, exerted against the feeble colonists, would be 
overwhelming. Disregarding all these warnings, Miss Fluker, 
who had fully adopted the views of her future husband, resolved 
to follow the fortunes of him to whom her heart had been given. 
When the great political change took place, many of her family 
and relatives were in exile and obscurity, while she, the wife of 
the humble bookseller, was the center of the first social circle in 



4 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

America. Their marriage, which, from the opposition alluded 
to, wanted little of an elopement, took place on the sixteenth 
day of June, 1774. The stirring events which soon occurred 
gave little opportunity for domestic enjoyment. Boston was 
held by an armed force ; private property received slight protec- 
tion, and the store of Knox, with many others, was broken into, 
and pillaged. 

From this eventful period the career of Knox belongs to his 
country, and presents him in three several and separate relations 
to society. We shall survey him in these different relations. 
We shall see him first as the soldier, of high military attain- 
ments, then, after a series of successes, as a statesman, in the 
councils of Washington, organizing an important department of 
the government, and finally, as the beloved and respected citi- 
zen of our own state, passing the closing years of his life in the 
retirement of his own home. 

The battle of Lexington was a signal of war. Regular forces 
were at once raised by the Provincials, and an army of twenty 
thousand men soon appeared in the environs of Boston, blocking 
up the enemy from outward intercourse, except by sea. Great 
inducements to follow the royal standard had been held out to 
Knox, but he disregarded them all, and embarked heart and 
hand in the patriot cause. Not intimidated by the proclamation 
of General Gage, which denounced the penalty of martial law on 
all who should be found aiding or abetting such unpardonable 
rebels as Hancock and Adams, or who dared to leave Boston with- 
out permission, Knox quitted the town in disguise, accompanied by 
his wife, who had concealed in her cloak the sword with which 
the future general was to win his subsequent renown. This was 
on the evening preceding the battle of Bunker Hill. Repairing 
at once to the headquarters of General Ward at Cambridge, he 
offered himself as a volunteer, and participated in that memora- 
ble conflict. The transition from the bookseller to the soldier 
was an easy one. Knox had made himself master of element- 
ary tactics, and brought to the army a valuable stock of military 
knowledge. But the department, which most attracted his 
attention, was that in which the Americans were most wanting 
the department of engineers. The only officer who possessed 
adequate skill in planning and constructing works of defence 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 5 

for the various camps around the beleaguered town was Colonel 
Gridley, a veteran of the old French war, but too infirm for this. 
Knox immediately supplied his place. His skill and activity 
won the confidence of Washington only three days after the lat- 
ter had assumed command of the army, and inaugurated the 
friendship, which ever remained unbroken between these two 
eminent men. 

Great gloom and despondency prevailed during the autumn of 
1775. The term of enlistments was approaching a close, nearly 
six months had elapsed since the battle of Bunker Hill, and yet 
nothing had been done, decisively, to change the relations in 
which the belligerents stood toward each other. Our army was 
without provisions, without pay, without clothing. Desertions 
became frequent, and new quotas were tardily raised. The Com- 
mander-in-chief was filled with the deepest anxiety. In a letter 
to Joseph Reed, he wrote : " Such a dearth of public spirit and 
such want of virtue ; such stock-jobbing and fertility in all the 
low arts to obtain advantages of one kind or another in this 
great change of military arrangement, I never saw before, and 
I pray God's mercy that I may never be witness to again. . . 
Could I have foreseen what I have experienced and am likely to 
experience, no consideration upon earth should have induced me 
to accept this command." To increase his embarrassments, there 
was a deficiency of powder and artillery. Without further sup- 
plies the seige of Boston could not be much longer continued. 

In this time of his troubles and perplexities, no one drew 
nearer to Washington than Knox. Realizing the necessity of 
heavy ordnance, Knox conceived the desperate expedient of 
obtaining it from Ticonderoga on the Canadian frontier, and 
volunteered his services for that purpose, an offer which Wash- 
ington gladly accepted. This was the turning point in Knox's 
military career. He was supposed to possess qualities of a high 
order ; now was the time to prove them. His mnnly bearing and 
sound judgment had inspired confidence; here was the occasion 
to justify it. Early in the winter he commenced the difficult 
undertaking almost unattended, relying solely for success on such 
aid as he might procure from the thinly scattered inhabitants of 
the dreary region through which he had to pass. Every obstacle 
of season, roads and climate, was surmounted by his determined 



6 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

perseverance ; and a few weeks, scarcely sufficient for a journey 
so remote, saw his return to camp with a long train of sledges 
drawn by oxen, bringing more than fifty cannon besides other 
munitions of war. The zeal which he had displayed in his win- 
try expedition across frozen lakes and through snowy forests, and 
the intelligence with which his commission was fulfilled, elicited 
high encomiums from Washington. The command of the 
artillery, of which he had thus laid the foundation, was at once 
bestowed upon him. In this command he continued until peace 
was declared, and his name is connected with all subsequent 
movements of the main army. 

Among the incidents that occurred during his Canadian expe- 
dition, was his accidental meeting with the unfortunate Major 
Andre, whose subsequent fate was so deeply deplored by every 
person of sensibility in both countries. Andre had been taken 
prisoner in Canada by Montgomery, and was then under parole. 
Chance compelled the two young men to pass a night in the same 
cabin on the banks of Lake George, and even in the same bed. 
There were many points of resemblance in their personal history. 
Their ages were alike ; each had renounced the pursuits of trade 
for the profession of arms ; each had made a study of his new oc- 
cupation, and their literary tastes and habits were similar. Much 
of the night was consumed in conversation, and the intelligence and 
refinement displayed by Andre left an indelible impression upon 
the mind of Knox. The respective condition of the two was 
not mutually communicated until just as they were about to 
separate. A few years later, when Knox was called upon to join 
in his condemnation to death, the memory of this interview 
with the young British officer gave additional bitterness to that 
painful duty. 

With the cannon supplied by Knox, Washington invested 
Dorchester Heights, which commanded both Boston and the 
enemy's ships in the harbor. Nothing now remained for the 
British but to abandon the town or to dislodge the ^Provincials. 
General Howe chose the former alternative, and on the seven- 
teenth of March, in less than two months after Knox returned 
from Ticonderoga, the King's troops, with many loyal Americans, 
embarked for Halifax. Among the latter were the relatives of 



GENERAL HENEY KNOX. 7 

t 

Mrs. Knox, who subsequently went to England, and she never 
saw them again. 

Soon after the delivery of Boston, the greater part of the 
American forces occupied New York, upon which an attack was 
expected to be made. In the protection of that city the engi- 
neering skill of Knox was put in requisition, and his artillery 
were stationed on the surrounding hills. But in a few months, 
after general exultation at the Declaration of Independence had 
been manifested, the battles of Long Island and of White Plains, 
so disastrous to our arms, the evacuation of New York and the 
retreat into the Jerseys, rendered the prospects of the American 
cause more doubtful than at any period of the war. The year 
1776 and its campaign were closing amidst universal despondency; 
and Knox, with his brave companions, was compelled to lament 
that the equipments of our army were inadequate to the heroic 
spirit of its soldiers. In this crisis, when hope had almost yielded 
to despair, and Washington trembled for his country's freedom, 
Knox, almost alone of all his generals, remained unshaken, and 
by cheering words and encouraging action revived the drooping 
spirits of the commander-in-chief. It was then that the boldest 
stroke of the Revolution was made. The American forces 
crossed the half-frozen Delaware under a bitter storm and surprised 
and defeated the enemy at Princeton ; thus changing the entire 
aspect of affairs, and reviving the depressed courage of the 
colonists. Knox superintended the passage of the Delaware. 
The night was dark and tempestuous; the drifting ice drove the 
boats out of their course, and threatened them with destruction. 
The value of his services on this occasion was recognized in 
complimentary terms. A commission from Congress, creating 
him a general officer, second only to Washington in command, 
soon followed. 

After the battle of Princeton the Americans retired to winter 
quarters at Morristown. Such was their destitution, that many of 
the soldiers were without shoes and their naked feet marked each 
step over the frozen ground with blood. Knox, however, did 
not remain inactive during the winter months. He was sent on 
a mission to the eastern states to arrange for the casting of can- 
non, and the establishment of laboratories. When the spring 



8 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

opened, we find him at West Point, associated with Greene in 
planning defences on the Hudson. 

The principal events in which the main army participated dur- 
ing 1777, were the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, both 
of which proved adverse to our cause. These disasters were 
counterbalanced by General Stark's successes in Vermont, folio wed 
by the surrender of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. At the close 
of the year, Washington was forced to place his army at Valley 
Forge, where Knox also passed the winter, amidst the hardships 
and sufferings of that sad encampment. 

Brighter prospects dawned the following year. Early in May 
intelligence reached Congress that our Commissioners at Paris 
had negotiated treaties of alliance and commerce with France. 
This measure induced the British to abandon Philadelphia, and 
to concentrate their forces at New York. With a reorganized 
army, Washington started in pursuit, and intercepted them at 
Monmouth, where a battle took place. The day was intensely 
hot, and many of the soldiers perished from fatigue alone. 
Although the result of the engagement could hardly be called a 
victory, it was a decided advantage in our favor. The British 
troops retreated by night, and Washington, crossing the Hud- 
son, resumed his former position at White Plains. "In the 
hard-fought contest of Monmouth," wrote Dr. Thacher, " no 
officer was more distinguished than Knox. In the front of the 
battle he was seen animating his soldiers and directing the 
thunder of their cannon. His skill and bravery were so con- 
spicuous, that he received the particular approbation of the com- 
mander-in-chief, in general orders issued by him the day suc- 
ceeding the battle, in which he says that * the enemy have done 
us the honor to acknowledge that no artillery could be better 
served than ours.' " The great exertions of Knox on that occa- 
sion seriously affected his health. 

In the summer of 1780, the Count de Rochambeau, with a 
French army, arrived at Newport, and Knox, with Washington 
and Lafayette, visited the Commander, to arrange future opera- 
tions. While returning from this interview, the treason of Ar- 
nold was discovered. Knox formed one of the board of general 
officers who condemned Major Andre to death as a spy. This 
sentence, which the usages of war compelled them to pronounce, 



GENEKAL HENRY KNOX. 8 

was a duty especially abhorrent to him, since their pleasant 
interview a few years before. It is said that such was Wash- 
ington's sympathy for the unfortunate prisoner, that his hand 
could scarcely command the pen when signing the warrant for 
execution. 

During the following winter, the destitute condition of our 
army caused great solicitude, and Knox was sent to the north- 
ern colonies to urge forward money, clothing, and other supplies. 
In the spring, however, an active campaign was planned, which, 
by the aid of our allies, it was hoped would be decisive. The 
primary object was New York, but subsequently Washington 
marched his troops to the southward, and co-operated with the 
French, against Lord Cornwallis in Virginia. The surrender of 
the latter, and the siege of Yorktown, the last brilliant acts of 
our revolutionary war, to which no one contributed more essen- 
tially than Knox, closed his career as a general. 

With reference to our permanent interests, the period between 
the peace of 1783 and the adoption of the constitution five years 
later, was more critical than that of the war itself, oppressive 
and exhausting as that has been. The states were without a 
government unable to command respect abroad, or to secure 
prosperity at home. An utter want of power to provide for the 
payment of debts, caused the recommendations of Congress to 
be treated with neglect ; foreign creditors became clamorous, 
and discontent prevailed among our own people. Unless timely 
and effectual remedies could be provided, an alarming crisis was 
at hand. It will be borne in mind that up to this time the several 
colonies stood relatively to each other as independent nations, and 
in some instances bordering states pursued a policy of mutual jeal- 
ousy, if not of hostility. To harmonize these conflicting ele- 
ments, and to form a compact which should consolidate thirteen 
separate governments under one, at the same time preserving 
their individuality ; making them " distinct as the billows, yet 
one as the sea," was a work of no easy attainment. The appre- 
hensions of Knox were freely and feelingly expressed upon the 
matter. Writing to Washington, he says, " There must be a 
general government of unity, as the local legislatures most nat- 
urally and necessarily tend to retard any other kind. Some- 
thing is wanting which must speedily be supplied, or we shall be 



10 MAIXE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

involved in all the horrors of failure, and of civil war, without 
a prospect of its termination." And again, to the same, " Ex- 
pedients to brace up the present defective Confederation, so as 
just to keep us together, while it would prevent those exertions 
for a national character which are essential to our happiness, 
would have the bad effect of assisting us to creep on, in our 
present miserable condition, without the hope of a generous 
constitution, that should at once shield us from the effects of 
faction and despotism." In a letter from Washington, three 
years before the adoption of the Constitution, desiring his views 
upon a proper form of government, Knox replied in part as 
follows : 

It would be prudent to form the plan of a new house before we pull 
down the old one. The subject has not been sufficiently discussed, as 
yet, in public, to decide precisely on the form of the edifice. It is out 
of question that the foundation must be of republican principles, but 
so modified and wrought together, that whatever shall be erected 
thereon should be durable and efficient. I speak entirely of the Fed- 
eral Government, or, which would be better, one Government, instead of 
an association of Governments. Were it possible to effect a General 
Government of this kind, it might be constituted of an Assembly or 
lower House, chosen for one, two, or three years; a Senate, chosen for 
five, six, or seven years; and the Executive, under the title of Governor- 
General, chosen for the term of seven years, but liable to an impeach- 
ment of the lower House, and triable by the Senate, and a Judiciary, to be 
appointed by the Governor-General during good behavior, but impeach- 
able by the lower House, and triable by the Senate. The laws passed 
by the General Government, to be obeyed by the local governments, and, 
if necessary, to be inforced by a body of armed men to be kept for the 
purposes which should be designated. All national objects to be de- 
signed and executed by the General Government, without reference to 
the local Governments. This rude sketch is considered as the Govern- 
ment of the least possible powers to preserve the confederated Govern- 
ments. To attempt to establish less will be to hazard the existence of 
republicanism, and to subject us either to a division by the European 
powers, or to a despotism arising from high-handed commotions. May 
heaven direct us to the best means for the dignity and happiness of the 
United States! 

Soon after the communication of this plan, which shadows 
forth the form of government subsequently adopted, delegates 
from the different states met in Convention, and with Washington 
as presiding officer, prepared the present federal constitution, 
which was at once submitted to the people for ratification. This 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 11 

instrument, although not deemed perfect by Knox, or probably 
by any of its other ardent friends, was regarded as the best that 
could be hoped for in the discordant condition of the country, 
and as presenting the only alternative to anarchy and civil war. 
There is a tradition that when Washington was about to sign the 
document, he rose from his seat, and after a short pause, solemnly 
pronounced these words, " Should the states reject this excel- 
lent Constitution, the probability is that an opportunity will 
never again be offered to concert another in peace the 
next will be drawn in blood." Similar views were expressed by 
Knox to Lafayette. " From my soul," he writes, " I wish the 
propositions God-speed, but in desiring their adoption, I would 
not have you believe that I think them all perfect. There are 
several things that I confess I could wish to see altered, but I 
apprehend no alterations can be effected peaceably, and that 
such an agreement as has been entered into, could not again be 
produced even by the same men." 

The ratification of nine states was necessary to give the Consti- 
tution validity and effect, and a year elapsed before the requisite 
number was attained. The action of the states was anxiously 
awaited by Knox, who employed his efficient influence to secure 
the adoption of the new form of government. 

It was provided that the Constitution should become operative 
on the fourth of March, 1789. Such was the apathy.concerning 
it, that a quorum of the two houses of Congress did not assem- 
ble until over a month later. The first business of their session 
was to count the votes for President, 'all of which, sixty-nine in 
number, were given for Washington. 

Immediately after his inauguration, the President proceeded 
to form his cabinet. At the head of the State department, he 
placed Jefferson, then about returning from France, where he 
had filled the office of Minister with much credit to himself and 
to his country. Alexander Hamilton was appointed Secretary 
of the Treasury, the post of Attorney- General was given to 
Edmund Randolph of Virginia, and Knox was continued as Sec- 
retary of War, which station he had held under the Confedera- 
tion. With such officers, having as a constitutional adviser and 
as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Jay, and as a leader 
in the House, James Madison, who had labored in the Federalist 



12 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

in support of the new fabric, did the first administration of 
Washington commence. 

The vigor and activity of mind which distinguished Knox as 
a general, were not wanting in him as a statesman. Washing- 
ton, who had so often depended upon his services for support in 
war, found his counsel and advice of no less value in peace. 
The framing of a militia system received his early attention, and 
in a policy to be pursued toward the various Indian tribes he 
was guided by enlarged and liberal views. During the first year 
of the new administration, the Secretary of the Treasury had 
recommended a national bank, as of great utility in regulating 
the finances of the country, and in facililating the support of 
our public credit. The cabinet was divided on the subject, Jef- 
ferson and Randolph opposing it as unconstitutional, while Knox 
and Hamilton were in its favor. The opinion of the latter was 
sustained by the President, and resulted in the establishment of 
the Bank of the United States, with a capital of eight million 
dollars. 

While the new government was rapidly acquiring strength 
and respect, the French Revolution broke out, and war between 
England and France was declared. In its earliest stages this 
revolution was hailed throughout America as a joyful event, and 
as affording a presage of the happiest results in the cause of 
freedom. The sanguinary acts which followed, and the fero- 
cious temper shown by the leaders, somewhat modified such sen- 
timents, but many were disposed to make common cause with 
France in what they regarded the struggle of a people for lib- 
erty against the combined despots of Europe. Washington, 
however, determined to maintain the neutrality of this country, 
and his position was unanimously sustained by the cabinet, who 
agreed that a minister from the new republic should be received. 
On the subject of qualifying this reception, they were divided. 
Hamilton and Knox opposed an absolute recognition, upon the 
ground that no fixed government existed in France. The result 
established the soundness of their views. 

Jefferson and Knox seem to have disagreed about many of the 
vexed questions which came before the cabinet. But toward 
the close of the administration they were found in unison upon 
a most important measure. We were then destitute of a navy, 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 13 

and outrages by Mediterranean pirates upon the persons and 
property of our citizens, together with the importance of pro- 
viding defences for our extensive sea-coast, impressed Knox with 
the necessity of a naval force. By the support of Jefferson, his 
efforts were successful and our navy, which owes its origin to 
Knox, has ever since been identified with the glory and fame of 
the country. Knox had charge of the new department, perform- 
ing its duties, while acting as Secretary of War. 

At the close of the year 1794, when Knox had advanced be- 
yond middle life, the concerns of his increasing family and the 
imperious claims of private interest, determined him to retire 
from public service. The salary attached to his office was only 
twenty-five hundred dollars, which the expenses of his generous 
hospitality far exceeded. The President, who had desired him to 
remain until the end of his own official term, reluctantly ac- 
cepted his resignation. " I cannot suffer you," wrote Washing- 
ton, " to close your public service, without expressing, in addi- 
tion to the satisfaction which must arise in your own mind from 
a conscious rectitude, my most perfect persuasion that you have 
deserved well of your country. My personal knowledge of your 
exertions, while it authorizes me to hold this language, justifies 
the sincere friendship which I have ever borne for you, and 
which will accompany you in every situation of life." 

Knox left the seat of government with every mark of esteem 
and confidence. At Boston, he was honored by a public dinner, 
and similar demonstrations awaited his arrival , at Thomaston, 
which he had selected for his future home. 

We shall now glance at him in the last stage of his life, when 
he appears as a private citizen of our state, living upon his own 
extensive estates, honored by his fellow citizens, and contributing 
to the prosperity and happiness of all around him. It was a po- 
sition to which he had often turned a wistful eye throughout his 
agitated and anxious career, and which possessed his thoughts 
even amid the stern duties of the field, and in the perplexities of 
the cabinet. 

Through her mother, who, as has been before remarked was a 
daughter of General Waldo, Mrs. Knox inherited a share in that 
large tract of territory known as the "Waldo Patent," which 
comprised portions of what are now the counties of Penobscot, 



14 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Waldo and Knox. The remaining shares General Knox suc- 
ceeded in obtaining by purchase. To the cultivation and im- 
provement of this estate he applied his whole energies immedi- 
ately upon retiring from public life, and established his residence 
near the thriving village of Thomaston. Here he erected a 
spacious mansion, three stories in height, with corresponding 
out-buildings, all in the style of a French chateau. The man- 
sion was situated on a swelling slope, sheltered by the forest in 
the rear, and commanding a magnificent view of ten miles down 
the Georges river, a river which is navigable for the largest 
ships. Although local tradition has greatly exaggerated the 
extent of this house, yet with its cupola, balconies and piazzas, 
added to the surrounding walks, well-kept lawns, tufted trees 
and shrubbery, the whole premises were unequalled for beauty 
and symmetry in New England. In dimensions, architecture 
and ornaments, the expansive character of the owner was clearly 
manifested. 

"In this charming spot, to which he gave the name of Mont- 
pelier, in the society of his wife and children, and of the many 
distinguished visitors, who from time to time partook of his hos- 
pitality, Knox probably enjoyed a larger degree of happiness 
than he had ever before known." Mrs. Knox, who was truly 
his congenial spirit, was also well satisfied to exchange scenes of 
gayety and fashion for domestic life. She is described as hav- 
ing been, even in her Intter days, when upward of sixty, a re- 
markably fine-looking woman, with brilliant black eyes, and a 
blooming complexion. Her mind, we are told, was of a high 
order, and her influence upon all with whom she came in con- 
tact was very decided. The deference of General and Mrs. 
Washington, and the homage paid to her intellectual superiority 
by many persons of talent and judgment, show this influence to 
have been great and well-founded. In society she was com- 
manding, and gave a tone to the manners of the times. During 
the residence of General Knox at New York, their house was 
the scene of a liberal hospitality. Mr. Griswold, in his u Re- 
publican Court," says, " she was recognized as a lively and med- 
dlesome, but amiable, leader of society, without whose co-opera- 
tion it was believed by many beside herself that nothing could 
be properly done in the drawing-room, or the ball-room, or any 
place where fashionable men and women sought amusement." 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 15 

During the residence of Knox at Montpelier, he constantly 
received guests from far and near, who came to make their 
obeisance of respect and regard to the warrior and patriot. 
Writing to his friend General Henry Jackson in 1795, he says, 
" We had a small company on the Fourth of July of upward of 
five hundred people ! " * On this occasion, which was soon after 
his arrival, a general invitation had been given to all the sur- 
rounding inhabitants to partake of the festivities of an old- 
fashioned house-warming. Brilliant parties from Philadelphia 
and other cities, and frequently from abroad, enlivened the sum- 
mer, and the halls resounded with music and conversation. At 
this time, America was the asylum for many distinguished for- 
eigners, driven here by the French Revolution. Among them 
were Louis Philippe, afterward King of France, and his brothers, 
the Duke de Montpensier and the Count de Beaujolais, together 
with the Duke de Liancourt and the celebrated Talleyrand. All 
these exiles brought letters of introduction to Knox, and re- 
ceived a warm welcome within his hospitable doors. Talleyrand, 
the distinguished French statesman, landed from Europe at Cas- 
tine. Some curious facts have been adduced to show that this ex- 
traordinary character was a native of Mount Desert. It appears 
that he had not been long in this country, before he visited that 
island. The older inhabitants there thought they recognized him 
as the illegitimate child of the pretty daughter of a fisherman, 
and the captain of a French national ship which touched on the 
coast of Maine forty years before. The boy, the^y said, when 
young, his mother being dead, had been taken away by a French 
gentleman, who declared that he was descended from a noble 
family in France. We may know more about this when the 
autobiography of Talleyrand is given to the world. 

*This " small company of five hundred " seems, like the marriage feast of the parable, 
to have comprised some unworthy as well as many worthy guests. For Mrs. Mary Lin- 
coln, daughter of the famous James Otis, and widow of General Lincoln's oldest son, in a 
sprightly letter written to her brother-in-law, Judge Theodore Lincoln of Dennysville, 
Maine, dated Sept. 10, 1795, describing her own long voyage from Passamaquoddy, 
where she had just made a visit, to Hingham, her home, writes : " The captain begins to 
think it doubtful whether we shall go to Georges River. If we do I will give you the 
particulars. I must tell you one thing I have heard along shore, that Mrs. ffluktr had 
her watch stolen the day the mob-ility dined at the General's, and that the General lost 
two silver cups." This mpntion of Mrs, FLuker would seem to indicate that at that time 
Mrs. Knox's mother formed a part of her family. In a part of the same letter, dated later, 
October 16, 1795, Mrs. Lincoln also writes: " I was disappointed that I could not go to 
Georges, as I heard on my way that Mrs. Fluker expected me." Perhaps in the vein of 
raillery, in which the letter was written, Madame Knox herself is the person, evidently 
the mistress of the house "who expected her," twice mentioned under her mother's name- 



16 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

At Montpelier, Louis Philippe became acquainted with the beau- 
tiful Miss Bingham, afterward the wife of Lord Ashburton, and 
offered himself to her in marriage. The prospective king was 
then in reduced pecuniary circumstances, and dependent upon 
the generosity of his American friends. Her father declined the 
royal alliance. " Should you be ever restored to your hereditary 
position," he said, " you will be too great a match for her; if not, 
she is too great a match for you." Knox became warmly at- 
tached to Liancourt, who passed several months in his family. 
This unfortunate nobleman once exclaimed in a fit of despon- 
dency, as he struck his forehead with his hand, 4< I have three 
dukedomes on my head, and not a whole coat to my back." 
His wardrobe was replenished by the munificence of his host. 

His charity was not, however, confined to such. Many a 
poorer exile from his native land ; many a weary missionary in 
his round of frontier duty; many a distressed adventurer, 
found with him a refuge from oppression, rest from fatigue, a 
hearing, and perhaps adoption of some scheme or discovery. 
On one occasion he invited the whole Penobscot tribe of Indians 
to pay him a visit, and entertained them for several days. He 
loved to see every one happy, and could sympathize with people 
of every class and condition, rejoice in their prosperity and aid 
them in adversity. 

Beside cultivating the acquaintance of men of learning, Knox 
maintained a correspondence with many distinguished person- 
ages of his time in Europe and America. His library, with a 
single exception, was the largest in Maine. 

Knox offered favorable terms to new settlers, and published 
advertisements extolling the fertility of his lands, as well as the 
salubrity of the climate. To the latter, he said that the balsamic 
firs largely contributed. As an inducement to immigration he 
commenced several extensive branches of business, which gave 
employment to a large number of workmen, and afforded a 
market for the products of the soil and of the forest. In one of 
his familiar letters to Washington, he writes, "I am beginning 
to experience the good effects of residing on my lands. I may 
truly say that the estate is more than doubled in its value since 
I determined to make it my home." His plans and projects of 
improvement were more suited to his expansive mind than to his 



GENEKAL HENEY KNOX. 17 

actual resources, and finally involved him in serious pecuniary 
embarrassments.* " But had he been permitted to attain the 
usual age of man, which his vigorous constitution indicated," 
says Drake, the clouds that rested upon the latter part of his 
life would have been dispelled. The increased value of his 
property would have realized all his anticipations, and enabled 
him to leave his family in opulence. It was otherwise ordained. 
A sudden casualty cut him oft* in the midst of his usefulness, at 
the age of fifty-six years. The event occurred on Saturday, the 
twenty-fifth of October, 1806, after an illness of only a few days. 
It was occasioned by his having accidentally swallowed the 
minute bone of a chicken, which caused a mortification, and was 
from its nature incurable." His funeral took place on the fol- 
lowing Tuesday. He was entombed under a wi'le-spreading 
oak, on the banks of the Georges, in a spot where, when living, 
he had loved to linger for meditation. Multitudes were present 
to pay the last tribute of respect to one whom they regarded as 
a public benefactor, the life of the business community, and the 
friend of his country and of the human race. 

Mrs. Knox survived her husband fourteen years. Of her 
twelve children, nine of whom died in infancy, only three sur- 
vived their father, and they, too, have deceased. The family 
name is extinct. Montpelier is no longer standing. It ought to 
have become the property of the public, and been preserved as 
sacred to the memory of its departed owner. Some future gener- 
ation, if the patriotism of the past shall survive the temptation 
of the present, will mourn over the insensibility of their fathers, 
which allowed so sacred a shrine to become obliterated. 

* In this embarrassment, Gen. Knox discloses in his correspondence that bis most serious 
regret was that his old compatriot, correspondent and friend, General Lincoln, who had 
indorsed his notes, was involved and might be reduced from independence to poverty. 
He was, in fact, sued, all his property attached, and his house and family homestead in 
Hingham was actually levied upon by the creditors of his friend. He had been advised 
of the danger and strongly urged, as the debt was not his own, to alienate his property 
to prevent its being taken in execution, but the old warrior sturdily refused to resort to 
any such questionable remedies. He wrote, that the notes had been negotiated and 
money raised upon the credit of his name and of the property in his ownership, and 
that he could not in honesty dispossess himself of the very security upon which some per- 
sons had in good faith advanced their money. For the good fame of General Knox too 
it ought to be told that he at once put into the hands of his sureties his whole estate, and 
that in process of time, from the proceeds of the sale of portions of it to settlers, the 
whole debt was paid, and General Lincoln was enabled to redeem the homestead that 
had been taken in execution. 

2 



18 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

In stature, Knox was rather above medium height, his frame 
well proportioned and inclining to corpulency. In connection 
with this fullness of person it is stated that when he was selected 
together with one Captain Sargent to represent to Congress the 
starving and naked condition of the army at Valley Forge, one 
of the committee who heard their pleas, remarked that neverthe- 
less he had not for a long time seen an apparently better fed 
man than the representative who had last spoken, nor one better 
dressed than the other. Knox remaining mute, probably from 
indignation, his subordinate replied that " the army, out of 
respect to Congress and themselves, had sent the only man 
among them with an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body, and 
the only other who possessed a complete suit of clothes." When 
the American troops occupied Boston after its evacuation, Knox, 
who had even then become quite stout, marched in at the head 
of the artillery. As he passed on, that celebrated punning Tory, 
the Rev. Dr. Byles, who had been intimate with the former book- 
seller, and thought himself privileged on old scores, exclaimed 
loud enough to be heard, " I never saw an-ox fatter in my life ! " 
But Knox was not in the mood for such low wit. He justly felt 
offended by this freedom, especially from Byles, whose Tory sen- 
timents were well known, and he replied in not very courteous 
terms. 

The personal and mental characteristics of General Knox are 
thus described by William Sullivan, in his " Familiar Letters ": 

He was a large, full man ; his lower limbs inclined a very little out- 
ward, so that in walking his feet were nearly parallel. His hair was 
short in front, standing up, and powdered and queued. His forehead 
was low ; his face, large and full below ; his eyes, rather small, gray and 
brilliant. The expression of his face altogether was a very fine one. 

When moving along the street he had an air of grandeur and self-com- 
placency, but it wounded no man r s self-love. He carried a large cane, 
not to aid his steps, but usually under his arm ; and sometimes, when 
he happened to stop and engage in conversation with his accustomed 
ardor, his cane was used to flourish with. He was usually dressed in 
black. In the summer he commonly carried his light silk hat in his 
hand when walking in the shade. 

When thinking he looked like one of his own heavy pieces, which 
would surely do execution when discharged; when speaking his face 
had a noble expression and was capable of displaying the most benig- 
nant feeling. This was the true character of his heart. His voice was 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 19 

strong, and no one could hear it without feeling that it had been accus- 
tomed to command. The mind of Knox was powerful, rapid and deci- 
sive, and he could employ it continuously and effectively. His natural 
propensity was highly social, and no man better enjoyed a hearty laugh. 
He said he had through life left his bed at the dawn, and had been 
always a cheerful, happy man. 

Dr. Thacher, his military contemporary, has left upon record 
the following analysis of Knox : 

Long will he be remembered as the ornament of every circle in which 
he moved, as the amiable and enlightened companion, the generous 
friend, the man of feeling and benevolence. His conversation was ani- 
mated, and he imparted an interest to every subject that he touched. 
In his gayest moments he never lost sight of dignity ; he invited confi- 
dence, but repelled familiarity. His conceptions were lofty, and no 
man ever possessed the power of embodying his thoughts in more vig- 
orous language ; when ardently engaged, they were peculiarly bold and 
original, and you inevitably felt in his society that his intellect was not 
of the ordinary class ; yet no man was more unassuming, none more 
delicately alive to the feelings of others. His own feelings were strong 
and exquisitely tender. He was frank, generous and sincere, and in his 
intercourse with the world uniformly just. 

Although General Knox could not be called an orator, he 
spoke clearly and forcibly, throwing upon the points in issue the 
strong light of authority and illustration. Occasionally, his re- 
marks had a natural eloquence, as in the following instance. 
After the Revolution and while he was a member of the legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts, an application was made by citizens of 
Marblehead for the charter of a bank. Their petition met with 
opposition from a representative, who ridiculed the idea that the 
ignorant fishermen of that town were entitled to such a privi- 
lege. Knox at once obtained the floor. " I am surprised," he 
said, " that Marblehead should ask so small a favor as that of 
banking, and that it should be opposed. Sir, I wish the members 
of this body knew the people of Marblehead as well as I do. I 
could wish that they had stood on the banks of the Delaware 
river in 1777, in that bitter night when Washington had drawn up 
his little army to cross it, and had seen the powerful current bear- 
ing onward the floating masses of ice which threatened destruc- 
tion to whomsoever should venture upon its bosom. I wish, that 
when this occurrence threatened to defeat the enterprise, they 
could have heard the coinmander-in-chief demand, * Who will 



20 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

lead us on ? ' and seen the men of Marblehead, and Marblehead 
alone, stand forward to direct the army along that perilous path 
to unfading glories and honors in the achievements of Trenton. 
There, sir, went the fishermen of Marblehead, alike at home upon 
land or water ; alike ardent, patriotic and unflinching, whenever 
they unfurled the flag of the country ! " 

One of the distinctive qualities of Knox was the attachment 
to himself by an influence stronger than hooks of steel, of all 
with whom he was connected. The attachment of Washington 
continued unbroken after both had retired from public life, and 
their correspondence resembles that between brothers. In a let- 
ter written by Washington a few months before his death, he 
says : 

I can with truth say, that there is no man in the United States with 
whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy ; no one whom I have 
loved more sincerely; nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship. 

How valuable is such testimony ! How precious is its legacy ! 
In the eloquent words of Winthrop, as applied to Franklin: 

Other honors may grow valueless, other laurels may fade and wither, 
monumental marble may molder and crumble, but the man of whom it 
may be said that for nearly a generation he enjoyed the sincere friend- 
ship and secured the respect and affection of Washington, without any 
other merits, has won a title to his country's remembrance, which time 
will only strengthen and increase ! 

One of the lessons which an acquaintance with the character 
of Knox teaches, is so especially applicable to our own times that 
it might well be learned by many of our countrymen occupying 
stations of public trust. It was his strict personal integrity. 
How noble is the following sentiment, contained in a private let- 
ter written to his brother, during the revolution. 

I undoubtedly might have at first stipulated for some pecuniary ad- 
vantage to myself; but I know not how it is, I do not approve of money 
obtained in the public service ; it does not appear to me, in a war like 
ours, to be right, and I cannot bring myself to think differently, although 
poverty may be the consequence. You know my sentiments with 
respect to making anything out of the public. I abominate the idea. 
I could not, at the close of hostilities, mix with my fellow citizens with 
that conscious rectitude, the felicity of which I often anticipate. 

A similar spirit was manifested by Washington, when he ac- 
cepted the position of commander- in-chief. He said : 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 21 

I beg leave to assure the Congress, that as no pecuniary consideration 
could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the ex- 
pense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any 
profit out of it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These 
I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire. 

This sketch would be indeed incomplete without an allusion 
to the religious views of General Knox. It is undoubtedly true, 
as related by one writer, that in the heat of excitement his ve- 
hemently uttered commands were interlarded with expletives 
suggestive of anything but a Puritan ancestry, but such was the 
custom of the times. The war of the Revolution has a pro- 
fane as well as a sacred history, and our army understood the 
nature of an oath as well as did the army in Flanders. Even 
Washington, although reproving by general orders "the foolish 
and wicked practice of swearing," occasionally was unmindful of 
this precept. For the profanity in which Putnam indulged at 
the battle of Bunker Hill, the brave old general made a sincere 
confession, after the war, to the church of which he was a mem- 
ber. It was not, however, with Knox, that senseless, unmean- 
ing use of sacred language so often met with, but consisted 
rather of solemn asseverations upon too unimportant and trivial 
subjects. All his writings bear testimony to the great truths of 
Christianity, and they express the belief that its exalted princi- 
ples were intended to correct the heart and to purify the life. 
His thoughts were often and intensely employed on the subject 
of a future existence. Thacher says : 

He firmly believed in an over ruling Providence, and that he was formed 
and sustained by its power and goodness. The order, harmony, and 
beauty of creation seemed to him the most convincing proof of wisdom 
and design. He thought that the universal distribution of blessings 
among the human race furnished conclusive evidence of the goodness of 
the being from whose bounty they flow. But this was a subject upon 
which he reasoned for himself. Doctrinal opinions and metaphysical 
subtleties had no allurement for him. The exclusive pretensions of the 
various sects he considered the fruits of human invention, and utterly 
unworthy of infinite wisdom. This globe he regarded as a mere atom of 
the great incomprehensible scheme of the Almighty, and our existence 
here as only the commencement of a progressive state, rising toward 
perfection in the future. 

Such is a brief outline of the life and character of this distin- 
guished man. " Many," says one writer, " have been as coura- 



22 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

geous in the field, many as wise and patriotic in council, but few 
have united to these the still rarer virtues, a spotless integrity, 
and a noble out-spoken manliness" as he did. Here in this 
state, which he adopted as his own, we have not taken those 
means of perpetuating his memory, of which it is worthy. We 
cannot do too much to remind us of the aid which he contribu- 
ted by his counsels and valor, in achieving our liberties, and in 
laying the foundation of our institutions. 



GENEKAL HENRY KNOX. 23 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA 
RELATING TO GENERAL KNOX. 



BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. 



A CATALOGUE OP BOOKS ; IMPORTED AND TO BE SOLD BY HENRY 
KNOX, AT THE LONDON BOOK-STOKE, A LITTLE SOUTHWARD OP 

THE TOWN-HOUSE IN CORNHILL, BOSTON, MDCCLXXII, 12 MO. 

N. P. 

KNOX, HENRY. A Plan for the General Arrangement of the Militia of 
the United States. . . . (n. p. 1786. ) 8vo. pp. 34. Philadelphia, 1786, 8vo. 
New York : Printed by Francis Childs and John Swayne, 1790. Fol. 
pp. 26. 

This title is from Sabin. 

KNOX, H. A Plan for the General Arrangement of the Militia of 
the United States. By General Knox. Boc. Mass. Hist. Soc. 6 : 364-403. 

KNOX, HENRY. Causes of Existing Hostilities between the United 
States and the Indians. 8vo. 1792. 

VOYAGES de M. le Marquis de Chastelleux dans L' Amerique Septen- 
trionale, Dans les anuees 1780, 1781 & 1782. Multorumque hominum 
vidit urbes, et mores cognovit. A Paris, Chez Bouet, Imprimeur du 
Roi, Quai des Augustine, a 1' Immortalite, 1791. Tome Premier. Detail 
particulier sur le General Knox, Pag. 116 & suiv. 

LETTER to Gen. David Cobb, 1796, Bangor Hist. Mag. 3: 119. (1887). 

VOYAGE dans les Etats-unis d' Amerique, fait en 1795, 1796 et 1797. 
Par La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. A Paris, L an vii de la Republique. 
8 vols. 

Knox mentioned, Vol. 1, p. 253; Vol. 2, p. 348; Vol. 3, pp. 29, 38, 
39-41, 42, 68, 69, 87, 88, 93; Vol. 5, pp. 198, 199, 205. 

There is an octavo edition in four volumes. 

TRAVELS through the United States of North America, the country 
of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the years 1795, 1796 and 1797; 
with an authentic account of Lower Canada. By the Duke de la Roche- 
foucault-Liancourt. London: pr. for R. Phillips, 1799. 2 v. Maps, 
Plates, 4to. Vol. 1, pp. xxiii (1), 642 (12) pp. Vol. 2, pp. 686. 

Knox is mentioned, Vol. 1, pp. 416-449; Vol. 2, pp. 179-184. 



24 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

KNOX, HENRY. Letter to Samuel Freeman, Esqr. 1802. Maine His- 
torical and Genealogical Record, 2: 188. (1887.) 

BRADFORD, ALDEN. A Sermon delivered before the Congregational 
Society at Thomaston, (Maine), November 2, 1806; being the Lord's Day 
after the Interment of the Hon. Henry Knox, who died October 25the 
-ffitat 56 years. By Alclen Bradford, A.M., s.A.s. Published by Request 
of the Inhabitants comprising said Society in Thomaston. *' Behold 
the Lord doth take away the mighty man, the man of war, the hon- 
orable man, the counsellor, and the eloquent orator." Isaiah . . . Printed 
by Babson and Russt, 8vo., n. p, n. d. n. pp. (Wiscasset, 1806, pp. 16.) 

THACHER, JAMES. Military Journal, during the American Revolu- 
tionary War, from 1775 to 1783; describing the Events and Transactions 
of this Period, with numerous historical facts and anecdotes. To which 
is added, an appendix, containing biographical sketches of several general 
officers. By James Thacher, M.D., late surgeon in the American Army. 

"As Americans, we hail with delight any attempt to rescue from ob- 
livion the words or actions of those whose names we have been taught 
to revere." Hartford: Silas Andrus & Son. 1854, 8vo., pp. 494 

Several editions of this work have been published; the first in 1823. 
Pages 477 to 486, inclusive, are occupied with "Sketch of the Life of 
General Knox." The name of the author is not given. It was proba- 
bly Ebenezer Thacher, who married Lucy F., daughter of General Knox, 
and who pronounced an eulogy at his funeral. The eulogy was never 
printed. 

The volume contains numerous references to Knox, covering his Rev- 
olutionary career. 

WILSON, T. The Biography of the Principal American Military and 
Naval Heroes, during the Revolutionary and late Wars. New York: 182^. 
2 vols. 12mo. 

Vol. 2 contains a biography of Knox. 

EASTERN ARGUS, Portland, Maine, September 30, 1825. "Editorial 
Letters, No. 5," from Thomaston, devotes a column to Knox. 

FAMILIAR LETTERS on Public Characters and Public Events; from the 
Peace of 1783, to the Peace of 1815. Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and 
Metcalf, 1834. 12mo. pp. xi, 468. 

The author was Hon. William Sullivan. Page 62 mentions resignation 
of Knox as Secretary of War. Pages 99 to 104, are devoted to a descrip- 
tion of Knox. 

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY of distinguished Americans. 
Conducted by James Herring, New York, and James B. Longacre, Phil- 
adelphia, under the superintendence of the American Academy of the 
Fine Arts. New York, M. Bancroft; Philadelphia, H. Perkins; London, 
O. Rich. 1834, 1835, 1836, 1839, 4 vols. Svo. 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 25 

The volumes are not paged, each article is paged separately. In the 
second volume, the seventh article comprising ten pages, treats of Knox 
and has an accompanying portrait. 

HE ABLE Y, JOEL T. Washington and the Generals of the American 
Revolution. Philadelphia, 1847. 2 vols., 12mo. pp. 324 and 336. (Por- 
traits.) 

Yol. 1, pp. 235 to 243, contains a sketch' of Knox. 

ELLETT, ELIZABETH F. The Women of the American Revolution. 
New York, 1848. 2 vols. 12mo., pp. 348 and 312. 
An account of Lucy Knox is given in vol. 1, pp. 107-111. 

RE PUBLIC AN JOURNAL, Belfast, Maine, July 4, 1848, has an article a 
column long, entitled " Gen. Henry Knox, Major General in the American 
Army," with an engraving. It is evidently copied from some newspaper 
or magazine, which I have been unable to find. 

ELLETT, ELIZABETH F. Sketch of Mrs. Henry Knox, Godey's Lady's 
Book, 38: 106, 1849. 

SIMONTON, PUTNAM, M.D. (Of Searsport, Maine), Major General Knox. 
Republican Journal, Belfast, Aug. 15, 1851. Two columns. 

EATON, CYRUS. Annals of the Town of Warren; with the Early His- 
tory of St. George's, Broadbay, and the neighboring Settlements on the 
Waldo Patent, Hallowell, 1851. 12mo., pp. 437. 

The same. Second edition, Hallowell, 1877, 12mo., pp. 

680. 

Account of Knox, pp. 250, 251, of first edition, and pp. 265, 266, 267, 
of second edition. 

ELLETT, MRS. ELIZABETH F. General Knox. Letters in the New 
York Daily Times, July 20 and 25, 1854. 

GRISWOLD, RUFUS W. The Republican Court on American Society in 
the days of Washington. By Rufus Wilmot Griswold. With Twenty- 
one Portraits of Distinguished Women. Engraved from original pic- 
tures by Woolaston, Copley, Gainsborough, Stewart, Trumbull, Pine, 
Malborne, and other contemporary painters. New York: D. Appleton 
and Company, 346 and 348 Broadway. London: 16 Little Britain, 
MDCCCLV. 4to., pp. 408. 

Contains numerous allusions to General Knox and wife. 

LOSSING, BENSON J. The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution; or 
Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History, Biography, Scenery, 
Relics, and Traditions of the War for Independence. By Benson J. 
Lossing, with 1100 engravings on wood, by Lossing & Barrett, chiefly 
from original sketches by the author. In two volumes. New York: 



26 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Harper & Brothers. Publishers, Franklin Square, 1855. Royal 8vo., Vol. 
1, pp. xxxii. 783. Vol. 2, pp. xiii., 772. 

Biographical Sketch, Portrait, and Autograph of Knox, Vol. 2, pp. 
632, 633. 

SALEM (Mass.) GAZETTE, August 29, 1857. Disposition. of the Kemains 
of Knox. 

A severe, but just censure of the inhabitants of Thomaston, for per- 
mitting the removal of the remains of Knox to the public graveyard, in 
a drag, without any notice or ceremonies. 

BOSTON COURIER, September 26, 1857. Reply to foregoing, from "Citi- 
zens of Thomaston." 

The author was understood to be the Rev. Oliver J. Fernald, a Unita- 
rian minister of Thomaston. His attempted apology is weak. 

THE AGE, Augusta, Maine, February 4, 1858. Sketch of Remarks made 
in the House of Representatives, Friday, Jan. 29, ( 1858) on Resolve pre- 
sented by Mr. Gilbert of Bath, authorizing the Governor and Council to 
procure a statue of General Knox. 

The speakers were Washington Gilbert of Bath, Henry H. Boody of 
Brunswick, and Benjamin F. Buxton of Warren.. 

LOCKE, JOHN L. Sketches of the History of the Town of Camden, 
Maine, including incidental references to the neighboring places and ad- 
jacent waters. Hallowell: 1859. 12mo. pp. 235. 

Many of the statements concerning Knox are without foundation. 

F: A.TON, CYRUS. History of Thomaston, Rockland and South Thom- 
aston, Maine, from their first Exploration, A.D. 1805; with Family Gen- 
ealogies. In two volumes. Hallowell; 1865, 12mo. pp. 468 and 472. 

Contains the best account which exists of Knox's life at Thomaston 
and of his personal character and habits. 

"THE HOME OF KNOX." Anonymous. Boston Transcript, August 
20, 1866. 

PARTON, JAMES. Peoples Book of biography; or, short lives of the 
most interesting persons of all ages and countries. Containing more 
th#n eighty sketches of the lives and deeds of eminent philanthropists, 
inventors, authors, poets, discoverers, soldiers, adventurers, travelers, 
politicians, and rulers, women as well as men. By James Parton. Richly 
illustrated with 12 steel engravings. Published by subscription only. 
A. S. Hale & Co., Hartford, Conn., 1868. 8 vo., pp. 624. 

Sketch of Knox, pp. 457-462. No portrait. 

PARTON. Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1873. Washington's Cabinet does 
injustice to K. 

KNOX MANSION at Thomaston. New England Historical and Genea- 
logical Register, 36:80. 



GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 27 

DRAKE, FRANCIS S. Life and Correspondence of Henry Knox, Major 
General in the American Revolutionary Army, by Francis S. Drake. 
Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 17 Bromfield Street, 1873. 8 vo., pp. 160. 
Portrait. 

A reprint, from the "Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the 
Cincinnati." It is quite elaborately reviewed in "The Nation," Jan. 1, 
1874. 

MAJOR GENERAL HENRY KNOX. A letter from the Hon. Harrison 
Gray Otis to the Hon. Charles Stewart Daveis. Communicated by 
David Greene Haskins, jr., A.M., of Cambridge. New England Hist, 
and Gen. Reg., 30:360, 1876. 

NEALLEY, EDWARD B. Oration, July 4, 1877, at Thomaston. Rock- 
land Courier and Gazette. 

Contains several reminiscences of Knox. 

THACHER, MARY P. Seashore and Prairie. Boston: J. R. Osgood 
and Company. 1877, 16mo. pp. 227. 
One of the sketches is entitled " The Knox House." 

THACHER, MARY P. Two Ancient Landmarks. Scribner's Magazine. 
9: 615. 1877. 
The first landmark is " The Knox House." 

HALSEY, MRS. C. H. Mrs. Henry Knox. Potter's American Monthly. 

7: 31. 1879. , 

DRAKE, FRANCIS S. New England Hist, and Gen. Register. 34: 347. 
1880. 

This article is an abridgment of ithe "Life and Correspondence of 
General Knox," by the same author. 

WILLIAMSON, JOSEPH. General Knox. A paper read before the 
Maine Historical Society. An abstract is published in the Portland 
Press, November 17, 1881, and in the Portland Advertiser of the follow- 
ing day. The preceding article is the paper referred to. 

LINDLEY, E. MARGUERITE. Montpelier, Home of Major General 
Knox. Seven illustrations. Magazine of American History. 16 : 121- 
132. 1886. 

THE KNOX MANUSCRIPTS. Report of the Rev. Edmund F. Staftor. 
Proceedings of the New England Historic Genealogical Society at the 
annual meeting, January 5, 1881. pp. 27-36. 

The same in separate form, 8vo., pp. 10. 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778. 29 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778, 



Recognizing the Independence of the United States. 



HOW THE GOOD NEWS CAME TO FALMOUTH. 
Read before the Maine Historical Society June 10, 1887, 

BY WILLIAM GOOLD. 

Early in 1776 it was decided privately by the Congress of the 
new states to seek assistance from abroad. The public credit 
was at a low ebb, and it was necessary to convince those from 
whom assistance was asked, that it would be, in time, for their in- 
terest to grant the request, aside from any promise or guaranty 
of repayment. France was a nation hostile to Great Britain by 
the long-continued tradition of centuries a humbled nation, 
smarting to recover her lost prestige and to console her lost 
pride, and she could ill brook to see the new ideas of political 
liberty with which her heart was throbbing, trampled upon and 
crushed in the Colonies by her hereditary and victorious enemy; 
A more mercenary motive might have reinforced these senti- 
ments, for she doubtless regarded the American trade as an ob- 
ject worth striving for. It was natural that the new states 
should turn first to France among the nations of Europe. 

Early in 1776, Silas Deane, then, and for two years before, a 
member of the Continental Congress from Connecticut, was sent 
by the secret committee of that body to France as a political 
and commercial agent. He arrived in Paris in June, with in- 
structions to sound the disposition of the cabinet in regard to 
the war between the Colonies and Great Britain, and to endeavor 
to obtain supplies and military stores. Probably Congress had 
heard from its agents in Europe, of the favorable disposition 
of the French cabinet and people, -and on the 26th of Sep- 
tember, 1776, elected Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and 
Arthur Lee to make a treaty of alliance with France, and to rep- 



30 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

resent the Colonies at the court of Versailles. Although he was 
born in Virginia, Lee was educated at Edinburgh, and had stud- 
ied law at the Temple in London. This experience eminently- 
qualified him for the duties required by his appointment. He 
had been some time in Europe, and had made frequent visits to 
Paris, as an agent of the secret service of the Continental Con- 
gress. Lee had already made arrangements secretly with the 
French king to send a large amount of arms, ammunition and 
specie to the Colonies ; but to avoid premature complications 
with Great Britain they obtained publicity only as a transaction 
between two commercial houses. The one, " Hortaly & Co." 
the house established by aid from the French and Spanish 
governments as a blind was engaged in loading their ships for 
America. The only mention of the arrival in America of these 
ships within my reading, is in the private journal of Brigadier 
Preble of Falmouth, who was serving as a councilor in the Pro- 
vincial Congress of Massachusetts. The arrival was kept as 
secret as possible. He writes : 

April 20, 1777, a ship arrived at Portsmouth with fifty-eight pieces of 
brass cannon; tents for ten thousand men; clothing for twelve thou- 
sand; five thousand seven hundred stand of arms; ten tons of powder; 
and twenty-four officers of artillery. She had three months' passage. 

July 7, Captain Claxton came before the board, and informed that he 
arrived from France yesterday, and brought seventy barrels of powder; 
forty chests of arms; ten tons of lead, and sundry anchors, cables, chains 
and rigging he took out of several vessels he had burnt. 

Monday, July 21st, the council met at ten o'clock. The board received 
a letter from Dr. Franklin in which he informs that he has purchased for 
the States two hundred and five brass four pounders, with their car- 
riages, traces for the horses, shot, &c., twenty-six brass mortars, a great 
number of shell, thirty thousand fusils [light muskets], and that a num- 
ber of expert officers of artillery and engineers, with a vast quantity of 
powder, has been shipped and gone to America. This letter is dated the 
27th of May last. A letter from Mr. Deane, and one from Mr. Lee was 
was received, who writes very encouragingly, that a quantity of cables, 
anchors, sail cloths, hats, and coarse linen from Spain, were shipped for 
America. 

Rochefontaine, who was sent to Portland by the war depart- 
ment in 1793, and who built the citadel on the hill called Fort 
Sumner, was one of the engineers sent from France in 1777. 

I have said that Arthur Lee was already in Europe when in 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778. 31 

September, 1776, he was with Dr. Franklin appointed to join 
Silas Deane in Paris, for the purpose of negotiating a treaty of 
alliance with the French king. Dr. Franklin left Philadelphia 
as we learn from his letters on the 26th of October, and the 
next morning he sailed on the il Reprisal," Captain Wicks, and, 
on December 3, he landed at Auray in Brittany. The voyage 
had been a short one, but a rough experience for a man of sev- 
enty. Franklin had made visits to Paris in 1767, and again in 
1769. On his first visit he had traveled with an Englishman, Sir 
John Pringle. As commissioner, he arrived in Paris December 
12, 1776. He had with him two of his grandsons, and his son, 
William Temple Franklin, then in his sixteenth year, who acted 
as his father's private secretary through all the period of his res- 
idence in France, which was extended to eight years. 

At the very moment of his arrival Franklin found himself " the 
rage " in Paris. He and the other commissioners were received 
by Vergennes, the foreign minister, as early as December 23, not 
ostensibly as ambassadors, but as gentlemen to whom the minis- 
ter wished to show respect. 

The French archives contain the report made by the police of 
Franklin's appearance it is dated three weeks after his arrival 
in Paris and is in these words : 

Doctor Franklin, who lately arrived in this country from the English 
colonies, is very much sought after and feted, not only by the savants, 
his confreres, but by all people who can get hold of him, for he is 
difficult to be approached, and lives in reserve, as he is supposed to be 
directed by the government. This Quaker wears the full costume of 
his sect. He has an agreeable physiognomy; spectacles always on his 
eyes ; but little hair ; a fur cap is always on his head. He wears no pow- 
der, but has a neat air; linen very white, and a brown coat make his 
dress. His only defence is a stick in his hand. If he sees our ministers 
it is at Paris not at Versailles at court at night and in the greatest 
secrecy. 

The English minister, Lord Stormont, it was said, as soon as 
he learned that Franklin had arrived in France, sent a note to 
Vergennes, threatening to leave without ceremony if the chief 
of the American rebels was allowed to set foot in Paris. 

John Adams arrived in Paris April 8, 1778, in the American 

frigate "Boston," having been appointed to succeed Silas Deane. 

he latter was recalled by a resolution of Congress passed 



32 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

November 21, 1777, but which Deane did not receive until 
March, 1778. He came home in the " Languedoc," the flagship 
of D'Estaing, in April. Deane had been very profuse in his 
promises, and had exceded his instructions in his engagements of 
engineers. Congress being embarrassed by his contracts recalled 
him. 

Although Dr. Franklin's principal object, on his arrival in 
France, was to secure aid to prevent the colonies from being 
crushed by England, yet he found time for scientific pursuits. 
Paris was occupied at the time in welcoming Voltaire. Jile had 
been exiled for some years, and had just returned, at the age of 
eighty-four years. His comedies were revived at the theaters, 
and he was everywhere idolized by the citizens. Franklin, the 
American commissioner, won an equal share of the popular fa- 
vor. He was publicly presented to Voltaire at a meeting of the 
Academy of Science, where the two great men were fairly 
obliged, by the expectancy of the audience, to embrace and kiss 
each other. Voltaire died a few months later. Jean Jacques 
Rousseau, whose work in literature had impressed France and 
Europe as no other author but Voltaire had done, died soon 
after him. 

Undoubtedly a larger part of the courtiers at Versailles were 
strongly in favor of war with England, which open assistance of 
the Colonies by France would bring on ; but the King, Louis 
xvi, then only twenty-three years old, and his Queen, Marie 
Antoinette, were for peace, and the ministry hesitated. The 
correspondence of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, with her 
daughter, Marie Antoinette, and with Merey, the Austrian min- 
ister at the French court, has been published. In this Marie 
Antoinette alludes to the force under Rochambeau to be sent to 
America. She does not allude to the American war itself, nor 
to the envoys until March, 1778, when she says: "The King 
has directed that the king of England shall be told that he has 
made a treaty with the Americans. My Lord Stormont receives 
on Sunday the orders of his court to leave France. It seems as 
if our marine, about which much has been done for a long time, 
will soon be in action. God grant that all these movements may 
not bring on war on the land." 

The news that General Burgoyne had surrendered at Sara- 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778. 33 

toga in October, reached France on December 4, 1777, some 
days after negotiations were opened between the French minis- 
ters and the American commissioners, looking toward a com- 
mercial treaty between the two nations, and also a treaty of alli- 
ance. Mightily did this victory weigh in favor of the Ameri- 
cans at the French court, Unaided by any foreign power, the 
Americans had defeated and captured a well-trained army of six 
thousand men, led by experienced commanders. King Louis 
then cast off all disguise, and informed the American commis- 
sioners that the treaty of alliance and commerce already nego- 
tiated would be ratified, and that it was decided to acknowledge 
the independence of the United States. The king had in the 
meantime written to his uncle, the king of Spain, urging his 
co-operation. By a family understanding of the Bourbons, the 
king of Spain was to be consulted before such a treaty could be 
ratified. The treaty of alliance with France was signed at Paris, 
on the sixth of February, 1778. Although the French king as- 
sured the commissioners that no advantage would be taken of 
the situation of the Colonies, yet some of the terms acceded to 
by the commissioners were considered hard. The much talked 
of French Claims originated in depredations on American com- 
merce by the French under pretext of retaliating against the 
States some infractions of this treaty. 

It is possible that the United States might finally have won 
their independence if assistance from France had not been 
obtained, but those who have studied the situation with the 
greatest care are not of this opinion. The Colonies were in a 
great strait. The lives of the leading patriots were at stake 
upon the success of the struggle ; and the commissioners were 
ready to bid high for assistance, if our promises were accepted 
as an equivalent. What was asked of France would cost her 
much treasure, directly, and an inevitable war with England. 
On the other hand the most objectionable feature of the treaty, 
to the Americans, was the provision obliging them to allow 
French privateers to shelter themselves in our ports, secure their 
outfits there, and be protected in so doing. To perform to the 
letter this obligation in the treaty might involve the Colonies in. 
war with all the enemies of France. 

As the guaranties of our independence by France were of 
3 



34 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

no present worth, in 1792, our people chose to forget that fifteen 
years before they had been of vital value. This national feel- 
ing found vent in the proclamation of neutrality issued by Pres- 
ident Washington in April, 1793. By it he viitually asserted 
that we should treat France in precisely the same manner that 
we should Great Britain, with whom, at the time, we had no 
treaty. 

It is not necessary to go into the history of our claims on 
France for the seizure of American merchant vessels. After 
protracted negotiations, in 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte, then First 
Consul of France, consented that, if our government would as- 
sume this debt to the American merchants, France would ab- 
solve it from its troublesome obligations in the treaty of 1778, 
and this was readily consented to. Between 1793 and 1800, 
eight hundred and ninety-eight vessels owned or chartered by 
American merchants, were seized; some were released, but most 
of them were never accounted for. As soon as the treaty with 
Bonaparte was ratified by the American Senate, claimants began 
to file their petitions and they and their heirs have gone on so do- 
ing from that time to the present. Forty-three times have the 
French spoliation claims been considered by Congress ; forty- 
one favorable bills have been reported, but a veto or a failure to 
pass more than one house has prevented the claimants from re- 
ceiving their just dues. Twice bills granting relief have passed 
both Senate and House, and have been vetoed the first by 
President Polk, and the second by President Pierce. Of course 
none of the original claimants are now living. 

But to return to the treaty. From the letters which were saved, 
we learn that the commissioners had great difficulty in transmit- 
ting their dispatches to Congress. There were great numbers 
of English war-vessels in the Bay of Biscay, watching the move- 
ments of the French and American ships. All letters and dis- 
patches were in great danger of being intercepted, and nearly 
all that had been sent home by the commissioners were indeed lost. 
In some instances where they were intrusted to a special messenger 
they were abstracted from the packets and blank sheets substituted 
before he started. Probably English bribes effected this. Com- 
missioner Lee's secretary was suspected, and n\ially removed, 
but nothing was substantiated against him. 



THE FKENCH TREATY OF 1778. 35 

A letter from the committee of foreign affairs to the commis- 
sioners at Paris, dated at York, Pa., where Congress was in ses- 
sion, 24th of March, 1778, says : 

Yesterday a private letter from Dr. Franklin, dated October 6, was 
presented, containing the only political intelligence which Folger brought 
safe with him, viz. : " Our affairs, so far as relates to this country, are 
every day more promising." This, with a letter from Mr. Barnabas 
Deane (brother to Silas, from Connecticut), who tells us that his brother 
was sending an important packet to Congress, is all the explanation we 
have of the nature of your dispatches, of which we have been robbed. 
I inclose a list by which you will see the break in our correspondence. 

A letter from the committee of foreign affairs, dated York, 
March 2, 1778, to William Bingham, says, they have received no in- 
telligence from the commissioners since May of last year. They 
state that their dispatches had been " lost at sea and others tam- 
pered with in Europe before the bearer, Captain John Folger, 
embarked with them for America." The presence of the English 
ships hovering about the western coast of France, threatened a 
collision any day, between them and French vessels, thereby 
precipitating the war that all felt was inevitable. There was 
also a strong desire to keep the existence of the treaties secret 
from England to as late a date as possible, in order not to pre- 
cipitate a war. 

The Boston Weekly Advertiser of May 7, 1778, says : 

Friday arrived at Portsmouth the Continental frigate "Deane," Sam- 
uel Nicholson, Esq. , commander, in sixty- three days from France, laden 
with clothing for the army; two other ships came out with her on the 
continental service; all under the convoy of three 74's, two 64's, and 
three frigates, who had orders from the French court to attend them un- 
til they were clear of the Bay of Biscay. 

A letter from Passy, where Franklin resided, near Paris, dated 
February 8, 1778, signed by Franklin and Deane, and directed 
to the " President of Congress," says, " You will soon have the 
whole treaty with France by a safer conveyance, a frigate being 
appointed to carry our dispatches." 

Oh February 16, they say, " These treaties continue a secret 
here, and may do so till the commencement of the war, which is 
daily expected. Our little fleet formerly mentioned, which has 
been long watched and detained in Nantes river, by the English 
cruising off Belleisle, is now on the point of sailing, under the 



36 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

convoy of a French squadron. As the English are pretty strong 
in the Bay of Biscay, it is probable that their attack and the 
French defence of our ships, may be the prelude to a declaration 
on both sides." 

There is a letter from Dr. Franklin to Thomas Gushing, a 
member of the Continental Congress from Massachusetts, dated 
at Passy, 21st of February, 1778. He speaks of the two treaties 
with France, and closes with this announcement. "The treaties 
are forwarded by this conveyance." " We have now taken from 
King Louis xvi," says Franklin, "the delivery of the treaties, 
which make him our ally, and which were our national salvation, 
but the frigate bearing them must run the gauntlet of the British 
fleet in the Bay of Biscay. The British admiral does not know 
of the existence of the treaties if he did it would be impossi- 
ble for the frigate to pass with them." Their existence was not 
even known in France. 

Let us now look at the situation of the straggling Colonists on 
this side of the water. General Washington, in July, 1777, had 
received a powerful recruit, in the person of the Marquis Lafay- 
ette, who had been commissioned a Major General by the Con- 
gress. Within forty days he was wounded while fighting at the 
head of his corps on the bank of the Brandywine. A bullet 
passed through his leg, and he was conveyed to Bethlehem, Pa., 
where he was nursed by the Moravian sisters. Washington lost 
the battle of Brandywine and twelve hundred men, on the llth 
of September, 1777. Congress withdrew from Philadelphia to 
Lancaster, and then to York, Pa., where it continued in session 
until the following summer. The Americans lost the two forts, 
" Mifflin " and " Mercer," a few miles below Philadelphia, and 
the British army sat down in Philadelphia for the winter. 
They also lost a fight at Hubbardston, Vt., and their stores at 
Shenesbo rough. Disaster followed disaster in quick succession. 
Within a week, the Americans had lost almost two hundred 
pieces of cannon, and a large amount of military stores. 

On the 17th of October, 1777, Burgoyne surrendered to -the 
patriots at Saratoga. Glorious indeed was this victory. We 
have seen that the news of it confirmed the French king in his 
desire to assist the Colonies, but neither Congress nor General 
Washington knew of its good influence at Versailles when he 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778. 37 

was compelled by the snows of early winter, to lead his scantily 
fed and more scantily clothed army into rude huts at Valley 
Forge. After the close of the war, General Washington testi- 
fied that bloody foot-prints were everywhere visible in the track 
of their march of nineteen miles, from Whitemarsh to Valley 
Forge. There they starved and shivered, while the British army 
were comfortably quartered and well fed in Philadelphia. I have 
myself, in my boyhood, listened to the sad story of the sufferings 
at Valley Forge, from men from my native town, who participa- 
ted in them ; one of whom said that he had the only pair of 
shoes in his company. This was the situation of Washington 
and his army while the frigate bearing the treaties was crossing 
the Atlantic. It had been nearly a year since any intelligence 
had been received from the commissioners in France. 

Mr. Joseph Oilman was chairman of the New Hampshire com- 
mittee of safety, a body which had charge of the supplies for the 
state troops. Samuel Adams, afterward governor of Massachu- 
setts, went to Exeter to visit Mr. Oilman, to consult as to ways 
and means to raise supplies for the naked and starving soldiers. 
Mr. Oilman happened to be away from home, and his wife 
attempted to engage Mr. Adams in conversation, but his down- 
cast looks arid abstracted manner caused her to desist. The 
visitor, too uneasy to sit quietly in his chair, walked rapidly up 
and down the room, and uttering a deep groan, while wringing 
his hands, and with tears rolling down his cheeks, he exclaimed 
almost in agony, " O my God, must we give it up ! " 

This was the feeling of the men whose business it was to fur- 
nish food and clothing for the army, when the good news arrived 
from France that our independence was acknowledged, and that 
men, money and supplies were on the way. 

Years ago Robert Browning wrote the poem " How they 
brought the good news from Ghent to Aix." The first reading 
of th'e poem causes the illusion that the reader is in the saddle, 
upon a foaming horse at full gallop. The literary world won- 
dered what was the good news which alone could save Aix from 
her fate. The annals of the French department of the lower 
Alps, in which is situated the ancient city which was the objec- 
tive point of the three horsemen of the poem, were searched. 
The effort was fruitless, and Browning was appealed to, when he 



38 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

stated that the poem had DO ground either in fact or tradition, 
but was inspired while > he was lying in the shadow of a sail, on 
board a yacht in the Mediterranean, by an intense yearning for 
a horseback gallop at home in England. 

There was good news and a treaty brought from Ghent to the 
United States in 1778, which was no myth. It was from France 
that the good news came to the struggling Colonies, in these 
darkest days of the Revolution, that their independence had 
been acknowledged by the king of France, and that he had en- 
gaged his government to send men and money which would 
enable them to drive back the invader, and to take a place among 
the nations of the earth and how bravely did they do it. 

From the Boston Gnzette and Continental Journal of April 
20, 1778, I take the following : 

Soon after the court of France dispatched Mr. Simeon Deane in the 
frigate " Bellepoule," of thirty-six guns, in the most private manner, 
with the preliminaries of a treaty with the United States, but the frig- 
ate meeting with violent contrary winds, and springing her foremast, 
was obliged, after being out six weeks, to put back to Brest, from 
whence Mr. Deane immediately repaired to the court of Versailles, and 
received orders for another frigate, which left Brest March 8. 

On the morning of Monday, the thirteenth, of April, 1778, 
what were left of the people of the fire-scathed town of Fal- 
mouth saw off Cape Elizabeth a large ship approaching the har- 
bor, under a press of sail. As she came nearer she was made 
out to be a ship of war. Fears of the dreaded Mowatt came 
over them ; but she was seen with a glass to be a frigate with a 
white flag the flag of France under the Bourbons, flying 
from her mizzen peak. When the ship's nationality was made 
out all fears subsided, and strong arms rowed a pilot off to the 
ship, and brought her in amid snlutes from the forts. 

This arrival is thus explained in the private journal of Wil- 
liam Moody of Falmouth, who was then doing duty as a private 
soldier at one of the forts : 

April 13, 1778. About twelve o'clock a French frigate arrived from 
France with dispatches for the Congress, bringing the news that France 
had acknowledged American independence. 14th, the forts saluted the 
French frigate, and she returned it; also three other armed vessels. 



THE FKENCH TREATY OF 1778. 39 

The Boston Gazette of April 20 has the following: 

The following articles of intelligence up to the eighth of March were 
received by the frigate "La Sensible," of thirty-six guns (belonging to 
his most Christian majesty), commanded by the Chevalier Marigny, who 
arrived at Falmouth, Casco bay, on Monday last, in thirty-five days, 
from France, with dispatches for Congress, and came to hand last even- 
ing. On her passage the frigate saw five or six ships at different times, 
appearing to be British. Mr. Deane is happy to take this first public 
opportunity to acknowledge the zeal, politeness and dispatch with 
which the Chevalier Marigny has finally accomplished his important 
mission, and hopes that he may return safe to receive the reward due to 
so worthy an officer; and at the same time most sincerely congratulates 
his countrymen at this great and most happy event. It is said that a 
frigate is dispatched from Spain with duplicates of the forenamed 
treaty. 

In a postscript to the Boston Gazette of Monday, May 18, 1778, 
it is said : "A person who arrived yesterday, in nine days from 
Philadelphia, has favored us with the Pennsylvania Gazette of 
the ninth instant, and also with the following handbill: ' York- 
town, Pa., May 6, 1778. On Saturday last Simeon Deane, Esq., 
arrived at Congress express from the American plenipotentiaries 
at the court of France, and delivered his dispatches to his honor 
the President,' " and then follows the account of the arrival of 
the frigate. 

From a letter received from Mr. Spofford, librarian of Con- 
gress, in January last, I make the following extract, showing 
who Simeon Deane, the messenger from the commissioners, was. 
He says : "As Silas Deane and C. A. Gerard, the first French 
minister, arrived in this country the same year (1778), it might 
seem at first glance that the mention of Simeon Deane by Wash- 
ington is a mistake for Silas Deane it was Simeon, a brother 
of Silas. c Writings of Washington,' volume 5, page 355, he 
says, ' By a line from Bethlehem, Mr. Simeon Deane had in- 
formed me that he is the bearer of the articles of alliance be- 
tween France and the states.' Congress had the treaty before 
it on May 4, and it is printed in full in the * Secret Journals of 
Congress,' volume 2, page 57. At Valley Forge, Washington 
already knew of the treaty on the third of May, and he so states 
in a letter to the president of Congress, and expresses a desire to 
have the event appropriately celebrated by the army as soon as 



40 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

permission would be given. The general order for celebrating 
the event, was issued by General Washington on May 7." 

By General Washington's letter we learn that Simeon Deane 
first went to Bethlehem, whence he wrote to the General. Deane 
probably had dispatches for General Lafayette, who was staying 
with the Moravian community at Bethlehem, eighty miles north 
of Philadelphia, for the gunshot wound in his leg to heal. 

On the seventh of May, the army at Valley Forge fired salutes, 
and by order of the general-in-chief they all shouted " Huzza 
for the King of France." 

The Boston Gazette of May 11 says: " On Tuesday last, ar- 
rived in this port from Currona, in Spain, a French frigate of 
forty guns, with very important dispatches for Congress, which 
were immediately sent by express to that august body." These 
dispatches were the duplicates of the treaties mentioned by 
Deane to be sent from Spain. 

William Moody, to whom we are indebted for all we know of 
the Chevalier Marigny and his ship while at Falmouth, was then 
but twenty-two years old, and yet he was an observing and care- 
ful journalist. He was a soldier in Captain Bradish's company, 
which left Falmouth for Cambridge on the eighth of July, 1775, 
twenty-one days after the battle of Bunker Hill. He served out 
his term of enlistment at Cambridge, and returned home, where 
he re-enlisted for garrison duty on which he was engaged when 
the French frigate arrived. After the ship had been in port five 
days Moody mentions her departure in these words : 

" Saturday, April 18, 1778. The French frigate " La Sensible," 
Captain Kenard D. Marigny, sailed for France with a fair wind." 

It should be kept in mind that at the time of the chip's arrival 
at Falmouth, no dispatches nor private letters had been received 
from the American commissioners at Paris for almost a year. It 
is no cause for wonderment that the forts saluted her, as did 
three other armed vessels in the harbor. 

Although no historian has mentioned it, the coming in safety 
to Falmouth of this ship was the most important arrival in 
America since that of the "Mayflower," and no arrival since has 
equalled it in result. For this French ship brought documents 
of the most momentous significance to a suffering and almost 
discouraged people formal copies of the treaties that had been 



THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1778. 41 

entered into after long and anxious negotiations nappy results 
of the first efforts of the new states to attract attention abroad 
treaties ratified, not with an obscure and infant nation like them- 
selves, but with one of the most powerful sovereigns of Europe, 
able and willing to rescue the struggling states from the op- 
pressor, and to save their leading men from an ignominious 
death, or perpetual exile. 

Three times had these treaties been borne in safety past the 
British fleet ; twice by the French frigate u Bellepoule," which 
from stress of weather became disabled, and was compelled to 
return through the same perils to Brest ; and thirdly, by the 
"La Sensible," which made the passage in thirty-five days, al- 
though we have seen that a month later it was considered neces- 
sary to send five ships of the line and three frigates to guard 
the American frigate u Deane " and two other ships, laden with 
army supplies and clothing, bound to Portsmouth, K". H. These 
ships had orders to attend them until they were clear of the 
Bay of Biscay ; this shows the strength and vigilance of the 
British naval police at the time on the coast of France. The 
existence of the treaty of alliance had now become known to 
England. 

With what joy and gratitude must the Chevalier Marigny and 
Mr. Deane, with their charge, have entered within the headlands 
of Casco bay. True, when entering the harbor, the prospect 
was not cheering. Of what two years before was the most com- 
pact part of the town of Falmouth, nothing remained but black- 
ened chimneys and half -burnt wharves; but their dangerous 
voyage was ended, and the ship was in a safe and fortified harbor. 

Undoubtedly the harbor of Falmouth was chosen for its safety 
and ease of access, as well as for the facilities it afforded for 
watching the ships of the enemy. This port was probably desig- 
nated before the frigate left Brest. 

Mr. Deane, the bearer of dispatches, must on account of the 
state of the roads have now assumed the character of a horse- 
back messenger, as described by Browning. True, no horse had 
yet broken down, as the poem relates, but a frigate had, which 
maintains the similarity. The newspaper does not mention the 
hour of Mr. Deane's arrival in Boston, but says he left there on 
Tuesday for Congress, the day after the ship's arrival at Fal- 



42 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

mouth. Although Mr. Deane made such good time between 
Fal mouth and Boston, he did not deliver the treaties to Con- 
gress until the fourth of May, three weeks after the arrival of 
the ship. The poem probably as well describes Mr. Deane's ride 
from Falmouth to Boston as it does that of the horseman from 
Ghent. 

I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight, 
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right, 
Rebuckled the check-strap, chained slacker the bit, 
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit. 

And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight 
Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate, 
With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim, 
And with circles of red for his eye-sockets' rim. 

Then I cast loose my buff coat, each holster let fall, 

Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all, 

Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear, 

Called my Roland his pet name, my horse without peer, 

Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good, 

Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood. 

And all I remember is, friends flocking round 

As I sate with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground; 

And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine, 

As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine, 

Which (the burgesses voted by common consent) 

Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent. 

The first movement of the French government, in compliance 
with the requirements of the treaty of alliance, was to dispatch 
a fleet of twelve ships of the line and four frigates, under Count 
D'Estaing, to blockade the British fleet in the Delaware. He 
arrived there in July, but Howe had fled into shoal water for 
eafety. After D'Estaing came Rochambeau and six thousand 
French troops, and with them a crowd of French officers of no- 
ble birth. It seems an anomaly for these officers of noble blood 
to have come to America, at the bidding of royalty, to aid 
democracy. Rochambeau sailed from Brest on the thirteenth 
of April, the same day that Marigny arrived at Falmouth with 
the treaties. If he had not been over-ruled, Rochambeau would 
also have landed in Maine. On his way he wanted to call at 
Castine and drive out the English. If he had, the French would 



THE FKENCH TREATY OF 1778. 43 

have again ruled at old Pentagoet. To avoid raising the ques- 
tion of rank, Washington had been made a lieutenant general of 
France. He thus took rank as commander-in-chief of the allied 
armies. The moral effect of the French alliance was more val- 
uable to the United States than all the armed assistance. The 
Dutch Republic declared for the alliance ; Frederick the Great 
was called to account by Great Britain for favoring it, when he 
said, "Since the English wish for war with all the world they 
shall have it." But Yorktown settled the question of the new 
nation in America. 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 45 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, December /, 1883. 

BY KEY. HENRY S. BURRAGE, D.D. 

IT is an interesting fact that the first Baptist Church in 
Charleston, South Carolina, the oldest of all the Baptist 
churches in the Southern States, was organized in the latter 
part of the seventeenth century at Kittery, in what was then 
known as the Province of Maine, now the State of Maine. The 
first information we have concerning the presence of Baptists at 
Kittery is contained in a letter which Humphrey Churchwood, a 
member of the Baptist church in Boston, but a resident of Kit- 
tery, addressed to his brethren of Massachusetts Bay, January 3, 
1682. The letter reads as follows : 

Humphrey, a servant of Jesus Christ to the church which is at Bos- 
ton: grace be with you, and peace, from God, even the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts, 
who comforteth us in all our tribulations that we may be able to comfort 
them that are in any trouble, as we are comforted of God. Most dearly 
beloved brethren and friends, as I am, through free grace, a member of 
the same body, and joined to the same head, Christ Jesus, I thought it 
my special duty to inform you that the tender mercy of God, in and 
through Jesus Christ, hath shined upon us by giving light to them that 
sit in darkness, and to guide our feet in the way of peace ; for a great 
door, and effectual, is opened in these parts, and there are many adver- 
saries, according to the 1st of Corinthians, 16: 9. Therefore, dearly be- 
loved, having a desire to the service of Christ, which is perfect freedom, 
and the propagating his glorious gospel of peace and salvation, and eye- 
ing that precious promise in Daniel the 12th, 3rd, " They that turn 
many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever," therefore I sig- 
nify unto you that here [are] a competent number of well established 
people whose hearts the Lord hath opened insomuch that they have 
gladly received the word and do seriously profess their hearty desire to 
the following of Christ and to partake of all his holy ordinances, accord- 
ing to his blessed institutions and divine appointment; therefore I pre- 
sent my ardent desire to your serious consideration, which is, if the Lord 
see it fit, to have a gospel church planted herein this place; and in order 
hereunto, we think it meet that our beloved brother, William Screven, 



46 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



who is, through free grace, gifted and endued with the spirit of veter- 
ans to preach the gospel [be ordained] ; who, being called by us, who are 
visibly joined to the church.* When our beloved brother is ordained 
according to the sacred rule of the Lord Jesus our humble petition is to 
to God that he will be pleased to carry on this good work to the glory of 
his holy name, and to the enlarging of the kingdom of his beloved Son, 
our dear Redeemer, who will add daily to his church such as shall be 
saved ; and we desire you in the name of our Lord Jesus not to be slack 
in this good work, believing verily that you will not, and that you are 
always abounding in the work of the Lord, and we humbly crave your 
petitions for us to the throne of grace, and we commend you to God and 
the good word of his graoe, which is able to build you up and to give 
you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. 

Concerning the previous history of Mr. Screven (to whom 
allusion is here made, and who was probably the bearer of this 
letter) but little is known. It is inferred, for reasons that will 
be given subsequently, that he came from Somerton, in Somer- 
setshire, England. After his settlement at lottery he is first 
mentioned in a deed by which, November 15, 1673, Elizabeth 
Seely granted ten acres of land on the west side of Spruce 
Creek, Kittery, at what was known as Carle's Point, to William 
Screven, for eleven pounds "current pay of New England."f He 
is next mentioned in the record of his marriage, July 3, 1674, to 
Bridget Cutts, a daughter of Robert Cutts, one of the three 
brothers so prominent among the early settlers of New Hamp- 
shire. John, the oldest, was the first president of New Hamp- 
shire ; Kobert, the youngest, settled at Barbadoes, in the West 
Indies, where he married, as his second wife, Mary Hoel. Sub- 
sequently he came to New England, and first lived in Ports- 
mouth, in the Great House (so-called) at the foot of Pitt street. 
Afterward he removed to Kittery, where he was extensively 
engaged in ship-building. He had two sons and four daughters. 
It was the second of these daughters, Bridget Cutts, whom Wil- 
liam Screvtn married. 
From, the records of the Province of M.iine $ we learn that at 

*I have followed the copy of this letter which is found in the reprint of Backus' His- 
tory of the Baptists of New England (1871), Vol. 1, p. 401. 

t York Deeds, Book IV, Folio 41. 

$ By a resolution adoptei in the Maine House of Representatives March 3, 1848, and in 
the Senate on the same date, the Governor and Council were "authorized to employ a 
suitable person to transcribe the Early Records of the Province of Maine, now in the 
keeping of the clerk of the Judicial Courts of the County of York, to be deposited in 
the office of the Secretary of State." March 13, 1848, Ch \rles Bradbury of Kennebunk- 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 47 

a County Court held at York, July 6, 1675, among several "pre- 
sentments " by the Grand Jury was the following : 

We pres ent William Scri vine for not frequenting the publique meet- 
ing according to Law on the Lord's days. Early Records, Yol. 3, p. 296. 

This person presented is remitted because p evidence it appears that 
bee usually attends Mr. Mowdys meeting on the Lord's days. Early 
Records, Yol. 3, p. 315. 

At a Court held at Wells, July 4, 1676, Mr. Screven was ap- 
pointed a constable for " ye lower part of the River." In 1678 
and in 1680, he was appointed to serve on the grand jury, and 
at the Genera] Assembly held at York, June 30, 1681, he took 
his seat as a deputy from Kittery. 

It is evident from these records, as well as from Churchwood's 
letter, that in his religious views Mr. Screven was not in har- 
mony with the " Standing Order." He was nevertheless es- 
teemed as a citizen, and was rapidly advanced to positions of 
official trust. 

Churchwood's letter shows that at the time to which it refers 
there were Baptists enough in Kittery in part doubtless as a 
result of Mr. Screven's labors to warrant the formation of a 
Baptist church. The nearest church of the same faith was that 
iu Boston, to which this letter was addressed, and which was or- 
ganized in March, 1665, sixteen years before. Churchwood's 
letter evidently secured for Mr. Screven a hearty welcome from 
the church in Boston, and he was admitted to membership in the 
church. After hearing him preach they at once acceded to the 
request of the brethren in Kittery, and gave to the newly or- 
dained the following certificate, dated January 11, 1682 : -j- 

To all whom it may concern : These are to certify, that our beloved 
brother, William Screven, is a member in communion with us, and hav- 
ing had trial of his gifts among us, and finding him to be a man whom 
God hath qualified and furnished with the gifts of his Holy Spirit, and 
grace, enabling him to open and apply the word of God, which through 
the blessing of the Lord Jesus may be useful in his hand, for the beget- 
ting and building up of souls in the knowledge of God, do therefore ap- 
point, approve and encourage him, to exercise his gift in the place where 

port was appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, to 
make this transcription. The work was completed in four volumes, and deposited in 
the office of the Secretary of State, with this title: "Transcript of the Early Records of 
the Province of Maine." A manuscript copy of this " Transcript " was made a few 
years ago for James P. Baxter, Esq., of Portland, and the references in this article to 
these " Early Records " are to Mr. Baxter's copy. 



48 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

he lives, or elsewhere, as the providence of God may cast him; and so 
the Lord help him to eye his glory in all things, and to walk humbly in 
the fear of his name. 

This certificate was signed in behalf of the rest by Isaac Hull,* 
pastor of the church, and John Farnum. 

Meanwhile this movement to establish a Baptist church in 
Kittery became known there, and awakened probably not unex- 
pected opposition. Under date of January 25, 1682, Mr. Church- 
wood addressed another letter to his brethren in Boston, in which 
he says : 

I thought good to inform you that since our beloved brother Screven 
went from us, who, I trust is by God's mercy now with you, by his long 
absence from us, has given great advantage to our adversaries to triumph 
and to endeavor to beat down that good beginning which God, by his 
poor instrument hath begun amongst us : and our magistrate, Mr. Hucke,t 
is almost every day summoning and threatening the people by fines and 
other penalties, if ever they come to our meeting any more, five shillings 
for every such offence.J 

He adds that he also, on the previous day, was brought before 
the magistrate who demanded of him how he spent his time. In 
the presence of the magistrate, also, he had a long discussion 
with Mr. Woodbridge, the parish minister, concerning infant 
baptism, etc. Mr. Screven in a short time, possibly after a visit 

* Isaac Hull was the second pastor of the church. 

t Francis Hooke of Kittery, Judge of Probate Court from 1693 to 1695. 

t The original of this letrer is in the possession of the writer of this article. 

Greenleaf , in his Sketches of the Ecclesiastical History of the State of Maine, p. 29, 
note, says: " Mr. Backus in relating the account of an ancient Baptist church at Kiuery 
mentions a Mr. Woodbridge as Priest of the place. This was in 1680. But we have no 
other account of this mm." In the appendix ti Rev. Dr. Charles A. Briggs' " American 
Presbyte nanism," p. I., I find the following: " Benjamin Woodbridge was son of John 
Woodbridge, pastor of Andover, Mass.; brother of Jo hn Woodbridge, pastor of Weth. 
ersfleld, Conn., and of Timothy Woodbridge, pastor of Hartford, Conn. He was pastor 
at Windsor, Conn., from 1668-1680, of a party who were dissatisfied with Mr. Chauncy, 
who had been called by the majority of the church. They were both dismissed by order 
of the court. The two pastors then united ia one church. He is probably the Mr. Wood- 
bridge mentioned in a letter of Joshua Moody from Portsmouth, N. H., in 1683. It is 
probable that he supplied that church during the troubles of its pastor with the arbitrary 
authorities. He supplied the church at Bristol from 1684-1686, but the people would not 
unite upon him. (Collections of the M-iss. Hist. S'>c. IV., Vol. 8, pp. 463, 651-655; Contri- 
butions to the Ecclesiastical History of Connecticut, New Haven, 1831, p. 513). He was 
again supply at Portsmouth, X H., in 1690," and Dr. Briggs inserts a letter from Mr. 
Woodbridge to some English Bishop written at Portsmouth, April 2, in that year. 
This letter was discovered by Dr. Briggs in the summer of 1884, in the Rolls Office, London. 






REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 49 

to Mr. Miles,* the pastor of the Baptist church in Swansea, re- 
turned to Kittery, and entered upon the work to which he had 
been set apart by his brethren. The opposition, which during 
his absence had been manifested toward his associates, was now 
transferred to hira s and from an entry without date in the Rec- 
ords of the Province (vol. 4, p. 254) it appears that he was sum- 
moned in a short time to appear before the provincial authorities. 
The record is as follows : 

William Screven, upon rumors and reports from a common fame of 
some presumptuous, if not blasphemous speeches about the holy ordi- 
nance of baptism which should pass from him. Whereof being in- 
formed we sent for said Screven by a sp ecial warrant to York, where, 
upon examination, he did not absolutely deny his charge, but after it 
was proved he seemed to own and justify the matter of his speeches. 
In his second charge, though he positively denied the first about his 
child, for infant baptism he said was an ordinance of the devil, as the 
testimonies declare, he replied that he conceived it no ordinance of God, 
but an invention of man. What was it ? and put us to prove by any 
positive command in the Gospel, or Scriptures, that there was infant 
baptism, and according to our understandings he endeavored to make 
good the matter of his words, and to put the manner of them into a 
smoother dress, mincing the matter as Edw. Rishworthf told him; 
whose reply was, that mincing was to put it in better terms than it de- 
served, charging Mr. Hooke with prejudice, who brought him thither, 
and desired not to be judged by him. 

After some further discourse we required said Screven to give secu- 
rity sufficient to the treasurer of the Province of a bond of one hundred 
pounds to answer his charge at the next Court of Pleas holden for this 
Province, or we must make him his mittimus, and send him to the jail; 
which said Screven refusing, accordingly was done. 

How long he remained in jail we are not informed. April 12, 

* Churchwood, in the above letter, says Mr. Hooke referred to Mr. Miles in this way : 
" Behold your great Doctor, Mr. Miles of Swanzey, for he now leaves his profession and 
is come away, and will not teach his people any more, because he is likely to perish for 
want; and his gathered church and people will not help him." Churchwood replied that 
this " was a great untruth," and he was right. Rev. John Miles in 1667, by the Act of 
Uniformity, was ejected from the living of Ilston, in Wales. Like other Baptists under 
the Protectorate, he officiated as a preacher in one of the state churches, although he was 
pastor of a Baptist church. Backus speaks of him as " father of the Baptist churches in 
Wales, which began in 1649." He and his Baptist friends, bringing with them their 
church records, came to Massachusetts in 1663 and located at a place to which they gave 
the name of their old home in Wales. Miles was made pastor of the church, and there 
he remained until his death in 1683. He was distinguished for his learning and piety, and 
Backus writing in 1777, nearly a century after his death, says, ' His memory is still pre- 
cious among us." 

t Concerning Rishworth, see York Deeds, Book I, pp. 9-11. 

4 



50 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

1682, he was brought before the Court at York, and the exami- 
nation resulted as follows : 

This Court having considered the offensive speeches of William Scre- 
ven, by his rash, inconsiderate words tending to blasphemy, do adjudge 
the delinquent for his offence to pay ten pounds into the treasury of the 
county or province. And further, the Court doth further discharge the 
said Screven under any pretence to keep any private exercise at his own 
house or elsewhere, upon the Lord's days, either in Kittery or any other 
place within the limits of this province, and is for the future enjoined 
to observe the public worship of God in our public assemblies upon the 
Lord's days according to the laws here established in this Province, 
upon such penalties as the law requires upon his neglect of the prem- 
ises. Early Records, Vol. 4, p. 261. 

Mr. Screven seems to have paid no heed to this order, and his 
case was brought before a general assembly of the Province held 
at York, June 28, 1682. The record of the action taken is as 
follows : 

William Screven, appearing before this Court and being before con- 
victed of the contempt of his Majesty's authority, by refusing to submit 
himself to the sentence of the former Court prohibiting his public 
exercises, referring to some irreligious speeches uttered by him, and 
upon examination before this Court declaring his resolution still to per- 
sist in the same course, the Court tendered him liberty to return home 
to his family, in case he would forbear such kind of disorderly and tur- 
bulent practices, and amend for the future. But he refusing, the Court 
required him to give bond for his good behavior, and to forbear such 
contemptuous behavior for the future, and ordered that the delinquent 
should stand committed until the judgment of this Court herein be ful- 
filled. After which said Screven coming into the Court, did, in the 
presence of the said Court, and president, promise and engage to depart 
out of this Province within a very short time. Early Records, Yol. 4, 
p. 23. 

It is evident from these words that Screven and his associates 
had now come to the conclusion that if at Kittery they could 
not have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of 
their consciences, they must seek that freedom elsewhere. But, 
as yet, they had no church organization, and it was evidently 
deemed desirable that such an organization should be effected 
before their departure, and while they could have the assistance 
of the Boston brethren. Accordingly, September 13, 1682, Mr. 
Screven sent a letter to the Baptist church in Boston, request- 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 51 

ing the church to send its pastor and delegates to aid in the or- 
ganization of a church. In this letter he said : 

To Thomas Skinner, Boston, for the church: Dearly beloved brethren 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of saints. I and my wife salute you 
with our Christian love in our Lord Jesus, hoping through grace these 
few lines will find you in health of body and mind. Blessed be God for 
Jesus Christ, in whom he is pleased to account his saints meet to be 
partakers of the blessed rest provided for them in his mansion-house 
eternally in the heavens. That will be a happy day when all the saints 
shall join together in sounding of his praise. The good Lord enable us 
to prepare for that blessed day. To that end, brethren, let us pray, 
every one himself, for himself, and for one another, that God would 
please to search our hearts and reins, so as that we may walk with God 
here, and hereafter dwell with him in glory. 

He then refers to the fact that his mother-in-law had become 
a Baptist, and expresses the desire that the pastor of the church 
in Boston, with other delegates, should visit Kittery, and assist 
in the organization of a church. 

To this request the church acceded, and its pastor, Rev. Isaac 
Hull, accompanied probably by other members of the church, 
soon made his way to Kittery. There, Sept. 25, 1682, with what 
services we are not told, a covenant was entered into and signed 
by William Screven, Elder ; Humphrey Churchwood, Deacon ; 
Robert Williams, John Morgandy,* Richard Cutts, Timothy 
Davis, Leonard Drown, Wm. Adams, Humphrey Axell, George 
Litten, and several women. 

It has been supposed that Mr. Screven and his associates left 
Kittery not long after the organization of the church. Time, 
however, would be required for the consideration of a desirable 
location, as well as for the disposal of property, and for provid- 
ing means of transportation when the matter of location had 
been settled. It is certain from the Court Records that Mr. 
Screven and his " Baptist Company " were at Kittery as late as 
Oct. 9, 1683, for under that date, in the record of a court held at 
Wells, occurs this entry : 

Order about Will. Screven. William Screven being brought before 
this Court for not departing this Province according to a former confes- 
sion of Court, and his own choice, and denying now to fulfill it, this 

* I have here followed Backus, and possibly, perhaps probably, this should be Mor- 
gradge, or Morgradg, or Mogridge, or Muggridg, aa the name appears in the York Deeds. 



52 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Court doth declare that the sentence of the General Assembly bearing 
date the 28th of June, 1682, stands good and in full force against the 
said William Screven during the Court's pleasure. Early Records, Yol. 
4, p. 295. 

This order does not seem to have hastened the departure of 
Screven and his associates. At the Court held at Wells, May 
27, 1684, this action was taken. 

An order to be sent for William Screven to appear before the General 
Assembly in June next. Early Records, Yol. 4, p. 173. 

As no further citation for Mr. Screven appears in the Court 
Records, it is probable that he and his company .had made all 
their preparations for removal, and, before the time of the meet- 
ing of the General Assembly arrived, had left their homes on 
the Piscataqua for a new settlement, where they could enjoy 
undisturbed freedom to worship God in accordance with their 
religious convictions.* 

The place selected for the settlement was on Cooper river, 
not far from the present site of Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. 
Screven called the name of this settlement Somerlon. It is 
from this fact that an inference has been drawn with reference 
to Mr. Screven's home in England. Ivimy, in his History of 
the English Baptists, Vol. 2, p. 521, says that 'in 1655 Rev. Henry 
Jessey, a Baptist minister of London, was invited to visit his 
brethren in Bristol. Baptist principles he found had spread into 
many adjacent parts, and congregations in Wells, Cirencester, 
Somerton, Chard, Taunton, Honiton, Exeter, Dartmouth, Ply- 
mouth, Lyme, Weymouth and Dorchester were also visited. In 
the following year these churches asserted their union in a com- 
mon declaration of faith, entitled, "A Confession of Faith of 
several churches in the county of Somerset and in the counties 
near adjacent." The confession was signed by twenty-five per- 

* A William Screven still remained at Kittery. There are several references to him in 
the "York Deeds. 1 ' In Book V, Part I, Folio 75, William Screven is a witness to a doc- 
ument dated April 18, 1692. At a Court held at York, Oct.-6, 1691 (Book V, Part II, Folio 
12), William Screven, with two others, was appointed to view certain bounds. At a 
Court held at York, April 4, 1693 (Part II, Folio 18), William Screven, with Richard 
Cutts, was fined for non-appearance on jury. In the record of the Court held at York, 
July 4, 1693 (Part II, Folio 19), William Screven appears as foreman of the Grand Jury. 
As William Screven, who went to South Carolina, married Bridget Cutts July 23, 1674, I 
am inclined to believe that this William Sea-even was a son of the minister by a former 
wife. 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 53 

sons, ministers and laymen, in behalf of the whole, and among 
the signatures is that of William Screven of Somerton. This 
was in 1656. Mr. Screven, who established the colony at Som- 
erton, South Carolina, was at that time twenty-seven years of 
age. As his whole career in this country shows, he was a man 
of more than ordinary ability. We know of no reason, there- 
fore, why he may not have been the William Screven who signed 
the Confession of 1656, while the fact that he gave the name of 
Somerton to his settlement on Cooper river, in South Carolina, 
affords at least a plausible ground for such an identification. 

About the time Mr. Screven established his colony at Somer- 
ton, there came into the same neighborhood from the west of 
England, Joseph Blake, the friend and trustee of Lord Berkely, 
one of the Lords Proprietors, and with him a number of " sub- 
stantial persons." Mr. Blake's wife, and her mother, Lady 
Axtell, united with Mr. Screven's church; and Mr. Blake, 
although not a member of the church, entertained Baptist views. 
With six others, he was appointed to revise the Fundamental 
Constitutions prepared for the Lords Proprietors by the cele- 
brated John Locke, and he succeeded Governor Archdale in the 
government of the colony at the close of the year 1696. His 
position and influence greatly strengthened the Baptist cause in 
the colony. Widely known as a wise and honored magistrate, 
he died September 7, 1700. 

A number of colonists, also from the north of England, chief- 
ly Baptists, came to Carolina with Lord Cardross, not long after 
the arrival of Mr. Screven's company, and settled at Port Royal. 
The neighboring Indians, however, proved hostile, as did also 
the Spanish settlers at St. Augustine ; and they soon, certainly 
before 1686, made their way to the mouth of the Edisto river, 
where they located, and those who were Baptists attached them- 
selves to Mr. Screven's church, adding still further to its strength 
and influence. 

Charles-Town, as the settlement on the neck of land between 
Ashley and Cooper rivers was now called, began to attract colo- 
nists about ten years before Mr. Screven and his company estab- 
lished themselves at Somerton. Its facilities for commerce did 
not escape the attention of the new colonists ; and before the 
year 1693, the larger portion of the members of the church had 



54 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

removed from Somerton to the Neck. It became necessary, 
therefore, that the meetings of the church should be transferred 
thither also. At first the meetings were held in the house of 
William Chapman, in King street. In 1699, William Elliott, 
one of the members, gave the church the lot of land on Church 
street, on which the meeting-house of the First Baptist church 
in Charleston now stands, and a house of worship was erected 
on this lot, either in that or the following year. 

Mr. Screven was now more than seventy years of age, and, 
his health having declined, he asked to be relieved of the duties 
of his sacred office. His request was granted, and he addressed 
some words of affectionate counsel to the church, embodied in a 
treatise entitled, "An Ornament for Church Members." The 
manuscript was carefully preserved by the church, and published 
after Mr. Screven's death. No copy of this treatise, as far as I 
can learn, has come down to us. Morgan Edwards, who, a cen- 
tury ago journeyed from New Hampshire to Georgia, gathering 
" Materials Toward a History of the Baptists," had a copy in 
his possession, probably while in Charleston. A quotation 
which he made from the closing paragraph is as follows : 
"And now, for a close of all, my dear brethren and sisters 
(whom God hath made me, poor unworthy me, an instrument of 
gathering and settling in the faith and order of the gospel), my 
request is that you as speedily as possible supply yourselves 
with an able and faithful minister. Be sure you take care that 
the person be orthodox in the faith, and of blameless life, and 
does own the confession put forth by our brethren in London, 
in 1689." 

But Mr. Screven did not at this time wholly withdraw from 
ministerial service. Having received a grant of land, on which 
Georgetown now stands, he removed thither, and as opportunity 
offered and his strength permitted, he preached to the destitute 
around him. In 1706, the Baptist church in Boston, which had 
in vain endeavored to secure a pastor in England, turned to Mr. 
.Screven in its extremity, and earnestly entreated him to return 
to New England, and take the pastoral oversight of the church 
by which he was ordained. Although so far advanced in yearsj 
he was at first inclined to accede to this request ; but just at 
this time his successor in the pastorate in the church in Charles- 



REV. WILLIAM SCREVEN. 55 

ton died, and receiving a call from the church to return and 
resume his pastoral labors with them he felt that he could not 
decline, and he sent to the church in Boston, accordingly, the 
following letter, dated June 2, 1707 : 

Dearly beloved, this may inform you that I have many thoughts of 
heart about you, and am much concerned for you; and hope I may say, 
my prayers are to God for you. Though I am not with you, nor can I 
come as I was inclined to do, our help being taken from us : for our 
minister who came from England is dead, and I can by no means be 
spared. I must say it is a great loss, and to me a great disappointment, 
but the will of the Lord is done. I have longed to hear that you were 
supplied with an able minister, who might break the bread of life among 
you ; but if the Lord do not please to supply you in the way you ex- 
pected, your way will be to improve the gifts you have in the church. 
Brother Callender and Joseph Russell I know have gifts that may tend 
to edification, if improved. I think you should call one or both of 
them to it. 

The church in Boston acted upon this suggestion, and called 
Mr. Callender, to whom Mr. Screven wrote August 6, 1708, as 
follows : 

I rejoice that you are inclined to, and employed in, the blessed work 
of the Lord for the support of his cause. [And the letter closes with 
these words :] I have been brought very low by sickness, but I bless 
God I was helped to preach and administer the communion last Lord's 
day, but am still weak. Our society are for the most part in health, and 
I hope thriving in grace. We are about ninety in all. I rest your affec- 
tionate brother and fellow-laborer, in the best of services, for the best 
reward. 

It is not thought that Mr. Screven removed his family to 
Charleston at this time ; but his labors in behalf of the church 
which he had formed, and to which he had given so much of the 
strength of the best years of his life, were continued as he was 
able until his death, which occurred at Georgetown, October 10, 
1713, at the completion of the eighty-fourth year of his age. 
Pure in life, affectionate in disposition, abundant in every good 
work, honored and revered by all, he commended the Gospel 
which he preached, and came to the "grave in a full age, like as 
a shock of corn cometh in its season." His tomb on Screven 
street, in Georgetown, is still to be seen, and his memory is lov- 
ingly cherished, not only by a numerous posterity * he had 

*The descendants of William Screven are among the most honored of the people of 
South Carolina at the present day. 



56 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

eleven children but by the Baptists of South Carolina and of 
all the Southern states. 

In the interest of bibliography I may add that Rev. William 
G. Whilden of Greenville, South Carolina, one of Mr. Screven's 
descendants to whom I am indebted for some of the materials of 
this paper, informs me that Mrs. Schoolcraft, formerly a resident 
of Beaufort, S. C., wrote a history of the Screven family which 
was published. He had heard, however, of only a single copy, 
which was destroyed in Sherman's raid ; and my own inquiries 
with reference to the book have not as yet brought to light an- 
other copy. 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 57 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 

Head before the Maine Historical Society, May 20, 1886. 

BY REV. AMASA LQRING. 

THE early history of Cumberland county reveals the significant 
fact that four of the Judges of its early Court of Common Pleas 
were inhabitants of North Yarmouth. When the first was ap- 
pointed the town was comparatively young, only about forty 
years having elapsed from the beginning of its permanent settle- 
ment, and from its second incorporation. Its population and 
business relations were small. It was remote from the seat of 
provincial power and could have had but few friends or advo- 
cates near the appointing personages. Still within about thirty 
years, these four men, not previously of great public notoriety, 
not learned in the law but men of good native endowments, of 
unflinching integrity, of sound judgment, of unsullied reputation, 
or as the statute expressed it, " substantial persons " were 
placed in that honorable and responsible position. 

The period of their administration was peculiar. It embraced 
the incipient struggles and eventual political convulsions of the 
Revolution, the transition from colonial dominion to state au- 
thority, the introduction of a new code of laws, without prece- 
dents, judicial rules, or authoritative decisions. Yet one of them 
passed through the whole period of these civic commotions un- 
disturbed in his judicial activity ; two held office during a part 
of it ; all except one, who resigned, held their places for more 
than twenty years, two dying in office, and three were in succes- 
sion Chief Justices of the Court. 

According to William Willis, Esq., the Court met as usual in 
July, 1775 ; but no sheriff was present, no jury had been sum- 
moned, no entries were made, no cases tried, and it adjourned 
after deciding two cases which had been continued from the 
previous term. But in October, 1776, it met again and pro- 
ceeded with its business, not recognizing the authority of the 
King, but of the people. 



58 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

During this period the Judges were not compensated by a 
fixed salary, but received a certain amount for every entry and 
trial; and this was divided among them and the clerk. In those 
Revolutionary times the pay was very small, but it increased 
rapidly at a later period. 

The legal profession was not then crowded ; trials were not 
then intolerably drawn out, and " law questions " did not burst 
out like leaves in springtime. True there was then a Superior 
Court, answering in all respects to the present Supreme Court, 
but it held only two terms each year in the " District of Maine," 
and kept its records in Boston ; so that in all probability appeals 
were not eagerly made, and the Inferior Court arbitrated most 
of the legal controversies. 

Removed, as we now are, nearly a century from the public 
services of these men, it is not easy to make up a full biography 
of any of them ; but a few scraps of their personal history, still 
to be found, can be snatched from oblivion. 

JEREMIAH POWELL. 

Jeremiah Powell was the first of these judges. He was the 
only son of John Powell, Esq.; was born in Boston, and lived 
there until he attained manhood. As the history of father and 
son is closely interwoven, it becomes necessary to notice briefly 
that of the former. 

John Powell was born in Charlestown, Mass., March 7, 1669, 
or more probably 1683, and married Anne Dummer, a sister of 
Lieutenant Governor William Dummer. As Mr. Dummer left 
at his death no children of his own, he bequeathed a large part 
of .his property to the children of his sister, Mrs. Powell, and 
thus increased the wealth of Judge Powell. Mr. Powell was 
Governor Dummer's private secretary for the next few years 
after his marriage, and eventually engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness in Boston. His connection with North Yarmouth comes 
into notice with its third and permanent settlement. Twice had 
its pioneer settlers fled from their savage invaders, leaving their 
homes to be plundered and burnt, and their possessions to be 
laid waste. 

In 1684, this large township had been granted by Thomas 
Danforth to Jeremiah Dummer, Walter Gendall, John York 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 59 

and John Royall, as Trustees, to lot out and deed to actual set- 
tlers ; its boundaries were established, its name given it, and a 
Proprietor's record began containing a registry of the lots con- 
veyed to individual occupants. But in September, 1688, Cap- 
tain Gendall was shot by the hostile savages, and the settlement 
soon after was abandoned. Thus it remained for about thirty 
years. Then it was hoped that peace was established, and some 
of the surviving fugitives began to return to these inviting 
acres. But those years had wrought their changes ; landmarks 
were blotted out, boundary lines obliterated, and the fields, aban- 
doned in lovely fruitfulness, had lapsed into a rising forest. So 
after a few years of contested claims and doubtful titles, the 
incoming settlers and other claimants petitioned the General 
Court to appoint a committee to resume the work of the former 
Trustees. In 1722, such a committee was appointed. It con- 
sisted of William Tailor, Elisha Cook, William Dudley, John 
Smith, and John Powell, Esq., who was one of the petitioners. 

This committee soon met at the dwelling-house of Mr. Powell 
in Boston, organized for business, chose a Clerk, and instructed 
him to procure the former records, which had been saved, and 
adopted rules to regulate their official measures. In 1727, they 
met at the inn of Joseph Parker in North Yarmouth, and care- 
fully investigated all claims to landed estates in the township, 
and laid out and assigned one hundred house lots of ten acres 
each, the owners of which were to have a farm lot of one hun- 
dred acres in a more remote location. The former settlers who 
could identify their old possessions received them, others drew 
theirs by lot, the Committee executing deeds to each possessor. 
It seemed desirable that one of this committee should become a 
resident of the town. Mr. Powell consented to do so, leaving 
the city for a backwoods life, Mrs. Powell a highly estimable 
lady not accompanying him. He took a wild lot, subdued the 
forest, built an elegant mansion and there eventually enjoyed the 
comforts and luxuries which his independent means provided. 
The committee authorized him to act in place of the full board 
and instructed the settlers to follow his advice. In 1733, the 
town was again incorporated and assumed the management of 
further land conveyances, and this committee, at their own re- 
quest, was discharged from further duties. But Mr. Powell con- 
tinued to reside in the new town, having identified himself with 



60 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



the business and prosperity of that rising community. He be- 
came a large landholder, built a saw and linen mills, and obtained 
from the town a grant of the upper falls at the village and forty 
acres of land on condition that he would erect iron works 
thereon. He was intrusted with much of the public business of 
the town; and in 1735 received the appointment of "Justice of 
the Peace" for York county, which then included all the "Dis- 
trict of Maine." He departed this life October 1, 1742, and his 
son, Jeremiah, came into possession of his estate ; having two 
sisters who generally dwelt with him. 

He was more enterprising in business than his honored father 
had been, pushing the sales of his wild lands; and in 1756 he 
started iron works on the Gooch Falls, in company with Theophi- 
lus Byram and others, in accordance with the grant to his father, 
He occupied the capacious dwelling which his father had erected, 
and carried on the farm and maintained an expensive style in 
his domestic arrangements, keeping a colored coachman and 
cook, the latter acting as housekeeper when his sisters were ab- 
sent. His farm hands spoke of him as a kind, generous employer. 
He remained unmarried till a late period of life. On September 
15, 1768, he married Miss Sarah Bromfield of Boston, and in- 
stalled her as mistress of his mansion. They had no children, 
but he displayed a fondness for the little ones, and would show 
especial attention to those of the families upon which he called. 

In his religious character he was quite decided. In his early 
manhood he united with the Congregational church, and its 
records show that he was more than a merely nominal member. 
In the absence of its pastor, he often presided at its meetings 
and acted on committees, and he superintended the enlargment 
of the old meeting-house, and the sale of its additional pews. 

More than twenty years after his father's death he constructed 
a tomb in the old burying-ground, into which the remains of his 
father and those of Rev. Nicholas Loring were removed ; and in 
this tomb the sacred dust of Judge Powell and of many of Mr. 
Loring's children is deposited. The spot is designated by a plain 
marble stone bearing the following inscription : 

Here lies buried the body of 

JOHN POWELL, ESQ., 

Aged 59 years, who dec'd Oct. 1st, 1742. 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 61 

If we assumed the gravestone to be the most trustworthy 
witness, the year of his birth would be 1683, not 1669. 

The record of Judge Powell's public life is more distinctly 
given. In August, 1744, he was appointed by Governor Shirley, 
Justice of the Peace for York county, and again in 1753. In 
1761 he had the same office for Cumberland county. In 1745 
he was elected to represent North Yarmouth in the General 
Court of the Province, and from that year to 1766 he was 
re-elected eleven times to the same office. 

In 1756 he headed a petition to the Colonial authorities re- 
questing them to secure the release of certain captives, who had 
been carried to Canada by the Indians; among these was 
Daniel Mitchell of North Yarmouth, who afterwards became the 
son-in-law of Judge Lewis. In 1762 he was appointed Lieuten- 
ant Colonel, subaltern to Colonel Samuel Waldo, and from this 
date he was usually called Colonel Powell. The same year 
thirty of the early settlers of New Gloucester petitioned him to 
assist them in resisting an encroachment, which the proprietors 
of New Boston (Gray) were making upon the western side of 
their township, by running, as they affirmed, a new and incorrect 
line. 

When the county of Cumberland was set off from York 
county (1760) John Minot of Gorham was appointed Chief 
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He retired from his 
seat the next year, and in 1763 Colonel Powell was appointed 
to fill the vacancy, and the same year made Chief Justice, 
which office he held until 1781. In 1767 he was appointed Jus- 
tice of the Peace throughout the whole Province of Massachu- 
setts, and in 1762 he was appointed a Special Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas, to fill a temporary vacancy or perform 
some special service. In 1766 he became a member of the 
Provincial Council, and retained the office till 1774. Then the 
charter of Massachusetts was changed and the people were not 
allowed to elect the Council. General Thomas Gove, as Royal 
Governor, arrived in Boston in April, 1774, and by a " Writ 
of Mandamus," appointed twenty-six Councilors. Ten of them 
accepted the appointment, and took the oath of office, generally 
against the remonstrances of the patriots. The other sixteen, 
of which Judge Powell was one, declined the appointment. 



62 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Influential neighbors urged to this, for the people of North Yar- 
mouth were decidedly opposed to British tyranny, and he 
became a leader in the Revolutionary movements. 

This is happily verified by an old letter which Mr. S. P. May- 
berry of Cape Elizabeth contributed to the " North Yarmouth 
Old Times," written by Judge Powell, and which I insert entire. 

NORTH YARMOUTH, Oct. 24, 1775. 

To the Honorable Council and to the Honorable House of Representa- 
tives of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay : 
May it please your Honors : 

Last evening came to this town from the "Halifax," armed schooner 
belonging to a fleet, viz: Canceaux, the Semistree, and the Spitfire, 
lying in Hog Island Roads, under the command of Capt. Mowat, three 
men, deserters from said schooner from a watering place in Hog Island, 
where they with one man more, under command of a midshipman, 
went on shore to take in water. 

They came and delivered themselves up to some of our Militia, who 
were at work erecting a Battery on the shore and gave us the following 
intelligence : That on Monday the 16th current the s'd Fleet arrived in 
Casco Bay. That the same day their orders were read unto them, which 
were to burn, sink and destroy everything to the Eastward of Boston, 
that they could not conveniently carry off with them. That Tuesday the 
Fleet went up to Falmouth and came to in a line before the Town. That 
Wednesday morning about 9 o'clock they began to fire upon the Town 
and about two hours after the fire began, boats were sent ashore to fire 
"the houses by hand, that the men went on shore unarmed, and to their 
apprehension not more than twenty were on shore at any one time. 
Farther they say that the greater part of the buildings that were burnt 
were fired by hand. The men's names are Charles Stuart, Quarter- 
master; John Elliot and Daniel Streetland, Foremastmen; the two first 
taken out of a vessel which they took and are now detained in Boston 
Harbor, the last impressed out of a Schooner at Halifax. The men gave 
a fair and honest account of themselves and agree very well in their re- 
lations of the aforementioned truths. 

We have sent them to the Committee at Scarborough to be forwarded 
to the General Court at Watertown, where when they arrive, your Hon- 
ors will have opportunity for further examination as may be thought 
proper. 

The Yawl in which they made their escape is now in our keeping and 
we should be glad to receive orders what shall be done with her. 
I am your Honors, most obedient Servant, 

JERE POWELL, 
Chairman of Committee of Safety. 

Let it be recollected that he had then been upon the bench 
twelve years, meantime holding the place of Councilor. 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 63 

After the battle of Lexington the Provincial Congress declared 
Gov. Gove disqualified for the service of Governor, and in Octo- 
ber following he sailed for England. 

It should be observed that Judge Powell was in the Council 
twelve years in all. After Massachusetts adopted a state consti- 
tution and established a Senate, Judge Powell was elected to it, 
and by re-election continued a member of it until his death. He 
was chosen president of that body at its first assembling. 

We get a glimpse of his precision in official duties and also his 
boldness in reproving delinquents from an entry in Rev. Mr. 
Deane's Journal. At the term of the court in April, 1765, soon 
after Mr. Deane's settlement as colleague pastor with Dr. Thomas 
Smith, neither of these clergymen came in to open the court with 
prayer, ns was the custom. It was also usual for the judges, law- 
yers and clergymen, on the first day of the term to dine together 
at some one of the hotels. At the dinner table Mr. Deane pre- 
sented himself, but he left on record " that he wished he had not 
gone," for Judge Powell did not shrink from reproving him 
sharply. " It is a hard case," said he, " when there are two of 
you we cannot have one. I will bring my own minister, if I can 
get no one else here to pray with us. The minister can hear the 
bell and he knows when he is wanted." 

Parson Smith was on very intimate social relations with Judge 
Powell and was thoroughly acquainted with him. In recording 
his death at North Yarmouth, September 17, 1784, he wrote : 
" Jeremiah Powell was a man of great respectability and in- 
fluence. His father was John Powell, who came from Boston 
and settled in North Yarmouth in the early days of that settle- 
ment, and was admitted an inhabitant of Falmouth," unasked, 
to induce him to settle there. He then mentioned the offices he 
had held, which have been enumerated above. If the date of 
his birth was rightly given his age at death was sixty- four, but 
Mr. Shepley states that it was about seventy, and others confirm 
that statement. His widow, born April 20, 1732, survived till 
March, 1806. 

JONAS MASON. 

The second cititizen of North Yarmouth who received this ap- 
pointment was Jonas Mason. He was born in Lexington, Mass., 
October 21, 1708, and was the son of John junior, and Elizabeth 



64 MAIXE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Spring Mason. His earliest American ancestor was Hugh Mason, 
an emigrant from England, and one of the first settlers of Water- 
town. There he was made freeman in 1635, and represented 
that town for ten years in the General Court. Jonas Mason is to 
be reckoned in the fourth generation from Hugh John and 
John junior, intervening. The father of Jonas settled in Lexing- 
ton in 1699, and his family were reared in that town. Thaddeus' 
a son older than Jonas, graduated at Harvard College in 1728, 
entered the legal profession, was Clerk of Courts, and lived until 
1802, dying at the age of ninety-six. Jonas in his youth was 
apprenticed to a hatter, though it does not appear that he ever 
followed the trade which he learned, but this apprenticeship may 
account for his residence in Charlestown. There he united with 
the Congregational church in 1727. In 1731, or earlier, he re- 
moved to North Yarmouth, Maine, and settled on a farm, adjoin- 
ing the old Bashford place. He had previously married Mary 
Chandler of Duxbury, by whom he had seven children, all born 
in North Yarmouth. The felling of the first tree in the New 
Gloucester township, with a view to settlement, is ascribed to 
him; but it is certain that he never dwelt there, though his 
oldest son, Ebenezer, made that town his home. 

In February 1732, Mr. Mason transferred his relation to the 
First Congregational church in North Yarmouth, his wife also 
uniting by profession in July following. In 1737, the office of 
deacon became vacant in that church, and Jacob Mitchell and 
Jonas Mason were elected to it, the latter holding it till his 
death, March 13, 1801, sixty-three years. 

As a Christian his reputation was unsullied, and he discharged 
his- duties as a member and officer of the church to the entire 
satisfaction of his fellow-Christians. His doctrinal position can 
best be learned from the history of that church during his con- 
nection with it. When he entered it, Rev. A. R. Cutter was 
its pastor. Though a man of learning and talents, according to 
Parson Smith, he was " an outspoken and contentious Armin- 
ian." His views and religious experience did not accord with 
the creed or the inward convictions of the members of that 
ancient and orthodox church. Dissatisfaction was expressed, a 
mutual council was called, and the result of its deliberations was 
a decision that if, after three months' farther trial the church 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 65 

should vote "still uneasy" such vote should sever the pastoral 
relation. At the expiration of the specified time the church 
so voted, the town concurring, only one, Mr. Peter Weare, 
protesting. 

With Mr. Cutter's successor, Rev. Nicholas Loring, who met 
the demands of the people as to doctrinal soundness and experi- 
mental piety, Deacon Mason lived and worked with the utmost 
harmony. His gentle, pacific spirit did not allow him to join 
with the stalwart opponents of Parson Brooks, but he cordially 
received and co-operated with Mr. Brooks' successor, Rev. Tris- 
tram Gilman, renowned for his evangelical views and distin- 
guished success in the ministry. Few, if any, in those troublous 
times came nearer "keeping a conscience void of offence toward 
God and toward man " thnn Deacon Mason, of whom the writer 
has beard persons that remembered him say, "He was one of 
the best of men." 

His capacities and trustworthiness in public business were 
soon appreciated by his townsmen. After the town became in- 
corporated, and the committee for re-settling the township had 
resigned their office, and committed the farther control and con- 
veyance of the unappropriated wild lands to the legal inhabi- 
tants, it was found necessary to choose a committee of the pro- 
prietors to superintend this business, of which Judge Mason was 
one, and was elected clerk of the same. For many years he 
either held this or the treasurer's office ; meanwhile he was often 
town assessor and one of the selectmen, and also a member of 
the parish committee. In 1752, he was appointed Justice of the 
Peace for York county, and in 1760 f6r Cumberland county. 
In April, 1764, and in August, 1765, he was appointed to act as 
a Special Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Cumber- 
land county. 

In 1773, upon the retirement of Hon. Edward Milliken from 
the bench of the Court of Common Pleas for Cumberland 
county, Mr. Mason was appointed to succeed him. His associ- 
ates in office were Jeremiah Powell, Chief Justice ; and Enoch 
Freeman, Moses Pearson (till 1775), Solomon Lombard (after 
1776) as Associate Justices. These men were appointed and 
commissioned by the subordinate officers of " his Majesty," and 
their oaths of office must have enjoined loyalty to the Crown. 
5 



66 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

But resistance to the oppressive acts of the English government 
was well-nigh universal, and soon ripened into open hostilities. 
These judges however felt themselves to be officers of the people 
as well as of " his Majesty," and quietly held on their way. After 
the Declaration of Independence the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts assumed control of Colonial and county affairs, eject- 
ing none who held office unless they were decided Tories. The 
courts pursued their usual course, with a few omitted terms 
dropping the name of the king from their writs and executions, 
nnd substituting the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Only 
two of the pre- revolutionary judges of this court resigned 
their seats ; one of these was Judge Mason. His resignation, 
however, was not from conscientious or political scruples, as he 
did not vacate the office until 1777, but most probably for the 
practical reason that the pay was so meager. This depended 
upon the number of entries and trials the four judges and 
elerk of courts dividing the fees among them. According to 
Mr. Willis, for the year 1776, these numbered nine only, and 
for 1777, fifteen, though after the war was over the entries and 
trials rose to near two hundred. 

In respect to property, Judge Mason was never affluent. He 
cultivated the farm upon which he first settled in North Yar- 
mouth, his youngest son residing with him. This son, Captain 
Samuel Mason, was the first collector of customs in Falmouth 
District under the king, and afterward held the same office under 
the United States. Judge Mason was not great in legal or lit- 
erary attainments, but in those qualities which made him " a sub- 
stantial person " he was not behind his associates. He lived in 
his early home sincerely respected by appreciative acquaintances 
until ninety-three years of age, departing this life March 13, 
1801, his wife having died six years before him. 

DAVID MITCHELL. 

Upon the retirement of Judge Mason from the bench, David 
Mitchell, was appointed to fill the vacancy. He was the son of 
Deacon Jacob Mitchell and his second wife, Widow Rachel 
(Lewis) dishing, and was born in Pembroke, Nov. 26, 1728. 
When he was about fifteen years of age he removed with his 
father to North Yarmouth. His father died there Dec. 1, 1784. 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 67 

David became an early occupant of the old "Mitchell House," 
in which he lived till the close of his life. This ancient mansion, 
now known as " The Oik Whitcomb House," is, with one ex- 
ception, the oldest house in town still standing, though now 
uninhabited and tottering to its fall. 

In his youth David displayed such scholarly capabilities that he 
was favored with a liberal education, graduating at Harvard Col- 
lege in the class of 1751 the first of that name who graduated 
in America. . For a while he engaged in teaching, and in 1753 
he professed religion and united with the First Congregational 
church of North Yarmouth. He then commenced the study of 
divinity, and preached in some of the neighboring towns ; but a 
weakness in his eyesight troubled him, and he abandoned the 
ministry as a permanent profession. He resumed teaching, for 
which he had peculiar and eminent qualifications ; and these 
gave the youth of that place educational advantages far above 
those usually enjoyed in new settlements. For many years he 
taught the town grammar school, excelling as a teacher and also 
in practicing a mild and firm discipline, which his pupils in their 
advanced years were proud to mention. 

August 27, 1761, he married Lucretia Loring, eldest daughter 
of Rev. Nicholas Loring, both of them being of the fifth genera- 
tion of their respective families, that had dwelt in New England. 
Twelve children were born to them, seven of whom died early ; 
but their sons, who attained to manhood, were distinguished for 
integrity, usefulness and elevated positions in society. 

It is related of Judge Mitchell, that not long before his mar- 
riage, as he was returning one night from a visit to his elect lady, 
while crossing a deep ravine, a stalwart savage sprung upon him 
to capture him. As he was mounted he put his horse to the top 
of his speed, the Indian giving chase with great fleetness. Each 
held about an even course, and upon arriving at the stockade 
which surrounded his home, the gate was fortunately standing 
open, and he rushed through and escaped, as the savage did not 
dare to enter. 

From the time of his marriage his public career was more 
noted. In 1782, he was elected town clerk, and continued to 
be re-elected every year to the time of his death, a full third of 
a century. He and several of his descendants excelled in pen- 



68 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

manship. This and an exactness and elegance of language 
made those records an unsurpassed model of neatness and cor- 
rectness. He also held other important town offices. In 1764, 
he was appointed a justice of the peace, and secured quite a 
business in that capacity, although his fellow judges all shared 
in such patronage. 

When the Revolutionary strife had risen to an irreconcilable 
pitch, the Province of Massachusetts resolved to hold a popular 
Congress, without the authority or license of the Crown. It 
met in Salem, October, 1774. If the uprising of the Colonies 
had been crushed this assembly would have been treated as 
treasonable. North Yarmouth, ever patriotic, was represented 
in this Congress, sending to it as its delegate John Lewis. The 
next May it met in Watertown, and Mr. Mitchell was elected to 
attend it, and likewise to several others which succeeded it. 

When the Constitution of the United States was submitted to 
the people for adoption in 1788, Judge Mitchell was elected to 
the Massachusetts Convention, to which it was submitted for 
ratification, and he afterward exerted his whole influence in 
town meeting to secure its favorable reception by the people. 
In the years 1791 and 1795, he was elected to the Senate from 
Cumberland county, and in that select company he secured the 
reputation of a good statesman. He was appointed an associ- 
ate justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1778, and retained 
a seat upon the bench until his death, in 1796, a period of eigh- 
teen years. 

We here correct the statement of Hon. William Willis, and 
others after him, that his office terminated in 1786. A careful 
examination of Mr. Willis' record shows that no new member 
was appointed from 1784 to 1789, and then to fill a vacancy 
caused by the death of Enoch Freeman in 1788, which would 
have been done earlier if Judge Mitchell had retired in 1786. 
Still more conclusive is the statement of Rev. T. Gilman, found 
in the funeral discourse preached on the occasion of his death, 
March 20, 1796. "About nineteen years since he was appointed 
a judge in the Court of Common Pleas for this county, which 
office he sustained with dignity and to universal satisfaction the 
remainder of his life. His charges to the grand jury were very 
sensible, judicious, comprehensive and solemn/' This last remark 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 69 

indicates that he was chief justice, and so his reverend pastor 
affirms in the title page of the above-mentioned sermon. When 
he was advanced to that more responsible and arduous position it 
is not known, only that Chief Justice Powell vacated it in 1781, 
in the third year of Mr. Mitchell's office as an associate judge. 
It is also said, that while in this influential position, he sought 
carefully to diminish litigation by advising and persuading par- 
ties to make an amicable settlement of their disagreements ; and 
this it should be remembered when the income of his office de- 
pended upon the number of cases entered and tried in court. 
He carefully investigated both judicial and ecclesiastical ques- 
tions submitted to him, and having made up his mind as to 
what was just and right, he was unswerving in his adherence to 
such conclusions. 

In the Act which incorporated Bowdoin College, June, 1794, 
Judge Mitchell was named as one of the trustees, and in its 
first meeting that board elected him its treasurer. As six town- 
ships of wild land had been granted to that institution in the 
original act, the treasurer had onerous duties in locating and 
selling them from the beginning. 

Let it not be inferred that, because Judge Mitchell relinquished 
the work of the ministry, he abated in the least his confidence 
in or attachment to the Christian religion, for he maintained an 
elevated and unspotted reputation as a Christian through his 
whole active life. In 1770, he was elected to the office of dea- 
con, and retained the same till his death, "having used the office 
well." Rev. Mr. Gilman presents him as " a worthy model in all 
the relations of life as a finished gentleman of the old school. 
To the distressed he was compassionate ; to the poor, kind and 
helpful ; to the young and unlearned, a teacher by precept and 
example. Nor was he backward in performing duties then quite 
uncommon with laymen, in leading social meetings, in conduct- 
ing public worship in the absence of a minister, in attending 
ecclesiastical councils to which he was often sent, and in earnest 
solicitude for and ready endeavors to secure revivals of religion^ 
with which during his connection with it the church was re- 
markably blest." 

In the early spring of 1796, while attending a session of the 
Senate, his final sickness overtook him. Hoping to recover, he 



70 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

remained a few weeks in Boston, but he sunk rapidly to a low 
and hopeless state. He then returned home, thankful that he 
was permitted to die in the bosom of his beloved family. His 
strength was nearly exhausted, but with faltering voice he spake 
words of advice and pious exhortation to his sorrowing friends. 
Sustained by his hope of eternal life, and assured that he had 
not believed in vain, on the Sabbath, the next day after his ar- 
rival home, March 13, 1796, he expired, and passed to an end- 
less Sabbath in the realms of light, aged sixty-seven. 

HON. JOHN LEWIS. 

Hon. John Lewis was the last of these four judges, and was 
the second that held the office till his death. He was born in 
Hingham, Mass., June 14, 1717, and was the fifth generation 
from George Lewis, the elder of two brothers, who emigrated to 
these shores some time previous to 1633. 

He sprang from a distinguished family, no less than twelve of 
the name having graduated from Harvard and Yale before his 
time. It was also decidedly religious. Two of his near kins- 
men were clergymen, and several of the females married minis- 
ters, and he was trained according to the careful and pious cus- 
toms of those noteworthy times. Not liberally, but academi- 
cally educated, his affluent native endowments and unswerving 
integrity fitted him for the responsible positions he occupied in 
subsequent life. 

In the early part of 1743, he left Hingham and came to North 
Yarmouth, where several of his relatives and acquaintances 
were already settled. The next year war was declared between 
France and England, beginning what was known in New Eng- 
land as " The French and Indian Wars," and as the French Jes- 
uits then had full control of most of the Indian tribes in the 
wilds of Maine and Canada, it was expected that an Indian 
invasion, with all its horrors, would burst upon our frontier set- 
tlements. The young men of that day expected to be called 
upon to breast the dangers and hardships of savage warfare, and 
though North Yarmouth was still a frontier town, Mr. Lewis 
chose, if he must gird himself for the battle,to take his risk near 
the front, where he had friends and acquaintances. But the 
Indian enemy did not attack the town with a large marauding 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 71 

force, but small parties made frequent raids, killing some of the 
settlers and taking their families captive. In 1746, a party num- 
bering thirty-two concealed themselves in a gully by night in 
the outskirts of the village, evidently intending to attack Mr. 
Weare's garrison, after the men had gone to their work in the 
morning, and capture the women and children ; but Mr. Philip 
Greely rode by early in the morning, and his dog discovered 
them, upon which they rose and shot Mr. Greely and departed, 
without further molesting the settlement. 

Mr. Lewis' plans for life were not seriously interrupted by that 
raid. He cultivated the arts and secured the blessings of peace. 
Upon Coussins island he purchased a farm and there was his 
first place of residence, and there all of his children were born. 
On the 20th of November, 1746, he married Mary Mitchell, 
eldest daughter of Deacon Jacob and Mary Rowland Mitchell. 
She was bora in Pembroke, June 23, 1728, and was a sister of 
Colonel Jonathan Mitchell, who led a regiment to Bagaduce. 
About 1760, .he purchased a large lot of land adjoining the 
Royall place on the northwest, extending from Royall to Cous- 
sins rivers ; upon this he cleared up a farm, built a substantial 
house, which is still standing; and there he spent the remainder 
of his days. After his death this tract underwent some division, 
but his homestead was the part recently known as the Ezekiel 
Merrill place, though it had been previously occupied by his son 
and grandson. 

Being thoroughly educated as a land-surveyor, he was often 
employed in that business, lotting out a part of New Gloucester 
and other new towns in that vicinity, and also in dividing and 
running out lots for private parties in all the surrounding regions. 
His " Field Books," were kept until recently and are well remem- 
bered by some of his descendants for their distinct and accurate 
records and attractive penmanship. 

His religious character is not now easily portrayed. The loss 
of his journal has swept away the most desirable evidence of it, 
and this can not be replaced. Soon after his marriage, Decem- 
ber 13, 1747, he and his wife publicly professed religion and 
joined the First Congregational church. From that time he be- 
came one of its leading members. Then, too, the most eminent 
men in town were members of that church, so that decided 



72 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

ability and merit alone would secure a pre-eminence ; but he was 
placed upon important committees, and called to attend to eccle- 
siastical matters. His piety was an every-day possession, a 
formative force of his character and actions. In 1796, a vacancy 
occurred in the deacon's office, and he was elected to fill it, being 
the third judge who had been called to that place, and he re- 
tained this office till his death. 

As early as 1759 he was upon the bo;ird of town assessors and 
frequently afterward one of the selectmen. In 1779, he was ap- 
pointed a justice of the peace, and many of the early deeds 
were made by and acknowledged before him. His appointment 
seems to have been made by the Honorable Council. But not till 
the breaking out of the Revolutionary conflict do we get ac- 
quainted with his public life, or many data, from which to form 
an estimate of his standing and character. In 1774, he was 
elected a delegate from North Yarmouth to the first Provincial 
Congress convened by the Colony of Massachusetts. It met in 
Salem, October 7, 1774. This was a bold step, a revolutionary 
measure, indicating most decidedly the temper of the people, and 
the readiness of our honored sires to strike for redress of griev- 
ances and for liberty. Not fearing the wrath of the King, nor 
of his arbitrary and oppressive Governor, he went and braved 
the danger. This body supplied the place of, and eventually 
shaped itself into the General Court of Massachusetts. It next 
met in Watertown, April lii, 1775. To this David Mitchell was 
sent from North Yarmouth as delegate; but Mr. Lewis was ap- 
pointed by that body a committee of correspondence for the 
North Yarmouth district, " to afford assistance at all times in 
suppressing the enemies of American liberty." By the same 
Congress he was appointed on a committee (May 2 at Water- 
town) "to consider what measures are proper to be taken for 
liberating those persons who were taken prisoners by the troops 
of General Gage, on the 19th of April last." This date is signif- 
icant. It calls to mind the battle of Concord and Lexington 
the initiatory appeal to arms in the Revolutionary conflict. 

How many times Mr. Lewis was elected as a member of that 
body I am not able to say ; but he was evidently often at the 
Colonial seat of government and had much to do with the public 
affairs of those troublous times. An old receipt which has es- 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 73 

caped the destroyer, brings to light a little speck of female 
patriotism and shows that Mr, Lewis was a member of the Gen- 
eral Court. In this paper Asa Lewis receipted to widow Huldah 
Mitchell for 15 lawful money, which his father was to take to 
the Provincial treasurer, as a government loan, and Mr. Asa 
Lewis bound himself to return her a government note for that 
amount or to restore to her the money. This was in the fall of 
1777 the darkest period in our contest. Let this noble act of 
Mrs. Huldah Mitchell be long remembered. 

Another public appointment brings Judge Lewis into notice, 
and shows how highly he was esteemed by the public. It is not 
forgotten that, October 18, 1775, the greater part of Falmouth 
village (now Portland), was laid in ashes by Capt. Henry Mowat 
of the Royal Navy. His provocation for committing this un- 
warranted and savage piece of vandalism upon an inoffensive 
people was a personal affront given him by u Brigadier Thomp- 
son " the spring previous. In the latter part of April, 1775, 
Captain Mowat, in a small naval vessel, the " Canceau," came 
into Falmouth harbor, and at the same time Captain Coulson, a 
citizen of Falmouth, was at home with a ship that he com- 
manded. Coulson was a zealous Tory, and the coming of Mowat 
awakened many fears and a widespread excitement. Samuel 
Thompson of Topsham was then a lieutenant colonel in the 
militia, and also a member of the Provincial Congress. Hear- 
ing of M<>wat's arrival, he came over with a company of soldiers 
in boats, landed quietly and unobserved on the back side of Mun- 
joy hill, intending to get possession of Mowat's vessel. Mowat 
knew nothing of this ; he had gone ashore with his surgeon, and 
was walking out with Captain Coulson and Rector Wiswell, the 
Episcopal minister of Falmouth, who also was an ardent Roy- 
alist, unarmed and unsuspecting. These sympathizing friends 
unwittingly went near to Thompson's encampment, and he im- 
proved the opportunity by seizing the two English officers and 
hurrying them into confinement. This produced great alarm 
among the people, and threw the crew of the " Canceau " into a 
towering passion. The people of Falmouth had no hand in it, 
had not heard of Colonel Thompson's arrival, did not generally 
approve of this arrest, and besought him to liberate his enraged 
prisoners. Accordingly they were liberated, and Mowat left 



74 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

terribly incensed at the audacity of Colonel Thompson, and 
eager to resent, by summary punishment, the indignity shown 
to a British officer. But without permission from the com- 
mander of the squadron he dared not attempt retaliation, and 
this he finally obtained by strong and persistent entreaty. So 
on the sixteenth of October, 1775, he again sailed into the harbor 
with five small cruisers, anchored menacingly before the town, 
and on the afternoon of the seventeenth notified the inhabitants 
that in two hours he should bombard the town. The people 
were appalled, and besought him to grant them a respite. This 
he granted, and they were allowed till the next day to prepare 
for the worst. On the eighteenth he opened fire upon an un- 
resisting town, as has been narrated above. 

These needy sufferers obtained immediate relief from sympa- 
thizing neighbors, and afterward, through influential friends in 
England, sought assistance from the kind-hearted there ; but it 
secured nothing from them except " Be ye warmed and filled." 
The selectmen and a committee of the town also sought aid 
from the General Court, stating clearly that they were in no way 
responsible for Captain Mowat's arrest, and also showing that 
their loss of property amounted to fifty-five thousand pounds. 
This necessarily brought Colonel Thompson's official doings into 
notice, and convinced that body that they required investigation. 
So in 1779, the General Court appointed Samuel Freeman of 
Falrnouth, John Lewis of North Yarmouth, and William Gor- 
ham of Gorham, an investigating committee to inquire into this 
seizure of Mowat, and other questionable military proceedings. 
These facts are learned from a letter from Mr. Freeman to John 
Lewis, which I here insert. 

SACO, Oct. 13, 1779. 

DEAR Sm: By the bearer (Mr. Hewes) who rides in company with 
me and is going to North Yarmouth, I take the opportunity (which will 
save me the expense of sending somebody on purpose) to inform you 
that the General Court have appointed you and I (me) and Mr. Gorham 
to inquire into the complaint of the Selectmen and Committee of Fal- 
mouth against Brigadier Thompson and Colonel Noyes ; and the first 
letter against them and others is committed to us; so we are a Court of 
Inquiry authorized to inquire into the military character and conduct of 
almost all the militia officers in the county. This is of importance to 
the officers, and may, in its consequences, be so to the county; and as 
the Recess is short, and as it is necessary the business should be com- 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NOETH YARMOUTH. 75 

pleted before the (Gen.) Court meets again, I thought it must be imme- 
diately attended to; especially as our Inferior Court will take up near 
one week of the Recess. I should therefore be extremely glad if you 
would come to Falmouth on Thursday next and meet Mr. Gorham and 
I (myself) in order to agree upon a time when the inquiry shall begin, 
and the mode of notifying the parties. 

If you cannot come to Falmouth on Thursday, come and take dinner 
with me at Saccarappa on Friday. 

I am your most obedient Ser. 

SAM'L FKEEMAN. 

The result of their deliberations is not known to the writer, 
neither what view they took of Colonel Thompson's inconsider- 
ate arrest of a British officer; but there are good reasons for 
thinking that their report did not pass unnoticed. Not long 
after the General Court granted to those sufferers two townships 
of wild land, now known as New Portland and Freeman, which 
names were selected from their connection with Portland and its 
distinguished citizen. 

After the Province of Massachusetts, then including the pres- 
ent state of Maine, had adopted a Constitution and taken the 
form of a state government, there were loud complaints that 
plunderers were stripping the public lands of their best timber ; 
and at the same time many conflicting claims were in contest as 
to proprietorship. From "Williamson's History of Maine" we 
learn that these things led the General Court, May 1, 1781, to 
appoint a committee of five able men " to inquire into the en- 
croachments upon all the wild lands of the state ; to examine 
the rights and pretexts of claimants, and to prosecute obstinate 
intruders and trespassers ; and yet to liquidate fair adjustments 
with all such as were disposed to do right, upon principles of 
equity, good faith and duty." This committee consisted of Jed- 
' ediah Preble of Falmouth, Jonathan Greenleaf of New Glouces- 
ter, David Sewall of York, John Lewis of North Yarmouth, and 
John Lithgow of Bath. This committee had a wide range for 
discretionary power, and questions involving a large amount of 
land property were submitted to them. Many of them were 
satisfactorily adjusted and expensive litigation avoided, and pub- 
lic confidence was so much placed in them that their services 
were extensively sought. The heirs of Francis Small and Nich- 
olas Shapleigh, claimants of the " Ossipee Tract " in York county 



76 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

under an Indian deed one hundred and sixty years old, submit- 
ted their claim to this committee, and the General Court and 
proprietors both readily acquiesced in the verdict which they 
rendered. 

In 1782 a still greater expression of public confidence in his 
ability, integrity and sound judgment was shown him. Upon 
the retirement of Chief Justice Powell from the bench, he was 
appointed as one of the Associate Judges, and this position he 
held till his death. Judge David Mitchell became chief justice 
and after his death Judge Lewis filled that place. For a period 
of forty years, one, and a part of the time two incumbents of the 
judicial bench were from this town, and two of them retired by 
resignation. 

In the earlier period of this Court the compensation received 
by the judges probably did not meet their expenses. But later 
the fees were higher, and business increased so that in Judge 
Lewis' time of office the pay was probably remunerative. In his 
pecuniary circumstances he was wealthy, leaving at his death sev- 
eral farms to his heirs, beside his homestead. It also appears 
that he kept a colored servant man as did men of substance gen- 
erally in those days. In his personal appearance those who can 
recollect say that he was tall and portly, and quite distinguished. 

At length a sore affliction invaded his happy family circle. On 
the thirtieth day of August, 1794, his beloved wife, after a wear- 
ing indisposition, departed this life, aged seventy-one. Nearly 
half a century they had walked side by side, in the enjoyment of 
domestic, conjugal and Christian affection, and those pure rela- 
tions could not be 'sundered without keenest suffering. Two 
years after, August 11, 1796, he married as a second wife, Mrs. 
Lydia (Paul) Worthly, widow of Samuel Worthly, who lived 
with him till his death and survived him less than a year. 

Despite his increasing years he attended to the duties of his 
office until March, 1803. After a ten days' session of the Court 
at Portland, he returned home, and was suddenly and violently 
taken ill. On the next day, March 4, 1803, he expired, aged 
nearly eighty-six. 

The final resting-place of his wives and children are duly com- 
memorated upon the speaking marble. Beyond a doubt his 
would have been, if interred in a common grave ; so it seems 



THE FOUR JUDGES OF NORTH YARMOUTH. 77 

about certain that his cold remains were committed to the 
"Mitchell Tomb," if not, then no man now knoweth of his 
sepulcher. It is related that the conquerors of Central America 
found a native chief who kept the embalmed bodies of his de- 
parted ancestors in a certain part of his magnificent mansion. 
Our refined sensibilities revolt from such barbaric reverence. 
We can do better. We can retain their history, cherish their 
memories, and enshrine their virtues and piety as a perpetual 
inheritance for ourselves and our children. 



JOHN E. GODFREr. 79 



JOHN E. GODFREY. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May 38, 1885. 

BY ALBERT WARE PAINE. 

JOHN EDWARDS GODFREY of Bangor, whose death occurred 
on February 20, 1884, was born at Hampden, Maine, September 
6, 1809. He was the son of John and Sophia Godfrey, the 
former of whom was a practicing lawyer at that place, and stood 
high in his profession. The father was borti at Taunton, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 27, 1781, and died at Bangor, May 28, 1862, 
at the age of eighty-one years. The mother was the daughter 
of Colonel Samuel Dutton, born at Hallowell, July 31, 1786. 
Thtir marriage took place at Bangor, May 21, 1806. The male 
line of these was in direct descent from Richard Godfrey, who 
settled immediately after immigration at Taunton in 1652. 

In John's boyhood his father removed to Bangor with his 
family, and there continued to reside during the remainder of 
his life. In October, 1831, after a preliminary education in the 
public schools of Hampden and Bangor, and at the academies in 
Machias and Hampden, the deceased entered upon the study of 
the law in the office and under the instruction of the Hon. 
William Abbot, a leading lawyer of the bar, he having previ- 
ously studied at intervals with his father for several years in the 
same course. He was admitted as a member of the bar, at the 
Court of Common Pleas, October term, 1832, and at the Su- 
preme Judicial Court, June term, 1835. After his first admission, 
he opened an office and commenced practice at Calais in 1833, but, 
after about one year, he returned to Bangor, where he continued 
in the work of his profession until his death. 

On May 16, 1837, he married Elizabeth Angela Stackpole, 
daughter of David Stackpole of Portland, by whom he had 
two children, John Franklin Godfrey, a lawyer of Los Angeles, 
California, born June 23, 1839, and George Frederick Godfrey 
of Bangor, born October 23, 1840. This wife died May 27, 



80 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

1868, and on September 19, 1876, he married again, Laura 
Jane, daughter of Michael Schwartz, by whom he had one child, 
a daughter Ethel, born September 23, 1878, both of whom sur-' 
vive him. 

Mr. Godfrey was for several years a member of the different 
boards of the City Council; in 1840-47, 1848 and 1854 to 
1859 of the Common Council, during the last of which he was 
its president, and from 1866 to 1870, of the Board of Aldermen. 
He also served as a member of the school committee from 1847 
to 1853 and from 1874 to 1877. In 1856, he was elected Judge 
of Probate for Penobscot county, and continued to serve for six 
successive terms in said office, to which he was thus elected by 
the people, for twenty-four years in all, until 1881. 

In 1865, he was elected an<l became a member of the Maine 
Historical Society, and continued as such until his death, always 
active in its proceedings. He was also one of the originators 
and useful members of the Bangor Historical Society from 1864, 
and on the death of Hon. E. L. Hamlin was elected its president 
in 1873, which place he held for the remainder of his life. 

During all his manhood Mr. Godfrey was an active worker 
and participant in almost every kind of industry and enterprise 
which tended to promote the public good or advance the best in- 
terests of society. He never allowed his professional work to 
prevent other useful employments from receiving a due share of 
his attention. Although he had not the advantages of a collegi- 
ate education, yet by diligent study he largely made up for the 
want of it, and became a scholar of high rank, gaining credit as 
such in various departments of study in advance of many who had 
enjoyed the benefits of the highest institutions of learning. His 
mind was stored with a fund of practical information on many 
subjects of useful learning, and his published writings on various 
subjects disclose a happy and attractive style of expression. "He 
held the pen of a ready writer " and a copious supply of rich 
material to indite. 

Though well versed on many practical subjects, his particular 
forte was historical research and inquiry, accompanied with' that 
success which attends diligence in application and wisdom in 
directing investigation. His more particular success in this line 
was in his explorations, as they may be called, in the early his- 



JOHN E. GODFREY. 81 

tory of his own state and county. No man had probably a more 
perfect knowledge of the early annals of Eastern Maine, in- 
cluding Old Norombega and the prehistoric events of the Penob- 
scot region, as well as the history of the city of Bangor after its 
inhabitancy commenced. It w.-is in recognition of this qualifica- 
tion that he was selected as the orator on the occasion of Ban- 
gor's centenary celebration in 1869. The satisfactory manner 
with which he excuted the trust and the great value of his ad- 
dress, as a historical memento of the past, is uniformly recog- 
nized by all and will ever remain a monument to his memory. 
Upon the contemplated semi-centenary of the city's charter, on 
the year of his death, he alone was looked forward to as the 
person to perform the like part of the service, and thus finish the 
history which he had so faithfully brought down to the present 
century. His death however came just in season to defeat his 
candidacy and with it the celebration itself. The volume, which 
perpetuates the valuable history alluded to, also contains, in 
other contributions for the occasion, further and pleasant evi- 
dence of his literary qualities. " The Rhyme of the Ancient 
City Hall" and " To the Penobscot, Now" both bear testimony 
to a merit not to be overlooked or disregarded. 

On many other occasions and in various ways did Mr. Godfrey 
exhibit for the benefit of the world and especially of the com- 
mu dty inwhich he lived, peculiar talent as a writer of antique and 
hidden events, Volumes vn and vui of the Maine Historical 
Society's "Collections" bear ample evidence of this proposition. 
" The Ancient Penobscot," " The Pilgrims at Penobscot," k ' Baron 
de St. Castine," " Castine the Younger," " Basheba and the Tar- 
ratines," " Norombega " and " Memorial notice of Edward Kent" 
are among the articles so contributed by him, and are evidence 
of great versatility of talent as well as of varied information. 
In addition to these he also furnished important contributions to 
the " History of Penobscot County," filling a very large portion 
of all the material contained within the pages of the work pub- 
lished in 1882, including notices of the bench and bar of his 
county. In a previous " History of the Press of Maine " pub- 
lished in 1872 and 1879, he was also a valued contributor of im- 
portant material. 
6 



02 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Closely connected with his work of historical research, as 
already described, is his other work as editor. Having early 
committed himself with zeal to the advocacy of the anti- 
slavery cause or the Free Soil party, he became in 1841 the edi- 
tor of the Liberty Party journal, called the Bangor Gazette, 
which he took charge of for two years, the first year as a weekly 
and the second as a weekly and daily periodical. Respecting 
this he says in his own memorandum, U I was very industrious 
those two years, and trust that my labors were not wholly fruit- 
less in some respects, although pecuniarily I was a loser." The 
paper was conducted with vigor and ability, and with a high 
character of literary merit, was a forcible exposilor of the doc- 
trines which he thus espoused, at a time when the party was 
under the ban of public sentiment. 

In politics, previously to his connection with the Free Soil 
party, he was ever a warm-hearted and enthusiastic Whig, and 
active in the support and spread of the principles of that party. 
To use his own language, "In the Harrison political campaign 
I was an- ardent Whig, doing my share of the song-s'nging, 
parading, tramping and hurrahing, in that canorous wrangle." 
After the formation of the Republican party he came to be a 
vigorous supporter of its doctrines, and zealous always in their 
advocacy. 

As a lawyer Mr. Godfrey ever took a high stand at the bar, as 
a man of learning, whose opinions were reliable and whose advice 
was safe to follow. He was a student of legal authors and writers, 
and a wise expounder of their treatises. Because of these 
traits he was, as already stated, in 1850 elected judge of probate 
for his county at the first election ever had of that office in 
Maine, and on five subsequent elections was re-chosen for the 
same position, thus giving him twenty-four successive years of 
administration of that important trust until 1881. As judge he 
was distinguished for his intimate knowledge of the probate law 
and for his wise and impartial judgments, characteristics which 
assured his continuance in the office. His judgments were sel- 
dom appealed from and much less frequently over-ruled. 

Intimately connected with his other professional positions is 
the fact of his holding many other minor trusts of a similar 
kind. Beside his oft-repeated appointments as justice of the 



JOHN E. GODFREY. 83 

peace and quorum, he also held the office of notary public, com- 
missioner of deeds for the states of Massachusetts, New York, 
New Hampshire, California, Iowa, and other states, and also 
commissioner for taking testimony for the United States Court 
of Claims, and public administrator until his appointment as 
judge. During the war he also held the post of commissioner 
of enrollment until its close. 

Allusion has already been made to Mr. Godfrey's interest in 
municipal matters, having for very many years been a member 
of the city government, representing his ward in both of its 
branches at different times. In educational affairs he was also 
equally interested, and as a result of this trait of his character 
and his peculiar qualification, he occupied the place of member 
of the board of superintending school committee for a great 
many years. 

In horticulture, too, he took a deep interest. He was among 
the active originators of the Horticultural Society of his city 
and supporter of the Agricultural Society of his county. Of 
the former he was treasurer during almost the whole time from 
its formation. He was also a member of the State Pomological 
Society, in which he took a deep interest. 

For music, too, he had a peculiar taste, and patronized all ef- 
forts to promote its cultivation. For several years he held the 
place of president of the Penobscot Musical Association. 

He was also always distinguished for his many social virtues 
and his quiet and unobtrusive manners, as well as for his exem- 
plary habits of industry and temperance. He was a man of 
great congeniality of feeling, and courteous in all his relations 
with the world, kind, generous and benevolent. Combined with 
these qualities, he possessed a mind of rich culture, thoroughly 
disciplined and stored with information and learning on all prac- 
tical subjects. He was thus a gentleman whose society was very 
naturally courted, and whose acquaintance was very generally 
sought. His large library, a true outcome of his mind, was 
made up of volumes of every kind of useful contents and inter- 
esting information. His home was one that all could relish, as a 
place of genial companionship and pleasant resort, a home of 
comfort and of mental as well as physical enjoyment and social 
intercourse. It is hardly necessary to add of such a man, that 



84 MAIXE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

he was a father and husband who made home happy, to the 
exclusion of all necessity of finding elsewhere the means of 
pleasing entertainment and diversion. 

He was a man of refined taste, and devoted to the cultiva- 
tion of art in its various branches. This led him to detect and 
to gain a quick perception of the grand and the beautiful in 
nature, a quality that always exhibited itself in his practical life 
and habits. In the wild scenery of " Lovers'-leap " * he realized 
a romance peculiarly pleasant to him, which induced him to select 
its neighboring cliffs as the locality of his successive residences, 
where he spent all the later years of his mature life. The nat- 
ural wildness of the scenery, overlooking the calm waters of the 
Kenduskeag, flowing gently by the place, but far below the level 
of his domicile, had an attraction, which amply repaid him for all 
the additional labor which the distance from his place of busi- 
ness daily compelled him to overcome. 

Fond of humor, he always enjoyed its exercise and the telling 
of and listening to anecdotes and reminiscences and agreeable 
conversations. At the same time he was ever on his guard on such 
occasions against all breaches of modesty and common sense. 
These characteristics always made him a favorite with the young 
of both sexes, for however old, he never failed to be as young 
in feeling and expression as were his auditors or companions on 
such occasions. Fond of society, they were equally fond of him 
and always enjoyed his presence for he was eminently a social 
man and particularly sought for in company. 

He was, too, a man of remarkably industrious habits, always 
busy with some useful employment for the promotion of some 
good to the community at large or to individuals ; and nothing 
more conduced to his happiness than to know or feel that he had 
helped to make the world better, or some of its inhabitants more 
comfortable and happy. Nor was his benevolence wholly ex- 
pended on humanity alone, for the brute creation also shared in 
his benevolent efforts to improve its conditions and save, through 
the aid of societies, its members from unnecessary and cruel 
treatment. 

On the 20th day of February, 1884, while in his usual health, 

*A very high and almost perpendicular ledge forming the bank of Keuduskeag stream, 
about a mile from the main river, famed for its Indian legend. 



JOHN E. GODFREY. 85 

and in the full enjoyment of life, and sportively playing with his 
little daughter, he suddenly threw up his hands with delight at 
something which she had done, and expired in the midst of his 
laughter, while his hands were thus uplifted. Thus without a 
single minute's notice or warning, in the bosom of his family, 
with his loved wife and daughter by his side, he suddenly passed 
away from earth, to meet those who had gone before. 

The bar of his county and the Bangor Historical Society 
took appropriate notice of his death, and adopted resolutions 
and other proceedings fitting to the occasion. The press of the 
city and of the state generally, as well as of other places, noticed 
his decease in a becoming manner. This memorial of his life 
and character is placed on file with the Maine Historical Society, 
as a memento of his worth, and appreciation as a valued mem- 
ber and highly-prized associate, in its work of perpetuating the 
history of our state. 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 87 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION 

ON THE RIVER KEXNEBEC, 1646-1652. 
' Read before the Maine Historical Society, May 15, 1879. 

BY JOHN MARSHALL BROWN. 

THE interesting episode in the early history of Maine to which 
I am about to refer, has either been entirely neglected by our 
earlier historians, or else referred to by them in terms which in- 
dicate their ignorance of its details. 

The republication in 1858 of the " Relations of the Jesuits " has 
rendered that mine of historic wealth accessible to all, and the 
student may now read in the fervid language of men whose labors 
and suffering have scarcely a parallel the full story of their grand 
crusade. Much of all this, perhaps all that is of interest to the 
general reader, has been brought to light again in the fascinating 
pages of Mr. Parkman's volumes, but the local historian must go 
to the fountain-head and look at the facts from the standpoint of 
his own interest. I have ventured to do this and hope I shall not 
be thought arrogant in gleaning after such a harvest. Indeed 
I shall be disappointed if I do not convince those who are 
familiar with Mr. Palfrey's history and Mr. Parkman's eloquent 
work that the former is miserably inadequate and grossly unfair, 
and that even the latter has neglected to give proper prominence 
to the political significance of Druilletes' success and failure. 

The two circumstances which more than any other contributed 
to destroy the independence of Maine and bring it into a depen- 
dent position and hinder its development were, yf/T/ its adherence 
to the established church of England, which aroused the animosity 
of Massachusetts thus preventing it from joining the Confed- 
eration ; and second the unprotected nature of its frontier and the 
bitter enmity of the Indians at the eastward and to the north of 
the settlements. How this last came about, and whose was the 
folly and the fault, will, I think, be made clear by a careful study 
of the contemporary accounts. 



88 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

In 1610, one of the Algonquin Indians who had resided at the 
missionary settlement of Sillery on the St. Lawrence, and had 
occasioned the Jesuit fathers infinite trouble on account of his 
wayward manners, brought himself under discipline for his polyga- 
mous practices and to escape from the reprimands of the mission- 
aries, deliberately ran away, taking with him two, at least, of his 
wives and their children. His place of refuge was the Kennebec, 
many leagues away to the southeast, and the painful journey he 
must have taken to reach it gives abundant evidence either of the 
happiness of his much-married life, or the terrors of the priestly 
discipline. His career, however, was short, for in the following 
winter he was killed in a drunken brawl by an Indian of the very 
tribe with whom he had sought a home and refuge. In the fol- 
lowing summer of 1641, two Abnakis came to Quebec for the 
purpose of explaining matters and offering some expiation to the 
relatives of the murdered man. At first they narrowly escaped 
with their lives, but under the influence of two Christian Indians 
they were at last kindly received, the bereaved relatives satisfied 
and a lasting alliance established between the Indians of the St. 
Lawrence and those of the Kennebec. Previous to this date there 
had been but little communication between them and slight 
acquaintance. Thereafter the " Relations " make frequent men- 
tion of this amiable and powerful nation, destined to play a 
most important part in the history of the time. 

Their home was on the Kennebec ; they were the most power- 
ful tribe of that great family, which, coming out of the northwest 
in the unknown past, had floated over the great lakes and down 
the St. Lawrence and crossed the highlands into Maine. This 
last migration was a comparatively recent tradition in 1642, for 
when in that year the Society of Notre Dame of Montreal cele- 
brated their first Feast of the Assumption, and to crown the day 
ascended to the summit of the hill that gives its name to the city, 
two of the principal Indians in the party, stretching out their 
hands toward the hills which close up the horizon to south and 
east, exclaimed : " Here once were villages and very many people ; 
here our fathers tilled the ground, but it is now deserted ; all have 
vanished. Some have joined their conquerors and some have 
gone into the country of the Abnakis beyond the hills." 

In 1643, a pious Indian from Sillery, under a vow, went to the 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 89 

Kennebec to sow there in his humble way the seeds of the true 
faith. He found the English settled on the river, as they had 
been since 1627, and at first did not know them to be other than 
Frenchmen, never having seen an Englishman before. The In- 
dians do not appear to have borne a very good character. Father 
Vimont says in his " Relation " that they were much given to 
drunkenness, and had no acquaintance or business with any but 
> the English living there, and that from these heretics and from 
the vessels on the coast, they got the liquor which turned their 
heads. Our Canadian neophyte labored, however, faithfully and 
well, and on his return was accompanied by one of the Abnaki 
chiefs, who was baptized at Quebec, the Governor Montmagny, 
himself, standing as his godfather, and giving him his name. 

In this same year, again on the Feast of the Assumption, as 
the clergy were about to offer the sacrifice of the mass, the glad 
intelligence was brought that two sails were visible in the river 
a league away. I doubt not that any sight or sound of home 
was very welcome to the lonesome colonists, even to the self-sac- 
rificing missionaries themselves ; in this case doubly so, for the 
vessels contained .the Sieur D'Ailleboust, afterward to become 
governor, and his virgin wife * and her sister, together with the 
Mother Marie of St. Genevieve, and Mother Anne of St. James, 
and Mother Anne des Seraphins, "who had been gifted with a 
noble courage to surmount the dangers of the ocean and the fear 
of this barbarous country, and the importunate entreaties of 
those who would keep them in France and so divert them from 
this holy enterprise." With these were also Father Quentin of 
the Society of Jesus, and three other brothers of that company, 
Leonard Garreau, Noel Chabanel and Gabriel Druilletes. Great 
was the rejoicing, and knowing the lofty nature of these men I 
doubt if it would have been less sincere had it been known that 
in a few years Garreau and Chabanel would suffer martyrdom in 
the West, and Druilletes wear out his saintly life in the wilds of 
Maine. 

During these few years the missionary settlement at Sillery, 
just above Quebec, had received accessions to its numbers. All 
nationalities and tribes were represented among the Indians 

The wife of D'Ailleboust de Coulonges was Barbe de Boulogne, who as a child had 
taken the vow of perpetual chastity, and was married on the condition that her vow 
should not be broken. See Parkman, Jesuits in North America, p. 264. 



90 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

gathered from the lower St. Lawrence and the Saguenay, and 
now from the Kennebec. The seed sown in faith was begin- 
ning to bear fruit, and the faithful labor was at last to have its 
reward. In 1646, in early spring, some of the Abnakis at the 
mission determined to go back to the Kennebec, and talk with 
their people, and ask them if they would not gladly " lend ear to 
the Word of God." Nothing was heard from them until their 
return on the* 14th of August ; this was the eve of the Assump- 
tion, and on the following day, that of the Feast itself, they made 
their report. The speech of the chief is preserved in the " Rela- 
tions." He said that he had carried to his countrymen the good 
news of the Gospel, and had spoken to them of the beauty of 
heaven and the horrors of hell. Thirty men and ten women had 
promised to embrace the faith, and "all the others had urged 
him to go and seek for a father whom they would like to hear 
before giving their word." " See," he added in conclusion, " the 
thoughts and resolutions of my country. See if you are willing 
to give us a father ; my people will be gathered at one place dur- 
ing the coming winter to hear in peace and repose the voice of 
him you may send." Such a petition could not be refused. The 
Abnakis were not within their jurisdiction, belonging rather to 
New England, but they had asked for the cup of salvation, and 
how could it be withheld ? So it was decided, and the lot fell 
upon Gabriel Druilletes, and as this decision was reached on the 
Feast of the Assumption, and as he had first caught sight of the 
heights of Quebec on the same festival three years before, his 
mission was named "of the Assumption," and so afterward 
described. 

Druilletes was in all aspects a very remarkable man ; he was 
now fifty-three years of age, having been born in France in 1593. 
At his earnest solicitation, after entering the order of the 
Jesuits, he was after many years of service sent to Canada. He 
arrived as we have seen in 1643, and applied himself at once to 
the study of the Indian tongue. The winter of 1644 he spent 
with a hunting party, suffering every conceivable hardship. 
The smoke of the confined lodges was stifling, and at last he be- 
came hopelessly blind. Hundreds of miles of ice and snow and 
weary waste separated him from the little settlement at Quebec, 
and his Indian companions were obliged to lead him like a child ; 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 91 

but he was gifted not only with great endurance, but a lively and 
even sprightly and gay disposition, and this, with his deep re- 
ligious feeling, won the hearts of his companions, and carried 
him through all perils. At last, while at his devotions, his eyes 
were opened as if by a miracle, and thenceforth his sight never 
failed. 

Druilletes left Sillery on the 29th of August, 1646, with an 
escort of savages, and reached the Kennebec by way of the 
Chaudiere. His reception was most cordial, and from the whole 
neighborhood the natives flocked to see him. One of his compan- 
ions acted as interpreter, but as the Abnaki tongue bore some 
resemblance to the Algonquin, with which he was acquainted, 
he soon was able to dispense with these services. He vis- 
ited all the Indian villages in the neighborhood of Norridgewock, 
which subsequent events would seem to indicate as his headquar- 
ters, and then descended the river to the trading station at Cush- 
noc, now Augusta, where eighteen years before the Plymouth 
colonists had established themselves. Here he was well received, 
and visited it a second time, descending the river to the sea, and 
tarrying for awhile at seven or eight other English settlements 
on the coast. Whether he went to the west of the river is not 
clear ; he certainly went to the eastward as far as the Penobscot, 
where he found (at Castine) a little hospice of the Capuchins, 
presided over by Father Ignatius of Paris. With the good 
fathers of this mission he spent some little time to refresh him- 
self, and then returned to his charge, making the voyage in his 
bark canoe, and stopping again at the English settlements on the 
way. The Sieur Chaste had given him abundant provisions for 
the journey, and had moreover furnished him with letters to 
Winslow, who, in the interest of the Plymouth colony, com- 
manded at Augusta or " Coussinoc." In these letters he de- 
clared that he had seen nothing in the worthy priest which was 
not lovable ; that he was in no way interested in trade ; that the 
general testimony of the savages was convincing as to the purity 
of his motives ; he thought only of their instruction in spiritual 
things, and came amongst them to procure their salvation at the 
expense, if necessary, of his life. Winslow received the Father 
with all the courtesy and affection he could ask ; he took the let- 
ters and a copy of his credentials, and shortly after left the Ken- 



92 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

nebec for Plymouth and Boston. Meanwhile Druilletes as- 
cended the river about a league where the Indians had gathered 
in fifteen lodges or cabins to the number of perhaps five hundred 
souls ; here they built him a little chapel after their fashion, and 
as he carried with him his chapelle du voyage, or miniature 
vessels for the holy sacrifice, all the appointments were complete. 
By this time he had acquired sufficient knowledge of their dia- 
lect for purposes of instruction, and here he labored faithfully 
and patiently until the beginning of the new year 1647. He was 
especially tender to the sick, and by caring for their bodies at 
last gained their souls for heaven. He watched over them by 
night and tended them by day, and in the language of the Narra- 
tion, God rewarded this great charity by granting health where 
death seemed certain. 

So, too, in his general work, he was unflagging in energy and 
lofty zeal. 

He taught them of the Great Creator who would reward or punish 
them according to their works, and when he saw that the greater part 
of them loved to hear the glad tidings of the Gospel, he demanded of 
them these three things as a mark of their good will and desire to 
receive the Faith. First, they must give up the use of the seductive 
liquors which the fishermen on the coast had brought with them from 
over sea, and in their train, drunkenness and brawling and famine. 
This they promised to do and kept their promise as well as could be 
expected. Second, they were to give up their petty jealousies and 
domestic quarrels and live peaceably with each other. 

The Father Superior in his account of this mission, which was 
published in Paris in the following year, and from which I derive 
these details, writes : 

Men. are men as much at the end of the world as in the middle, and as 
in France between two towns or hamlets there is no end of bickering and 
punctilio, so here in this part of our America there are like little 
jealousies between the different Savage Cantons. 

So the father, who had representatives from many places at 
his little mission, exhorted them to end their disputes and love 
one another, and God gave them grace, and oftentimes after their 
wrangling they would go into the little chapel and ask pardon of 
Him and of each other. 

The third demand was the most difficult to comply with. 
Sorcery was a part, indeed the largest part, of the Indian's relig- 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 93 

ion. The "jongleurs" were a species of priest; their influence 
was immense, and the system which they had inherited and im- 
proved laid hold of the very foundations of savage life. They 
were the natural enemies of the missionaries, and their super- 
stitions the greatest stumbling-block in the way. Druilletes, 
nothing daunted, assaulted them at every point with heroic zeal ; 
he declared them to be impostors and selfish and ignorant, no 
better than their fellows, and finally weakened, if he did not 
absolutely destroy, the fetters with which they were enslaved. 

On the 1st of January, 1647, the little settlement was broken 
up and the "whole party, with their patriarch, as he was now 
called, ascended the Kennebec to Moosehead lake for the annual 
hunting expedition. In the spring, as the ice was broken, again 
they descended the river and Druilletes made his third visit to 
the English at Coussinoc. Winslow had returned and received 
him with open arms, and told him how he had spent the winter 
at Plymouth and Boston ; that he had presented the letters which 
he had carried with him to twenty-four of the principal citizens 
of New England, among them four of their most celebrated min- 
isters ; that with one voice they had approved of his design, and 
had declared that it was a good and lovely and generous action 
to instruct the savages, and that they blessed God for it. " The 
gentlemen of the Kennebec company have charged me," said 
Winslow, " to bring you word that if you wish the French to build 
a trading-house on the Kennebec, they will gladly permit it, and 
that you may exercise your functions undisturbed. If you are 
here," he added, " many of the English will visit you," as if to 
imply that there were some within the limits of the settlements 
who were Catholics. To this Druilletes could make no promise, 
other than that he would write again if the plan were feasible, 
and so they parted, Priest and Puritan, Jesuit from Canada, Sepa- 
ratist from Plymouth, but none the less bound to each other by a 
warmth of affection, which was to last, as we shall see, for life. 
On the 20th of May the missionary turned his steps homeward. 
He visited all his pupils in their various retreats, baptizing the 
sick and confessing and blessing them. It was with the greatest 
pain that they bade their friend good-by. Thirty of them went 
with him to Quebec, which he reached on the 15th of June, in 



94 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

perfect health, notwithstanding the fears of his brethren, who 
knew not what to think of his delay. 

So ended the first mission, and I do not know that I can give 
a better portrait of the character of the central figure in it than 
by using the language of his converts, as preserved in the " Re- 
lation " of 1647. 

It must be, they said, that the God our Father tells us of is very 
powerful; it must be that he is great, and has a great soul, for he has 
made this man understand and speak our language in two or three 
ninths, while the Algonquins, after dwelling a year among us, cannot 
speak it. This mau is not like our sorcerers and medicine men; they 
always deminl something for reward, he never; they spend no time 
with our sick; he is with them night and day. Our sorcerers make 
good cheer when they can, the Father fasts often; fifty days has he 
passed with only a little corn, not wishing to taste flesh; if one gave 
him anything the least delicate, he carried it at once to our sick. Surely 
God must sustain him, for we see how fair his complexion is, and that 
he is not accustomed to our hunting and our long marches; that he 
leads a quiet stay-at-home life; that he is a considerable man among his 
own people, and yet he bears and suffers as much and more than we; 
he is joyous amid the dangers and pains of long journeys and roads of 
iron. He is always doing something about us, our children, and our 
sick; he is welcomed by all. The French at Pentagoet have embraced 
him, and more wonderful still, the English have respected him, and 
they are not of the same country or the same tongue. All this shows 
that his God is very powerful and very good. 

The Abnakis, who accompanied their patriarch to Quebec, 
begged piteously that he might be sent back with them, but the 
request was refused for " just reasons," to use the mysterious 
language of the "Relation" of 1652. What these reasons were 
has been made known in the light of recent discoveries. In the 
first place the Kennebec was on English, not French soil, and 
in the second place the nearest mission of the church of Rome 
was at Penobscot, under charge of the Franciscans, as we have 
seen. There was on the surface a feeling of good will, but it is, 
now known that the father at Penobscot had privately inti- 
mated to the Father Superior at Quebec their unwillingness to 
have any intrusion within their limits. This was the year, too, 
in which Father Leo of Paris laid the cornerstone of the hos- 
pice at Castine, the relics of which have recently been discov- 
ered. So the Indians returned to the Kennebec without their 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 95 

patriarch. The next year they came again, but without success. 
There was other work for the missionary, and we read of him 
labor, ng under infinite trials, among the Indians on the north 
shore of the St. Lawrence, in the inhospitable region of Anti- 
costi. But the eager converts were not disheartened, and in the 
month of August, 1650, they again returned, this time fortified 
with a letter from the Superior at Pentagoet, who, moved by the 
entreaties of the Christian Indians, had withdrawn his objec- 
tions. This letter is preserved, and is in these words : 

We conjure your reverences by the sacred love of Jesus and of Mary, 
for the safety of these poor souls who call you from the south, to give 
them all the assistance you can in your indefatigable and courageous 
charity. And even if in passing the Kennebec you meet any of our own 
company, do us the favor of making known to them your wants. 

This decided the matter. " It is true," says Father Raguenau, 
who was now Superior at Quebec, "It is true that the district 
'is not within our jurisdiction, and yet how can we abandon peo- 
ple of such a good disposition, ready for the faith, and left with 
no teachers but ourselves." 

Druilletes was again selected for the mission, and left Quebec 
on the 1st of September, 1650. This time, however, he appears 
in a twofold character. The report he had brought from Wins- 
low of the good feeling of the Plymouth gentlemen interested 
in the Kennebec purchase, together with other overtures from 
those of Massachusetts, had convinced the authorities at Que- 
bec that it would be well to enter into more friendly relations 
with their English neighbors. The governor, D'Ailleboust, had 
been a fellow-passenger with Druilletes in 1643, and evidently 
knew his man, so it was arranged that the priest should take 
some time from his missionary labors, and visit Boston and 
Plymouth as envoy to those governments. Such a passport was 
necessary to save a Jesuit from the gallows, for in 1647 our 
worthy ancestors had decreed that punishment to any of the 
hated order. It was the 1st of September when they left Que- 
bec, and in three weeks they were on the Kennebec, past Nor- 
ridgewock, the highest Abnaki town on the river, and reached 
Coussinoc on St. Michael's eve, the twenty-ninth of the month. 
Of this second mission the "Relations" give but brief notice. 
The early historians do not allude to it, and even Charlevoix is 



96 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

unable to give the details. Fortunately, however, Druilettes' own 
journal has been found, and under the supervision of Dr. Shea, 
published in the New York Historical Society collection in 1857.' 
From this I derive what follows. On St. Michael's day Winslow 
received the missionary and his Indian followers. He heard 
their story, and replied, " I love and respect the patriarch. I 
will lodge him in my house, and treat him as my own brother, 
for I well know the good he does among you, and the life he 
leads." 

After nearly two months of missionary work, Winslow took 
Druilletes with him, and going overland to Merrymeeting bay, 
took sail for Boston, reaching there on the 8th of December. Mr. 
Parkman's spirited narrative leaves nothing to be desired in the 
account of this expedition. I can only allude to the novel 
character of the picture. A Jesuit priest at the very center of 
Puritanism, the guest of the magistrates, honored and respected 
at Boston and Plymouth and Salem, winning even the heart of 
Eliot, who, full of zeal for his own missionary work, leaned with 
a noble Christian love upon his fellow-laborer in the Lord. 

It was the 8th of February when he reached the Kennebec on 
his return, and resumed the labors of his interrupted mission. 
Everywhere, he gratefully says, he had been treated with affection. 

On the 13th of April Winslow returned from Plymouth ; his 
news was most assuring. The general feeling at the Old Colony 
was in favor of an alliance with the Abnakis against the Iro- 
quois. Deputations had been sent to Hartford and New Haven 
and Manhattan, to urge the same course. Even in. Boston, 
although the Abnakis were not under the jurisdiction of Massa- 
chusetts, there was a disposition to give a 1 ! the private assistance 
possible. The Indian deputations which had been sent to the 
Saco and Merrimac and Connecticut, returned a few days after- 
ward and brought equally favorable tidings. The whole atmos- 
phere seemed bright with promise of the future. The only dread 
of the Indians was the possibility of a war with the Iroquois ; 
that seemed now averted. God had smiled upon the labors of 
his servant, and his narrative glows with enthusiasm at the many 
noble qualities which he discovered among the new converts. It 
was with a happy heart then that after ten months of missionary 
labor he turned toward Quebec to make his report. It is not dif- 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 97 

ficult to imagine the joy with which he was received by the breth- 
ren at Quebec. It was midsummer when he arrived and the long 
twilight must have seemed all too short for the stories of the mar- 
vels which had been wrought. Page after page of the " Rela- 
tions " is full of them. What wonder, then, that after fifteen days 
of rest he was permitted to return upon this, his third and last mis- 
sion. Heretofore the route from the St. Lawrence to the Kenne- 
bec seems to have been by. the Chaudiere and Dead river, the very 
route of Arnold; but now for some unexplained reason he made a 
long detour. His guide was an Etchemin, either from the Penob- 
scot or the St. John, and he lost his way at the outset. The path 
they took was a valley of death. After fifteen days of fearful 
exposure they found instead of being near their destination they 
had barely overcome a third of the distance and had consumed all 
their supplies. Instead of the Kennebec they were at the St. 
John, near Madawaska, and it was necessary to follow this river 
to its head and there crossing the portage descend to the 
Kennebec. Their sufferings from hunger and exposure and fa- 
tigue were incredible, but Druilletes is represented by his Indian 
companion as having borne it with sublime resignation and for- 
titude. He was now nearly sixty years of age, and his endurance 
must have been immense. It was twenty-four days before they 
reached Norridgewock, where they had been mourned as lost. 
There was a- general fete in his honor. The chief of the tribe 
ordered a salute of arquebuses and embracing Druilletes, ex- 
claimed : " Now of a truth I know that the Great Spirit who 
rules in the heavens looks on us with a good eye, for he has sent 
our father back again." The good news spread far and wide, 
and from all sides they came to ask him to visit and teach them. 
His course was a sort of triumphal progress ; more than a dozen 
bourgades or lodges were visited by him on the Kennebec and 
throughout the English settlements on the coast. Everywhere 
his noble and gentle manner won their hearts, and he was hailed 
as a superior being, an angel from heaven. What wonder that 
his sufferings were forgotten by him, and he could say, " I have 
had such a deep sense of gratitude that words cannot express 
it ; for I have seen the seed of the Gospel which I planted four 
years ago in a soil which had borne for centuries nothing but 
brambles and thorns, now bearing fruit worthy of the table of 
7 



98 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

God." " If the years have their winter," says Father Raguenau, 
in the "Relations" of 1652, " they have their springtime also. 
If these missions have their bitterness, they are not deprived of 
their joys and consolations." 

When Druilletes had made the report of his interview with 
the New England authorities, a commission was at once 
issued to Godfrey, of the Council of Quebec, and to Druil- 
letes also, to proceed to the confederated colonies, and urge 
upon them an alliance with New France, and their co-operation 
with the Abnakis to resist the Iroquois. It was now time to 
proceed upon this errand, and so, returning from the visitation 
of his Indian flock, he makes the voyage to Boston again. But 
unfortunately the temper of the community seemed to have 
changed ; the commissioners of the colonies were at New Ha- 
ven, and thither Druilletes and Godfrey journey, but they could 
produce no impression, and, disappointed and apprehensive, the 
ambassador returned to his missionary work. All that dreary 
winter he labored as before, forgetting his diplomatic failure in 
the fervor of his religious zeal. As spring approached he told 
his people he must go to Quebec and make his report, and when 
they entreated him, promised to return once more, but he never 
came. The journey to the St. Lawrence over the snow and 
through the wilderness was one of frightful hardship. For ten 
days the father and his companions were without food. Some 
of the party, worn out by fatigue, dropped in the snow to die. 
They made a broth of their shoes and of the father's leathern 
camisole, and when the snow began to disappear used in the 
same manner the thongs of their snowshoes. And thus, worn 
and wasted to a skeleton, battered and bruised in every limb, 
the devoted missionary dragged himself up the steep hill at 
Quebec, and the mission of the Assumption saw him no more. 

It only remains to make one or two deductions from these 
facts, which, taken from contemporaneous accounts, I have put 
into the form of this hastily prepared narrative. 

The Abnaki Indians, or at least those on the Kennebec arid to 
the westward, were always considered within the jurisdiction of 
thl English colonies, and at no time within the limits of New 
France. 

No efforts were made by the English to Christianize them. 



THE MISSION OF THE ASSUMPTION. 99 

The labors of the Jesuits were the result (humanly speaking) 
not of design, but accident. They kept away from the mission- 
ary field until the call for help was so loud that it could not be 
denied or resisted. Their labors had no political significance, 
but were undertaken in the loftiest spirit of religious devotion. 

The Indians desired the alliance with the English, and asked 
for their protection, but it was refused. What then was to be 
expected but what actually took place. The terrible conse- 
quences of the so-called French and Indian war were the direct 
result of the folly of our fathers. They thought in their pride 
to humble the growing colony at the north, but they left their 
frontiers open to the attacks of a savage and relentless foe. 



PROCEEDINGS AT FEBRUARY MEETING, 1881. 101 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 



FEBRUARY MEETING, 1881. 

THE first meeting of the Maine Historical Society, after the 
removal of its library and cabinet from Brunswick, was held at its 
new rooms in the city building at Portland, February 2, 1881 
at 2.30 P.M., Hon. James W. Bradbury of Augusta, the president, 
in the chair. 

All the propositions of the standing committee were approved. 

Messrs. Israel Washburn and George F. Talbot of Portland, 
and R. K. Sewall of Wiscasset, were appointed a committee to 
report amendments to the by-laws at the next annual meeting. 

General John Marshall Brown reported that a lease had been 
executed, giving the society the use of the rooms assigned it 
in the city building for ten years. 

General Brown, ex-Governor Israel Washburn and Dr. John T. 
Gilman were appointed to report a resolution of thanks 'to the city, 
which was subsequently adopte'd. 

The president was authorized to appoint the various committees. 

Rufus K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset, then read a paper on 
"The Work of the Future Historians of Maine." 

In the evening the formal dedication of the new rooms took 
place. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily cold weather there 
was quite a large attendance of members of the society and 
invited guests, including ladies. The city was represented by 
Mayor Senter and a large number of th,e City Council. At 7.3.0 
o'clock the guests were called together by President Bradbury, 
who delivered an address of which the following is the substance : 
THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: In the belief that a removal of the society to this 
city would enlist a more general co-operation in its objects and extend 



102 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

its efficiency, it was resolved at a meeting held at Brunswick, November 
23, to accept the generous accommodations offered by this city and 
remove the library to the quarters so liberally fitted up by the resident . 
members. Is not the presence of the honored authorities of this city, 
and of this goodly number of its intelligent citizens an evidence of a 
desire and purpose that the fond anticipations of increased usefulness of 
the society will be fulfilled ? 

Since our last annual meeting, the last survivor of our original corpo- 
rate members has deceased. The act of incorporation of February 5, 
1822, embraced forty-nine members. Peleg Sprague, the last survivor, 
died on the 15th of last October. Six years ago, at a meeting held in 
this building, there was another of the original corporators present, the 
venerable Ether Shepley. When he entered, debate was suspended, and 
the last survivor of the original forty-nine, resident in the state, the ven- 
erable judge, was welcomed, and narrated the reasons that led to the 
formation of the society the desire to collect the facts and incidents of 
the state's settlement and progress. After a grateful acknowledgment 
of Judge Shepley' s presence a congratulatory dispatch was sent to Judge 
Sprague in Boston. 

The speaker then paid a high tribute to both Judge Shepley 
and Judge Sprague, and continued by saying the original forty- 
nine corporators were a remarkable body of men on account of 
their distinguished character, and the great age they attained. 

The average age of the whole body at death was seventy-three, five ex- 
ceeding ninety years and fifteen eighty. They are classed as follows: 
Law twenty-nine, divinity seven, medicine seven, mercantile four, gen- 
tlemen two. Amongst the lawyers we find the names of Judges Bridge, 
Cony, Dana, Fuller, Parris, Preble, Shepley, Sprague, Smith, Ware and 
Weston. At the bar, Thomas Bond, Joseph Dane, Enoch Lincoln, John 
Holmes, Stephen LongfelloLW, Reuel Williams, and William D.Williamson, 
the historian. The clergymen included Payson, Nichols and Tappan ; the 
physicians, Isaac Lincoln, Ariel Mann and Benjamin Yaughan. Dr. 
Vaughan was formerly a member of the British Parliament, residing 
in London, and his wife was a daughter of Manning, the banker. He 
was an intimate friend of Franklin, who was for a time in London, prior 
to our Revolutionary war, almost an inmate of his family. During 
the excitement against Republicans in England in 1794, in con- 
sequence of the atrocities of the French Revolutionists, Dr. Vaughan 
hastily left England, and soon afterward came to this country and 
settled in Hallowell, where he lived for many years, a most useful and 
honored citizen, full of charity and good works. The merchants 
included General King, our first Governor, and General Wingate. Hon. 
Robert H. Gardiner and John Merrick were the gentlemen. Such 
were the men that composed our society in the beginning. And it is ap- 



PROCEEDINGS AT FEBRUARY MEETING, 1881. 103 

parent from their character, that neither intellectual labor nor active 
business pursuits, nor the climate of Maine, are adverse to longevity. 

We have a state deserving a place in history, when we consider its 
discovery and early settlement and the thrilling events connected with it, 
its extensive territory and frontier position, its educational and moral 
culture and the character of its inhabitants. Its rigorous climate and 
sterile soil compel the exercise of industry, economy and perseverance. 
Trained by the practice of these virtues, the people it produces are 
characterized by ..self -reliance and enterprise, eminently fitting them to 
colonize and build up new states. They are consequently found in large 
numbers in nearly all the new states in the West. Wherever they are, 
Maine is honorably represented. We cannot vie with the West and 
South in the production of the great staples, but we can add to the 
wealth of the nation, intelligent, industrious and virtuous young men 
and women. While we regret their loss we can claim ours is as valua- 
ble a product as any state can boast, and that Maine is not wanting in 
her contribution to the wealth of the world. 

What is the main object of our Society ? It is to collect and preserve, 
as far as we are able, everything which will tend to explain and illustrate 
any department of civil, ecclesiastical and national history, especially 
that of Maine from its earliest discovery and settlement. It seeks these 
materials in early records, public offices, pamphlets and documents often 
found in private families, about to be thrown away as worthless, or 
exposed to the corroding effects of time. Ours is historic ground. In 
Maine occurred some of the conflicts between England and France for 
the possession of the best part of the American continent ; conflicts the 
most momentous of modern times in their results and influence upon the 
history of the world. For a time the French were in the advance. They 
possessed Montreal, Quebec, Louisburg^ Port Royal and Castine, striving 
to extend their foothold on the Atlantic coast. For a century and a half 
this contest continued until the fall of Quebec in 1759, when Wolfe gave, 
with his life, the great prize to the Anglo-Saxon race. The frontier set- 
tlements in Maine were a barrier to the advance of the French, and 
materially aided the Massachusetts colonists in their long conflict. If 
the French had triumphed instead of the English, and the Atlantic slope 
had been settled by the Latin race with a different religious faith and 
different ideas of liberty and civil government, what would have been 
the present condition of what is known as the United States ? What 
their religion, enterprise, prosperity and influence on the world ? Anglo- 
Saxon colonization has given us the amplest liberty and protection to all, 
and the political principles it planted here, will, we trust, effectually 
guard us against usurpation and the abuse of power by rulers through the 
efficient checks of a written constitution. Our feeble colonies have be- 
come a great nation of fifty millions of people. It is moving forward to the 
position of the foremost nation of the world, challenging admiration for 
its wonderful progress in wealth, extent, intelligence and prosperity. 



104 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Our society furnishes the elements of history. In collecting these ele- 
ments it needs the efforts of all its members. It needs the hearty 
co-operation of our fellow-citizens, of all who love the good name of 
their country. They can furnish material that would otherwise be lost* 
And how intensely we should be stimulated in our efforts by the recol- 
jection of the many nations that have disappeared from the earth, leaving 
scarcely a remnant of their history behind them to inform posterity of 
their existence ! 

The address, which was extempore, closed with a compliment 
to the city authorities for the interest they evinced by their pres- 
ence, to a community evidently so alive to the importance of this 
society, and an appeal to all that the fond hopes of the society 
should be realized in the home of Willis, the historian, where his 
spirit still survives. 

At the close of President Bradbury's address Hon. Israel Wash- 
burn, chairman of the committee of arrangements, made a brief 
but able speech, in the course of which he explained how it came 
about that the Maine Historical Society had returned to the 
home of its birth. 

General J. M. Brown then tendered the thanks of the society 
to the city for the rooms, a lease of which for ten years free of 
charge had been signed that afternoon. 

Mayor Senter responded in behalf of the city in appropriate and 
pleasing language. 

Hon. William Goold, the well-known historian, then read an 
interesting history of the lot on which City Hall now stands, and 
of the buildings which had previously stood thereon. 

At the close of Mr. Goold's historical essay, brief addresses 
were made by Hon. G. F. Talbot, Dr. William Wood, president 
of the Natural History Society, General S. J. Anderson, president 
of the Board of Trade, and Hon. Joseph Williamson of Belfast. 



MAY MEETING, 1881. 

The Society met at their rooms in the City Building, Portland, 
May 25, 1881, at 2.30 P.M., the president in the chair. 

Mr. H. W. Bryant, the assistant librarian, read a report of the 
accessions to the library and cabinet received since January last. 

Mr. Rufus K. Sewall of Wiscasset, as chairman of the field- 



PROCEEDINGS AT ANNUAL MEETING, 1881. 105 

day committees for the past two years, made a verbal report of 
sundry investigations at Monhegan, Damariscove and Castine. 
Photographs of these localities were presented by him to the 
Society. Mr. Sewall also presented on the part of Joseph Stevens 
a collection of silver coins in a frame which were found at Castine 
in 1841 by his father, the late Joseph L. Stevens, M.D. The 
thanks of the Society were extended to Mr. Stevens for his 
generous gift. 

Messrs. Israel Washburn, jr., Rufus K. Sewall and Hubbard 
W. Bryant, were appointed a committee on the selection of a 
design for a seal for the use of the Society. 

Mr. George F. Talbot then read a paper on General John 
Chandler of Monmouth, Maine. 



MEETING, 1881. 

The annual meeting was held at Adams Hall, Brunswick, July 
15, 1881, the president, Hon. James W. Bradbury, in the chair. 

The records of the last annual meeting were read and approved. 

The annual reports of the librarian, cabinet keeper, recording 
secretary, corresponding secretary and treasurer, were read and 
accepted. 

The standing committee made their annual report, and Hon. 
Israel Washburn, jr., of Portland, reported a list of amendments 
to the by-laws. Hon. Marshall Cram of Brunswick, treasurer, 
and Rev. Alpheus S. Packard, librarian and recording secretary, 
declined re-election, and each received a special vote of thanks 
for past services. 

On recommendation of the standing committee the following 
were elected resident members : John F. Anderson of Portland, 
Francis G. Butler of Farmington, Edward H. Daveis of Portland, 
Edward W. Hall of Waterville, Jacob B. Ham of Lewiston, 
Winfield S. Hill of Augusta, Horatio Hight of Scarborough, 
George T. Little of Auburn, William L. Putnam of Portland, 
Albion W. Small of Waterville, William Wood of Portland. 

The following were elected corresponding members : Charles 
E. Banks of San Francisco, Augustus W. Corliss of Fort Halleck, 



106 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

Nevada, Joseph J. Howard of London, Charles Rogers of Lon- 
don, T. J. Nichols of Bristol, England. 

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : 
President, James Ware Bradbury of Augusta. 
Vice-president, William Griswold Barrows of Brunswick. 
Treasurer, Lewis Pierce of Portland. 
Corresponding secretary, William Goold of Windham. 
Recording secretary, librarian and cabinet keeper, 

Hubbard Winslow Bryant of Portland. 
Standing committee, Israel Washburn, jr., of Portland. 
Rufus King Sewall of Wiscasset. 
William Berry Lapham of Augusta. 
William Goold of Windham. 
Edward Henry Elwell of Deering. 
Joseph Williamson of Belfast. 
Stephen Jewett Young of Brunswick. 

The amendments to the by-laws reported upon by Mr. Wash- 
burn were taken up, and by vote were laid over as unfinished 
business, to be transacted at the next annual meeting. 



METHOD OF PUBLICATION. 107 



VOTE AUTHORIZING THIS PUBLICATION. 

The reason for this new departure from previous methods of 
issuing its publications is fully explained by the vote passed at 
the annual meeting of the Maine Historical Society held at 
Brunswick, Tuesday, June 25, 1889, 9 A.M., in the Cleaveland 
Lecture-room, Massachusetts Hall, upon the following report, 
by a committee appointed at a previous meeting, accepting the 
report, and approving and adopting the method of publication 
therein recommended. 

The undersigned, a committee of the Maine Historical Society ap- 
pointed to consider the propriety of making some changes in the method 
of publishing the proceedings and collections of the Society, ask leave 
to report the following recommendations: 

That hereafter the proceedings and collections of the Society be pub- 
lished together, in quarterly parts, in the months of January, April, 
July and October. 

That each part contain seven sixteen-page forms, or one hundred and 
twelve pages of reading matter. 

That the paper cover of each quarterly part shall bear the title 
"Transactions and Collections of the Maine Historical Society," the 
month being added, and the words " Quarterly Part." 

That the price be fixed for each subscriber, at three dollars per year, 
in advance. 

That each member of the Society be required to become a subscriber. 

That an editor, and a publishing committee consisting of three mem- 
bers, be annually appointed to serve for one year, without compensation. 

That the entire proceeds of the publication shall belong to the funds 
of the Association; shall be collected by the secretary, and be paid by 
him to the treasurer. 

That each quarterly part shall contain an abstract of the proceedings 
of the preceding meeting, provided one has been held since the publica- 
tion of the last preceding part, but if not, of some meeting whose pror 
ceedings have not already been published. 

That each part shall contain such papers as may be selected from the 
archives of the Society by the editor, assisted by the publishing 
committee. 

That brief book notices, queries and answers, and brief abstracts of 
the doings of kindred societies, may appear in each part, but no paper 
which shall occupy more than an octavo page shall be inserted, until 
the same shall have been read before and accepted by the Society. 

That the secretary shall include in his annual report the financial 
standing of the periodical herein provided for. 



108 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

That respectable advertisements may be inserted at reasonable rates, 
but the space they occupy shall be additional to the one hundred and 
twelve pages heretofore provided for. 

WM. B. LAPHAM, ) 

JOSEPH WILLIAMSON, > Committee. 
HENRY L. CHAPMAN, ) 



To carry out the provisions of the foregoing report, which the 
Society has sanctioned, George- F. Talbot of Portland was ap- 
pointed, by the executive committee, editor of the quarterly pub- 
lication, with William M. Sargent of Portland as assistant edi- 
tor; and Dr. William B. Lapham, Professor Henry L. Chapman 
and Mr. Sargent were constituted the publishing committee. 

We issue on this beginning of the new year the first number 
of the Historical Quarterly, and expect to follow it by others in 
regular quarterly succession. 

There had accumulated among the archives of the Society 
quite a number of valuable papers, which its limited means have 
not allowed to be published. From these we have selected such 
as will be of most general interest, and afford a pleasing vari- 
ety of biography and general history, without following the or- 
der in which they were read at the meetings of the Society. 

It was necessary to assume some date at which to begin the 
publication of the Society's Proceedings, and we have selected as 
the initial point the first meeting in the city of Portland, after the 
removal of the library to that place, with an abstract of the 
historical address of the late president, Hon. James W. Brad- 
bury, and a report of the proceedings attending its delivery. 
When the important proceedings of the intervening meetings 
have been recorded in our volumes, each quarterly number 
of this publication will contain only minutes of such meet- 
ings as may have been held since the preceding quarterly 
number ; and more space will be available for book notices, que- 
ries and answers, historical memoranda, and abstracts of the do- 
ings of kindred societies, 



RESIDENT MEMBERS. 



109 



RESIDENT MEMBERS 
OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, JAN. 1, 1890. 

ALLEN, CHARLES FREDERIC, Kent's Hill. 

APPLETON, JOHN, Bangor. 

BAILEY, SAMUEL DONNELL, Bath. 

BANKS, CHARLES EDWARD, Portland. 

BARKER, LEWIS, Bangor. 

BARROWS, GEORGE BRADLEY, Fryeburg. 

BAXTER, JAMES PHINNEY, Portland. 

BERRY, STEPHEN, Portland. 

BOARDMAN, SAMUEL LANE, Augusta. 

BOURNE, EDWARD EMERSON, Kennebunk. 

BRADBURY, JAMES WARE, Augusta. 

BRIGGS, HERBERT GERRY, Portland. 

BROWN, JOHN MARSHALL, Portland. 

BROWN, PHILIP HENRY, Portland, 

BRYANT, HUBBARD WINSLOW, Portland. 

BURBANK, HORACE. HARMON, Saco. 

BURNHAM, EDWARD PAYSON, Saco. 

BURRAGE, HENRY SWEETSER, Portland. 

BUTLER, FRANCIS GOULD, Farmington. 

CHAMBERLAIN, JOSHUA LAWRENCE, Brunswick. 

CHAPMAN, HENRY LELAND, Brunswick. 

CHASE, ALDEN FITZROY, Bucksport. 

CILLEY, JONATHAN PRINCE, Rockland. 

CONANT, FREDERIC ODELL, Portland. 

CONNOR, SELDEN, Portland. 

CROSBY, JOSIAH, Dexter. 

CROSBY, JOHN LELAND, Bangor. 

COCHRANE, HENRY HAYMAN, Monmouth. 

DALTON, ASA, Portland. 

DAVEIS, EDWARD HENRY, Portland. 

DEABORN, JEREMIAH WADLEIGH, Parsonsfield. 

DEERING, HENRY, Portland. 

DIKE, SAMUEL FULLER, Bath. 

DOUGLASS, JOSHUA LUFKIN, Bath. 

DREW, FRANKLIN MELLEN, Lewiston. 

DRUMMOND, JOSIAH HAYDEN, Portland. 



110 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



DUREN, ELNATHAN FREEMAN, 

ELDER, JANUS GRANVILLE, 

ELWELL, EDWARD HENRY, 

EMERSON, LUTHER DORR, 

EMERY, LUCILIUS ALONZO, 

EMERY, GEORGE FREEMAN, 

FERNALD, MERRITT CALDWELL, 

FISKE, JOHN ORR, 

OILMAN CHARLES JAR vis, 

GOODENOW, HENRY CLAY, 

GOOLD, WILLIAM, 

HALL, EDWARD WINSLOW, 

HASKELL, THOMAS HAWES, 

HATHAWAY, JOSHUA WARREN, 

HIGHT, HORATIO, 

HILL, JOHN FREMONT, 

HILL, WINFIELD SCOTT, 

HUMPHREY, SAMUEL FISHER, 

HOLWAY, OSCAR, 

HYDE, WILLIAM DsWiTT, 

INGALLS, HENRY, 

JACKSON, GEORGE EDWIN BARTOL, 

JOHNSON, EDWARD, 

KING, MARQUIS FAYETTE, 

LAPHAM, WILLIAM BERRY, 

LEE, LESLIE ALEXANDER, 

LEVENSALER, HENRY COOMBS, 

LITTLE, GEORGE THOMAS, 

LIBBY, CHARLES FREEMAN, 

LIBBY, CHARLES THORNTON, 

LOCKE, JOHN STAPLES, 

LONGFELLOW, ALEXANDER WADSWORTH, 

MANNING, PRENTICE CHENEY, 

MORRELL, HIRAM KELLEY, 

MOSES, GALEN CLAPP, 

NASH, CHARLES ELVENTON, 

NEALLEY, EDWARD BOWDOIN, 

NEELY, HENRY ADAMS, 

PAINE, ALBERT WARE, 



Bangor. 

Lewiston. 

Deering. 

Oakland. 

Ellsworth. 

Portland. 

Orono. 

Bath. 

Brunswick. 

Bangor. 

Windham. 

Waterville. 

Portland. 

Norridgewock. 

Portland. 

Augusta. 

Augusta. 

Bangor. 

Augusta. 

Brunswick. 

Wiscasset. 

Portland. 

Belfast. 

Portland. 

Augusta. 

Brunswick. 

Thomaston. 

Brunswick. 

Portland. 

Portland. 

Saco. 

Portland. 

Portland. 

Gardiner. 

Bath. 

Augusta. 

Bangor. 

Portland. 

Bangor. 



RESIDENT MEMBERS, 



111 



PERHAM, SIDNEY, 
PETERS, JOHN ANDREW, 
PHELPS, ALBERT IRVING, 
PHILBROOK, LUTHER GROVES, 
PIERCE, LEWIS, 
PORTER, JOSEPH WHITCOMB, 
PUTNAM, WILLIAM LEBARON, 
REED, THOMAS BRACKETT, 
REED, PARKER McCoBB, 
ROBERTS, CHARLES WENTWORTH, 
SAFFORD, MOSES ATWOOD, 
SARGENT, WILLIAM MITCHELL, 
SEW ALL, FREDERIC DUMMER, 
SEWALL, JOHN SMITH, 
SEWALL, RUFUS KING, 
SIMONTON, THADDEUS ROBERTS, 
SMALL, ALBION WOODBURY, 
SMITH, WILLIAM ROBINSON, 
SMITH, CHARLES HENRY, 
SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY, 
SPRAGUE, JOHN FRANCIS, 
STEWART, DAVID DINSMORE. 
SYMONDS, JOSEPH WHITE, 
TALBOT, GEORGE FOSTER, 
TENNEY, ALBERT GORHAM, 
THAYER, HENRY OTIS, 
THOMAS, WILLIAM WIDGERY, JR., 
THURSTON, BROWN, 
TORSEY, HENRY PIERSON, 
WATERMAN, JOHN ANDERSON, 
WILSON, FRANKLIN AUGUSTUS, 
WHEELER, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, 
WILLIAMS, JOSEPH HARTWELL, 
WILLIAMSON, JOSEPH, 
WITHERLE, WILLIAM HOWE, 
WOOD, WILLIAM, 
WOODS, NOAH, 
YOUNG, STEPHEN JEWETT, 



Paris Hill. 

Bangor. 

Damariscotta. 

Castine. 

Portland. 

Bangor. 

Portland. 

Portland. 

Bath. 

Bangor. 

Kittery. 

Portland. 

Bath. 

Bangor. 

Wiscasset. 

Camden. 

Waterville. 

Augusta. 

Brunswick, 

Portland. 

Monson. 

St. Albans. 

Portland. 

Portland. 

Brunswick. 

Limington. 

Portland. 

Portland. 

Readfield. 

Gorham. 

Bangor. 

Castine. 

Augusta. 

Belfast. 

Castine. 

Portland. 

Bangor. 

Brunswick. 



112 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 

A BRANCH OF THE SMITH FAMILY. 

THOMAS WESTBROOK SMITH, a prominent and successful merchant in 
Augusta, Maine, who died in 1855, was born at Dover, New Hampshire, 
February 22, 1785. He went to Augusta in 1805, and five years later, 
married Abigail Page. For an account of his family, see North's 
Augusta. A letter to Mr. Smith, found among his papers, gives some 
account of the branch of the numerous Smith family to which he be- 
longed. It is dated at Durham, New Hampshire, July 13, 1843, and was 
written by Seth S. Walker, whose wife was a Smith. Durham once 
formed a part of ancient Dover. 

"The extraction and condition of the Smiths of Durham before they 
left England, is in oblivion ; no piece of antiquity remains which 
belonged to them except a cutlass, which is now in my possession; that, 
together with a coat of mail, has been preserved in the family from their 
ancestors down to about fifty years ago, when the coat of mail was lost. 
The family is supposed to have come from Plymouth, England. Several 
sons came over with their mother, who being a widow was here married 
to another husband. They arrived at Boston when only a few huts were 
erected there, and from thence removed to Oyster River, which was then an 
infant plantation. The mother came with them; and her second husband 
having died, she married a man named Nason. One of the sons, John 
Smith, left Oyster River and went to Little Compton. The second brother, 
James, settled at Oyster River, bought one hundred acres of land and 
kept a tavern. He married a Davis and had four sons, Joseph, John, 
James and Samuel, and daughters Mary, Sarah, and several others. 
James and Samuel were killed by the Indians. Joseph died at sea. 
John married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Buss, and had issue, 
John, James, Joseph, Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary and Hannah. Rev. John 
Bass married a daughter of Captain Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury, 
and died in 1736, aged one hundred and eight years. He was buried in 
the town burying lot, near where the meeting-house stood. James 
Smith (son of John and Elizabeth Buss) married Mary Trickey, and 
lived in Rochester. John Smith, brother of the last James, born De- 
cember 24, 1736, married first, Deborah Chesley, a sister of the wife of 
Rev. John Adams, and had James (your father), and Thomas, who was 
burned to death. He married second, Sarah, daughter of Rev. William 
Parsons of Hampton, and had Deborah, William Parsons and Sarah. 
John Smith (grandfather of Thomas W. Smith of Augusta) was a prom- 
inent man in Durham. He was for ten years representative from Dur- 
ham, and during the war of the Revolution, a member of the commit- 
tee of safety. The Smiths occupied a log house and garrison at 
Oyster River until the third John Smith (your grandfather) built the 
house where I recently resided." 

James Smith, father of Thomas W., married a daughter of Thomas 
Westbrook Waldron, whose wife was a daughter of Colonel Thomas 
Westbrook. Eliza Ann, daughter of Thomas Westbrook Smith, was the 
wife of Hon. James W. Bradbury. Mrs. Bradbury numbered among her 
ancestors not only the Vaughans, the Waldrons and Westbrooks, but 
through Elizabeth, wife of Rev. John Buss, she was also a descendant of 
Captain Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury. 

W. B. LAPHAM. 

AUGUSTA, December 26, 1889. 



CYEUS WOODMAN. 113 



CYRUS WOODMAN. 1 



A Memoir read before the Maine Historical Society, November 21, 1889. 

BY GEOKGE F. EMERY. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Buxton, Maine, June 
2, 1814. His genealogy, traced by his own hand from Edward 
who settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1635, will be found in his pub- 
lication entitled "The Woodmans of Buxton, Me.," in the library 
of the Maine Historical Society, and among the collections of 
many kindred bodies. His father was Joseph Woodman, a 
respectable lawyer of Buxton. His mother was Susanna, a 
daughter of Rev. Paul Coffin, D.D., the first settled minister of 
that town. He was early placed at Gorham Academy where, and 
at Saco, he prepared to enter Bowdoin College whence he was 
graduated in 1836. His attachment to his classmates was unusu- 
ally strong and never flagged. How well this was illustrated will 
never be forgotten by all the survivors, nine in number, who at 
the semi-centennial of their graduation assembled at their old 
college home at his bidding, and for several days as his guests 
shared his bounteous hospitality. His scholarship nnd attain- 
ments were more substantial than brilliant ; his taste leading him 
in the line of the solid and practical, in distinction from the 

1 This paper was prefaced by the following report. 

The paper about to be read is properly presentable in the form of a report from the 
committee appointed at our annual meeting in June last composed of the writer and 
Messrs. E. H. Elwell and Lewis Pierce. 

Tributes from the living to the dead involve a grateful, but delicate and somewhat dif- 
ficult duty. There is always danger, on the one hand, of undue eulogium, sometimes 
producing a revulsion of feeling among those best acquainted with its subject, and, on 
the other, of failing to do justice through fear of criticism at the bar of good taste and 
honest judgment. This has been specially appreciated in preparing a paper suitable to 
to the memory of Mr. Woodman, whose distaste for notoriety was a marked feature of 
his character. The aim has been, therefore to present a true picture of the man, but to 
avoid high coloring that would shock his delicacy were he living. How far this has been 
accomplished is left to the judgment of others than special friends, whose atten'ion is 
now respectfully addressed. 

In behalf of the committee, 

GEORGE F. EMERY, Chairman. 

8 



114 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

shining and theoretical. The theme of his commencement per- 
formance, among the first in rank, was " Independence of Char- 
acter," a trait for which he was eminently distinguished through- 
out life. In October, 1836, he commenced the study of law in 
Boston under the tutelage of Samuel Hubbard, next of Hubbard 
and Watts, and completed his preparatory course at the Harvard 
Law School. 

While a student in Boston his intimacy with John Albion 
Andrew, an old schoolmate at Gorham, was renewed and in- 
creased, and a room in the attic story in Howard street, of what 
is now called "The Woodbine," they occupied together, their 
nearest neighbor being Peleg W. Chandler, whose room the lat- 
ter has described as no room at all, but a mere closet lighted 
only by a skylight over the entry into which it opened. What 
these lifelong friends lacked in environment was more than 
counterbalanced by joke, merriment and song, though as to the 
last Andrew was chief, and always at the front. 

July 9, 1839, Mr. Woodman was admitted to the bar, and 
opened an office in Boston, being associated for a brief period 
with George S. Barstow as partner. His remarkable industry, 
accuracy and versatility had attracted the attention of holders of 
extensive land-interests in the West, who tendered him the sub- 
agency thereof, which he accepted, and this occasioned his re- 
moval to Winslow, Illinois, where he continued to reside for 
three years or thereabout, meantime having married Charlotte, 
a daughter of the late Deacon Ephraim Flint of Baldwin, Maine, 
who survives him, as do also their children, Mary, Frank, Wal- 
ter and Edward. 

After Mr. Woodman had become fairly established in his new 
field, and had exhibited his aptness for the business with which 
he was charged, its entire agency was conferred upon him, and 
was continued until the company for which he acted was dis- 
solved in the fall of 1843. He soon after changed his residence, 
and at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, formed a co-partnership with 
the late Governor C. C. Washburne, which continued for about 
eleven years. They were located in the focus of an opening 
mining industry, and in proximity to settling and timber lands, 
which began to attract public attention, the value of which these 
gentlemen well appreciated and utilized to pecuniary advantage. 



CYRUS WOODMAN. 115 

Their attention was consequently soon withdrawn from the ordi- 
nary line of the legal profession, and was devoted mainly to 
securing for themselves and others the best lands open to public 
entry, and thereby was laid the foundation for the fortunes they 
afterward achieved. To facilitate their business, after the state 
law authorizing the establishment of private banks went into 
effect, they established the Mineral Point Bank, which, from the 
esteem and confidence in which its conductors were held, at 
home and abroad, became an important fiscal agency in that day 
of " wildcat currency," and of an unsettled and uncertain condi- 
tion of the public finances. Rival interests, however, sought to 
cripple this private banking-house, and a concerted plan was 
eagerly prosecuted to drive it into the general condition of sus- 
pension of specie payments. But the energy and determination 
displayed to protect its customers from loss, at all hazards, ren- 
dered this attempt abortive, and resulted in adding increased 
strength and confidence in the bank and its managers. March 1, 
1855, the partnership of Washburne & Woodman dissolved, the 
affairs of their bank were wound up, and every dollar of its lia- 
bilities was paid in gold. Hard-earned success had been achieved 
by both, and the relations of the partners, who differed widely 
in their constitutional make-up, were characterized throughout 
by mutual confidence and esteem, as is evidenced by the follow- 
ing extract from the article of dissolution drafted by Mr. Wood- 
man : 

"Whereas we have for upward of ten years been doing 
business as partners under the name of Washburne & Wood- 
man, during which time our intercourse, interrupted by no 
untoward circumstances, has been marked by a constant feeling 
of kindness and goodwill, coupled with an unusual degree of 
unanimity of sentiment in relation to business transactions," 
etc., etc. 

In this connection the following episode in Mr. Woodman's 
life can hardly be ignored. Mr. Washburne, after crowning his 
ambition by the erection at Minneapolis of the best flour mill 
then in the world, went to Europe for the benefit of his health, 
which had become impaired by a disease which afterward proved 
fatal. On his return in November, 1881, he made his headquarters 
at a hotel in Philadelphia, where he could avail himself of the 



116 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

best medical skill that could be had. His malady was of such a 
nature, his family was so conditioned, and his estate so large and 
peculiarly constituted, that he deemed it suitable to make his will, 
the general provisions of which had been deliberately determined 
in his own mind, bu.t had not been reduced to form. After pro- 
viding liberally for his family and other relatives and friends, he 
had purposed to leave behind him in Wisconsin, where the foun- 
dation of his fortune was laid, and whose citizens had crowned 
him with the highest honors within their gift, a memorial worthy 
of him, of them and of all concerned. Under these circumstan- 
ces- he felt the need of a true, tried, but well-informed and' disin- 
terested friend to advise with, respecting the proper safeguards 
to be employed for carrying into effect his public bequests, and 
of a skillful draftsman to reduce his will in proper terms to writ- 
ing. His eye most naturally turned toward Mr. Woodman, and 
for him he sent to visit him in Philadelphia. The summons was 
complied with, though not without some reluctance from appre- 
hension that the occasion would be a painful one to both. Dur- 
ing the visit of several days Mr. Woodman discharged the deli- 
cate duty assigned to him in a pious, deliberate and most pains- 
taking manner, and to the great satisfaction of Mr. Washburne 
in all particulars, except consenting to act as one of his exec- 
utors. More than two years after the death of Mr. Wash- 
burne, there appeared in public print an article containing an 
allegation that the will was hastily drawn, intimating also that 
his "amanuensis " had exerted undue influence upon the mind of 
the testator, and biit for sudden death a new one would have 
been executed for carrying out his real purposes and intent. 
This touched Mr. Woodman to the quick. His nice sense of 
honor and devotion to his friend would not permit him to remain 
silent. Accordingly he prepared and widely circulated a pamphlet 
addressed to the legatees and devisees of Mr. Washburne, wherein 
he rehearsed with great minuteness all the facts and circumstan- 
ces touching the condition of the testator and the discharge of 
his own labor of love; showing that the will in question was dic- 
tated by his friend as *' calmly, deliberately, with clear thought 
and with entire freedom from extraneous influence " as any in- 
strument that was ever drafted. His statement closed with the 
.following tribute, as striking as it is pathetic : " May the same 



CYEUS WOODMAN. 117 

generous, charitable, and unselfish spirit which graced his life so 
inflame our own, that we too, like him, may long be remembered 
for benevolence of heart, for public benefaction, for private 
charity, for thoughtful care of the living and tender recollection 
of the dead ! * Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere. 7 Hon- 
ored be his memory ! " 

Returning now to the regular order of events, June 24, 1856, 
Mr. Woodman with his family left his home at Mineral Point for 
New York, and on the 6th of July following embarked on a fine 
sailing vessel, the "Walter Scott," for Europe for purposes of 
relaxation, but more particularly to enable his children to acquire 
a knowledge of the French and German languages. They re- 
mained abroad about three years, the principal portion of this 
period being spent in Germany. Having accomplished the objects 
of his residence abroad, he returned to Wisconsin. In 1861 his 
townsmen elected him to represent them in the legislature, but 
his business relations having called him away from the state, he 
resigned before taking his seat. In 1863 he removed to Cam- 
bridge, his chief purpose being to superintend the education of 
his sons, and to give them the best advantages there and else- 
where to be found. In May, 1869, the principal managers of the 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, with whom he was 
affiliated, urged upon him acceptance of an agency in the interests 
of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company in Ne- 
braska, a branch of the Chicago , Burlington and Quincy system* 
with ample powers and representing the directors with the title 
of vice-president. At first he was reluctant to accept it, but 
after looking over the field, he did in fact spend a year in super- 
intending the construction of a line terminating at Lincoln, the 
capital of Nebraska, and in managing the general affairs of the 
corporation. The duties of the position entailed upon him a 
service for which he was eminently fitted, but these he gladly 
laid down after successful consummation of the particular objects 
of his employment. There were many other corporate enter- 
prises in the directory of which his service was sought, but these 
in general he declined, his own affairs demanding all the time he 
was willing to devote to business. 

Public life, although he was eminently qualified for many of 
its duties, had no attractions for him. Party politics he wholly 



118 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

abjured, though on all public questions he was well informed and 
entertained decided opinions. He was in theory a democrat of 
the straightest sect, holding rigidly to a strict construction of the 
constitution himself, and measuring other men and measures 
by the same standard. Political honors were urged upon him 
in Wisconsin, but the manner of his meeting all such proffers is 
well illustrated by the following incident. In 1854 the demo- 
cratic congressman of his district, by voting against repeal of 
the "Missouri Compromise" line ; had so offended his party asso- 
ciates that, by an ingenious device, they determined to relegate 
him to private life. Accordingly, at the convention following the 
commission of the alleged offence, a platform was first adopted 
so antagonistic to the views and vote of the incumbent as to pre- 
clude his acceptance of another nomination without personal dis- 
honor, and which, as had been anticipated, he refused. There- 
upon a committee was appointed to wait upon Mr. Wood- 
man and tender him the honor. At the conference between them 
he informed the committee that his views were in entire accord 
with those of the offending congressman, and that he could not 
accept a nomination on the platform adopted. He was then told 
that if he would accept, he could receive a nomination on his 
own platform. This proposition also he promptly declined. 
Another gentleman was then nominated, but he failed of an. 
election, Mr. Washburne his republican competitor having carried 
the district. 

But Mr. Woodman did perform important public service on the 
board of overseers of Bowdoin College, of which he was long a 
member. His habit of judging men and things upon their merits 
without regard to personal considerations, and his readiness and 
ability to express his own views and convictions when others 
were inclined to keep silent from motives of delicacy, or fear of 
giving offence, rendered him eminently useful, and his presence 
in that body will be greatly missed. His benefactions to the col- 
lege, the extent of which is not generally known, and which dur- 
ing his life he was careful to conceal from the public eye, were 
generous in amount, wise in conception, and will continue to flow 
onward in their benefits to the latest generation. 

Though his publications were not designed to perpetuate his 
own memory, they will hardly fail to do so. First was the 



CYRUS WOODMAN. 119 

memoir of his maternal grandfather Coffin, found in the fourth 
volume of the publications of the Maine Historical Society. 
Then followed the Records of the Church of Christ in Buxton, 
during the pastorate of the same ancestor. In 1874 was pub- 
lished by and for him the genealogical history of the Woodman 
family of Buxton before referred to. But his most prominent 
literary service was in connection with the local and biographical 
history of Buxton, during the early period of its settlement. 
In this connection it is due his memory to add that, by some un- 
accountable oversight, the full credit due him in this department 
cannot be measured even approximately. The valuable book 
entitled " Records of the Proprietors of Narraganset Township 
No. 1 ", by William F. Goodwin, was largely the fruitage of Mr. 
Woodman's labors and money, as his correspondence abundantly 
attests. In its preface credit is given for important services ren- 
dered by several gentlemen, though the name of Mr. Woodman, 
without whose labor and financial aid it never would have been 
printed, is not even mentioned. 1 But in the " Buxton Centen- 
nial " published is 1874, prepared by J. M. Marshall and Mr. Wood- 
man jointly, will be found the elaborate historical address of the 
latter, delivered at the centennial in 1872, and an appendix from 
the latter of one hundred and thirty-eight pages of sketches de- 
manding time and pains, as is well said in the preface, " only those 
who have been engaged in similar work can appreciate." His last 
publication, issued in 1888, is entitled "A sermon by Rev. Paul 
Coffin, D.D., August 15, 17(52 in Narraganset No. 1, now Buxton, 
Maine, and an address there delivered August 15, 1886, by Cyrus 
Woodman." All his labor, research and expenditure in these lines 
were purely labors of love, which never can be fully appreciated, . 
and were never expected to be requited. One feature of his 
work stands out in special prominence. That was his accuracy 
as to facts, and his determination to give the truth so effectually 
as to foreclose need of further research. His devotion to the 
truth of history was so strong, that he did not hesitate to give 
expression to some facts which many would have omitted. For 

1 After the reading of this paper, a friend of both parties made the remark, that at the 
time of publication Captain Goodwin was too sick to attend to business. The corres- 
pondence of Mr. Woodman shows the facts to have been as stated in the text. It is prob- 
able that the preface was not written by Captain Goodwin, hjut was prepared by another , 
who was not well informed in the premises. 



120 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

instance, in a brief sketch of his father, he describes him as 
" quick-tempered, fastidious and irritable, but kind-hearted, gen- 
erous and hospitable." Another illustration is seen in causing 
to be published in connection with the memoir the private 
journal of his grandfather Coffin, without expurgation, note or 
comment, some of the entries in which bear with some severity 
both upon classes and individuals. The estimation in which he 
held Dr. Coffin was pathetic, and approached the worshipful. 
This is exemplified in his repeated biographical sketches of that 
distinguished divine, but was specially so when, on the one 
hundredth anniversary of his settlement at Buxton, at a public 
Sunday service in the old church edifice before a large congrega- 
tion Mr. Woodman read, though by request, the first sermon 
which his honored ancestor preached to the people of his charge, 
and which w T as also the occasion of the address previously 
referred to. 

Mr. Woodman was warmly interested in the early history of 
Wisconsin, and his contributions to the treasures of the histor- 
ical society of that state have been highly appreciated as in 
part is evidenced by his long official connection therewith as its 
first honorary vice-president. Judge Ortoh of the Supreme 
Court of Wisconsin in his eulogy of Mr. Washburne pays the 
following tribute to both these worthy sons of Maine. " Both 
Washburne and Woodman were among the earliest friends and 
supporters of this society, and have done much for its success by 
their encouragement, counsel and contributions." 

He was also an active manager in, and liberal benefactor of, 
the New England Historical and Genealogical Society located in 
Boston, and the value of his services and gifts thereto have been 
repeatedly and honorably recognized. 

His connection with this society commenced while he resided 
in Wisconsin as early as 1852 or before, having been elected a 
corresponding member, and in its success and prosperity he was 
warmly interested. This was shown by his valuable contribu- 
tions to its treasures while living, and by the wish he informally 
expressed to have carried out after his death, and which his 
descendants have piously executed. The pleasing reminiscence 
is also recalled, that at our meeting shortly before his death, and 
the first in our present delightful quarters, we were favored by 
his presence and congratulations. 



CYRUS WOODMAN. 121 

Of the extent of Mr. Woodman's munificence, and the various 
channels through which it continuously flowed, the world will 
never know. Most of his gifts, the development of 

That best portion of a good man's life, 
His little, nameless, self-unnumbered acts, 
Of kindness and of love 

reached their destination, like the dew from heaven, silently, 
refreshingly, but never reporting themselves, and often without 
revealing to their recipients the source whence they came. Con- 
stantly dispensing favors, he sought none in return, not even rec- 
ognition of his numerous benefactions. To this general rule, 
however, there were one or two notable exceptions. His old 
partner had founded the " Washburne Astronomical Observatory" 
connected with the University of Wisconsin, but no library 
fund being provided for its successful operation, Mr. Woodman 
established a perpetual one, part of the income of which is to 
be available for current use, and the balance to be added to the 
principal until it reaches one hundred thousand dollars, after 
which the whole is to be utilized within the line of the ndow- 
ment. In this case, his determination being to have his name 
associated with that of Mr. Washburne, the title of " Wood- 
man's Astronomical Library" wns prescribed, and is to be per- 
petuated, and upon failure or neglect in this particular the fund 
is to be forfeited. 

The uniqueness of his methods is further illustrated by two 
acts commemorative of his father-in-law, Deacon Flint, for 
whose memory he cherished profound respect. A few years ago 
he caused to be erected in Baldwin two stone posts and marked 
11 The Deacon's Road " to distinguish one the good deacon had 
in early life cut through the woods. Remembering also the spot, 
at the intersection of the old county road leading to Fryeburg 
with the newer one leading to Cornish, where was formerly 
located a trough whence travelers were accustomed to refresh 
their horses, and which doubtless he had personally utilized at 
an interesting and tender period of his life, he caused to be 
there placed a perpetual fountain in the form of a capacious cir- 
cular receptacle of granite for water supplied from two sources 
on the elevated ground above, and to be marked indelibly upon 
it " In Memory of Deacon Ephraim Flint." A gift of this, costing 



122 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

more than one thousand dollars, was made to the town accompanied 
by a fund adequate to keep the fountain in good condition, but 
coupled with a requirement securing its perpetuity. The inhab- 
itants gladly recognized both the gift and the tribute paid to one 
of the honored fathers of the town, but insisted upon perpetu- 
ating at their expense the name of the donor upon the same 
monument. To this he consented, but requested his name to be 
inscribed on its rear where it now appears. 

Mr. Woodman's mind seems often to have recurred to monu- 
ments to others, though oblivious of any for himself. Among 
his early and valued friends at the West, was Colonel William 
S"., a son of Alexander Hamilton, who in 1850 died in California, 
but whose grave was unmarked and threatened with desecration. 
Many years after this, on learning the condition of things, he 
caused suitable gravestones to be prepared in Boston with 
proper inscriptions thereon, and to be placed so as to perpetuate 
the memory of his friend, and protect the sacred spot from, 
molestation. 

Some one has truly said, " The world knows nothing of its 
greatest men." It is not affirmed in behalf of the subject of 
this sketch that he possessed a genius which dazzles by its efful- 
gence, or that his life was characterized by events to elicit popu- 
lar applause. To the one he made no pretence, and to the 
other he paid but little respect. What is claimed is, that his 
ideal of life was noble, and the measure of its attainment was 
high and honorable. What that ideal was, he has not left in 
doubt. In the closing words of his address at the Buxton Cen- 
tennial, his prayer was that the orator on the next similar occa- 
sion " may be able to say of us, as we of those who have gone 
before, that though our names are forgotten and we sleep in 
unknown graves, yet that in the humble path allotted us we too 
served our generation faithfully and well, and that the world was 
the better for our having lived." They esteemed him most who 
knew him best. Though not demonstrative in his professions, 
his regard for his friends, embracing a wide circle, was strong 
and abiding. His hospitality, though unostentatious, was hearty, 
largely extended, and generous. Nothing gave him more pleas- 
ure than to gather about him a circle of kindred spirits where 
free play could be given to the spirit evoked by reminiscences of 



CYRUS WOODMAN. 123 

his youth, and to the discussion of themes which interested him 
most, though seldom alluding to himself or his own affairs. He 
was surrounded in his library, his daily workshop when at home, 
by books of history, biography, and standard literature on all 
subjects of the choicest kinds, and these were to him an unfail- 
ing source of pleasure and profit. But when wearied by the 
work, which his business and wide correspondence with his 
friends entailed upon him, or when his spirit was inclined to sad- 
ness in seeing the circle of endeared ones narrowing more and 
more, he would fly away to visit his native state, or to some 
distant section of the country with every portion of which he 
became familiar. 

The religious element was more strongly and deeply rooted in 
his nature than from his ordinary conversation an observer would 
naturally infer. He was a despiser of shams both in politics and 
religion, and this he was apt to indicate on all suitable occasions 
without fear or favor. But he respected true statesmanship, and 
gave credit to it when found in the ranks of any party. He was 
also a believer in the fundamentals of Christianity from the Uni- 
tarian standpoint, was an accustomed worshiper, a diligent 
reader of the Scriptures, very fond of sacred poetry, and though 
not closely allied with any church, he took care to note in the 
genealogy of his father's family the date of his own baptism; 
and while, as he said, not attaching much importance to it, he 
was not infrequently heard to revert to this consecration of him- 
self by his " blessed mother " with pleasure. 

The following extract from the address delivered on the occa- 
sion of reading his grandfather's sermon is a fitting close to this 
paper, 

Let us, their descendants, see to it, and especially let those whose lines 
have fallen in these pleasant places see to it, that the altar becomes not 
desolate, that its fire goes not out, but that in the future as in the past, 
the divine flame shall be a lamp to the feet and a light to the path of 
erring man a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the per- 
fect day. 

His death occurred March 30, 1889, suddenly and without 
suffering from protracted disease, and his remains were interred 
in Buxton, in the cemetery adjacent to the old church where 
repose the ashes of his ancestors, whose memory he signally 
honored, and of whom he was a most worthy descendant. 



124 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

In closing this public testimonial, the writer said he could 
hardly refrain from adding in his individual capacity, that he 
counted himself fortunate in having enjoyed the intimate frierid- 
ship of Mr. Woodman for more than fifty years, and though 
shocked and saddened by the abrupt severance of earthly ties, 
the pathway now so shaded by recollections of endeared compan- 
ionship in the past, is illumed by anticipation of a reunion with 
him, and with other departed worthies, 

Where the faded flower shall freshen, 
Freshen never more to fade ; 
Where the shaded sky shall brighten, 
Brighten never more to shade ; 
Where the sun-blaze never scorches, 
Where the star-beams cease to chill, 
Where no tempest stirs the echoes 
Of the wood, the wave, or hill; 
Where the morn shall wake in gladness, 
And the noon the joy prolong, 
Where the daylight dies in fragrance 
'Mid the burst of choral song. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM GORGES. 125 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
WILLIAM GORGES, 1636 TO 1637. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, December 22., 1885. 

BY CHARLES EDWARD BAtfKS. 

FOR fifteen years (1620-35) the Council for New England 
had guided the political destinies of the colonization of these 
shores under the wise leadership of Sir Ferdinando Gorges "who 
hath been," said King Charles, " an imediat mover and a princi- 
pal Actor to the great prejudice of his Estate." Early in 1635 
the Council determined to surrender their great charter to the 
king. They had been bereaved by the death of prominent 
members, oppressed with great pecuniary losses in the pursuit of 
their colonial schemes, assailed before the Privy Council again 
and again by the rival Virginia companies and other envious 
persons until, as they say, " These Crosses did draw upon us such a 
disheartened weakness as there only remained a Carcass in a 
manner breathless." * The king accepted the resignation of 
their patented rights as tendered by them June 7, 1635, with 
reservation of all grants and vested privileges. The year before 2 
they had mutually agreed upon a division of the territory among 
themselves, and now they asked his Majesty to confirm these 
allotments. To Sir Ferdinando Gorges fell the segment between 
the Piscataqua and Kennebec rivers, to which he gave the name 
of Province of New Somersetshire. This allotment did not 
give him power to establish a civil government, and it was still 
necessary for him to secure a charter from the crown for the 
sovereignty, as well as the title to the soil of the territory. The 
death of his intimate associate and co-worker, John Mason, 
whom he describes as " a man of action " took place November 
26, of this same year. This untimely misfortune necessitated 
renewed activity on the part of Gorges, as he was now the only 

1 Records of the Council for New England, April 18, 1635. Ibid. 



126 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

one of the patentees who attempted to develop the resources 
and possibilities of the several divisions of the patent. While 
pursuing, therefore, the work of acquiring seigniorial privileges in 
the new province, he provided for the immediate wants of his 
future subjects by dispatching his nephew Captain William 
Gorges to the colony, clothed with such authority as he could 
delegate to an agent at that time. 

Captain William Gorges was the second son of Sir Edward 
Gorges of Charlton Manor by his wife Dorothy, daughter of 
Sir George Speke, K.B. He was baptized at Wraxall, February 
9, 1605-6, and was therefore thirty years old upon his arrival in 
the province 1 . Sir Edward died when William was nineteen 
years of age, leaving four sons and four daughters, of whom 
Thomas, the youngest son, was in orders, and became arch-deacon 
of Winchester, prebendary of Westminster and doctor of 
divinity. William chose the profession of arms and became an 
officer in the garrison with his uncle Sir Ferdinando. 2 He was a 
favorite nephew " whome I esteme next my owne children " 
wrote the old knight. From the parapets of the magnificent 
fortress of Plymouth overlooking the banks of the Tamar, this 
subaltern was transported to the forest wilds of an almost 
unknown country, to govern scarce half a thousand people from 
the loop-holes of a blockhouse on the banks of the Saco. The 
province from Piscataqua to Kennebec was " no other than a 
meer Wilderness, here and there by the Sea-side a few scattered 
plantations, with as few houses." 4 To this fringe of settlements 
on the coast of Maine, he came in the winter of 1635-36, as I 
judge, in company, perhaps, with his kinsman Francis Champer- 
nowne. 5 

As soon as the distant portions of his new territorial jurisdic- 
tion could be informed of his arrival, it is probable that prepara- 
tions were immediately made to organize a provisional govern- 
ment and hold court, although it is not the earliest recorded 
instance of a formal judicial tribunal in the limits of the present 

1 New England Gen. Hist. Register, xxix, 112. 

2 Sir Ferdinando Gorges says he "had been my lieutenant in the fort of Plymouth" 
and in extant letters and documents of that period he is called captain. Trelawny 
Papers, 98, 99, 105, 139, 390. 

Letter, Gorges to Winthrop, August 23, 1637, printed in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. vii. 

4 Underhill, Newes from America, 20. 

B Chainpernowne was related by marriage to Sir Ferdinando. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM GOUGES. 127 

state of Maine. 1 The persons selected as his official advisers 
by Sir Ferdinando, or perhaps chosen by himself were mostly 
early settlers and patent proprietors, and generally older than 
himself. They represented all sections of the province, east and 
west. Richard Bonython the first named was fifty-six years old 2 ; 
Thomas Purchas was sixty years 8 ; Edward Godfrey was fifty- 
two years 4 ; Thomas Lewis was 'certainly as old MS his partner 
Bonython 5 ; while Thomas Cammock and Henry Josselyn were 
the only gentlemen whose birth was within a half-decade of their 
new Deputy-governor. 6 The first public session of this Com- 
mission was holden in Saco, Friday, March 25, 1636, at the house 
of Captain Richard Bonython at which all the above-named 
persons were present. The jurisdiction of the court seems to 
have been co-extensive with the limits of the province and the 
records of its sessions show that the inhabitants " were influenced 
by the same litigious spirit and the same passions which charac- 
terize a denser population and a more refined state of society." 7 
The first four cases brought before this court were a quartette 
of men " for being drunck," and the august councilors promptly 
fined the culprits u 5s. a piece for being drunck." Mr. William 
Hooke, a "godly gent," according to Winthrop, 8 son of Alder- 
man Humphrey Hooke of Bristol was fined thirty shillings " for an 
uprore comitted in shouting of divers peces in the night." At this 
court George Cleeves and John Bonython began their turbulent 
public careers as prisoners before the bar, the former for "rash 
speeches " and the latter for licentiousness. 9 The court records 

1 The existing court records contain the entry of a probate return dated July 15, 1635 
showing the existence of such a court of record before the arrival of William Gorges. 
In 1662, when Ferdinando Gorges resumed control of the province for a brief period his 
trustees in convention a e sembled directed their marshal to gather from all previous 
recorders and clerks all "Rotula, Books, Records, Instruments, Scales and Writings of a 

publick nature since the year of our Lord 1634." [P. R. O. Col. Papers, xvi, 34.] 

This takes back the probability of an organized government one year more and if we can 
rely on the genuineness of the " Wheelwright Deed " of 1629, and some of its c Hater al 
documents we have the evidence of an official status appertaining to Vines and Josselyn 
in 1633. [N. H. Provincial Papers, i, 83-86.] 

8 The Bonython family of Maine, by the writer of this article. 

8 History Brunswick and Topsham, 788. 

* Edward Godfrey, his Life and Letters; by the writer of this article. 

B Folsom, Saco and Biddeford. 

6 Their ages are not definitely known however, but this statement is based upon many 
collateral circumstances too numerous to cite. 

7 Willis, Portland, 68. 8 Winthrop, Journal, ii, 125. 
9MSS. court records, deposited at Alfred, Me. 



128 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

of Maine in subsequent sessions were generally enlivened by the 
appearance of one or the other of these two unquiet persons as liti- 
gants or prisoners. During the nineteen recorded sittings of the 
Commissioners' Court l nearly sixty cases came up for adjudica- 
tion, ten criminal and forty-four civil, a large moiety of the latter 
being " for debt " and the remainder " slander." At the first 
session the ancient and important office of constable was trans- 
planted to our shores 2 when Mr. William Smith was " sworn as 
constable for his Ma ties servus for the weale publique from Cape 
Elizabeth to the furthermost parte of this province eastward." 8 
The court also provided for the erection of a pair of stocks for 
the punishment of offenders, and it appears that Richard Hitch- 
cock of Saco had the honor of inaugurating them in April, 1637, 
as the first occupant. 4 

The traffic in liquor also received attention at the third session 
of the court and the following order was passed, the first statute 
in the temperance annals of Maine : 

"It is ordered iff any man that doth sell strong liquor, or 
wyne, shall suffer his neighbor laborer or servant to continue 
drinking in ther house except men invited or laborers upon the 
working day of one hour att diner, or strangers or lodgers there, 
that the offender should forfeit 10 shillings for every offense 
and the persons so drinking three shillings four pence each." 6 

The Indians came up for a share of legislation and the follow- 
ing statute was passed because of the losses of live-stock, to 
which the settlers 'had been subjected in the past : " Every 
planter or Inhabitant shall doe his best Indevor to apprehend, 
execut or kill any indian y* hath binne knowne to murder any 
English, kill ther cattle or any waie spoile ther goods doe them 
violence and will not make satisfaction." This was a direct 
stamp of approval on the modern " lynch law." But this spirit 
of fair dealing with the natives, received a confirmation in the 
order passed the next year, that John Cousens of Westcustago 
(North Yarmouth) should " give full satisfaction to an Indian 
for wrongs don to him " and this honorable attitude toward the 
Indians bore good fruit. For forty years following this order 
they lived in amity with the whites, and it was not till King 

1 MSS. court records, deposited at Alfred, Me. 

2 Norman Constables in America, by Herbert B. Adams, Ph. D. 
MSS. Court Records. *Ibid. 6 Ibid. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM GORGES. 129 

Philip's war in 1676, which started in another colony, that the 
long peace was broken. 1 

No sooner however was young Gorges initiated in his new 
work than he incurred the enmity of Master George Cleeves of 
Casco, whom Governor Edward Winslow of Plymouth called the 
<c arrantest knave that evt j r trod on New English shores." 2 To 
those, who have had occasion to ex-imine the biographical details 
of this notorious person, this opinion of the great Puritan magis- 
trate will not seem underserved. He went to England in the 
latter part of 1636, bearing scandalous tales to Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges concerning his favorite nephew and the assistants who 
made up his commission. <c By his misreports to mee of theire 
miscarriage in their places," said Sir Ferdinando, " hee intruded 
himselfe into my good opinion," 8 and the wily schemer, to whom 
Parson Jenner of Saco rightly gave credit for having " sub till 
head, 4 " having gained his foothold with the unsuspecting old 
knight, did not leave him until he had succeeded in poisoning the 
mind of Sir Ferdinando against his nephew and his dismissal 
was thereupon determined. It might have saved Sir Ferdinando 
much pain and Captain William this mortification, if the former 
could have met Mr. Matthew Craddock at the Exchange in 
London early in 1637, and learned from him some facts about 
Cleeves, who had made a proposition to Craddock so question- 
able in its character that he " disavowed for having aught to doe 
therein." 5 Meantime while the young captain was attending to 
his duties in court across the Atlantic the scandal-monger was 
prospering and had secured from Sir Ferdinando, January 27, 
1637, a patent of one thousand five hundred acres, the present 
site of Portland, and a joint commission with John VVinthrop to 
manage his affairs in New England. Cleeves triumphant sailed 
immediately for Maine, and reached his home about the first of 
June of that year, where having first got possession of his land 

1 MSS. Court Records. 

2 Letter, Winslow to Winthrop, September 11, 1643, printed in Mr. J. P. Baxter' 
" George Cleeve" (Gorges Society) p. 124. Mr. Baxter's argument that this characteriza- 
tion, which was jointly applied to Cleeves and Morton of Merry- Mount, "should not be 
allowed to prejudice us against Cleeve " and that it was probably intended to hit Morton 
rather than Cleeves is an ingenious bit of special pleading (Ibid. p. 125). 

Letter, Gorges to Winthrop, see note 3. p. 126. 
* Letter, Jenuer to Winthrop, April 6, 1646. 
5 Letter, Craddock to Winthrop, March 15, 1636. 

9 



130 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

(June 8), hurried off to Boston to enlist the support of Governor 
Winthrop in his behalf. 1 But the Governor, who had but just 
received a letter from Craddock relating the dealings he had had . 
with Cleeves, and the suspicions he had of his sincerity, was 
doubtless glad to avail himself of a technical flaw in the author- 
ity conferred on himself and Cleeves. Winthrop says that the 
proposed joint commission " was observed as a matter of no good 
discretion, but passed in silence." 2 Cleeves however was not a 
person to be deterred by such trifles, and with this documentary 
authority from Gorges in his possession he proceeded to exercise 
the functions of chief magistrate. 3 

Captain William Gorges was recalled home in disgrace and a 
"generall discharge" of all the commissioners, including his 
faithful servant Richard Vines, was made by Sir Ferdinando. 
Thus closed the short and unhappy administration of young 
Captain Gorges, who held his first council March 25, 1636, and 
before midsummer of 1637, was cashiered as a sacrifice to the 
malicious slanders of an ambitious and unscrupulous politician. 4 

The victory of Cleeves was but ephemeral, and he soon fell in 
the good opinion of Sir Ferdinando never to rise again while the 
good nobleman lived. Nevertheless he made the most of his 
temporary elevation to power. John Winter writing to Tre- 
lawny July 8, 1637, on business of the plantation at Richmond 
island says in speaking of current public affairs, ** Syr Ferdi- 
nando Georg hath made Cleeves governor of his province as 
he reports, now he thinkes to wind all men to his will," 5 
and Cleeves openly boasted to Winter of his influence with Sir 
Ferdinando. As soon as Captain William Gorges arrived home, 
probably in the middle of August, he must have convinced his 
uncle of the utter falsity of the representations of Cleeves about 
himself and associates. Vines and others had already protested 
in "severall letters" against the injustice of the dismissal of the 
late deputy governor, and when the young nephew presented his 
case in person, the deposition of the exalted adventurer was 

1 Winthrop, Journal, i, 276. 2 Ibid. 

8 George Cleeve and his Times, p. 70. 

4 He was not here probably on June 30, 1637, when Vines as joint attorney with Gorges 
for the council for New England, gave possession of certain land to John Winter the fac- 
tor of Trelawny, and the inference is good that he had gone home prior to that date. 
(Trelawny Papers, 105.) 

6 Trelawny Papers, 111. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM GORGES. 131 

soon resolved upon. " I am offended with myselfe," said Gorges 
"for being over credulous of another ; neither needes it seeme 
strange it should bee soe, consider acion being had to the sincer- 
ity of one and the fraude of others." 1 On the 23d of August, 
1637, Sir Ferdinando wrote to Governor Winthrop requesting 
him to see that Vines and his former officials under the deposed 
administration should be properly vindicated before the people, 
and obtain justice against the slanders of Cleeves. Richard 
Vines was at the same time reappointed deputy governor as he 
had been before William Gorges held the office, and George 
Cleeves returned to his plantation at Casco, to nurs.e his wrath 
and plot new schemes for political advancement. In a previous 
paper which I had the honor to present to this Society on the 
Plough Patent I showed how his <c subtill head " developed the 
startling plan of digging up the dead " Plough " title and making 
it the means of again disturbing the peace of the province for 
over four years. 2 

1 Letter, Gorges to Winthrop, see note 3. p. 126. 

* Colonel Alexander Rigby. The Plough Patent and the Province of Lygonia, Port- 
land 1885. Private edition of fifty copies printed for distribution, reprinted from the 
Maine " Recorder." 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL SURMISE. 



133 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL SURMISE. 

LOCATING THE HOUSES OF GORGES AND GODFREY AT YORK, ME. 

[Extract from an "Abstract of Title of Mr. Samuel S. Allen's Farm in York." 
By Wm. M, Sargent.] 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, February %0, 1890. 

BY WILLIAM M. SARGENT. 

THE presence of an ancient foundation within the confines of 
this title gives rise to speculation as to its builder and purpose. 
Mr. Marshall has, and Dr. Banks and other writers, following his 
deductions, have, argued for the location of Governor Edward 
Godfrey's house, " the first ever built " in York in this vicinity ; 
their location of it somewhere near Godfrey's Pond and Cove 
being so indefinite as to confound it with the traces of a perhaps 
earlier occupancy on our tract. 

On pages four and five of this "Abstract," it has been shown that 
the site they call Godfrey's came to Ann Messant-Godfrey by mort- 
gage from Rev. George Burdett ; and is the same place conveyed 
by her daughter, Mrs. Shapleigh, to Raynes (see York Deeds, 
iv, 20; iii, 116 and 34). This was where she, as Godfrey's 
widow, took up her abode after the failure of her husband's 
title to his homestead on the north side of York river. It was 
called Mr. Godfrey's farm only by the old custom and law of 
coverture, of which Mr. Marshall, from his written deductions, 
seems to have been totally ignorant deductions the other writers 
have adopted without independent research. It was not even 
invariably thus designated, but quite oftener the other way, Mrs. 
Godfrey's. (See York Deeds, vi, 158 and 169 ; ix, 11.) 

Godfrey's deed to his son precisely locates his residence upon 
the north side. (York Deeds, i, 4.) 

Godfrey's own language shows that he had no original title on 
the south side " the south side to Ferdinando Gorges, and only 
the north side to himself and divers others his associates." 



134 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

(Banks' Edward Godfrey, page 48, and Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., 
ix, 344.) 

Moreover, whatever title Godfrey had to land on the south 
side of the river, except by coverture, as above, : was to two 
hundred acres by an alleged deed from Vines, as Gorges' agent ; 
(see York Deeds, i, 4), but allowing this allegation to be true, 
that transfer was made some years after his asserted date of 
building the earliest habitation and the land could not have been 
its site ; and his conveyances away of the whole of this tract to 
Moore, Adams and Donnell without any mention of. any build- 
ings is additional proof that he did not locate upon that side of 
the river. (Pages 82 and 83, Banks' Edward Godfrey, and page 
378, vol. ix, Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., and York Deeds.) 

Besides the above it is only necessary to point out that Dr. 
Banks' notes on pages eleven 1 and twenty-one 2 of his "Edward 
Godfrey" are not only inconsistent with each other, but the latter 
conclusively proves, by the surveyor's return in 1644, that God- 
frey's house was between " from above the wolf- trap to Mr. Nor- 
ton's " locations well known to be on the north side of the 
river. 

Having thus banished beyond these titular limits the most 
formidable claimant, and the one who has hitherto had the most 
supporters, for the honor of selecting this early site, to whom is 
to be assigned the upraising of a house, that from its remains, 
was evidently too pretentious and too grand in its proportions 
for the work of any of the poorer fishermen or earlier settlers? 
To no less a person than Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Lord 
Proprietor of the Province of Maine. 

That Gorges had a house a sort of governmental residence 
on the south side of the river is beyond all question. In his 
" Instructions," the second set, dated March 10, 1639 ( Court 
Records, i, 38), he directs " y* there may be a place appointed 
for the hearing and determining of causes, I have thought to 
assigne the same to be as neare as may be in the midst of that 
parte of the p'vince w ch is most inhabited, and that there be a 
house built for that purpose at my own charge if it cannot 
otherwise be setled." By his letter (Sainsbury's Calendar of 
Colonial Papers, x, 55), he shows that his house had been com- 

1 p. 307, vol. ix, Maine Hist. Soc. Coll. 2 Id. p. 318. 



A TOPOGRAPHICAL SURMISE. 135 

pleted during the next year ; "Ashton, 28 Jany 1640, Sir Ferd 
Gorges to Sec. Windebank Perceives by letters received from 
New England that had he not lately [3 Apr.,. 1639] obtained the 
grant from the King, he should not have been master of more 
land than his house stands upon ; his title to the rest being dis- 
puted by one and the other. Shall speed in his resolution to 
make good the King's grant, but does not purpose to take ship- 
ping before he receives commands." 

In the deed to the "Maijor & Coality of Gorgeana" (York 
Deeds, iv, 46), "y e sd sir Fardind Gorges house" is located with 
great precision between "Poynt Ingleby" and the harbor mouth 
on " a Necke of Land [then and now called Gorges' Neck] lijng 
at the Harbours mouth of Gorgeana aforesd, on the South side 
of the riuer there." 

(Court Records, i, 141, 18 Oct., 1647.) " Robert Nanny shall 
have an extent upon the house and land of Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, as two indifferent men shall judge it untill his debt of 
aleaven pounds starling be payd." 

Now, as, in the progress of this "Title," the grants by the town 
of York, upon Gorges' Neck, have all been accounted for as far 
west as up to Point Ingleby and to the line of the two hundred 
acres Godfrey alleged he had from Vines, and as that grant did 
not include any house, the conclusion is irresistible that Mr. Allen 
is the present possessor of the site of Gorges' stately house, the 
first and only feudal manor of Maine.' 



NOTE BY DE. CHAS. E. B'ANKS. 

Having had an opportunity to examine the evidence presented by Mr. 
Sargent on the location of the Godfrey house, I think it proper to say 
that a re-examination of the matter (as published in my monograph, 
printed in vol. ix, pp. 295-384, of the Society's Collections), has convinced 
me of the correctnesss of Mr. Sargent's conclusions. I am very glad to 
admit my error for the sake of historical truth, and his clear and logical 
presentation of the case leaves but little more for me to say. That 
little is to explain that the statement placing Godfrey's house on the 
south side of the river was based upon the unqualified report of the 
late Hon. N". G. Marshall of York, of whose enthusiastic and open- 
hearted interest in the local antiquities of the old town so many of us 
have had knowledge. Being unable to visit the locality, as I was then 
residing on the Pacific coast, I relied on Mr. Marshall's statement, that 
by local tradition and legal title the old farm of Godfrey, near Godfrey's 
Pond and Cove, could be shown with the ruins of the cellar. I am con- 
fident that Mr. Marshall would have been the first to admit his error, 
which under all circumstances was a natural one. 



ENOCH LINCOLN". 137 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 23, 1882. 

BY EDWARD H. ELWELL. 

W HEN, after an agitation extending through a period of more 
than thirty years, the District of Maine, then known as the "three 
Eastern Counties," separated itself from Massachusetts and set 
out on an independent career, the question might well have 
arisen, Has she among her sons, men capable of taking the new 
ship of state out of port, and safely guiding her over the untried 
waters of local self-government ? For more than a century and 
a half her people had been in the leading-strings of Massachu- 
setts, and although they had contributed their full share of able 
men to the councils of the state, it was thought by many a dan- 
gerous experiment to intrust to them the entire management of 
their affairs. Besides, the people were poor and dreaded the 
expense of a state government. It was estimated that the whole 
cost of a separate government would be one thousand nine 
hundred and seventy- two pounds, and this was enough to deter 
many from favoring the project ; yet there were large-souled, 
patriotic men in those days. In the debate, a citizen of Portland, 
very zealous in the cause of separation, in order to obviate the 
objection of increased expense, replied that he would serve as 
governor two years for nothing. 

When the time came governors were not wanting. The new 
state was especially fortunate in the selection of the three men 
who filled the executive chair during the first decade of her 
existence. Two of them were her own native sons, and the 
third was not surpassed in devotion to her interests by either of 
the others. The three form a trio of able men, diverse in 
character and gifts, but one in patriotic purpose. 

William King, the man of affairs, active, energetic, distin- 
guished in the legislature of Massachusetts by his efforts in 



138 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

behalf of religious freedom, an early and ardent advocate of the 
separation of Maine from Massachusetts, presiding over the con- 
vention which formed the constitution of the new state brought 
to the administration of her affairs a wide experience in prac- 
tical matters of business as well as of legislation. 

Albion K. Parris, the jurist and administrator, without bril- 
liant talents, but a man of great industry, promptness, fidelity, 
sagacity, and so courteous in manner that he was the most pop- 
ular man of his day attested at this hour by the great number 
of citizens bearing as their front initials the familiar letters A. 
K. P. succeeded to the gubernatorial chair at the early age of 
thirty-three years, and held it for five years a longer term than 
that of any other of our chief magistrates. 

Enoch Lincoln, the scholar and statesman, had the remarkable 
fortune to follow Mr. Parris as member of Congress from Oxford, 
to take his place in the town of Paris when he left it, and to be 
his successor in the gubernatorial chair and was of the same 
age. 

It is of the last of these three eminent men that I purpose to 
speak on this occasion. Mr. Lincoln differed from his predeces- 
sors in office in that, while not falling behind them in the man- 
agement of practical affairs, and in devotion to public interests, 
he was a man of more scholarly attainments, of wider reading, 
of finer sensibilities and more comprehensive views of society, 
possessing in short some sparks of the divine fire of genius. My 
sketch of his life must necessarily be meager, from the lack of 
materials at hand. Although brief notices of him have appeared 
in the publications of the Maine Historical Society and in the 
cyclopedias, no complete memoir of his life has yet been written. 
He died more than half a century ago, and those yet remaining 
who remember him are not many. In this paper my purpose is 
rather to dwell on his scholarly attainments, and broad and lib- 
eral views, than to sketch his public career, and more especially 
to call attention to the fact that he was a poet, and probably the 
first to publish in this state a poem of considerable length and 
of no inconsiderable merit. 

Enoch Lincoln came of distinguished lineage. He was one of 
a family of governors. His father, Levi Lincoln, served in Jef- 
ferson's cabinet as attorney general of the United States, was 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 139 

lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1807 and 1808, and on 
the decease of Governor Sullivan, in December of the latter year, 
he discharged the duties of chief magistrate from that time till 
the following May. Enoch's elder brother, Levi Lincoln, jr. 
six years his senior an eminent lawyer and statesman, was in 
1825 selected by both the political parties in Massachusetts as 
their candidate for governor of the state, and was elected with 
great unanimity by the people. In 1834, he was elected repre- 
sentative in Congress, serving three terms. 

Enoch Lincoln, the subject of this sketch, was born in Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, December 28, 1788. He was the fourth 
son of Levi Lincoln. Entering the sophomore class of Harvard 
College in 1806, he subsequently received the degree of Master 
of Arts from Bowdoin College, studied law with his brother 
Levi, at Worcester, and was there admitted to the bar in 1811. 
He began practice in Salem, but soon returned to his native 
town, where he practiced with considerable reputation, but in 
1812 removed to Fryeburg in Maine. 

The choice of a remote inland village, on what might be said 
to be the border of civilization, as the starting-point of his pro- 
fessional career, may at this day seem a little strange. But it is 
to be remembered that at that period, before the railroad had 
concentrated nearly all social and professional life in a few great 
centers, such villages as Fryeburg had a local importance far 
exceeding that which they possess today. Besides, Fryeburg 
was comparatively an old and interesting town. It had been in- 
corporated as early as 1777, .and had been the scene of one of 
the most memorable and important combats with the Indians 
which ever took place in our state. It is not improbable that 
this fact had some influence Tvith the young lawyer in determin- 
ing his choice of residence, since he ever took great interest in 
all that related to the aborigines of our state, and made the study 
of their customs and languages one of the chief pursuits of his 
leisure hours. Fryeburg has had the distinction of numbering 
Daniel Webster among the preceptors of her famous academy ; 
she has given the state many eminent men, among whom may be 
mentioned the Fessendens and John W. Dana, governor of the 
state from 1847 to 1850 ; but it may be accounted not the least 
among her claims to consideration that it was amid her beautiful 



140 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

scenery that our poet-governor conceived and executed his poem 
of "The Village." It is her scenery that is described in this 
poem, and its pictures of rural life are drawn from the pursuits 
and occupations of her people. 

As a young practitioner, just entering upon his career at the 
bar, Mr. Lincoln, then in his twenty-fifth year, would not unlike- 
ly have much leisure upon his hands. With his studious habits 
these hours could not be idly spent, and he made the aboriginal 
inhabitants still remaining in the neighborhood, the subject of 
his researches. It was his custom to spend some weeks or 
months in each year rambling in the woods, and holding con- 
verse with nature and her simple children. His hatred of 
oppression led him to sympathize with the Indian in his fallen 
condition, and he spent much time in collecting all those objects 
and documents, which might throw light upon the manners, cus- 
toms, habits and dispositions of the ancient lords of the soil. 
His study bore testimony to his zeal in this direction, being orna- 
mented with the branching antlers of the moose, the caribou, 
and the deer, with a map of the Umbagog lakes drawn on birch 
bark by one of the natives, over which hung a full-length por- 
trait of an Indian chief. While residing at Fryeburg he deliv- 
ered a poem at the centennial celebration of the fight at Love- 
well's pond, and he also made an imitation of a Penobscot song 
in welcome of the French, whom he always considered to have 
been the truest friends of the Indians. 

But that while thus pursuing his favorite studies, and dallying 
with the muse of poetry, he did not neglect his professional duties 
and opportunities, is manifested by the fact that he soon gained 
a prominent position at the bar, and was thought of as a suitable 
person to be sent to Congress. It is said that the people of the 
shire town of Paris, and of the eastern section of the county, 
promised to send him to Congress, if he would take up his res- 
idence in that town. However this may be, he removed to Paris 
in 1817, and March 16, 1818, was elected to Congress to fill out 
the unexpired term of the Hon. Albion K. Parris, who had been 
appointed judge of the United States District Court for the 
District of Maine. 

Paris was at that time a village of local importance, and not 
without attractions of scenery and society. Yet, although he 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 141 

extended his professional practice and reputation while living 
there, it seems not to have had the charm for him which Frye- 
burg possessed. In a letter written at Paris, May 9, 1819, he 
says: "I have long anticipated the pleasure of visiting Frye- 
burg, to which I remain as much attached, and to some of the 
inhabitants of which I retain as partial recollections as when I 
left it for a place which will never be a home to me." Mr. 
Lincoln some time after removed to Portland, though at what 
precise date I have not been able to ascertain. 

Mr. Lincoln served eight years in Congress, viz., 1818 and 1819, 
the unexpired term of Mr. Parris; then three full terms, 1819 to 
1825, and also 1825 and 1826, when he resigned because of his 
election as governor of Maine to commence January, 1827. I 
have not had the opportunity to trace his congressional career, 
but there can be no doubt that the records of Congress would 
show that he performed with ability his full share of legislative 
labors. Certain it is that his congressional career brought him 
into such prominence in his own state, that in 1826, ( he was 
chosen with great unanimity to succeed so popular a governor as 
Albion K. Parris, and this before he had arrived at the age of 
thirty-eight years. He was twice re-elected, serving from 1826 
until 1829. 

As governor of the state, he was distinguished by a zealous 
devotion to its interests, and the scholarly character of his state 
papers. His messages were noted for their suggestiveness, point, 
brevity and good taste. One of his Thanksgiving proclamations 
was so brief and comprehensive, and was so popular, that it was 
printed on satin by his admirers for preservation. 

During Mr. Lincoln's administration as governor, the question 
of the northeastern boundary of our state acquired serious and 
alarming dimensions. He vindicated the rights of the state to 
the territory in question with great energy and earnestness. 
He took strong state sovereignty ground, boldly and decidedly 
denying the right of the national government to cede any portion 
of the territory of the state without its consent. Had his coun- 
sels prevailed, the historian of Maine would have had no such 
chapter of concessions, submissions and humiliation to record as 
that written by another governor of Maine a distinguished 
member of this society and printed in the eighth volume of 
its collections. 



142 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Governor Lincoln appointed the Hon. Charles S. Daveis of 
Portland a commissioner to New Brunswick, on the subject of 
encroachments by the Provincials on the territory of Maine, and 
of the arrest and imprisonment of John Baker, a citizen of the 
state. I have here an autograph letter of Governor Lincoln 
giving instructions to Mr. Daveis as to the conduct of this com- 
mission. Under date of Portland, November 4, 1827, he writes : 

DEAR SIR: I am so anxious that you shall not leave New Brunswick 
without presenting to the government of that province the views enter- 
tained by this state in regard to the objects of your commission, that I 
write specially to request you, if no more suitable opportunity shall 
occur, to exhibit those views at large, in conformity to the facts you may 
ascertain, and the principles we have settled in our minds in various 
conferences as to the merits of our cause, in the form of a memorial. 
This will preclude all future pretense of acquiescence in the foreign occu- 
pation or jurisdiction by which, it is feared, that the wrongs which are 
growing may be expected to ripen into rights. 

It will be seen here how careful the governor was to forestall 
any claim of acquiescence in the pretentions of New Brunswick 
to jurisdiction over any portion of our soil, and we may also 
notice the pithiness of the phrase, " it is feared that the wrongs 
which are growing may be expected to ripen into rights." This 
mission resulted in an able report by Mr. Daveis in January, 
1828, and brought about a change in the practice of the provin- 
cial government. 

Governor Lincoln gave much attention to the subjects of 
internal improvement, and of education, pressing them upon the 
attention of the legislature in communications always filled with 
appropriate suggestions, and recommendations. Even at that 
early day a road to Canada was anticipated in an able report 
made by the Hon. George Evans. It was during Governor Lin- 
coln's administration also, that Capitol Hill in Augusta, was 
determined on as the future site of the capitol, at a session of 
the governor and council held at Augusta in June, 1827. 

But while thus devoting himself, with a high sense of duty, to 
the interests of the state, Governor Lincoln looked forward to a 
period of 'retirement in which he could indulge in pursuits more 
congenial to his scholarly tastes. Before completing his last 
gubernatorial term, he declined being again a candidate, desiring 
to devote his time to agriculture, to the study of the classics and 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 143 

the natural sciences, and to literary avocations, especially to the 
completion of a work on the history, resources and policy of 
Maine, for which he had collected many materials. He had also 
in view a work on the language and history of the aboriginal 
inhabitants of the state, a specimen of which may be found in 
the first volume of the collections of the Maine Historical 
Society. In this learned paper Mr. Lincoln points out the beau- 
ties of the Indian languages spoken in Maine, showing that they 
had an unbounded susceptibility of composition, which rendered 
them copious and expressive. They did not suffer their language 
to be corrupted or changed, adopting no words from the English 
or French, but forming words from domestic materials to express 
objects which they had never seen. Thus they had their Indian 
names for elephant, lion, and a great diversity of objects, 
unknown to them, except through the medium of verbal or 
pictured representation. 

But it was not permitted Mr. Lincoln to complete the chosen 
labors of his leisure hours. During the last year of his term as 
governor his health began to fail. In the month of July of that 
year, 1829, he delivered an oration at the ceremony of laying 
the cornerstone of the capitol, at Augusta. In the following 
October he was again called to Augusta to deliver an address at 
the establishment of the Cony Female Academy. This was his 
last public performance. I find in the " Yankee and Boston Lit- 
erary Gazette " John Neal's paper so full and interesting an 
account of his last hours that I venture to introduce it here : 

" He left Portland with a belief that he should not return. He 
said so and repeated it, as he stood on the floor of his room pre- 
paring to go and playing with a piece of paper, which he had 
suffered to drop twice without perceiving it. ' I am very weak,' 
said he, ' my strength is leaving I do not expect to return.' 
This was uttered with striking solemnity, and the impression will 
never depart from the recollection of those who heard it. On 
his arrival at Augusta, whither he had gone to deliver an address 
before the children of the Cony Female Academy, he men- 
tioned two or three times that he had come to die there; and 
when his friends gathered about him, and reminded him of the 
state of his health, and begged him to forbear, he said, in his 
mild, firm way, ' It is my duty.' Afterward, he alluded to his 



144 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

mother, an extraordinary woman who had * left him ' suddenly 
but a few weeks before ; and it was evident from his behavior, 
even more than by his language, that her sudden death was a 
heavy blow to him. He was thoroughly possessed with the belief, 
that as he owed so much to his mother, he owed it to her memory 
by the last of his public acts to impress the future mothers of 
our country with a becoming sense of their own value. On the 
day when he delivered the address, he had been quite unwell 
before he made the attempt ; during the delivery he grew so ill 
that he was obliged to sit down, and after it was delivered he 
went straightway to bed the bed of death. He was not afraid 
of death, after he knew that death was' inevitable ; nor was he 
afraid of it before, properly speaking, though he would have 
resisted the approach and avoided the presence of unworthy 
danger, like every rational man, if he had been able to do so. 
He conversed on the subject hour by hour, and with perfect 
composure nay, with a sort of strange, mournful pleasantry ; 
for it so happened that one day, as he and Gen. Cony, the 
adjutant general of the state, an old and very intimate friend, 
were sitting together, he remarked that he should have to stay 
with him ; to which the general, who had no idea of his danger, 
and who saw nothing in the observation but a desire to converse 
on a favorite though dangerous theme, replied, 'Well, well, 
governor, we can give you a good tomb here.' The next day, or 
the day after, finding that he could keep no food upon his 
stomach, not even a light broth, the governor turned to the 
general's wife, as she sat near, and said with a smile which 
never quite abandoned his mouth, ' Well, madam, I believe I 
shall have to accept your husband's invitation.' 

'* But one of the most remarkable circumstances that attended 
his death was this : During the whole of his delirium, he never 
uttered an equivocal sentiment nor an improper word. Nay 
more, he never lost sight of his own personal dignity, nor of 
what he owed as a man to the presence of a female ; for in his 
fiercest paroxysms, he would suddenly recollect himself so far as 
to wrestle down with over-mastering power, the spirit that shook 
him, and apologize in the language of a gentleman for the unhap- 
py ' hallucination,' as he termed it, by which he had been par- 
tially subdued. 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 145 

"On one occasion he insisted on getting up. The general 
remonstrated with him and urged him to lie down. But he 
refused; he could not be controlled. 'You may have the phy- 
sical superiority,' said he, ' but you shall not control my mind.' 
The general saw it was in vain to argue with him in the usual 
way. Governor,' said he, ' you are a philosopher, and will not 
contend with what is inevitable.' The poor, delirious man 
looked at him, smiled faintly, and lay down like a child at the. 
bidding of its mother. And not long before he breathed his last, 
as an elder son of the general sat watching by him, he took it 
into his head to get up. The young man argued with him, and 
putting his hand upon his shoulder, told him he must lie down. 

* Must, there is no such word for me. I will not be controlled, 
sir.' < But,' continued the other, alarmed at the probable con- 
sequences, * I entfeat you, I beg of you to lie down.' * Oh,' said 
the governor, 4 that is another affair; that is talking rationally;' 
and he lay down, as quietly as if nothing were the matter, although 
unquestionably delirious at the time. 

" These facts are not mentioned lightly they help to show the 
man's character; he would not be dealt with by anybody, nor 
anything, to the abridgement of his liberty. No outrage affected 
him in health like that of one person daring to exercise improper 
dominion over another. And weak though he was a small man 
of a slight frame he would have resisted even to death the 
oppression of brute force over knybody. 

" But the last scene of all was yet more striking. He addressed 
the troops in eloquent and powerful language, though it was 
occasionally incoherent; and the last words he spoke were 

* Gentlemen, I call you all to witness that I die in the presence 
of Franklin ; ' after which he appeared to forget himself, to sink 
into a lethargy, and then he revived and added, as if communing 
with a congress of shadows, c A sacred and solemn scene.' And 
with this, the spirit of the sufferer prepared for departure, and 
his last hour was an hour of untroubled sleep." 

Governor Lincoln died Oct. 8, 1829, having nearly completed 
his forty-first year. He was never married. He was buried with 
public honors on the grounds fronting the capitol at Augusta, 
where his remains still repose. 

Governor Lincoln was possessed of a gifted and well-endowed 
1, 



146 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

mind, and the genial qualities of a universally benevolent and 
fervently affectionate heart. A striking characteristic was his 
hatred of oppression. Though naturally of a mild and gentle 
disposition, he was aroused to indignation by any injustice or 
tyranny, no matter how it was protected by law or usage. As 
has been well said of him, " He was the advocate of as entire 
freedom of thought and action as human society can endure." 

He is spoken of by those who knew him in social life as being 
very agreeable, dignified and entertaining. He inspired all who 
became acquainted with him with an exalted opinion of his char- 
acter. An aged lady who knew him in her youth, gives me a 
little incident of his life, which illustrates the benevolence of his 
heart. "Mr. Lincoln was traveling in New Hampshire, and 
through some of the then remote places, and not feeling quite 
certain that he was in the right way to the place of his destina- 
tion, he inquired of a small boy whom he took to be not over six 
or eight years of age, who was out, ax in hand, chopping one of 
the logs of a formidable looking pile of wood. * My little lad,' 
said he, ' can you tell me if I am on the direct road to the town 

of where Mr. W. resides ? ' 'Yes, sir,' and the little 

fellow answered all the questions promptly and with more than 
usual self-reliance, for one of his years. Mr. Lincoln thanked 
him, and said, < Now will you tell me your name? ' ' He looked 
at me with a penetration that belonged to older years, and said 
unhesitatingly, " My name is Levi Lincoln Osgood, sir. I was 
named for one of the governors of Massachusetts." Mr. Lin- 
coln said, while relating the above, * For a moment I was almost 
in doubt as to my sense of hearing correctly.' Mr. Lincoln took 
from his pocket a coined dollar, handed it to the boy, and 
said, ' Tell your father I shall come this way again, and if he will 
let me, I will put you in a school, you are such a smart boy. 
The boy took off his hat, bowed, and thanked me, and,' adds 
Mr. Lincoln, ' I started on my way, leaving him running to the 
house to tell his father. I have since put the boy in one of the 
best schools in New Hampshire, and he bids fair to be an honor 
to the school.' That boy may be living now. " 

A marked characteristic of Mr. Lincoln's character was his 
enthusiastic love of rural nature. This led him, while residing at 
Fryeburg, to visit the retired haunts of the aborigines, and make 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 147 

acquaintance with the lingering remnants of the large and power- 
ful tribe that once occupied that beautiful region of country. 

It was the charm of this varied scenery that inspired him to 
the composition of the poem entitled "The Village," which was 
published in Portland, by Edward Little & Co., in 1816. It is a 
descriptive and didactic poem of more than two thousand lines, 
written in the heroic measure, and marked by smoothness of 
versification and elevation of sentiment. One detects at times 
an echo of Pope in the structure of the lines, and the influence 
of the author's classical studies is evident throughout. Though 
professedly descriptive of rural scenes, the local coloring is not 
strong, much the larger portion 6f the poem being devoted to 
general views of society and mankind at large. It would appear 
that the poet set out with the purpose of sketching the scenery 
and the conditions of society around him, but not finding the 
task congenial, gladly launched out into general discourse on 
human nature and the various classes of society. He apologizes 
in his preface for this divergence from his theme, and the diffuse- 
ness with which it is pursued, alleging that the vocations of 
business had prevented his filling out the poem in those propor- 
tions which were necessary to complete its plan. His mind nat- 
urally expanded to wide views of human nature, as seen in the 
light of history, rather than confined itself to minute observation 
of the conditions of life around him. With all his love of nature 
he went rather to books than to personal observation and expe- 
rience, for the materials of his verse. This is seen in the copious 
appendix which takes rather the form of essays than of notes, 
consisting of three parts, the first of which is devoted to a history 
of slavery, the second to a learned review of lawyers, the princi- 
ples of criminal law, and the modes of punishment in different 
countries, and the third to a dissertation on religious persecu- 
tion. These essays show the results of wide reading, and the 
influence of classical studies, the experiences of Greece and Rome 
being constantly cited. 

What is most remarkable about the poem is its advanced senti- 
ments on all humane subjects. As regards slavery, the treat- 
ment of the Indians, the education of women, and the ill-treatment 
of brutes, the poem is far in advance of the views generally 
held when it was published, seventy-four years ago, and antici- 



148 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

pates many of the reformatory and humane movements of our 
day. It is something of a surprise withal to find this young 
man, notwithstanding his inexperience of the ways of life, dealing 
so caustically with the faults of the learned professions, and 
betraying no little knowledge of the crooked courses pursued by 
many of their members. He has considerable power of satire, 
and a noble scorn of all that is low, mean, or oppressive of the 
rights of the poor and humble. He holds up a high standard 
throughout, and is ever true to the highest convictions of truth 
and duty. 

The poem opens with a description of White Mountain 
scenery : 

Kange upon range, sublimely pil'd on high, 
Yon lofty mountains prop the incumbent sky. 
Such countless tops^ascend, so vast the heap, 
As if, when gushed the deluge from the deep, 
The rushing torrents wrecked the guilty world, 
And all the rocky fragments thither whirl' d. 

From the description of nature, the poet passes to consider 
the happy state of the Pequakets before the invasion of the 
white man : 

The nation's boast, in undisturbed repose, 
Pequaket, then thy numerous wigwams rose. 
Thy active hunters, arm'd with bow and spear, 
The stately moose pursued and bounding deer, 
For howling wolves contrived the secret snare, 
Or trapped the sable, or waylaid the bear. 

The native traits of the Indians are thus sketched : 

Rude was the savage, but to friendship true, 
No fickle change his fix'd affections knew : 
In hatred firm, a fierce and fearless foe, 
He owned no umpires but his spear and bow. 
The warwhoop's discord was his soul's delight, 
His eye's first joy the slaughter of the fight. 

The savage tortures inflicted on his enemies are described in 
these strong lines : 

Sullen and sad the captive victims go, 
To meet the direst ills, the deepest woe, 
The scoffing insults, the triumphant yell, 
Each mode of suffering, and each pain of hell. 
The cruel conqueror dreadful vengeance takes ; 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 149 

Midst torturing fires he binds them to the stakes, 
Tears off their flesh, cuts circlets round their joints, 
Lights all their frames with slowly burning points, 
Plucks out their nails, bruises their feet with stones, 
Gashes their. bodies, dislocates their bones, 
Pinches their naked nerves, and torture plies, 
Till, all one wound, each mangled sufferer dies. 
Ye, too, my countrymen, such ills have borne, 
And, captives, thus by earthly fiends been torn. 
At scenes like these must tender Pity weep, 
And heartfelt execrations, harsh and deep, 
From Indignation's swelling bosom burst. 
Chieftains, for these, be all your tribes accurst. 

But the poet's sense of justice will not permit him to stop 
here without presenting the other side of the picture. Immedi- 
ately he sees, " from the grave beyond the neighboring plain," 

-~ an angry sachem's rising shade, 

In ancient dress and warlike arms arrayed, 

and bursting into a lyrical strain, thus gives voice to the red 
man's complaint and defense : 

Te spoilers of all that the red man possessed, 
"Why disturb ye my shade in the peace of the grave? 

In the region of spirits why trouble my rest, 
And blacken the fame of the great and the brave ? 

When ye came o'er the big rolling waters afar, 

We received you as brothers and gave you our food ; 

But ye burst on our heads with your thunders of war, 
Ye plundered our wigwams and drank of our blood. 

Ye robbed from our hunters the wilds of their game, 
With our wives and our children ye drove us away. 

To our chiefs with the furies of discord ye came, 
And incited our tribes on each other to prey. 

Ye never with us from the calumet smoked, 
Nor the sagamite feast of our friendship partook. 

Ye white men, complain not of ills you provoked, 
For our laws and our customs we never forsook. 

Passing from savage man to nature, the poet next describes 
" the tall, straight pines," which in his day " appeared on every 
side," pictures the lumberman going forth to his camp : 

His couch the hemlock twigs, his household ware 
A jug and basket filled with simplest fare ; 



150 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

calls on those who " indulge in indolence and ease," to 

Observe his frugal board, be wise at length, 

And gain, like him, from temperance, health and strength. 

Then follows the hardy settler, lifting his ax not against the 
pines alone, but striking alike unsparingly on all, and clearing 
the cumbered land : 

And last the bonfires burn, the boughs consume, 
And spreading flames the hemisphere illume. 

Turning from the lordly pine, the poet pays his tribute to the 
maple, as the queen of the wood : 

More sacred than the Thunderer's chosen oak, 
Let not the maple feel the woodman's stroke. 
Fair maple ! honors purer far are thine 
Than Yenus' myrtle yields, or Bacchus' vine ; 
Minerva's olive, consecrated tree, 
Deserves not half the homage due to thee ; 
The queen of trees, thou proudly . to wer'st on high, 
Yet wave thy limbs in graceful pliancy. 

By a curious association of ideas, the contemplation of the 
maple leads the poet to consider the sin of slavery : 

Fair mapleS ! let thy leaves my brow surround, 
And laurel wreaths I trample on the ground. 
The suffering Negro in West Indian isles, 
Sooth' d at thy name, amid his sorrow smiles, 
Hope's cheering rays dispel his gloomy care, 
And tinge with dawning light his deep despair. 
Do not our soil and frosty clime insure 
Sweets as salubrious, exquisite and pure, 
As those which burning suns, or humid air 
With swarming insects filled, and slaves prepare ? 
They do ! Our blest New England's fruitful soil 
Requires no culture by a servile toil : 
No master's torturing lash offends the ear, 
No slave is now, nor ever shall be, here. 

Our poet is now fairly launched on a theme which arouses his 
hottest indignation. His hatred of oppression blazes forth in 
every line. He loses sight altogether of the scenery of the Saco, 
forgets the avowed subject of his verse, and ransacks all history 
to afford materials for his picture of " man's inhumanity to 
man." These are mostly accumulated in the appendix, but they 
appear also in his verse : 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 151 

O'er slavery's plagues, ye happy freeman, pause, 

And learn to love your country and its laws. 

See how oppression, ever since the flood, 

Has filled the earth with tears and groans and blood ; 

See the poor Negro, happy in his home ; 

Observe the man-thieves through his country roam ; 

Behold him seized, from wife and children borne, 

From country, freedom, friends, forever torn, 

Yok'd like the ox, and forced through burning sands, 

To seek the distant shore, o'er desert lands, 

Then, with some hundred kidnapp'd wretches more, 

Stowed in to fill the noisome vessel's store. 

Resolved on death, in sullen, fierce despair, 

He strives by suicide to end his care ; 

But watchful keepers guard from that relief, 

And save his hated life for deeper grief, 

For other tyrants, other modes of pain, 

For trade and traffic, anything for gain. 

The poet then turns to the experience of Greece and Rome, 
and he utters the following prophetic warning which has been so 
amply fulfilled in our day : 

Avenging Justice follows after crime, 
And sure o'ertakes it in the lapse of time. 
Oppressed humanity its chains will spurn, 
And meanest slaves upon their tyrants turn. 

Should lawless Rule, aspiring here to reign, 
Fair Freedom's holy empire dare profane, 
Thus o'er our fields would rush the crimson flood, 
And every spot be drenched with tides of blood. 

Turning to the appendix, we find him thus pleading the cause 
of the Negro: "But they are men, and no plea of private 
advantage or public policy can justify their enslavement, or 
palliate the enormities committed in stealing them from their 
native country, subduing them to obedience, and working them 
as if they were beasts in human shape. ... It is idle to talk of 
legal restraints upon men whose crimes are witnessed only by 
accomplices or sufferers, of the former of whom the testimony 
would be evasive through interest and corruption, of the latter, 
excluded by law. Indeed when you have given power, you will 
legislate in vain about its exercise, and if you tolerate servitude, 
you cannot separate from it the horrors of barbarous tyranny." 



152 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

These are true and forceful words, and when we consider 
that they were uttered seventy-four years ago, when as yet no 
voice had been raised against slavery in this land, and to doubt 
its sacredness was the one unpardonable crime, we are all the 
more struck with the high sense of justice and hatred of oppres- 
sion which ever characterized their author. 

From the woes of the slave the poet goes on to speak of the 
cruelty of shooting song birds, and in reference to the cruel 
forest and game laws of England, he says : 

ne'er shall our yeoman's soil 

Be subject to a tyrant's lawless spoil ; 

Ne'er shall the pasture and the cultured field, 

Subsistence to the deer be forced to yield ; 

And flocks and herds deprived of their support, 

To spread extensive parks for royal sport ; 

But the prerogative of each shall be 

That NONE BE PRIVILEGED AND THAT ALL BE FREE. 

With these ringing lines the poet gladly turns from the 
contemplation of nature which he has not too closely followed 
to the consideration of man in his various social aspects. He 
leaves his little "village" and launches out upon the wide sea of 
human society, yet still holds to it by the slender thread that 
" the epitome of all is there. " It is very evident, however, that 
he did not confine his views of human nature to what he saw 
and learned in "that little village of the plain." He ranges 
wide o'er all "this scene of man," and draws largely upon 
history for his examples. 

The poet visits his indignation upon those who would deny 
to woman the higher education, deemed by many in his day 
beyond her needs or capacities, he being in this true to his 
habitual condemnation of everything looking like the denial of 
the rights of any human being : 

Still would it seem the base, degrading plan 

Of selfish, proud and domineering man, 

By education trifling and confined, 

To check the progress of the female mind. 

" A learned woman ! I would spend my life 

As soon with fierce Erinnys for my wife ; 

' Tis ours to cull the sweets which science yields, 

And range alone its vastly varied fields ; 

From female weakness, far be such affairs ; 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 153 



Its only province is domestic cares ; 
These woman ne'er should seek to soar above, 
For lovely woman's made for these and love." 
The Christian tyrant's Turkish doctrine this, 
Fatal to love, and foe to human bliss ; 
For know that Beauty's all-subduing charms, 
Secures no conquest without mental arms ; 
The fair complexion and the eye's bright glance, 
And pleasing form may conquer in advance ; 
But wit's munitions, discipline of Thought, 
With Caution's panoply, by Prudence wrought, 
And virtue to withstand seduction's shocks, 
Secure and strong as proud Gibraltar's rocks, 
Must be combined to form the perfect whole, 
And give complete dominion of the soul. 

The poet now turns to man and introduces him first in the 
character of the lawyer : 

First comes the lawyer; 'tis an honored name, 
A title glorious on the roll of Fame ; 
Too dear for wealth, which birth cannot bestow, 
Or flattery wreathe around a lordling's brow; 
A title from the fane of science borne, 
By weary vigils earned, by Wisdom worn, 
Of import vast, in which the honors blend 
Of Honor's champion, and of Freedom's friend; 
Yet Justice fails the sacred name to save 
From profanation of the fool and knave, 
Who, jackdaws still, the peacock's pomp assume, 
And strut in pride with half a pilfered plume. 

Having thus honored the profession, the poet plies his lash 
upon the pettifogger in this pitiless fashion : 

So various the concerns of human kind, 

No code can circle their prodigious range, 

Apply to all, and follow as they change. 

To break them, therefore, and be still secure, 

To find out legal ways to grind the poor, 

To cheat the honest, and the rogue to aid, 

Has grown an odious, pettifogging trade. 

Prompt with demurrers, skillful in abatements, 

To circumvention trained, and bold in statements, 

Each villain's hireling, used by every knave, 

Of meanest wretches e'en a meaner slave, 

To rob too cowardly, too proud to steal, 

The pettifogger preys on public weal, 



154 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

And makes some justice, a commissioned fool, 
For paltry aims a secret legal tool, 
Or deeper cheats, to gain him larger fees, 
Performs by quibbles, sophistry and pleas. 

This is severe enough, but there is much more to the same 
effect. If we are to suppose the satirist painted from real life, 
the village lawyer of half a century ago was a despicable char- 
acter indeed. But, as I have said, the poet evidently drew his 
material from a wide survey of mankind, and his noble scorn of 
all meanness caused him to paint in strong colors all dereliction 
from his own high standard. To the honest lawyer he pays due 
tribute : 

When blessed with soul and gifted with a mind, 
(And such there are), we honest lawyers find, 
Those whose high office is to guard the laws, 
And vindicate from wrong the righteous cause, 
We yield the meed of merited applause. 

But for the country justice he has no mercy. His portrait pro- 
bably had many originals in his day : 

'Squire Quirk, the justice, to dispense the laws, 
Sits in the pride of power to judge the cause, 
Grave as an owl in solemn state presides, 
And as sly Yarus bids, the cause decides : 
Vain all authorities, and justice vain, 
Not Dexter' s self a single point could gain : 
Cold as the snows which freeze around the pole, 
No eloquence could warm his frigid soul ; 
Dark as the shades of Milton's Stygian night, 
His mind admits no glimmering ray of light ; 
Too dull for reasoning, and too proud for shame, 
No power can move him from his steadfast aim. 

In like manner the poet reviews the clerical and medical 
professions, mercilessly lashing the quack ; dwells on the evils 
of intemperance, exposes the dangers of party spirit, and antici- 
pating the complaints of the civil-service reformers, thus portrays 
the arts of the politician : 

Some meanly selfish, a more venal crew, 
With naught but power or riches in their view, 
While frowning virtue interdicts in vain, 
Use basest means the favorite end to gain. 
At patriot merit slander's shafts they aim, 
With vacant heads and noisy tongues declaim, 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 



155 



Decry the statesman, puff the stupid knave, 
Support the traitor, stigmatize the brave, 
Call wisdom folly, Honor's self defame, 
Discolor truth and everything misname. 
And why? Forsooth a rival to disgrace, 
To win a salary or to steal a place. 

Elections, it would seem, were not more pure in those days 
than in ours : 

Alas ! Caprice, too oft, election rules, 

Too oft preferment falls to rogues and fools. 

Judge not by honors, learn the thing to scan, 

And separate the officer and man. 

Creature of form, exterior, and parade, 

Too oft the officer by fraud is made ; 

Some fourteenth cousin, potent in the state, 

Formed him his tool, and placed him with the great. 

After these specimens Gov. Lincoln's powers as a satirist will 
not, I think, be denied. His high standards of public as well as 
private conduct are seen in his portrait of the patriot : 

Aloof, the Patriot eyes the scene below, 

With calm contempt or with indignant glow. 

His wide philanthropy spreads unconfined, 

Beyond a party's bounds to all mankind; 

His liberal mind a general system frames, 

And in that system knows no private aims, 

No views to self, no patronage of friends, 

No mean contrivances for paltry ends. 

No factious tumults move his steadfast soul, 

No lures entice him, and no threats control ; 

Through changing times, midst all the scenes of state, 

As stern as Justice and as fixed as Fate, 

He stands sublime and nobly stems the storm 

Of Folly's rage and popular alarm, 

Till, all his greatness by the world confessed, 

Feared by the vicious, by the good caressed, 

He meets at last the meed he spurned to claim, 

The unsought prize of office and of fame. 

The poet now lays down his pen and bids a long farewell to 
the Muse : 

Reader, farewell! The humble lay is o'er, 

The "Village" bard's faint voice you'll hear no more. 

With bleeding heart he throws his harp away, 

To toil in Law and climb its rugged way. 



156 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Accept, thou Muse, his long, his sad adieu. 
O, might he still the pleasing task pursue, 
He'd strive to reach at last your sacred spring, 
And strike with abler hand the tuneful string, 
Yield worthier offerings and a temple rear 
Which time might reverence and oblivion fear; 
And when, by Heaven's irrevocable doom, 
His frame should molder in the silent tomb, 
His voice might then from Echo's caves resound, 
And virtue listen to the grateful sound; 
But no! vain dreams! away! the client calls, 
The vision flies, the air-built fabric falls. 

I ought, perhaps, to apologize for detaining my hearers so long 
with these extracts from a forgotten poem, but I have felt it in 
some sort a patriotic duty to rescue it from oblivion as a highly 
creditable specimen of the early literature of our state. As 
such it seems to me, it deserves to be remembered. We must 
bear in mind that when this poem appeared in 1816, very little 
poetry had been writte n in America. Bryant's " Than atopsis " 
had appeared two years previous in the "North American 
Review." John Pierpont's " Airs of Palestine " appeared the 
same year. John Neal's " Battle of Niagara " came out in 1818, 
as did also Woodworth's poems, of which the "Old Oaken 
Bucket " still survives. Halleck did not publish anything beyond 
the newspapers until 1821. Our elder poet, Richard Henry 
Dana, did not appear in print until 1827. Longfellow, Whittier, 
Holmes, the illustrious trio who have given American poetry a 
place in the world's literature, were boys at school. Lowell and 
the younger brood who have followed the elder bards, were not 
born. So far as I know no poem of so wide scope and sustained 
length as " The Village," dealing with nature and with man in 
so many of their aspects, had then appeared in our land. As 
the production of a young man with no wide experience of the 
world, it must be considered remarkable, not only for its high 
standard of right, and its advanced moral sentiment, anticipating 
many of the reforms of our day, but also for its erudition and its 
evenly-sustained poetical merit. I have waded through many 
of the shorter productions of our earlier poets, and I can con- 
scientiously say that I should find it impossible to read two 
thousand consecutive lines of theirs. Yet I have perused this 
poem from beginning to end with interest and attention. While 



ENOCH LINCOLN. 157 

its author attempts no lofty, imaginative flights, he is always 
clear, strong, correct in versification, at times lyrical in expres- 
sion, and always has a fixed object in view. I have no means of 
knowiqg how this poem was received at the time of its publica- 
tion. It does not appear to have gained much attention in the 
literary world. Governor Lincoln's name has no place in the 
cyclopedias of American literature. Undoubtedly the fact that 
it was published anonymously in a small provincial town, such as 
Portland then was, had much to do with its falling into obscurity. 
Then its great length would deter many from reading it. This 
is due to the diffuseness with which the author treats his topics. 
Not content with making his point, he, with a lawyer-like habit, 
restates it and wanders wide over all collateral themes. With 
greater conciseness, not so much in expression as in treatment, 
this would have been a very readable poem. As it is, it justifies 
the poet's aspiration in his closing lines, and one sympathizes 
with his regret in throwing aside the harp, which he seems never 
again to have taken up. 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE. 159 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE 

BEFORE THE SEPARATION. 
Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May 25, 1883. 

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. 

THE feudal charter granted by King Charles i. to Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges in 1639 gave him as lord palatine almost absolute 
power. Under it a recorder's court for the city of Gorgana 
was established, having jurisdiction over all criminal offenses, 
and from whose judgments no appeal could be taken. It is pre- 
sumed that a trial by jury was allowed; but whether as a matter 
of right is -uncertain, as but few particulars exist as to the modes 
of procedure. The first capital case before this novel tribunal 
was that of a woman charged with murdering her husband in 
1644. A quaint account of the affair is thus given by Governor 
Winthrop of Massachusetts : 

" One Cornish, dwelling for some time in Weymouth, removed 
to Acomenticus for more outward accommodation, and last 
month was taken up in the river, his head bruised, and a pole 
sticking in his side, and his canoe laden with clay found sunk. 
His wife coming to her husband, he bled abundantly. The 
woman was arraigned before the mayor, Mr. Roger Garde, and 
others of the Province of Maine, and strong presumptions came 
in against her, whereupon she was condemned and executed. 
She persisted in the denial of the murder to the death." 

From this brief report it would seem that conviction was 
established more by superstition than by legal evidence. Although 
the ancient trial by ordeal never existed in America, it was 
imagined, down to a much later period than the time of Gorges, 
that touching the body of one killed would prove the guilt or in- 
nocence of the accused. Such miraculous interposition is sanc- 
tioned by King James i. of England, in his " Demonology," 
written in 1597, as follows : " In a secret murther, if the dead 
body be at any time thereafter handled by the murtherer, it will 



160 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

gush out blood, as if the blood were crying to heaven for revenge ; 
God having appointed that secret supernatural sign for trial 
of that secret unnatural crime." The delusion was generally 
accepted as truth by the New England colonies. 

Under the date of June 30, 1647, the York Records show the 
following proceedings in the case of Charles Frost, who was 
indicted at the General Court held at Saco : " Whereas, there 
was slain Warwick Heard, of Sturgeon Creek, by Charles Frost 
(who) does stand here presented and indicted, that he feloni- 
ously, contrary to the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King, his 
Crown and Dignity, did, the 23d of March last, with a fowling- 
piece, murder the said Warwick Heard, not having the fear of 
God before his eyes: You are therefore to inquire whether it 
was willfully done with malice prepense, quarrel, by accident, or 
unawares or misadventure. 

"The jury find the killing was by misadventure, and Charles 
Frost quit by proclamation." 

The third capital trial in the province took place in 1666. 
Christopher Collins of Scarborough, an enterprising settler, and 
a man of considerable property, having died suddenly, suspicions 
were fastened upon James Robinson as his murderer. Robinson 
was arrested and tried at Casco. The verdict of the jury was 
" that the sayd Collins was slayne by misadventure, and culpable 
of his own death, and not upon anie former malice, and therefore 
the sd Jam es Robinson not guilty of murder." He does not now 
appear to have been held as entirely guiltless, for the records of 
the court show that he recognized to " sue over his pardon within 
a twelvemonth and a day." 

Upon the subjection of Maine to Massachusetts, in 1677, until 
1699, all offenses of magnitude were tried in Boston, and during 
nearly the whole of the next century the records of the Superior 
and Supreme Courts for the eastern counties were kept there. 
For this reason, local historians make little mention of crimes 
and punishments during that period, except where Indians were 
concerned. Under date of 1670, Judge Bourne's History of 
Kennebunk mentions " J. Pottle, the murderer," but gives no 
account of his trial, and the Life of Sir William Pepperell con- 
tains a letter from Governor Shirley concerning one Dearing, 
"a poor, condemned prisoner in York jail." "I am favored," 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE. 161 

the governor writes Sir William, u with yours per last post, in- 
closing Dearing's petition ; and have thereupon ordered the Sec- 
retary to make out a reprieve for him to September, which I 
hope he will improve to prepare himself for a better death, than, 
I fear from the heinous, unnatural offense for which he is con- 
demned, his life has. been. However, I shall pay so much further 
regard to his petition, since he intimates that the court and jury 
were deceived by the evidence produced against him, as to in- 
quire into the circumstances of it from his judges." This was 
probably William Bearing of Scarborough, who, in 1749, in a fit 
of sudden passion, murdered his wife with an ax. No provoca- 
tion had been offered on the part of Mrs. Dearing, who was an 
amiable woman, and a worthy member of the church. South- 
gate's History says that remorse for his crime rendered the mur- 
derer insane, and he ended his life by suicide. 

In June, 1735, Patience Sampson, otherwise called Patience 
Boston, an Indian, was brought before the supreme court of 
judicature, at York, charged with the murder of Benjamin Trot 
of Falmouth, a child of about eight years of age, whom she 
drowned in a well, July 9, 1784. She went immediately and 
accused herself "before one of His Majesties Justices of the 
Peace, continuing her self-accusation from first to last, even on 
her trial." The sentence of death was pronounced on the 
twenty-fourth of June, and carried into effect on the following 
thirty-first of July. 

Among the treasures of the Prince Collection, is a quaint 
pamphlet containing her " Confession, Declaration, Dying Warn- 
ing and Advice," signed by Samuel Moody, Joseph Moody and 
William Allen, ministers of York and vicinity, and others, who 
attended the prisoner in her last hours, and bore testimony to 
what they termed " her conversion, and the Work of Grace upon 
her heart." 

Between 1740 and 1757, five indictments for capital crimes 
were found in York County, viz., against George Necho, an 
Indian, in 1740, Edmund Browne, in 1740, John Seymore, in 
1746, David Doughty, in 1747, and Edmund Torrey in 1756. 
The proceedings upon them are not found'in the clerk's office. 

In 1749, an affray took place near Wiscasset, between several 
white men and some of the Canabas tribe, in which one Indian 
11 



162 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

was killed and two severely wounded. Three of the former, 
named Obadiah Albee jr., and Richard and Benjamin Holbrook, 
were taken into custody, and being removed to the jail in York, 
were indicted for murder at a special term of court, held by 
resolve, during the last week in February, 1750. Albee was 
acquitted, but the court being dissatisfied with the verdict, 
ordered a change of venue to Middlesex County for a trial of the 
others ; the relatives of the deceased, the wounded Indians, and 
the chief of the tribe being invited to attend. No trial, how- 
ever, took place, although the prisoners were remanded to York 
for further proceedings. So strongly seated was the feeling of 
resentment against the Indians, that no white person, even in 
times of profound peace, could be convicted for killing one of 
them: it being found impossible to impanel a jury not contain- 
ing some members who had suffered from savage depredations, 
either in their persons, families or estates. 

The first capital trial in Cumberland County, took place in 
1772, when one Solomon Goodwin was convicted of murder. 
Smith's Journal relates that he was charged with throwing a 
man overboard from a boat. Some doubt of his guilt existed, 
but after several reprieves, he was executed in November, fol- 
lowing the commitment of the crime. A great concourse of 
people, said to have been the largest ever assembled in Fal- 
mouth, collected on the occasion. Rev. Mr. Clark of Cape 
Elizabeth preached a sermon to the multitude, in presence of 
the prisoner. 

In September of the same year, William Tate of Falmouth, 
was indicted for killing his wife. He had connected a loaded 
gun for thieves, with the door of his storehouse ; his wife 
attempting to open the door, received the contents of the gun, 
causing her immediate death. Tate pleaded guilty, but when 
brought up for sentence produced the king's pardon, and was 
discharged. 

In 1773, an indictment was found in Cumberland County 
against Joseph Weare for a capital offense. It is not known 
whether he was tried. 

During the revolution, two men in Maine were tried by court- 
martial, and sentenced to death. The first was James McCor- 
mick of North Yarmouth, a soldier in Arnold's expedition 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE. 163 

against Quebec. In a quarrel, he shot and killed one Reuben 
Bishop at Fort Weston, now Augusta. He was reprieved by 
the commanding officer, and sent to Washington at Cambridge. 
The other, one Jeremiah Baum of Damariscotta was accused, in 
1780, of conducting a marauding British party through the back 
settlements. Martial law then prevailed in that section, and 
General Wadsworth, who commanded the eastern department, 
had proclaimed death as the penalty for giving aid or comfort to 
the enemy. Baum's trial took place at the general's quarters in 
Thomaston. He was found guilty and ordered to be hung. 
Being of feeble intellect, and as many thought, scarcely responsi- 
ble, his sentence was generally regarded as a mere feint, to 
frighten him and prevent a repetition of the crime. Many patri- 
ots interceded for his pardon. But the crisis demanded deci- 
sion ; an example was necessary, and Wadsworth remained 
inflexible. On the day after his sentence, his execution took 
place on Limestone hill, where the state prison now stands. 
Friends of the revolution regretted the exercise of such severity 
upon so manifestly inoffensive a victim. 

At the annual term of the Supreme Judicial Court for Lincoln 
County, in 1788, John O'Neil was tried for the murder of 
Michael Cleary. Both were Irishmen, and lived together at 
Pemaquid Falls. The crime was committed for money, which 
was found in the possession of O'Neil, and which he pretended 
had been given him by the deceased. The body showed bruises 
about the head, and one deep cut, supposed to have been caused 
by an ax, or an iron bar. O'Neil claimed that the wounds re- 
sulted from a fall. At the coroner's inquest he told several 
inconsistent and contradictory stories to account for the facts. 

Three judges composed the court, Hon. William Gushing, 
chief justice, and associate justices Nathaniel P. Sargent and 
David Sewall. William Lithgow of Hallowell, and George 
Thacher of Biddeford were assigned as counsel for the accused. 

Soon after the trial, an account of it appeared in a newspaper, 
of which the following is an extract : 

Thi&heing the first capital crime in the county, it drew together a 
numerous concourse of spectators ; the solemnity of the occasion was 
still heightened by the able and spirited defence of General Lithgow. 
The trial took up the most part of the day, and when the jury returned 



164 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

they declared they could not agree. One of them, a good man, seemed 
to think he ought not to give his voice against the prisoner, because 
there was no positive evidence. The chief justice then gave them some 
further instructions, after which they retired for a few moments only, 
and brought in a verdict of guilty. 

Before court adjourned, O'Neil received his sentence, in pur- 
suance of which he was executed at Pownalboro, on the first day 
of October, 1788. 

The statement that this was the first capital trial in Lincoln 
County is questionable. Crimes meriting the extreme penalty 
of the law were of frequent occurrence in that part of Maine, 
both before and during the revolution. The Rev. Jacob Bailey, 
writing from Pownalboro, in 1773, says: "We have a man 
nanled Carter (probably McCarthy) in jail for the murder of 
Josiah Parker. The prisoner has -no chance for his life. Since 
my residence here (1760) five or six murders have been com- 
mitted on Kennebec river, and neither of the murderers nor the 
persons killed ever frequented any Divine worship. Indictments 
for capital crimes were found in that county against Benjamin 
Ledilo (1761), Jonathan Sampson (1770), Daniel McCarthy 
(1773), and Andrew Cancalus (1776). "No record of their dispo- 
sition exists at Wiscasset. 

In 1789, George Pierce of Otisfield was tried at Portland, for 
killing John Mclntosh. The parties had quarreled ; words 
ensued; Mclntosh approached Pierce with clinched fists, and 
the latter struck him on the head with a mallet, causing his 
death. Pierce was convicted of jnan-slaughter, it appearing that 
he acted in self-defence. The prisoner was tried before Chief 
Justice Sargent, and Judges Sewall and Paine. 

The next two trials were also in Portland ; one being for mur- 
der and piracy, and the other for arson. Of them, Mr. Willis 
gives the following account : 

Thomas Bird and Hans Hanson, one an Englishman, the other a 
Swede, had murdered the master of a small vessel on the coast of Africa, 
in 1789, and brought her into Casco bay, where they commenced a traffic 
with the inhabitants of Cape Elizabeth. They were arrested and bound 
over to the Supreme Court. Before the next session, the jurisdiction of 
maritime causes having been transferred by the states to the United 
States, the trial was had in the District Court held in Portland, in May, 
1790. The prisoners were defended by John Frothingham and William 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE. 165 

Symmes. William Lithgow, District Attorney, represented the govern- 
ment. To gratify an excited public curiosity, the trial took place in Dr. 
Smith's meeting-house. At the close of the first day, the jury rendered 
a verdict of guilty against Bird, but acquitted Hanson, who was only 
nineteen years old. Sentence of death was impressively pronounced 
by Judge Sewall, which was carried into effect on Bramhall's hill, on the 
25th of June following, in the presence of several thousand persons; 
that being the first execution under the laws of the United States. 

At the July term of the Supreme Court, 1791, two boys, James Todd 
and Francis Hilton, were tried for arson. They were charged with 
burning a dwelling-house in New Gloucester. One of them had con- 
fessed having committed the crime. They were defended by Theophilus 
Parsons, afterward chief justice, who procured an acquittal on the 
ground that the confession was extorted, and not voluntary; there being 
no other direct evidence against them. 

In 1792, Joshua Abbott was convicted of murder in York. 
No account of the trial has been found. Preparatory to his 
execution, sermons were preached to him by the Rev. Matthew 
Merriam of Berwick and the Rev. Dr. Buckminster of Ports- 
mouth, after which his pardon was read by the sheriff. The 
indictment of Henry McCausland for murder, in 1793, at 
Augusta, then a half-shire of Lincoln County, excited much 
interest. The prisoner was an ignorant laborer, residing in 
Pittston, who became insane upon religious subjects. He was 
thought harmless, but finally had become impressed that the Lord 
had commanded him in a vision to make a burnt-offering and a 
sacrifice. The offering was to be in the Episcopal church in 
Gardiner, and the sacrifice a woman named Warren, who lived 
near. Accordingly, in August, 1793, he set fire to the church, 
an humble, unfurnished wooden edifice, and it was destroyed. It 
only then remained to perform the sacrifice. Two months after 
the burnt-offering, at midnight, he entered the house where the 
victim was watching a sick person, and deliberately murdering 
her with a knife, escaped without obstruction. The next day, a 
great crowd, some of them armed, came after him, but he offered 
no resistance, and was quietly secured. On being arraigned, he 
pleaded guilty. The chief justice stated to him the nature of 
the plea, and suggested a substitution of not guilty. He replied 
that he killed the woman, and did not like to tell a lie about it. 
The court did not then record the plea, but remanded him. On 
the following day, a retraction of the plea was again proposed, 



166 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

and rejected. Several witnesses were then examined as to his 
mental condition and conduct before, at the time of, and after 
the murder. He was never sentenced, and as there were then no 
insane asylums, he was committed to jail where he remained until 
his death, which occurred thirty-six years afterward, at the age 
of seventy. During his long confinement he was harmless and 
contented. 

In July, 1798, Jeremiah Pote of Falmouth was convicted of 
the murder of his wife, with a shovel, while he was in a fit of 
jealousy, aggravated by intoxication. He was sentenced to be 
executed, but died in Portland jail before the time appointed 
arrived. 

In May, 1 808, Joseph Drew and Levi Quimby were tried at 
Portland, for the murder of Ebenezer Parker at Falmouth, in 
January. Daniel Davis, solicitor general, represented the com- 
monwealth. The accused were defended by John Stephen 
Emery, Stephen Longfellow, and Prentiss Mellen. Parker, a 
deputy sheriff, in attempting to break and enter a shop where 
the prisoners were at work, to arrest Quimby on what proved an 
illegal execution, was struck by a bludgeon in the hands of 
Drew, thrown to the latter by Quimby ; receiving wounds which 
proved mortal. 

The prisoner's counsel argued that the offense was manslaughter 
and not murder ; that as the precept did not authorize an arrest, 
therefore Parker was a trespasser in breaking open the door, and 
bis entry might lawfully be resisted by Drew, who had possession 
of the shop. 

In reply, the solicitor general contended, that when the blow 
was received, the deceased had not given Drew any provocation, 
sufficient in law to reduce the homicide below the crime of 
murder. 

It was held by the court that the act of breaking open the 
door did not excuse the crime, because, where a trespass is bare- 
ly against the property of another, not against his dwelling- 
house, the owner is not justified in using a deadly weapon ; and 
if he do so, and death ensues, this will be murder, because it is 
an act of violence beyond the degree of provocation ; " but if the 
beating be with an instrument, and in a manner not likely to 
kill, and the trespasser should, notwithstanding, happened to be 



CAPITAL TKIALS IN MAINE. 167 

killed, it will be no more than manslaughter." As to the forci- 
bly breaking the shop door by Parker, in order unlawfully to 
arrest Quimby, the second provocation used, the court said "it 
was a principle of law, that if any man, under color or claim of 
legal authority, unlawfully arrest, or actually attempt or offer 
to arrest another, and if he resist, and in the resistance kill the 
aggressor, it will be manslaughter." And so as to any one "aid- 
ing the injured party by endeavoring to rescue him, or to prevent 
an illegal arrest, when actually attempted." It was held that 
when Parker received his death-wound, he had not arrested 
Quimby, nor had he in fact offered or attempted to do so. 

After a long and laborious trial, which took place in the 
meeting-house of the second parish, Drew was convicted of mur- 
der upon the ground that the officer had not even offered to 
arrest Quimby when the blow was inflicted, and that the 
bludgeon used was a deadly weapon. The jury acquitted 
Quimby, not being satisfied that he threw the weapon to furnish 
Drew with a deadly instrument to assault the deceased. 

On the last day of the term, Drew was brought up to receive 
his sentence, when his council moved a delay of judgment, be- 
cause they had evidence that a material government witness had 
declared before the trial, that he would hang the prisoner by his 
testimony if he could ; and because one of the jury did not agree 
to find the prisoner guilty of murder, but only of manslaughter ; 
and through mistake of his duty, he believed that he must assent 
to the verdict of the major part of the jury. The court observed 
that these allegations, if proved, could not avail the prisoner on 
any legal principles, by which alone the court must be bound, but 
if they supported any equitable claims to favor, he might apply 
to the supreme executive, who had discretion in the matter. 
Judgment of death was then pronounced against Drew, and he 
was executed on the twenty-first day of July following, walking 
from the prison in the rear of the courthouse to the gallows 
near the observatory, a full half-mile, with sheriff Waite on one 
side, and the Rev. Mr. Bradley of Stroudwater on the other. 

Early in the present century, much trouble arose in portions 
of the country between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, by 
a class of people called squatters ; " men who," to quote the lan- 
guage of the late John H. Sheppard, esq., " either without color 



168 - MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

or title, or under implied grants from pretended agents or spec- 
ulators, have entered upon lots, cleared them up, built houses, 
and raised families. Numerous lawsuits, ejectments and quarrels 
were the result. Many of these settlers believed that i the higher 
law' the law of conscience justified any measures, even the 
shedding of blood, in defense of their clearings against the 
proprietors, and combinations for resistance were formed." The 
difficulties culminated, in 1809, in the murder of Paul Chadwick, 
while assisting a surveyor in Malta, now Windsor. He was way- 
laid and shot by an armed party consisting of Elijah Barton and 
others, disguised as Indians. Eight of their number, including 
Barton, were arrested, and lodged in Augusta jail. Their rescue 
was attempted, and the militia was called out for protection. 
At the October term of the Supreme Court, the prisoners were 
indicted for murder, and a special session for the trial was held 
during that month. Chief Justice Sedgwick and Associate 
Judges Sewall, Thacher and Parker were present. Samuel S. 
Wilde of Hallowell and Prentiss Mellen of Portland were 
engaged in defence, while Daniel Davis, solicitor general, 
appeared for the government. The defendants elected to be 
tried together. 

The trial occupied ten days, and forty-four witnesses were exam- 
ined. The fact of guilt was proved beyond any reasonable 
doubt, at least against some of the prisoners. All of them had 
been recognized in Indian disguise, on the afternoon of the 
murder, near the place where it was committed. Seven vol- 
untarily confessed their participation in the crime. Two of 
their number were identified in the dying declaration of the 
deceased. 

Judge Parker charged the jury, who, after being out two days, 
to "the surprise of the court, bar and spectators, returned a ver- 
dict of not guilty. " Higher law " had prevailed. The court 
made some pertinent and judicious comments upon the extreme 
danger of setting aside the law of the land, and breaking down 
the partition walls between right and wrong; remarking that 
" the last prayer of a good citizen should be that the discreet 
integrity of jurymen may be as well preserved from the contam- 
inating influence of the threats or patronage of the great, as 
from the whimsical misguided current of public opinion. 



CAPITAL TKIALS IN MAINE. 169 

The effect of this trial, upon the whole, was salutary in induc- 
ing a spirit of conciliation and an acquiescence in the justice of 
the quieting and remedial statute, passed two years previously, 
known as the " Betterment Act." 

The first capital trial east of Lincoln County took place at 
Castine, in 1811, before the Supreme Judicial Court for the 
counties of Hancock and Washington. Ebenezer Ball of Rob- 
bin ston was the party accused. He was charged with shooting 
one John S. Downes of Robbinston, who had an illegal warrant 
against him. His counsel, William Crosby and Nathaniel Coffin, 
claimed that the conduct and pursuit of the deceased were 
such a provocation as reduced the offense from murder to man- 
slaughter, and that there was an attempt to arrest, without legal 
authority, which must have the same effect. In several particu- 
lars, the case resembled that against Drew and Quimby, which 
was tried three years before at Portland. The judges, who were 
Sewall, Thatcher and Parker, severally addressed the jury. 
They took a particular view of the evidence produced, and 
agreed that " the facts essential to maintain the indictment were 
fully proved by uncontradictory testimony." They also agreed 
that the warrant, by virtue of which the deceased intended to 
arrest the prisoner, was entirely void, and that he must be con- 
sidered as having pursued the prisoner with the intention of 
arresting him without lawful authority. The court also stated 
to the jury the law to be clear, " that if one arrests or attempts 
to arrest another, without lawful authority, and is killed, the 
homicide may be manslaughter, but cannot be murder." The 
only point on which the court differed in opinion was whether 
there was any evidence of an attempt to arrest. 

Two of the court in their charge to the jury stated, that 
though an intention to arrest was manifest, there was no evi- 
dence of an actual arrest, or an attempt to effect it. The true 
definition of an attempt to arrest, as contradistinguished from 
an intention to arrest, being that the assailant should be within 
reach of the object of his pursuit, and actually proceeding to lay 
hands on him ; in like manner as to constitute an assault, which 
is an offense short of a battery, the party must be so near that 
his design to strike may take effect, if he be not intercepted. 

Judge Sewall delivered it as his opinion to the jury, that the 



170 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

circumstances would authorize them to believe there was an 
attempt to arrest, and if they did believe it, they ought to convict 
only of manslaughter. 

The jury retired about ten o'olock at night, and in the fore- 
noon of the next day returned a verdict of guilty, when Judge 
Sewall, after a very eloquent and pathetic address to the prison- 
er, pronounced against him the sentence of the law. 

It was then stated by Judge Sewall that as a difference of 
opinion had appeared among the members of the court, upon an 
important question of law, the case would be stated to the chief 
justice for his opinion and if either of the judges continued of 
an opinion upon the question favorable to the prisoner, a state- 
ment of the case, with the several reasons would be laid before 
the executive. 

The chief justice concurred with his associates who thought 
that the crime, as proved, amounted to murder, and Judge 
Sewall, after due consideration, adopted the same view. There- 
fore the court offered nothing in mitigation of punishment, and 
the sentence was carried into effect. 

Four years afterward, Castine became the scene of another 
capital trial. Moses Adams, sheriff of the county of Hancock, 
who had officiated at the execution of Ball, was arraigned upon 
an indictment charging him with a more atrocious crime than 
that for which the latter suffered. Adams resided in Ellsworth. 
He was a physician of good reputation, a graduate of Harvard 
College, and a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. 
On the afternoon of the twelfth day of May, 1815, his wife was 
found murdered with an ax, in her house. No cause for the 
crime on the part of the accused was shown. He had been 
noticed walking rapidly from the premises about two hours before 
the body was seen, according to several witnesses. Others 
called it later. His absence during that intervening time was 
satisfactorily accounted for, His clothes exhibited marks of 
blood. He claimed that money had been stolen from his desk. 

Chief Justice Parker, and Judges Thacher and Jackson held 
the court. Attorney General Morton represented the govern- 
ment. By request of the prisoner, Samuel S. Wilde and Pren- 
tiss Mellen were assigned as his counsel, who claimed in, defense, 
that the deed was committed by a thief, who robbed the house ; 



CAPITAL TRIALS IN MAINE. 171 

that the stains in the clothes were acquired in his surgical prac- 
tice, and that the vital heat of the body and the unclotted 
appearance of the blood, excluded the theory of guilt, as Adams 
had proved an alibi for two hours before the discovery of the 
murder was made. The evidence, however, developed wide 
inconsistencies as to time, as to the state of the body, as to 
warmth, when found, and to the dryness of the blood. In 
charging the jury, Judge Jackson remarked : "The prisoner 
was on that day, in such a situation that he had opportunity to 
perpetrate this deed. It was possible that he did it. This is a 
necessary step, although a very short one, towards a conviction. 
Even if it were more probable that he did it than any other per- 
son, such a probable presumption is never sufficient to affect the 
life of any party accused." The chief justice and Judge 
Thacher observed, that they had intended to have charged the 
jury; but as they concurred entirely in what had been said by 
Judge Jackson, they should omit it, and would only add that the 
question was not whether the jury were entirely satisfied of the 
innocence of the prisoner ; but whether he was proved to be 
guilty. 

After two hours deliberation, a verdict of not guilty was 
returned. From the high social standing of the accused and 
his murdered wife, and the wickedness of the crime, the trial 
attracted more than ordinary interest. The meeting-house, in 
which it took place, was crowded, and during a panic which 
ensued from a fear that the galleries were breaking down, sev- 
eral persons were injured. John Bulfinch, who is, now living in 
Waldoboro, at the advanced age of ninety years, and who, with 
the exception of our venerable associate, John Mussey,* is now 
the oldest lawyer in Maine, reported the proceedings which were 
published in a pamphlet. 

Public opinion did not sustain the acquittal of Dr. Adams. 
His character was destroyed, and he soon sought obscurity in a 
remote settlement, where after many years of physical suffering 
he died in 1839.t 

*Mr. Mussey has deceased since the reading of this paper at the advanced age of ninety 
six years. 

t After his acquittal Dr. Adams lived for many years on a farm in "Number 8" on the 
stage road, and about half-way between Ellsworth and Bangor. It is the same farm men- 
tioned by Llewellyn Deane, esq., in his paper in this number upon the character and 
public services of his father, John G-. Deane, as the place of residence of William Jel- 
lison, visited by that writer in his boyhood. It stood near the top of a long ridge or 
hill of mostly cleared land, whence a wide view was had of gleaming ponds, * 



172 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The last capital trial before the separation was in Castine. It 
was that of Peol Susup, an Indian of the Penobscot tribe, who, 
when intoxicated, killed William Knight, an innkeeper at Ban- 
gor. The latter had ejected him from the door, and endeavored 
to drive him away. Susup admitted his guilt, but pleaded not 
guilty to a charge of murder. The trial took place at the June 
term of the Supreme Court, in 1817, before Chief Justice Parker 
and Associate Justices Thatcher, Putnam and Wilde. According 
to the position urged by Mellen and Williamson, his counsel, the 
verdict was manslaughter. In mitigation of sentence, John Nep- 
tune, an Indian of the Penobscot tribe, deliberately addressed 
the judges in an impressive speech of several minutes. He used 
broken English, yet every word was distinctly heard and easily 
understood. His gestures were frequent and forcible; his 
manner solemn ; and a breathless silence pervaded the whole 
assembly. 

Susup was sentenced to imprisonment, and required to find 
sureties for keeping the* peace. 

by the everywhere spreading forests of lofty wooded hills and by the purple masses of 
the Mount Desert mountains. The house was kept as a hotel, post-office and relay for 
the daily stage-coach service, and its comfortable and capacious rooms, its neat portico, 
green blinds and white paint, the numerous barns and out-buildings, and especially the 
extensive and fruitful orchard starred with yellow and crimson apples, are well remem- 
bered as affording one of the pleasantest resting-places in the long journey from home to 
college, which used in old times to consume the better part of a week. Of course it 
devolved upon to "mine host" tell to each inquisitive traveler the tragic story of his 
predecessor, and he was wont to show in the hearth of the public room a circular hole 
drilled nearly through the brick, v here for hours and hours the poor doctor, oppressed 
with painful memorips, sat by the fireside and with one hand supporting his sad face, 
with the other hand slowly twirled the tongs back and forth with a monotonous grinding. 



ENTEKPKISE AND BOXEE. 173 



LETTER 

ACCOMPANYING THE GIFT OF A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE BRIG "BOXER." 
BY FRITZ H. JORDAN. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May %8, 1885. 

PORTLAND, May 27, 1885. 
Mr. II. W. Bryant^ Secretary Maine Historical Society : 

I PRESENT to the Society herewith a framed photograph of the 
brig " Boxer " as she appeared when entering the port of Mar- 
seilles in 1815. With the exception of some slight changes ren- 
dered necessary in fitting her for the merchant service this is, I 
think, an accurate representation of this famous brig, which was 
captured by the United States brig " Enterprise " a few miles to 
the southward and eastward of Seguin in the memorable action 
of Sept. 5, 1813, that, to quote from the inscription on the tomb 
of the gallant commander of the latter vessel, " contributed to 
increase the fame of American valor." 

The "Enterprise," while notoriously a dull sailer and a poor 
working vessel,' had always been a very fortunate one. She was 
originally built in 1799, and was then a schooner of one hundred and 
thirty five tons, carrying a battery of twelve six-pounders and a 
crew of ninety men. In the war with Tripoli she engaged and cap- 
tured a Tripolitan cruiser of twice her size ; and later formed a part 
of Commodore Preble's fleet at the blockade and bombardment of 
Tripoli. Previous to the war of 1812 she had been rebuilt, en- 
larged and rigged as a brig. She then measured one hundred 
and sixty-five tons, was classed as a vessel of fourteen guns ; car- 
ried fourteen eighteen-pound carronades and two long nines, and 
was manned by a crew of ninety men. After the action with the 
" Boxer " she was employed as a guard ship at Charleston, South 
Carolina, and was lost at Little Curacoa, West Indies, in 1823. 
The early records of our custom house having been destroyed 
by t he burning of the Exchange in 1854, I have been unable to 



174 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

learn the exact tonnage of the " Boxer," but she is thought to 
have been about two hundred and twenty -five tons register. 

Our older citizens tell me that she was a very able, weatherly 
vessel and a fast sailer ; qualities which her picture would seem 
to indicate. Her armament consisted of twelve eighteen-pound 
carronades and two long sixes. The " Enterprise " was command- 
ed by Lieutenant William Burrows, a young man twenty-eight 
years of age, and was on a cruise on the coast of Maine. She 
entered Portland harbor the third of September, 1813, and 
sailed again the morning of the fourth. The next morning, 
at day-break, being Sunday, September 5, she saw the " Boxer " 
at anchor under Pemaquid. After maneuvering for some time 
to learn each other's size and armament, the two vessels engaged 
each other at three P.M. They were well matched. The " Box- 
er" was superior in men, tonnage and sailing qualities. The 
" Enterprise " was twenty-one pounds heavier in the weight of 
her broadside. The action lasted but forty-five minutes and was 
decided, as in the frigate actions of the same war, by the 
superior gunnery and seamanship of the American vessel ; for, 
while the " Enterprise " was hulled but once and with the excep- 
tion of some slight repairs to spars and rigging was ready for 
another action, the "Boxer " sustained very severe injuries. 
Captain Hull, who came here to represent the federal govern- 
ment, wrote to Commodore Bainbridge that she had eighteen 
round shot and an innumerable quantity of grape-shot in her 
hull and that her spars, rigging and sails were completely rid- 
dled. The " Enterprise " had two men killed and seven wound- 
ed. One of the former was her gallant commander ; and two 
of the latter died of their wounds. It is not known how many 
were killed on board the " Boxer," as some of the bodies were 
thrown overboard during the fight. Among the killed, however, 
was her commander, Captain Blythe, who was cut in two by a 
cannon ball early in the action. He was twenty-nine years old, 
and had but a short time before been a pall-bearer at the funeral 
of the gallant Lawrence at Halifax. 

The two vessels arrived at Portland harbor the next day ; and 
on \V ednesday, the eighth, the two captains were buried with 
the honors of war. Portland has seen few sights more impres- 
sive than this funeral pageant. The procession formed at the 



ENTERPRISE AND BOXER. 175 

court house at nine o'clock A.M., with Robert Ilsley and Levi 
Cutter, assisted by twelve others, as marshals and proceeded 
to Union wharf. The vessels lay in the stream and the bodies 
were brought on shore in barges of ten oars each, rowed by 
masters and mates, rowing minute strokes, minute guns be- 
ing fired from Forts Preble and Scammell. The procession 
was formed as follows : The escort consisted of three companies 
of militia, Captain Atherton of the Rifle Company being senior 
officer, then preceded by the marshals and the reverend clergy 
came the body of Lieutenant Burrows, with Captain Isaac Hull, 
of the frigate " Constitution " as chief mourner, and followed by 
the officers and. crew of the "Enterprise," then the body of 
Captain Blythe followed by the officers and crew of the " Boxer," 
then the selectmen, judges, consuls, officials of all kinds and cit- 
izens generally. The route of the procession was up Union 
wharf through Fore and Pleasant streets to High street and 
thence through Main and Middle streets to the Second Parish 
Church, where the funeral services were conducted by the Rev. 
Dr. Payson, and from thence to the Eastern cemetery where the 
bodies were entombed. 

This action was a source of much pride to our nation and has 
been commemorated in several seamen's songs, one of which 
beginning with 

There was an enterprising brig 
and with the refrain 

We boxed her into Portland, 
We boxed her off the town, 

is well known. 

Coming so soon after the capture of the " Chesapeake " by the 
" Shannon," in Massachusetts bay, it, in a measure, counteracted 
the despondency caused by her loss, and restored the prestige 
previously gained by the capture of the " Guerriere," the " Ma- 
cedonian," the " Frolic," and others. 

The "Boxer" was sold at marshal's sale, November 12, 1813, 
and was bought by Thomas Merrill, jr., for five thousand, six 
hundred dollars. He also bought ten carronades of her arma- 
ment and many articles of her inventory, some of which are still 
in possession of our family. The carronades are thought to have 
been sold to Bryant & Sturgis of Boston, and to have been put 



176 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

on board the privateer * Hyder All," which was built for them 
near the foot of High street, Portland. 

In 1814, there being danger of a British descent on the coast, 
the shipping in the harbor was taken above Vaughan's bridge ; 
guns were taken from the Portuguese ship "San Jose Indiano" 
(a prize to the privateer "Yankee"), and mounted on the 
" Boxer," which latter vessel was moored to protect the shipping 
and was manned by the Rifle Company. Happily the descent 
was not made. In 1815, the " Boxer" was refitted for the mer- 
chant service, went to New York and from thence sailed under 
letters of marque for Marseilles, under command of Captain 
William McLellan, father of our Ex-mayor Jacob McLellan. At 
Marseilles, Captain McLellan had the water-color painting made 
of which this photograph is a copy. This painting is now the 
property of Captain Jacob McLellan who has kindly allowed me 
to have it photographed. The name of the painter is unknown. 
He was, however, apparently an artist of no mean merit, and as 
it is known that he made accurate measurements of the vessel 
and spars, it is probable that he has given us a correct represen- 
tation of her as she then appeared. E(e has represented her as 
under top-sails, top-gallant sails, and jib with main try-sail scanda- 
lized, royal yards across and foresail and mainsail brailed up. 
She is on the starboard tack, with the walls and fortifications of 
Marseilles and a Mediterranean polacre in the distance. Her hull 
does not differ greatly in appearance from vessels built in the 
north of England twenty-five years ago. Her bowsprit is very 
long, her foremast stepped well forward and standing nearly 
straight, her mainmast rakes aft, peculiarities common at that 
day. Her waist is low, her deck is apparently flush. She shows 
seven ports on a side. At her peak is an American ensign of 
fifteen stripes, at her fore the private signal of Thomas Merrill 
jr., blue, white and blue in three vertical stripes. From the let- 
ter of Captain Hull, it is known that she had hammock nettings 
and a top-gallant forecastle ; these were, without doubt, removed 
when she was refitted, as they do not now appear ; her high cat- 
heads and knight-heads, hovever, still show. Her bottom is 
apparently wood-sheathed, probably to cover up plank injured 
by shot. 

This photograph has been much praised by several of our older 



ENTERPRISE AND BOXEK. 177 

shipmasters on account of its accuracy and life-like appearance 
and from its recalling to them many nautical appliances long 
since gone out of use. Her topsails are single, the weather 
leeches being hauled flat by fore and maintop bowlines, her 
cables are hemp, her anchors stowed well aft, her long boat is 
carried on deck amid-ships, she is apparently steered by a tiller. 

In connection with the repairs made to the -vessel there is a 
curious tradition in our family. Much of the material was of 
course unfit to use again and Mr. Merrill had some of the con- 
demned wood hauled to his house for fuel, when an old Scotch 
serving- woman employed as a domestic peremptorily refused to 
use it because it had human blood upon it. How the matter was 
settled is not known. After the " Boxer " returned from this voy- 
age she was sold to a Portuguese house and was employed by 
them for many years as a mail packet between the Cape de Verde 
islands and Lisbon. 

Capt. Jacob McLellan tells me that in 1825 he was second offi- 
cer of the ship " John " of Portland one hundred and seventy- 
five tons, employed in the African trade. On the outward pas- 
sage they made the Cape de Verde islands at dusk, and on enter- 
ing the harbor of Port Praya, after dark, were passed by a heavy 
brig outward bound ; this vessel they learned the next day was 
the " Boxer." What was her final end is not known, but she is 
thought to have been lost on the Brazil coast. 
Very respectfully, 

FRITZ H. JORDAN. 



12 



JOHN G. DEANE. 179 



JOHN G. DEANE. 
A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE, 

WITH A RECAPITULATION OF HIS SERVICES, IN ESTABLISHING 
THE NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY OF MAINE. 

BY HIS SON, LLEWELLYN DEANE, OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Head before the Maine Historical Society, January 8, 1885. 

JOHN GILMORE DEANE was born in Raynham, Massachusetts, 
March 27, 1785. His parents were Joseph and Mary (Gilmore) 
Deane, both of whom were born and lived and died, in that 
town. 

He graduated at Brown University in the class of 1806 ; read 
law in Taunton, Massachusetts, with Judge Seth Padelford, and 
settled in Ellsworth, Maine, about 1810. He married, Septem- 
ber 13, 1810, Rebecca, who was born in Taunton, May 29, 1792, 
and was the youngest daughter of Judge Padelford and Rebecca 
(Dennis) his wife. 

Mr. Deane was admitted to practice as attorney in the Court 
of Common Pleas, Hancock county, in 1810, and, according to 
the rule in those days, four years later as counselor in the 
Supreme Court. For many years Hancock county was very 
large territorially. From 1810 to 1816, it included a portion of 
Penobscot county, and from 1810 to 1827, most of what is now 
Waldo county, as well as a part of the present Knox county. 
Castine was its shire town till February 17, 1837. Mr. Deane 
acquired a very extensive law practice, and was held in high 
esteem by the Court and Bar. He enjoyed the warm personal 
friendship of Simon Greenleaf, John Orr, Jacob McGaw, Wil- 
liam Abbott, Samuel Fessenden, William P. Preble, Thomas A. 
Deblois, Edward Kent, Joshua W. Hathaway, Prentiss Mellen, 



180 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

George Herbert, Charles S. Daveis, and most of the judges and 
leading lawyers of the state in the earlier period of its history. 
He was an assiduous student of the law, and became well versed 
in its principles, but he had besides a fine taste for general litera- 
ture, and his style of composition was remarkably pure and grace- 
ful. His law library was a very large one for the period when 
he was in practice, and comprised the standard text-books, and 
the principal American and English reports, and he gathered, 
during his life a very good miscellaneous library of the best and 
standard works in history, poetry and fiction. He was a sub- 
scriber to the North American Review from its first issue. 

Mr. Deane undoubtedly held some town offices, but as the 
records of Ellsworth were destroyed by fire some years ago, it is 
not now possible to say what offices he filled, or when he was the 
incumbent of the same. It appears by official papers in the Mas- 
sachusetts State House that, in 1813, he was one of the select- 
men who signed the petition to reimburse the town of Ellsworth 
for the expenses of the militia, ordered out to suppress the riot 
in Castine, in July, 1813. 

He was connected with the militia organizations during his 
earlier professional life, and was in brief service as an officer dur- 
ing the war of 1812. He subsequently rose to the position of 
lieutenant colonel in the militia, and in his later years was com- 
monly known as " Colonel " Deane. 

He had a great fondness for all kinds of manly sports ; loved 
to have about him good horses and fine dogs, and was enthu- 
siastic in hunting and fishing. His ardent pursuit of these pas- 
times led him very often to make long excursions into the then 
wild regions north and northeast of the town of Ellsworth. He 
was famous in all the region round about as a marksman. It 
was commonly reported that at the Thanksgiving shootings he 
was either ruled out, or obliged to shoot double or treble the dis- 
tance of the ordinary range. 

While I have spoken of my father as a lawyer and a man, I 
deem it only proper to say a few words about him personally and 
socially. In stature he was about five feet ten inches in height, 
of medium size, rather spare in flesh, with a dark complexion, 
and brown hair and eyes. He never wore a beard. Though a 
good conversationalist he was more inclined to taciturnity than 



JOHN G. DEANE. 181 

to garrulity. In his family, however, and with his children he 
was more the "big brother" than the stern parent, and had a 
pleasant and affectionate way of entering into the studies, sports 
and engagements of our youth. I well remember, when in the 
winter of 1838-39, he was busy with a draughtsman in the prepar- 
ation of his map of Maine, and used the parlors of our State street 
house in Portland as his office, how intensely he was delighted at 
finding one day among his papers my childish attempt at a war 
romance. The marvel and fun of it were on his tongue for many 
a day afterward. Nor can I ever forget the romps we younger 
children used to have with him on the floor, sofas and about the 
room. When I was only ten years of age, once on his return 
from a brief absence, he gave me " Botta's American Revolu- 
tion, " saying that though written by an Italian, it was the only 
good history of that war. He was greatly concerned that his 
boys should be well versed in history, and took a youthful pride in 
the account my brothers, Joseph and Henry, gave of the debates 
before the Pnyxian and Philomathian Debating Societies, 
which at that time had considerable local reputation, particularly 
the former. Always on his return from a trip to the " west- 
ward, " that is Massachusetts, he was sure to remember each of 
his boys with the present of a book. 

My father was not a member of any church. In his earlier life 
in Ellsworth, after the organization of the Congregational church 
in 1812, he with my mother worshiped there, and the whole 
family attended that church till our removal to Portland. The 
pastor from September 8, 1812 to November 11, 1835, Reverend 
Peter Nourse (brother to the late Dr. Amos Nourse of Bath, for- 
merly U. S. Senator from Maine), was a famous man in those days, 
renowned for his integrity in doctrine, for his zeal in the gospel 
ministry, and for the goodness of his heart. I know we little 
folks, in the latter days of his pastorate, used to think his ser- 
mons exceedingly long. I am sure that he sowed good seeds in 
that soil, and watered them faithfully with prayers and tears. 
When I first read Goldsmith's " Deserted Village " it seemed to 
me that his parish clergyman 

Passing rich with forty pounds a year. 

was either the real or counterpart Pastor Nourse. This godly 
man was indeed highly useful in his time in educational as 



182 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

well as religious matters ; but, if my childhood's memory serves 
me well, his life was not a gay period of enjoyment, or rich with 
present rewards for work well done. I hold his memory in 
warm esteem because of the respect and affection with which my 
parents regarded him. Our family were not allowed to talk 
lightly or with disrespect of ouf religious teacher. He was my 
mother's pastor and spiritual counselor in the many scenes of 
afflictipn she was called to pass through in the sickness and death 
of those of her children who deceased before we moved from 
Ellsworth, and in the death of her mother, Mrs. Judge Padelford, 
who had made her home with my parents, for some time before 
her decease, which occurred about 1822. The funerals of all these 
were attended by Pastor Nourse. They were all buried in the 
Congregational churchyard, where a modest stone tells their 
resting-places and names. 

Nor was my father interested only in the upbuilding of the 
church where his family worshiped his catholic views in relig- 
ious matters led him to make a donation toward the building of 
the Baptist church which was erected on the west side of the 
river, not far from the present county buildings. I suppose his 
gift amounted at least to the price of a pew, for I know that not 
long before we moved from Ellsworth, I attended services in that 
church one afternoon with some older members of our family, 
and sat in what we called, " Father's " pew. 

I am greatly surprised, as I write, to note how vividly the 
names of many of the active business men in Ellsworth in those 
days come to my mind. I am sure I could have had next to no 
personal acquaintance with any of them. There was Andrew 
Peters, who lived in the fine large house on the Bangor road 
opposite the Congregational church, and who did business in a 
brick store on the northwest corner of this road and the Bucks- 
port road close by the bridge. His son John A., now chief jus- 
tice (who, also, was not long since and for several terms a dis- 
tinguished member of Congress), was one of the famous boys of 
those early days. Of a summer's day in passing Mr. Peters' resi- 
dence on my way to school at the town house, I used to linger 
and gaze with longing eyes at the wonderful bounty of apples 
on the trees in front of his house. I have never seen any such 
apples since. There was, too, Deacon Samuel Dutton, of blessed 



JOHN G. DEANE. 183 

memory, who raised a large family of good business men ; and Dr. 
Peck with his wonderful saddle-bags filled with medicine of all 
sorts, and marvelous to cure, who was to my youthful mind a sort 
of superhuman being in his wonderful possession of power to heal 
the sick and diseased. But how shall I call the roll in which 
appears the names of Jordan, Black, Whitaker, McFarland, Tis- 
dale, Tinker, Parcher, Buckmore, Joy, Whiting, Jarvis, Macom- 
ber, Lowell, Grant, Warren, Hopkins, Robinson, and many 
others ? I would not fail to remember with most sincere affection 
William Jellison one of a large family all good and true, both 
men and women. He married my relative, Miss Julia Tisdale, 
whose acquaintance he made while she was visiting my mother, 
her kinswoman. They lived a short time after their marriage in 
Ellsworth village, or at the " Bridge, " as we called it in those 
days. Then they moved to " Number 8 " on the Bangor road, 
about half-way between Bangor and Ellsworth, and settled on a 
farm in what is now called North Ellsworth. Of Mr. Jellison's 
large family, I remember well his son Charles, a promising young 
merchant in Portland, who died suddenly in his early manhood ; 
Edward, a young man of great promise, who died while in Union 
College ; George a prosperous business man in New York ; 
Zachariah, who was some years a merchant in Boston, and later 
in Nebraska, who now holds an important office in the New York 
custom house, and John, who, after a good war record, died 
with his armor on. There were other sons and two daughters. 
Their farmhouse was often visited by me, once with my father 
and mother in the early summer of 1839, and alone at later dates. 
Mr. Jellison was possessed of intellectual power of more than 
ordinary grasp, and I never met a man of nobler heart or more 
genuine wit the kind that runs over with humor and delicious 
fun. 

There comes up before me as I write a curiously intangible 
vision of an old gentleman carrying a cane, and dressed in short 
clothes, wearing a cue, and a bountiful white shirt bosom. I can- 
not certainly fix any name to him, and yet, though the vision is 
dim, I am sure that it has a foundation in some personage of 
those early days. Yet I have a shadowy recollection of such a 
name as Major Phillips. It occurs to me, too, that there was a 
wonderful fiddler, one " Black George, " who was always on hand 



184 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

when a dance took place. Captain Jesse Button, the renowned 
authority in all martial matters, and the hero of all the musters, 
that I heard talked of in those times, with their sham lights, is a 
prominent figure in my memory. 

About the same time, or just prior to my father's settlement in 
Ellsworth, John Black, a young Englishman, settled there as the 
agent of the Bingham heirs, who owned very extensive tracts of 
land in Hancock and Washington counties, called in common 
phrase, the " Bingham Purchase." The acquaintance between 
the two young men ripened into a strong and enduring friend- 
ship, which lasted uninterrupted till my father's death. " Colo- 
nel " Black was the name by which he was familiarly known, 
from the fact that, after he became an American citizen, he 
entered ardently into the militia service, and by regular promo- 
tion, became as I have been always told, colonel of the regiment. 
He built on the Blue Hill road, about half a mile from the 
" Bridge " a very large brick house, set at some distance back 
from the road, which he occupied till his death, and which is yet 
standing. I recall with pleasure many visits in early youth, and 
later, at this delightful home. He was not only one of the best 
business men ever known in Maine, but he was thoroughly edu- 
cated and equipped with many of the elegant accomplishments 
peculiar to the aristocratic classes in the land of his birth. He 
was a good draughtsman and an amateur painter of no mean skill. 
Though not large in stature, he was very noticeable in appearance, 
and in his personal address he was commanding and dignified, 
and his manners were polite and courteous. His management of 
the great trusts of the Bingham estate was characterized by the 
strictest diligence and fidelity, as well as the most scrupulous 
honesty. He was quiet in his mode of life, simple in his tastes, 
and by tact and careful management without oppression or 
extortion he accumulated a very large property. He reared a 
numerous family, and many of his descendants are now residents 
of Ellsworth. He married a daughter of Gen. David Cobb of 
Gouldsboro, Maine (who came from Taunton, Mass., to act as the 
agent of the " Bingham Purchase "), and reared a numerous fam- 
ily, and many of his descendants are now residents of Ellsworth. 
On the death of Gen. Cobb in 1830, he became, as his successor, 
full agent of the " Bingham Purchase." He died in Ellsworth, 



JOHN G. DEANE. 185 

October 25, 1856, at a ripe age, and profoundly regretted not only 
by the citizens of that town, but by a very large circle of friends 
and acquaintances in Maine and in Massachusetts. His' remains 
were interred in the family tomb on his estate. 

Colonel Black was able to throw a good share of legal business 
into Mr. Deane's hands, and in attending to it Mr. Deane was 
required to make long expeditions through the wild and sparsely 
settled portions of Hancock and other eastern counties. By 
means of his hunting tours and these extended excursions, Mr. 
Deane acquired a very thorough experience with life in the 
woods, and became most peculiarly well fitted for the perform- 
ance of the public duties which devolved upon him later, in con- 
nection with the northeastern boundary. 

He was active as a Federalist in politics ; and was a represen- 
tative from Ellsworth to the General Court of Massachusetts in 
1816, 1817, 1818, 1819, and representative from Ellsworth to the 
Legislature of Maine in 1825, 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1831. What 
he did, as well as the value of his services as a legislator in the 
estimate of his associates, may be generally understood from the 
following memoranda of the reports he wrote and the resolves 
passed, viz : 

1828. Report upon the Northeastern Boundary Question 8vo., 
pages 55, accepted by Legislature. 

1830. Resolve of Legislature allowing him one hundred and seventy 
dollars for negotiating release of land claims with Penobscot Indians. 

1831. Report of Committee on State Lands of which he was Chair- 
man, 8vo., pages 12. 

1831. Report as Chairman of the Committee on the Northeastern 
Boundary, pages 4. 

1831. Report as Chairman of the Committee on the Northeastern 
Boundary, pages 13. 

1831. Resolve granting him half township of land. 

1831. Letter to Governor Samuel E. Smith about the Northeastern 
Boundary. 

1839. Resolves paying him four hundred and sixty-five dollars for 
locating the Northeastern Boundary line under resolve of March 23, 1838. 

Most probably, however, this list represents but a very small 
part of the actual work he did while in the Maine legislature ; 
but it indicates how busy he was and the kind of work that 
engaged his attention. 

It should be stated in this connection that the search for my 



186 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

father's legislative history has been somewhat difficult, because 
the state documents were not printed till 1833, and some of the 
archives were lost in the removal of the public records from 
Portland to Augusta, when the latter town was made the 
capital. 

By degrees, and from his varied experience in the woods and 
wild portions of the state, as well as from his education in public 
affairs, he had become intensely interested in the questions relat- 
ing to the northeastern boundary. Among my earliest recol- 
lections relating to him and our Ellsworth home, are the constant 
talks between him and his visitors about the " disputed terri- 
tory " and " Madawaska, " and our public rights to the fine lands 
in the northern part of our state, just above the St. John river. 
From the glowing description of the fine wheat soil up there, and 
the agricultural possibilities of that region, in my childish imagin- 
ation I used to think it was a very " Beulah " land. In his fre- 
quent journeys in search of evidence or otherwise to the northern 
part of the state, officially or privately, he accumulated an 
immense amount of evidence in the form of affidavit, or other 
testimony on points relating to this boundary question. He 
published articles in many of the newspapers of the state embo- 
dying his information or views upon this important theme. These 
contributions, over the signatures of "Cato," "Ishmasl," and 
" Peter Parley," attracted great attention and had a deep influ- 
ence in educating and directing the public mind. I have an auto- 
graph letter from Gov. Enoch Lincoln to my father, ref en-ing to 
these writings and thanking him for what he had done in this 
way. I have recently found a portion of the original drafts of 
these papers. They are now being very carefully edited by a 
valued friend, rarely capable in such matters, and will in due 
time be deposited in the archives of the Maine Historical Society. 
His unpublished manuscripts on the subject were very volumin- 
ous there being at the time of his death enough of them to fill a 
large trunk all written in his very plain and rapid hand. I 
suppose that the family thought that the settlement of the 
national disputes had taken all value from these papers, since by 
degrees, and chiefly by neglect, they were lost. In one of his 
later journeys to the disputed territory, he cut from a tree, which 
he said was on the exact northeast corner of Maine, according to 



JOHN G. DEANE. 187 

his loyal idea, a stick which he had fashioned into a cane, in the 
ivory head of which he had engraved a record of the place 
whence he obtained it. This cane he carried constantly thereafter 
till the day of his fatal illness. 

Honorable Israel Washburn, jr., in his very able article on 
" The Northeastern Boundary, " read before the Maine Historical 
Society at Portland, May 15, 1879, makes frequent and most 
honorable mention of the value of Mr. Deane's services in the 
prosecution of our state's great controversy with her foreign 
neighbor. 

In this same connection I recall with a son's pride the very 
warm and generous remarks made to me in 1846, while I was in 
college, by ex-Governor Robert P. Dunlap, who was then living 
in Brunswick. Though he and my father were of opposite poli- 
tics, he entertained the most profound respect for the ability and 
energy with which my father had done his work for the state, in 
this behalf. Governor Dunlap asked me once when I was visit- 
ing at his house if I had ever read my father's reports on the 
subject, and on my answering " No, " took them from his library 
shelves and handed them to me, remarking that I ought to know 
all about these matters, thoroughly and well, for if ever a son 
had cause for being proud of his father's public services, I had. 

I also call to mind what Honorable Nathan Clifford, afterward 
judge of the United States Supreme Court, remarked to me on 
this subject in 1851, soon after he moved to Portland. He said 
that though not of the same political faith as my father, he had, 
as a young member of the legislature in 1831, cast no vote which 
he remembered with more pleasure than that in favor of grant- 
ing a township of land to my father, as a proper recognition of 
the value of bis services in this great public matter. 

Late in life Mr. Deane had accumulated quite a large property, 
chiefly in timber lands. Nor was he so selfish in his knowledge 
of good timber lands, as not to advise his friends frankly as to 
his opinion in these matters. His assistance in this behalf was 
once so valuable to Honorable Elijah L. Hanilin of Bangor, and 
Mr. Ruggles of Columbia, that they jointly presented him a very 
handsome and complete service of silver plate. I well remember 
the marvel of its display, when in 1835 the package was opened 
in our Ellsworth home, fresh from the store of Jones, Low & 



188 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Ball of Boston. This service was more than a nine days' won- 
der in the little village. 

In the fall of 1835, he moved to Portland and bought the 
property on the south side of State street, between Gray and 
Spring streets, which Mason Greenwood had finely improved. 
This property continued to be the homestead of his family, or 
descendants, till the spring of 1884. 

My father was at Cherryfield in the fall of 1839, attending to 
business in connection with his large landed interests, and be- 
coming ill early in November, was treated with such success that 
he was supposed to be recovering. By some accident the nurse 
gave him by mistake tartar emetic instead of cream tartar. 
When the mistake was discovered, all possible remedies were 
tried but to no purpose. He was sick at the residence of J. Til- 
den Moulton, who married my cousin, Ann P. Cook, (she had 
been raised in our family), and died there November 10, 1839. 

When we read in these latter days the history of the bound- 
aries of Maine there is much to marvel at and much to excite 
our ire. In the conscious strength of our national power of 
today, we are apt to forget that once the nation was weak, and 
in comparison with Great Britain quite insignificant, having no 
rights which that 'haughty nation was bound to respect. The 
boundaries of Maine contiguous to the British provinces seem 
to be so clearly stated in article second of the treaty of peace 
concluded at Paris, between Great Britain and the United States 
in 1783, that it now appears very strange that any dispute ever 
arose about them. The northerly line is thus described : 

From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, to wit, that angle which is 
formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix river 
to the highlands, along the said highlands which divide those rivers that 
empty themselves into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the 
Atlantic ocean, to the northwestern most head of Connecticut river. 

The eastern line is described thus : 

East, by a line drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix, from its 
mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly 
north to the aforesaid highlands which divide the waters that fall into 
the Atlantic ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence, 
comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the 
United States, and lying between the lines to be drawn due east from 
the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia, on the 
one part, and East Florida, on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay 




Iii the above map, the lines referred to by colors in Mr. Deane's paper (page 189) being 
all of one color are designated in small type upon the same. 



JOHN G. DEANE. 189 

of Fundy and the Atlantic ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or 
heretofore have been, within the limit of the said province of Nova 
Scotia. 

In regard to the eastern line it seems to have been proved 
beyond any reasonable doubt that there were three rivers 
which had been in turn, or interchangeably, called the " St. 
Croix " ; viz., the Magaguadavic, the most eastern ; the Schoodic, 
the present St. Croix, the middle ; and the Cobscook, the western ; 
and that the true St. Croix of the treaty of 1783 was the Magagua- 
davic. But the superior finesse of the British on the " St. Croix 
commission," in 1798, succeeded in causing the Schoodic to be 
permanently called the St. Croix, and thus our state lost on the 
east a tract of land nearly two hundred miles long by about 
thirty broad. 

It was the evident determination of the British government in 
some way to get land enough from the eastern and northern 
sides of Maine to afford ample room for all desired or necessary 
communication between the Canadas and New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia. After they had sliced off so large a piece from the 
eastern part of the state, then their whole force was redoubled 
to gain all that part of our state above a line drawn west from 
Mars hill ! If this had been accomplished the size of the state 
would have been very seriously reduced. The outrage of these 
claims will almost be obvious by a glance at any map in view of 
the above extracts from the treaty. 

I have endeavored to picture these facts of our great loss of 
territory, north as well as east, in the accompanying map, where 
are shown the treaty lines of 1783, in which the red line indicates 
the original eastern and the northern bpundaries ; the yellow 
line across the state and down the eastern side represents the 
one claimed by the British some considerable time after the 
treaty of 1783 as the northern line of the state not always 
confidently, but with increasingly loud protestations after the 
dispute over the boundary question had waxed warm. The 
present eastern, northern, and northwesterly boundary lines 
are indicated in full blue lines, and by the St. John river. It 
will be seen at a glance how great and valuable is the territory 
which we lost in 1798 and 1842. 

This present northern boundary was the result of the Ash- 
burton treaty of 1842. The rule devised by the exalted states- 



190 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

manship of that treaty seems to have been to split the difference 
between the claims of the two parties. But it is not necessary 
here to go into any details, since in the aforesaid monograph 
by Hon. Israel Washburn, jr., all these matters are treated with 
careful detail. It answers all my present purposes to show what 
our state had then already lost, and to indicate what my father 
was contending for, namely, the territory between the St. John 
river and the "highlands" of the treaty of 1783, and the great 
public value of the interests concerned. His unfaltering advocacy 
of our good cause fairly indicate the large-minded and public- 
spirited man he was. The people of the state of Maine do, I am 
sure, now fully approve what is sometimes called Governor John 
Fairfield's "declaration of war" in 1838, when he ordered out the 
state militia to defend our territory as we then claimed it. It is 
not necessary now to enlarge on all this. It is an historical fact 
in which the people of Maine take great pride. 

But I should have dwelt more at length upon the character 
and value of my father's public services in connection with this 
Northeastern Boundary question, if the matter had not many 
years ago been treated very justly, fully and ably, in the follow- 
ing excellent, feeling tribute to his memory which was written in 
1839, by Hon. Charles S. Daveis, LL.D., of Portland, then one of 
the first lawyers at the Cumberland bar, and in the full prime of 
his brilliant talents and high reputation. Mr. Daveis had been re- 
peatedly called upon to act a very distinguished public part in con 
nection with this very Northeastern Boundary question, and was 
thoroughly acquainted with all the men who had had any connec- 
tion, great or small, in this very important matter. He knew well 
to whom praise belonged. He had been long intimately associated 
with Mr. Deane in matters pertaining to the Northeastern Boun- 
dary question; had known him as a legislator, a lawyer, a man of 
business and affairs. He wrote generously, but with a full 
acquaintance of everything pertaining to the subject. 

The article appeared in the " Portland Advertiser," Tuesday 
evening, November 19, 1839, and is as follows : 

JOHN G. DEANE. 

On Saturday afternoon were committed to the grave the remains of 
John G. Deane. They had been removed from Narraguagus (Cherry- 
field), where he expired on Sunday, the tenth instant, and were conveyed 



JOHN G. DEANE. 191 

from his late residence on State street to the South burying ground in 
this city, attended by his family and friends. The deep domestic sorrow 
was accompanied by a most sincere attestation of sympathy and respect. 

The decease of Mr. Deane, indeed, thus suddenly occurring in the 
prime of life, upon a mere occasional absence from home, is not only a 
severe private loss, but it is also a great public one. To estimate it 
properly, it is necessary to refer to the memorial of the past, which he 
has raised for himself by his talents and services, inscribed as well upon 
the tablet of his social and professional relations, as upon the large, 
laborious and faithful record of the duties which he has performed to 
the public. 

If there was any among us who had a right to stand up and say, 

"I have done the state some service, and they know it." 

this was a persuasion of which Mr. Deane may have been justly and 
honestly conscious ; and so marked and prominent an object of consid- 
eration and esteem has he been, now for a long space of time in the view, 
of the people of Maine, that it needs only to pronounce his name, at this 
moment of unexpected and melancholy bereavement to those who cher- 
ish his memory, to present at once a living and expressive image of his 
person, character and virtues. Who in this land did not know John G. 
Deane, and who, knowing him, would be likely soon to forget him, or 
be willing to suffer his honest fame to pass into silent oblivion? A few 
faint traces from recollection, and from the slight materials at hand, are 
all that is proposed, in this scanty and hasty notice, to furnish. 

John G. Deane was a native of the Bay state of Massachusetts, and 
was a descendant, it is stated, of John Deane who early came to that 
old colony from England, and settled at Taunton, the stock, it is sup- 
posed, of those that bear that numerous name in New England, and who 
have reflected no dishonor on the fair inheritance of their Puritan ances- 
tors. He was himself born in Raynham, and was a graduate of Brown 
University in Rhode Island about the year 1806, and studied law, it is 
understood, with the late Judge Seth Padelford, one of whose daughters 
he afterward married. He commenced the practice of law at Ellsworth 
in this state, which he pursued with credit and success ; and where he 
established not only the solid reputation of a learned, sound and dis- 
criminating lawyer, but enjoyed also, in an eminent degree, the general 
confidence of his clients and fellow citizens. This latter portion of pub- 
lic favor he shared with his friend, George Herbert, a most amiable and 
worthy brother of the profession, whose fine tastes, elegant accomplish- 
ments and exquisite sensibility, will long be preserved in remembrance 
by those who had the pleasure and privilege of his personal acquaint- 
ance. Ellsworth being entitled to but one representative in the legis- 
lature of Massachusetts, Mr. Deane was chosen alternately with Mr. 
Herbert for several years, and was a member of that body, it is believed, 
as early as 1813. He was marked as a man of talent, spirit and 
application. 



192 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Mr. Deane' s location in the eastern part of the state, and the course 
of his professional business led him to an increasing acquaintance with 
the proprietary lands in this state, large tracts of which were lying in 
grants from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the principal of which 
were the "Bingham purchases." It was this that probably first turned 
his attention toward that subject, which afterward engaged so large a 
portion of it,' in one very important direction. After the separation of 
Maine, Mr. Deane became again a member of the legislature while it 
sat in Portland, where he began to be widely known and his value 
equally understood. He did not make that his place of residence, how- 
ever, till 1835. 

It was here during the session of 1827 and 1828, at the period when such 
a vigorous impulse was given to the vital interests of this state by the 
measures adopted by Governor Lincoln in relation to our territorial 
rights, that Mr. Deane distinguished himself by the active and leading 
part he took, and the persevering study and unwearied diligence he 
bestowed in regard to the perplexed and protracted question of our 
northeastern boundary. It was the intrinsic justice, as well as the 
strict and perfect legal character of this right on our behalf, that first 
recommended itself to the native integrity, while it presented itself also 
in the clearest light to the discriminating sagacity of his mind, and 
inspired that honest zeal which gave such a concentrated energy to all 
his powers and faculties in this single cause. It was this that urged 
him to spare no pains, to relax no effort, to lose no opportunity of pro- 
moting that great end to which he then and thenceforward entirely and 
almost exclusively devoted himself. He shunned no labor, and thought 
no day long in which he could do anything to advance it. Of this all- 
absorbing, and to him engrossing subject, it may be truly said that he 
summered and wintered it. He ate, drank and slept it. It was his 
thought by day and his dream by night, and the first idea to which he 
awakened again in the morning. On this point he was instant in season 
and out of season. He was ever ready and alert on every occasion which 
presented, and prompt for every service which the interest of the state 
demanded. At every turn and crisis of the question when it was first 
put in the shape of a convention and about to be submitted to an arbi- 
ter, or swamped by his preposterous award when our citizens were one 
after another seized and consigned to foreign prisons, and the ensigns of 
an alien and intrusive jurisdiction were planted on our independent soil 
and the sovereign power of self-protection, which this political com- 
munity was bound to exercise for those who put their trust in it insult- 
ingly set at defiance, then it was that his spirit rose with every emer- 
gency; it quailed at no peril or trial to the virtue of the question, and 
sunk only with any visible declension of its interest, of which there were 
spells and symptoms in the public mind. It was only at those intervals 
of repose to this exciting question, during which it has been so strangely 
and inexplicably adjourned, that the ordinary interests and occupations 
of life resumed with him any actual measure of their importance and 



JOHN G. DEANE. 193 

influence. Never, it may be nearly said, did they regain their real 
ascendancy. Still the invincible energy of his spirit on that predomin- 
ating subject was not to be subdued or broken down. No danger 
appalled, nor difficulty disheartened him. With an industry that noth- 
ing could either tire or escape; with a memory faithful to every circum- 
stance that it ever seized, with an instinct sure as the magnet, and a soul 
as true as steel to the cause in which he was embarked, this was the 
master subject of his mind. It was his ruling passion. When he once 
got upon this theme, "His foot was on his native heath and his name 
was Mac Gregor!" It is no injustice to say that he had probably mastered 
more of its details historical, statistical and geographical connected 
together than any other individual ; and that he had written, spoken 
and printed, it might almost be said, not only more than any other per- 
son, but more than all others put together. No one engaged in the vari- 
ous calls of this question had looked into it more thoroughly, or was 
more intimately or profoundly acquainted with all its bearings. If there 
is any overallowance of the measure of merit and praise that may pos_ 
sibly be accorded to him on this head, it can be hardly more than is due 
to his unbounded and indefatigable devotion to this supreme object, 
which ended only with his breath. 

Mr. Deane' s first reports on this subject, which brought the matter 
most distinctly into public view, were made, as already adverted to, in 
1827 and 1828. In 1830 he made a tour of observation over the ground of 
controversy, by order of the government, in immediate connection with 
Judge Preble. In 1831 and 1832 he again became conspicuous for the 
part he took in incorporating the precinct of Madawaska, and resisting 
the no doubt well-intended but idle and absurd arbitrament of the king of 
the Netherlands. It was on this account, and at this period, that the 
legislature made Mr. Deane a grant of a half township of land on the 
upper waters of the St. John, as a testimonial (it is believed unanimous) 
of the grateful sense entertained of his services. This grant has prob- 
ably, however, been unproductive, to say the least, owing to the distance 
of the spot and the unsettled state of the question. Perhaps it was the 
design that Mr. Deane, who had been its champion, should be set there 
as a pioneer. At all events, the grant and the post should be made 
good. In 1838, when the resolves of the legislature for an ascertain- 
ment and survey of the northeastern boundary of the state were 
required to be carried into execution by Governor Edward Kent, Mr. 
Deane was the person at once designated by him as most peculiarly 
fitted for the performance of that important duty. How zealously and 
faithfully he entered upon the service assigned to him, striking out and 
pursuing his own route, under the general directions he had received, 
leaving nothing unexplored which lay within his reach, and not quitting 
the ground until it was covered with snow too deep to proceed in the 
search, and the face of the earth was obscured from further investiga- 
tion, his recent report on the subject fully demonstrates. In this expe- 
13 



194 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

dition lie was seconded by two worthy and useful associates whose 
assistance was valuable, and who justly share in the credit of the under- 
taking. The new map of the territory which he prepared from this 
survey and the former materials at his command, was a work upon 
which he bestowed great pains and expense; and it may be feared that 
the author of it died with a feeling that his task in this report had not 
been duly appreciated and the service properly considered. It is still to 
be*hoped that this important labor will not fail to be suitably estimated. 
No man. it may be said, was ever more inflexibly tenacious of his own 
just purposes, and at the same time more truly regardful of the invaria- 
ble principles of right, and of whatever was due to the proper claims of 
others, wether few or many. He was simple in his tastes, undisguised 
in his intentions, plain and transparent in all his aims, unostentatious, 
and even negligent in regard to some of the forms and observances of 
society. Like governor Enoch Lincoln, he loved to feel himself in the 
sublime, ennobling presence of nature, and to pierce the vast profound, 
unpeopled solitudes of the forest. He liked also to meet the remnant of 
the ancient race of proprietors in their native woods, or on the streams 
which they navigated in their bark canoes and to associate and hold 
converse with the hardy cultivators of the soil although these genuine 
sympathies did not estrange him from the more busy, social haunts of 
men. 

The cast of his countenance was remarkably intellectual, and indicative 
of acuteness, foresight and sagacity. It had also something of a more 
grave, reflective and resolved character. The upper part of his face, 
particularly the intersection of the principal features bore a striking re- 
semblance to the bust of Alexander Hamilton ; while the perpetual ac- 
tivity of its fibers in their animated expression, might remind one who 
had seen the original of the incessant motion of Lord Brougham's. He 
also had something in him of antiquity something of the Codrus and 
Curtius some strain of that Roman spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism 
which tells in the stories of Boratius Codes and Mutius Scaevola some 
vein too of the Russells and Sidneys of the seventeenth century spirits 
prepared for all the emergancies of moral, political and physical martyr- 
dom for the ordeals of a virtue that had not ceased to be more than an 
empty sound and aspiring to an elevation superior to the sordid sub- 
terfuges of shuffling selfishness and compromising expediency. This 
was an aspiration worthy of the object of this obituary ; and there was 
that within him which did not derogate from this lofty calling. That he 
did not live to see the end of all his travail is most certain. 

But he lived long enough to see the cause for which he had labored, 
adopted by the unanimous voice of the Congress of the United States, 
and its justice and purity acknowledged by the world. And it is no 
less certain that if he does not deserve a marble monument from the 
people of Maine, he deserves a monument as durable as marble in their 
undying remembrance, affection and respect. 
In the multitude of emotions that throng and mingle in the mind 



JOHN G. DEANE. 195 

which this sudden stroke of providence is calculated to call forth 
amid these last dying traces of autumnal' change when the splendid 
month of November is speaking the great moral lesson of the year if 
there was nothing else in the world if there was not something infin- 
itely superior to all the visible manifestations of the material universe 
and above all that this glorious organic structure is capable to afford, 
we might well mourn over these melancholy vestiges of mortality and 
decay. If it were not otherwise, were it not for higher hopes and the 
interior supports of a sublimer faith, by which the spirit is sustained in 
its far upward flight, through its sinking moments of occasional de- 
spondency, it would be sad indeed to linger upon the last lineaments of 
the departed object of our affection and esteem, the features so lately 
beaming with animation and intelligence, the head so lately full of im- 
portant knowledge, and fervid with the glowing operations of genius 
and intellect, the heart just beating with the most ardent pulsations of 
parental love and patriotic zeal, now silent and insensible, about to be 
reduced to the cold clods of the valley. Yet there is still something in 
the circumstances of this mournful public and domestic deprivation to 
produce a deep, a lasting and wholesome impression. 

The memory 

Of our dying friends comes o'er us like a cloud, 
To damp our brainless ardor, and abate 
That glare of life that often blinds the wise. 

Mrs. Deane survived her husband and resided at the home- 
stead on State street, Portland (with the exception of about a 
year, 1369-70, spent with her sons, Llewellyn and William, in 
Washington, D. C.), till the day of her death, May 12, 1872. Her 
remains were interred by the side of her husband in the Western 
cemetery in Portland. They were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren two died in infancy, two daughters when comparatively 
young ; John was lost at sea in 1836, while on a voyage as super- 
cargo of his brig to South America. Six sons survived him, all 
of whom grew up to men's estate. 

Joseph became a lawyer, lived awhile in Cherryfield, looking 
after the landed interests of his father's estate ; then practiced 
law in Taunton, and later in Quincy, Illinois, where he died in 
July, 1869. 

Melvin was a civil engineer; in his youth he accompanied his 
father, in 1838, on his last excursion to the northeastern part of 
the state. He was engaged in the construction of several 
railroads, the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, the Androscoggin & 
Kennebec, and others. He was city engineer of Portland in 
1853-54, and died there in March, 1854. 



196 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Henry graduated at Bowdoin in 1844, and became a lawyer 
represented Portland in the legislature of 1850-51, was county 
attorney for Cumberland county 1852-55, and later was solicitor 
for the city of Portland and afterward, 1868-70, surveyor in 
the custom house. He died in Boston, March, 1873, on his way 
home from Florida. 

Frederick graduated at Bowdoin in the class of 1846, and 
became a lawyer but never entered on the practice, as the 
gold excitement of those days bore him away to California, 
where he lived, with the interval of a short visit home, till 1861, 
when he entered the volunteer service and was an officer of the 
'first California volunteers. At a later period he was in the 
thirtieth Maine regiment after some service he was duly com- 
missioned an officer, but the war closed before he was mustered 
in. He died at sea in March, 1867, while returning to California. 
Llewellyn graduated at Bowdoin in 1849 became a law- 
yer and practiced in partnership with Henry in Portland from 
1852 to 1861. In 1858 he represented Portland to the legisla- 
ture. In 1861 he moved to Washington, where he subsequently 
held an important position in the U. S. patent office. In 1873, 
he resigned his official position and has since practiced law in 
that city. 

William Wallace became a lawyer and settled in Saccarappa 
in 1861 he joined the twelfth Maine infantry and afterward 
became adjutant of the regiment. In 1863 he was appointed 
assistant adjutant general of volunteers, with rank of captain, 
and at the close of the war was brevetted lieutenant colonel in 
that branch of the service. In 1867 he was appointed lieutenant 
in the regular army ; he died in July, 1870, in Washington, 
B.C. 

Melvin's son John, while a mere lad, enlisted in the sixth 
Maine battery and later became lieutenant thereof. He was in 
active service from the date of his enlistment in 1862, to the 
close of the war and was never hurt in battle, though in every 
fight where his battery was engaged, and was never in the hos- 
pital during his entire service. He engaged in the paper manu- 
facturing business after the war and died in Denver, Colorado, 
in the fall of 1873. No doubt the toil, duties and excitement of 
his war life hastened his end. 



PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS IN 1881. 197 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

MAY 25, 1881. 

At the evening session a paper on the fight at Piggwackett 
was read by James P.' Baxter, and Edward H. Elwell read a 
paper on the White Hills of New Hampshire. 

FIELD DAY EXCURSION. 

SEPTEMBER 1315, 1881. 

By the .courtesy of the secretary of the United States 
treasury and the kind invitation of Hon. Lot M. Morrill, the 
collector of the port, members of the society with guests made 
an excursion to Thomaston and Pemaquid by the revenue 
steamer Dallas. 

NOVEMBER 16, 1881. 

The Society met in the library at the city building, Portland, 
November 16, 1881, at 2.30 P.M., the president, Hon. James W. 
Bradbury in the chair. 

The librarian and cabinet-keeper, H. W. Bryant, read his 
report of the accessions to the library and cabinet received 
since the July meeting. 

A report of the field day meeting at Thomaston and Pem- 
aquid was made by the Rev. Henry S. Burrage, who also read 
a paper on Rosier's relation of Waymouth's voyage of 1605, 
with some account of Georges river and Pentecost harbor. 

A memoir of General Henry Knox was read by Joseph 
Williamson. 

A committee from all parts of the state was appointed to 
collect books, pamphlets, manuscript, relics and other material 



198 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

relating to the history of the state, to be deposited in the 
archives of the Society. 

At the evening session, Hon. James W. Bradbury read a 
memoir of the late associate justice, Nathan Clifford, and Hon. 
William Goold read a biographical sketch of General Lafayette 
with personal recollections of Lafayette's visit to Portland 
in 1825. 

FEBKUAKY 27, 1882. 

Pursuant to the call signed by Messrs. Elwell, Goold, Bur- 
rage, Brown and Bryant, a special meeting was held to do honor 
to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on his seventy-fifth 
birthday. The opening address was made by the vice president, 
Hon. William G. Barrows. Mr. James P. Baxter read a poem 
" Laus Laureati," and placed a chaplet of oak leaves upon the 
bust of the poet. Rev. Henry S. Burrage followed with a paper 
on Henry W. Longfellow and his paternal ancestry. Hon. Wil- 
liam Goold read a paper on General Peleg Wadsworth, the mater- 
nal grandfather of Longfellow, and Mr. Edward H. Elwell read 
a paper on the Portland of Longfellow's youth. Rev. Prof. A. 
S. Parkard read a paper on Longfellow as a student and pro- 
fessor of Bowdoin college. Mr. George F. Talbot followed with 
a paper on the genius of Longfellow. Tributes were received 
from Hon. James W. Bradbury, Hon. Israel Washburn, jr., and 
Hon. Joseph Williamson. 

MAY 25, 1882. 

Meeting of the Society held at its rooms in Portland. 

In the absence of the president, Hon. Israel Washburn, jr., 
presided. The librarian presented his quarterly report of gifts 
to the Society's library and cabinet. 

Rufus K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset, called the attention of 
the Society to the archives of Spain as probably containing 
some documents of interest to writers of Maine history. 

Hon. Joseph Williamson read a tribute to the memory of 
General John Sullivan of the revolution. 

A paper by Hon. Albert W. Paine of Bangor, on the Territo- 
rial History of Bangor and Vicinity was read by Mr. Washburn. 



PEOCEEDINGS AT MAY MEETING, 1882. 199 

EVENING SESSION. 

Presentation of the banner borne by citizens of Portland at 
the railroad celebration in Montreal, in 1853, to commemorate 
the completion of the railroad connecting the river St. Law- 
rence and the navigable waters of the Atlantic ocean at Port- 
land, also the banner of the Portland Rifle Corps, 1811-61, 
both from Edward M. Patten, Esq., now of San Francisco. 
Historical papers concerning the railroad celebration and the 
Portland Rifle Corps were read by Hon. William Goold. Mr. 
Goold also read an account from an English newspaper of the 
recent restoration of the Gorges family tomb in the parish 
church of St. Budeaux, Wraxhall, Devon, England. The fund 
for the restoration of the venerable monument was contributed 
to by the Maine Historical Society in 1877. 

Mr. Goold was followed by Mr. Sewall of Wiscasset, who read 
a paper on Samoset of Plymouth. A letter from President 
Bradbury giving some reminiscences of the poet Longfellow's 
college life was read, and Mr. Bryant, the librarian, offered a 
brief tribute to the memory of the poet as a lover of books. 

George F. Talbot for the committee reported the following 
resolutions, commemorative of the poet Longfellow, which were 
accepted and ordered recorded : 

Resolved, That the Maine Historical Society, honored in counting 
among its members the illustrious poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 
lately deceased, desire to join their fellow countrymen everywhere in 
paying their tribute of gratitude and admiration for those productions 
of his genius which have made his name immortal. 

Resolved, That while death has removed from association with living 
men his revered presence, and so far as can be seen, has arrested that 
assiduous labor which has so enriched the pages of permanent literature, 
it has extended his fame and brought to millions who had not known 
him, an appreciation of the nobility of his nature and the purity of his 
life. 

Resolved, That the. Society whose office it is to cherish the memory of 
the men of Maine who in literature, science, politics, war, business en- 
terprise, and the inventive arts, have shed luster upon our history, ac- 
knowledge the indebtedness of our citizens to Longfellow for the honor 
his long and brilliant career in the highest departments of creative art 
has conferred upon our country, and especially upon our state that gave 
him birth. 



200 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Resolved, That the Society be requested to communicate, with a copy 
of these resolutions, the respectful sympathy of this Society to the 
family of the distinguished deceased. 

The resolutions were adopted and the meeting adjourned. 



ANNUAL MEETING, JULY 14, 1882. 

The annual meeting of the Society was held at Adams Hall, 
Brunswick, and was called to order at 8.30 A.M., by the president, 
Hon. James W. Bradbury. 

The record of the last annual meeting was read by the 
recording secretary and approved with a slight modification. 

The annual reports of the librarian and cabinet-keeper, the 
corresponding secretary, the treasurer and the standing commit- 
tee were read and accepted. 

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year : 
President, James W. Bradbury of Augusta. 
Vice-president, William G. Barrows of Brunswick. 
Corresponding secretary, William Goold of Windham. 
Treasurer, Lewis Pierce of Portland. 
Recording secretary, librarian and cabinet keeper, 

H. W. Bryant of Portland. 
Standing committee, 
Israel Washburn, jr., of Portland. 
Rufus K. Sewall of Wiscasset. 
William B. Lapham of Augusta. 
Edward H. Elwell of Deenng. 
William Goold of Windham. 
Stephen J. Young of Brunswick. 
Joseph Williamson of Belfast. 

-The following were elected resident members : Oscar Holway 
of Augusta, Joseph W. Symonds of Portland, Henry C. Leven- 
saler of Thornaston, Asa Dalton of Portland, Wakefield G. Frye 
of Belfast, Prentice C. Manning of Portland, Stephen Berry of 
Portland. 

The following were elected corresponding members: Hon. 
Elihu B. Washburne of Chicago, Hon. Horatio Bridge of Wash- 
ington, Hon. John Went worth of Chicago, John N. McClintock 



PROCEEDINGS AT ANNUAL MEETING, 1882 201 

of Concord, 1ST. H., Frederick C. Pierce .of Rockford, 111.', Henry 
Phillips, jr., of Philadelphia, Rev. Anson Titus, jr., of South 
Weymouth, Mass., John F. Pratt, M.D., of Chelsea, Hon. Dex- 
ter A. Hawkins of New York, Rev. Benjamin F. De Costa of 
New York, Prof. Sidney Colvin of Cambridge, England, Edmund 
M. Barton of Worcester, Mass., Rev. Samuel Longfellow of 
Cambridge, Mass., George Warren Hammond of Boston. 

The use of a steam yacht was tendered to the Society for 
their field day excursion by Robert H. Gardiner, Esq., and 
Messrs. Gardiner, Burrage and Gilman were appointed a com- 
mittee to make arrangements for the field day. 

On motion of Mr. William Goold of Windham, it was voted 
that the Society hold a meeting in Portland on the twenty-third 
day of December next, to congratulate our revered associate, the 
Rev. Alpheus S. Packard, D.D., on the attainment of his eighty- 
fourth birthday. 

The following were appointed a committee of arrangements : 
Israel Washburn, jr., William Goold, Stephen J. Young, Edward 
H. Elwell. 

The proposition to adopt sundry amendments to the by-laws 
was brought up, and after some discussion the amendments were 
postponed for consideration at the next annual meeting. 



Adjourned. 



DECEMBER 23, 1882. 



The winter meeting was held at the rooms of the Society 
December 23, 1882. 

At the afternoon session Professor F. W. Putnam of Cam- 
bridge delivered an address on the shell heaps of Maine, and dis- 
played specimens of ancient bone and stone implements taken 
from the heaps, many of which appeared to be identical with 
specimens found in the shell heaps of Europe. A paper on the 
noun of the Abnaki grammar was read by the Rev. M. C. O'Brien 
of Bangor, which was followed by a paper on Thomas Chute, an 
early settler of Windham, Maine, by Mr. William Goold. Mr. 



202 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Edward- H. Elwell then read a biographical sketch of our poet- 
governor, Enoch Lincoln, with extracts from his poem entitled 
" The Village." 

Mr. John T. Hull presented a memorial on the early records 
of Maine, which was referred to a committee consisting of James 
P. Baxter, William Goold and Edward H. Elwell. 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 203 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 

THE Machias Union, of January 14, 1890, has a paper, apparently pre- 
pared by its editor, Mr. George W. Drisko, of considerable local and 
general interest, from which some excerpts are copied below. 

MACHIAS IN THE WAR OF 1812. 

"IN less than forty years after the battle of the 'Margaretta' British 
uniforms and muskets made a second appearance in Machias. Like 
most all towns, not excepting Portland, Boston, and even Washington, 
Machias was obliged to surrender; the flag came down. There was no 
discredit in this to the citizens; it was a choice, this or a conflagration. 
The British troops landed at or near Bucks harbor, came ashore in 
small boats from the two or three war vessels, marched, following the 
road near as they could, to Machias. The fort at Machiasport, held by 
a very small garrison of militia, was completely surprised. 

"Colonel Jeremiah O'Brien who fought the 'Margaretta,' and with his 
neighbors won the battle, was decided in his opinion of resistance : 
'Have a force of militia,' he said, 'go out and meet the advancing foe 
on the Port road and turn them back or kill them!' Fortunately for 
Machias different counsels prevailed and no battle was fought, very lit- 
tle or no property destroyed. O'Brien, when it was decided to show no 
resistance, being in his saddle near the custom house, turned his old 
white horse, struck a gallop toward his house and did not make his ap- 
pearance while the British officers remained in town." 

The ease with which the British invasion of Eastern Maine, in the 
war of 1812, overcame all the feeble resistance the two frontier coun- 
ties made, the fact that British forces occupied Eastport, Machias, 
and the strong fort at Castine, during the greater part of the war, 
might have cost Maine a large slice of her territory, had not the fortunes 
of battle been more favorable to our country elsewhere, and especially 
upon the ocean. It would have been a fine opportunity to have gotten 
by the terms of a treaty of peace that portion of Maine, proved after- 
ward so essential to the military defense and commercial development 
of the British provinces in North America, that England afterward did 
get by persistent claim, and by the superior finesse of her negotiators. 



204 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

But the war left our adversary no pretext for claiming any ces- 
sion of territory; and she would hardly have wished to incorporate 
among her loyal subjects such sturdy rebels as those who had captured 
the " Margaretta," and repulsed the attack made in 1777 upon the settlq- 
ment of Machias; and we owe it more to the memory of the old spirit 
rather than the exhibition of the later spirit, that our boundary in the 
negotiations of 1815 did not get established at the Penobscot river. 

FRAGMENTS OF HISTORY. 

"SOMETIME about 1800 Albert Gallatin, a Scotchman perhaps, a for- 
eigner, landed at St. John, made his way through the woods via Calais to 
Machias, and spent several weeks in town, his home mainly being in the 
family of Jeremiah O'Brien, son of Morris of earlier fame. While in 
O'Brien's house he fell sick, and Mrs. O'Brien, as indeed all the family, 
cared for him. Gallatin made his way on to New York. Thomas Jef- 
ferson was inaugurated the third president in 1801, and in selecting his 
cabinet, he made Gallatin secretary of the treasury. Shortly afterward 
Jeremiah O'Brien received a commission as collector of customs for 
the port of Machias, accompanied by a private letter by the secretary, 
giving as a reason for the courtesy as well as the 'honor here con- 
ferred,' the kind hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien a few years be- 
fore ! Bread cast upon the waters ! The custom house was then kept 
in Captain Smith's long shed before mentioned, already famous in 
local history." 

Albert Gallatin, Mr. Jefferson's able secretary of the treasury, and' 
whose financial reputation in our country is second only to that of Alex- 
ander Hamilton, like Hamilton, was of foreign birth. He was born in 
Geneva in 17(h, and his family, though belonging to the nobility for 
many generations, had been -distinguished in Switzerland for their re- 
publican sentiments. When the French revolution came they wel- 
comed it with sympathy. 

Albert Gallatin himself, having been required after his graduation 
from college, by his grand parents he was an orphan to enter the 
army of the landgrave of Hesse, ran away from Geneva and secretly em- 
barked for America. The statement of Mr. Drisko, that he tarried 
awhile at Machias, is undoubtedly correct. The course of trade after 
the revolutionary war brought many English merchant ships, which at 
that time were also the only packet ships carrying passengers, to St. 
John. It was in 1780 however and not about 1800. 



HISTORICAL MEMOKAKDA. 205 

The fact that he spent the first winter after his arrival in the United 
States "in the wilds of Maine," as told in his biography, and the cir- 
cumstance also therein told, that he engaged in certain land specula- 
tions, which in the end made him penniless and sent him first to Boston, 
and ultimately to Pennsylvania, where he settled and became a citizen, 
makes it probable that his land journey through the magnificent Maine 
wilderness in 1780, from St. John to Boston, gave him exaggerated ideas, 
as it did many other visitors, of the great value of our forests. He 
found, like most amateurs at lumbering, that it takes the hard practical 
sense of Maine men to turn this natural wealth into dollars and cents. 

*' TALLEYRAND, the French exile, banished for his patriotic sentiments, 
about 1798 visited Machias. The house (Bruce homestead then) where 
the distinguished diplomat lodged is still standing, if not on the same 
lot, latterly known as the Doctor Wetherbee house. Before Bruce lived 
in this house Joseph White, who came from Salem, Massachusetts, occu- 
pied it a few years with his family and then returned to Salem. In 1830 
the terrible murder took place in Salem, Joseph White being the victim, 
although our local historian says he was a son of the White who lived 
in Machias. Joseph and Francis Knapp and Richard Crowninshield 
were the alleged murderers. Daniel Webster, then in the zenith of his 
popularity as a legal advocate, was one of the counsel in the trial which 
lasted several days and attracted attention not only in this country but 
Europe. 

"James Gordon Bennett, who afterward founded the 'New York 
Herald,' tarried one night in Machias. The same winter he, Bennett, 
taught a term of school in Steuben, the western town in Washington 
county." 

Talleyrand was an ecclesiastic of high rank in the Roman Catholic 
hierarchy of France. He had been created an abbe through the favor of 
the infamous Madame du Barry, and made bishop of Autun in spite of 
his open immoralities, in fulfillment of a promise by the king to his 
father on his deathbed. But it is as an able diplomatist, and as a mas- 
ter of political intrigue, as well as by the levity with which all his con- 
victions, political, moral and religious, sat upon, whereby he was able 
to keep himself in favor first with the king and the old regime, then 
with the Revolution, then with Napoleon, and finally with the Restora- 
tion, and to die quietly in his bed surrounded by his admirers at the 
age of eighty-four, when so many of his clerical brethren and political 



206 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

associates had spent their lives in exile, or perished under the stroke 
of the guillotine, that he is best known in history. 

He was not "banished" to America "for his patriotic sentiments," 
for he never had any sentiments that were permanent, and was not a 
man to suffer any inconvenience on account of his convictions. The 
political changes between 1792 and 1794 the very crisis of the revolu- 
tion were so rapid that with the best intentions the nimble ecclesiastic 
could not quite keep up with them. Having been sent as ambassador to 
England by Louis xvi, the former year, he prudently spent most of the 
dangerous years, when the click of la guillotine in Paris affected nervous 
people unpleasantly, engaged in political and statistical writing and 
publication. He Avould have prolonged his stay in England but that 
the convention had issued a decree against him as an aristocrat, an 
emigre and public enemy, and the British ministry had set in opera- 
tion against him the provisions of their Alien Act. He sailed for the 
United States in January, 1794, furnished with a letter to Lord Lans- 
downe, British minister at Washington. 

Louis Philippe, afterward citizen king of France, accompanied Tal- 
leyrand on his voyage to the United States. It is probable that these 
distinguished visitors, like Gallatin before them, landed at St. John, 
New Brunswick, and thence made their way partly by land into and 
through the United States. 

There was no road in 1794 between Eastport, then a small frontier 
settlement, and Machias, an ante-revolutionary colony ; and the mode of 
communication was up some of the numerous arms of the Passama- 
quoddy Bay, turbulent with tides, and barred by rocks which became 
cataracts with the in and outflow of the sea, across carrying-places to a 
chain of lakes with connecting streams flowing into the Machias river. 
Birch canoes were the packet vessels, and the Quoddy Indians the skill- 
ful pilots and voyageurs. 

I have often heard my father narrate that traveling by that route the 
French exiles, destined to fill so large a place in European history, came 
with their Indian guides to the house of one David Gardner, a Nan- 
tucket Quaker, who had found his way from Massachusetts into the 
eastern wilderness, and built a saw mill on the outlet of Gardners lake, 
named for him, at the point where the longest carry separates the waters 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 207 

flowing into Passamaquoddy bay from those flowing into the Machias 
river. 

It was noon of a hot, mid-summer day, and the travelers turned in at 
Gardner's house, weary and hungry, and asked for dinner. It was after 
the scant crops of the preceding year had been consumed, and before 
the late crop of the year was ready for consumption ; and though Friend 
Gardner lived generally rather better than his poor neighbors, his pru- 
dent wife, much doubtless to her chagrin, had no " daintier dish to set 
before a king," than boiled greens without meat, bread, or other vege- 
tables. Such as it was, a Quaker welcome went with it, and the exiles 
magaged to "stay their stomachs" until at Machias, at the inn of Cap- 
tain Ellis, or under the free hospitality of Judge Jones, it is to be hoped 
they found more substantial fare. 

We gather the following historical item from a recent number of the 
Eastern Argus. 

AHf INTERESTING LETTEK. 

" We have been permitted to copy the following interesting letter now 
in a good state of preservation, written by Sir William Pepperrell of Kit- 
tery to Judge Hill of Berwick, and now in possession of N. J. Herrick, 
Esq. The letter as will be seen, was written one hundred and forty-six 
years ago, just previous to Pepperrell' s departure on the famous Louis- 
burg expedition in which he achieved the highest distinction as a mili- 
tary commander." 

KITTEEY, February 21, 1744. 
Dear Sr. 

The day Last past I heard that Capt. Butler had Enlisted in Berwick 
his fifty brave Soldr's this News was Like a Cordial to me to hear that 
Berwick Brother to Kittery my own Native Town has such a brave Eng- 
lish Spirit. I received Last night a Letter from ye Honor'ble Committee 
of Warr who write that they tho't there was upon our making up five or 
six Companys of our brave County of York men ye full number that 
was propo'd are Enlis'd & more so that there will be a number Clear' d 
off, but you may assure Your Selfe that our brave County of York men 
Shall not be Clear' d off without they desire it. 

Speak to Capt. Butler to hasten down here for I have some Inlisting 
money Sent me for him. I am sorry that some of your Commission of- 
ficers in Your Town Seem to be uneasy because they had not had ye 
offer of a Commission in this Expedition; I understood you Spoke to 
them ; did they Expect that at this time I should have wait'd on them, I 



208 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

think if they had ye Least inclination to have gone I think it was iKity 
they owed to God their King & Country to come and offer their Selves. 
My love to yr Lady and all inquiring Friends. 

I am Your Affectionate 

Friend and Servant, 

WM. PEPPEKRELL. 

I dont doubt in ye Least but the Commission Officers in Berwick are 
Brave good men as any in this Province and would willingly Venture 
their Lives with their Coll. and I believe that nothing would now hinder 
them but their business in going on ye inten'd Expedition, therefore I 
excuse them willingly; please to tell them all I Sincerely Value and 
Love them, and that if there should be occation for forces to be Sent af- 
ter us I dont doubt in ye least but they will be reddy to come when 
their business is over. I begg all their prayers. 

Dear Brother I wish you well. 

W. P. 
[ Addressed.] 

On His Majs'tys Service 
To the Honor' ble John Hill 
Esqr Att Berwick." 



We are confident that our readers who have read with interest the 
pleasant brief biography of his distinguished father, the late John Gil- 
more Deane, by his son Llewellyn Deane, Esq., of Washington, D. C., 
among the collections of the present number, and have enjoyed the bits 
of local history and the delineations of some famous personal characters 
who made up the somewhat unique and peculiar society of the earlier 
period of the present century, will be glad to have that paper supple- 
mented by other documents relating to the same history and the same 
character. 

We copy from a pamphlet prepared by the author of the biography 
above referred to the chapter from the Deane Genealogy, also some ex- 
tracts from letters written by Mr. Deane to his wife before their mar- 
riage, descriptive of the eastern country, its people, and his adventures 
among them, and a charming letter from Mrs. C. J. Milliken of Boston, 
in May, 1885, descriptive of old times in Ellsworth. 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 209 

A CHAPTER FROM THE DEANE GENEALOGY. 
THE DEANE SIDE. 

Family of Joseph Deane of Raynham, Massachusetts, fifth in descent 
from John Deane, who came from England, and, with his brother Walter, 
was one of the pioneer settlers of Taunton, Massachusetts. 

Joseph Deane was born in Raynham, November 20, 1753, and died Feb- 
ruary 16, 1837. 

He married January 10, 1783, Mary, daughter of Capt. John Gilmore, 
who was born May 18, 1760, and died May 10, 1837, a few months after 
her husband's death. 

Their children, all born in Raynham, Massachusetts, were : 

John Gilmore, born March 27, 1785; died in Cherryfield, Maine, No- 
vember 10, 1839. 

Mary, born September 25, 1790; died August 10, 1820; married Abiezer 
Dean of Taunton, Massachusetts, leaving two children, Joseph Albert 
and Elizabeth Hall. 

Joseph Augustus, born June 25, 1802 ; died in Ellsworth, Maine, May 
4, 1873; married Eliza, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Fales of Taunton, 
August 17, 1830; they had three children. Mary Agnes, died October 6, 
1862; Sabra W. (now Mrs. Amory Otis), and John G., died June 17, 1841. 

THE PADELFORD SIDE. 

Children of Seth Padelford and Rebecca, his wife, all born in Taunton, 
Massachusetts. 

Seth Padelford of Taunton, Massachusetts, born December 7, 1751; 
died January 3, 1810; married, June 1, 1777, Rebecca Dennis, who was 
born December 8, 1756, and died March 16, 1822. 

Their children were : 

Polly Dennis, bora April 13, 1778; married Mason Shaw of Bangor, 
Maine ; died May 19, 1805. 

Ezekiel D., born September 23, 1779; died October 27, 1779. 

Sally Kirby, born October 27, 1780; married Nathaniel Fales of Taun- 
ton, Massachusetts; died at Quincy, Illinois, November 26, 1858. 

Melinda, born February 14, 1782; married Enoch Brown of Hampden, 
Massachusetts; died January 23, 1836. 

John, born May 1, 1783; died June 29, 1801. 

Charles, born January 12, 1785; died February 21, 1785. 

Nancy, born March 14, 1786; married Samuel E. Cooke of Tiverton, 
Rhode Island; died October 21, 1817. 

Harry, born September 29, 1787 ; married Susan Crosman of Taunton, 
Massachusetts; died in New York about 1850. 

Rebecca, born 1789; died 1791. 

Rebecca Dennis who married John G. Deane. 

Caroline, born 1794; died 1796. 

Francis, born 1796; died 1798. 
14 



210 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

OUR OWN FAMILY. 

Children of John G. Deane and Rebecca, his wife, all born in Ells- 
worth, Maine. 

Seth Padelford, born August 3, 1814; died August 21, 1814. 

John, born November 14, 1815; lost at sea November, 1836. 

Joseph P., born September 29, 1817; died at Quincy, Illinois, August 
19, 1869; married Eleanor S. Reed of Taunton, Massachusetts, January 
27, 1842. 

Mary, born October 8, 1818 ; died at Portland, May 14, 1839. 

Rebecca Padelford, born March 31, 1820 ; died at Ellsworth, August 7, 
1833. 

Melvin Gilmore, born November 16, 1821 ; died at Portland, March 21, 
1854 ; married Sarah E. Shepherd, of Bristol, Rhode Island, August 9, 
1843, who died May 18, 1847; and Harriet Ann Thurston of Winthrop, 
Maine, October 12, 1848. 

Henry Padelford, born October 9, 1823; died at the Revere House, 
Boston, en route from Florida to Portland, March 25, 1873; married 
Annie E. Morse, of Brunswick, Maine, March 23, 1848. 

Frederick Augustus, born September 17, 1825; died at sea, on ship 
"Majestic," en route to California, March 16, 1867. 

Llewellyn, born September 17, 1827, died March, 1828. 

Llewellyn, born April 23, 1829; married Mrs. L. E. Ricks of Washing- 
ton, D. C., August 29, 1871. 

William Wallace, born August 2, 1832 ; died at Washington, D. C., 
July 21, 1870; married Abbie Edwards of Saccarappa, Maine, May 14, 
1868. 

EXTRACTS FROM MR DEANE' s LETTERS TO Miss REBECCA D. PADEL- 
FORD (AFTERWARD HIS WIFE). 

The postage on the single letters was twenty cents. 

He sailed from Boston Thursday, September 21, 1809, for Ellsworth, 
and reached the mouth of Union river the Saturday following. He 
writes Monday, September 25, 1809, from Ellsworth : 

" When.we arrived at the head of the bay the tide did not suit for pass- 
ing the bar, therefore I requested the Captain to set me ashore. I was 
landed in the town of Surry, two miles from Ellsworth. After traveling 
nearly a mile on an unconscionable road, I was surprised at finding one 
nearly as good as roads in general in and about Taunton. The people 
bear no sort of resemblance to the natural appearance of the country. 
They have treated me, so far, with great attention. I took coffee last 
evening with Mr. Herbert, and found him an intelligent, learned and 
social man ; and was much pleased with Mrs. Herbert, she is a very 
chatty lady. ... I attended meeting yesterday, and was very agreeably 
entertained by their minister, Mr. Brewer, who was sent to this place by 
a missionary society ; from his sermons I should judge him to be a man 



HISTOKICAL MEMORANDA. 211 

of more than ordinary promise. I have found a room for an office, and a 
place to lay my head. The boarding-house is the best in this part of the 
country ; it is kept by Mr. Sawyer. Mr. Brewer boards here, and a doc- 
tor ;and schoolmaster. I calculate on having a very social time. Mr. 
Black was here to-day. To-morrow I shall visit the Penobscot country, 
and shall undoubtedly call on Mr. Brown. It is necessary for me to go 
to Castine to procure some blanks before I can commence business in 
this place. . . . The Western mail arrives here on Tuesday evening, 
and goes out on Monday evening or Tuesday morning. If you put your 
letters in Taunton post-office on Monday, I shall receive them the Sun- 
day following." 

"Ellsworth, Oct. 3, 1809, ... I concluded to take a tour to see of 
what material the country was made, as well as to see if I could find a 
more eligible situation. The first six miles were tolerable ; the next 
seven ran through a wilderness, and I saw not a human being in that 
distance. Then I came to Bluehill, a large and pleasant town for this 
country. The road was good through that town. The next two miles 
were bad, beyond all description ; then the road grew more and more 
pleasant, until I arrived at Buckstown, a very pleasant village." From 
thence he proceeded to Hampden, to visit Mr. and Mrs. Brown (Melinda 
Padelford). 

"The second day after my arrival, by the aid of Mr. B., I became 
acquainted with General Ulmer. The General recommended Lincoln- 
ville to me, and made some very fair offers if I should see cause to settle 
there. His offer was to take me into his family to board, and would 
give me business enough to pay my board. But previous to any positive 
determination on my part, the General very politely invited me to visit 
him at his house in Lincolnville. I consented. Lincolnville is on the 
west side of Penobscot bay, thirty-five miles below Hampden. Friday 
last I started from Hampden for Castine ; three miles from Castine I 
found Major Langdon of Ellsworth, and sent my horse home ; traveled 
on foot to Castine ; found General Ulmer there ; spent the evening with 
him and several gentlemen. Early Saturday morning went in quest of a 
boat to set me across the bay, but I found none that would sail till even- 
ing. Some time in the forenoon I went into Judge Nelson's office, pro- 
cured all necessary blanks, and dined with his honor, and passed four or 
five hours very sociably ; at sunset the boat set sail across the bay, which 
is about fourteen or fifteen miles wide. Was landed at Northport at 
little past nine o'clock ; it was very rainy, and exceedingly dark ; the 
roads were rough and muddy, but, notwithstanding all these difficulties, 
I traveled two or three miles till my guide found me a place to lodge. 

In the morning I set out for General Ulmer' s, who lived five miles dis- 
tant. I spent Sunday with the General, conversed with the people rela- 
tive to my settling here, but the prospect was not flattering. . . . 
Monday morning the General furnished me a horse, to travel to Belfast, 
but the packet in which I took passage was under way, and I was obliged 



212 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

to leave the horse one and a half miles from Belfast, near to the shore 
and hail the packet. I was fortunate in obtaining my passage. My next 
object was to gain the post road from Ellsworth to Buckstown before 
the post should pass, but, alas, the attempt was fruitless ; I was on foot 
and had fiteeii miles to travel over such a road as your eye never beheld. 
. . . About 4 o'clock P.M., today, I arrived in Ellsworth. The dis- 
tance from Castine is about thirty miles ; the most of it I traveled on 
foot. . . . To set out well with the people is an object of the first 
magnitude. Herbert is extremely popular ; he is established, and I can- 
not succeed if my efforts are not unremitting." . . . 

" Oct. 6, 1809. I have progressed very slowly in preparing my office. 
I have set up my books, procured one chair, one bench and a table ; 
now am, quite ready to begin. My prospects are not flattering. The so- 
ciety of the place is very good, considering all circumstances. I have 
met none so good in this country, and I believe in but few places in the 
vicinity of Taunton." 

Oct. 16, 1809. To-day I came near failing to send you a letter. The 
reason was this : a new carrier brought the mail, who traveled with 
more expedition than the old one, and I, unapprised of the alteration, 
had made my calculation of depositing my letter at the usual hour. But, 
when I found I was too late, I set out and ran half a mile and put the 
letter into the post's hand ; he promised to place it in the mail at Blue- 
hill. ... I hope to visit Taunton before January. I must go by 
water ; traveling by land is terrible, I have tried it to my satisfation." 

"Nov., 1809. General Ulmer has called on me and again urged me 
to settle in Lincolnville. As an inducement, he has offered to board 
me, and do something more for me in the business he will put into my 
hands. From the first the General has treated me with the greatest po- 
liteness, and I feel much indebted to him." 

"Nov. 2, 1809, Thursday. I never witnessed a more pleasant au- 
tumn, so far as relates to the weather, since I have been here ; we have 
had but two or three small rains, and those in the night ; today it is 
raining you can hardly conceive how muddy the roads are ; the soil is 
clayey, and in wet weather a person's feet stick fast." 

" Sunday evening, 5th November I have not seen your letter as I an- 
ticipated ; I suppose it has arrived, but the post-office is on one side of 
the river and I am on the other. The bridge has been broken down, but 
people can pass over its ruins on foot in daylight. The post does not ar- 
rive till seven or eight o'clock at night, and it would have been very dan- 
gerous to attempt crossing the bridge at night." 

" December 12, 1809. By last mail no letter from you. I console my- 
self that it was not your fault, but more from the following cause : The 
last mail was soaked through, the contents very wet and much worn ; 
no mail went east of this place ; the carrier said he would not have left 
Bluehill had he known how bad the traveling was. ... I spent the 
whole of yesterday afternoon in pursuit of the apples, and obtained a 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 213 

barrel, on which we all feasted last evening. The vessel brought seven- 
ty barrels, and we are to have six. As a reward for my diligence and 
success my landlady is busy making pies, on which we shall feast this 
evening. We have had some apples before, occasionally, but they were 
such as would not be eaten at the Westward. These are really large and 
excellent. The condition of the poor of this place will not be so 
wretched this winter, as I apprehended some time ago. Provisions 
have arrived, and if they will work they can obtain a supply." 

December 17. Yesterday I was again employed in a voyage down the 
river, to aid Mr. Sawyer in boating up winter stores." 

" December 18. I received, not one, but three letters in the last mail. 
There was company at our house, so I read only one before going to bed ; 
when the house was still I built a fire and read the others." 

" June 27, 1810. I had an invitation to ride today, but declined. The 
party consisted of six, all mounted on horseback ; they made a very 
good appearance, but could you see the road you would doubt if they 
could have a pleasant ride. I have done scarcely anything for past few 
days, beyond attending to a little military business and some Fourth of 
July matters." 

"June 30. Strawberries are very thick, and just ripe; strawberries 
and gooseberries are almost the only fruit this country produces, and 
they are very nice. Our company have agreed on their uniform, which 
is a red coat trimmed up with black, white waistcoat and pantaloons 
trimmed with red cord, black gaiters, and caps like the Raynham com- 
pany, or hats in form of officers' hats, with feathers." 

"Sunday. We trained last night till dark, and I was tired enough to 
go home and go to bed. I have not one spark of military enthusiasm 
not enough to make this business the slightest amusement." 

" Thursday, July 5, 1810. Last Monday night I went to Frenchman's 
bay, and was all night on the water in an open boat ; returned Thurs- 
day, had a fair wind ; sailed the boat by the assistance of slabs. We ap- 
peared more like Indians than civilized beings. The voyage, on the 
whole, was not unpleasant, though I was goaded by flies and mosquitoes 
and exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. You may wish to know 
what induced me to take this voyage of seventeen or eighteen miles ; it 
was only to procure a field-piece for the Fourth of July. Yesterday we 
had as pleasant a time as could be expected in this place; indeed, it far 
exceeded my expectations ; nearly sixty dined at one table. Our amuse- 
ments were training, discharging our muskets, bowling, drinking, etc., 
etc., and conversation. There was a ball in the evening ; I went to it, 
but only staid a short time. Today four of us went into the field and 
picked nearly a peck of strawberries ; in places the surface of the ground 
was almost red with them." 



214 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

I have above quoted as much as seems to be well from these, to me, 
most interesting and vivid letters. In places in them my father de- 
scribes his first boarding-house. It was kept by Mr. Sawyer, " a clever 
and industrious man ; he likes good living and good cheer ; he came 
from Reading, Massachusetts." But it is evident that, so far as the 
management of household affairs, Mrs. Sawyer was the chief personage. 
She is described as an " intelligent and, considering her opportunities, a 
superior woman." There were also at the same house "Mrs. Captain 
Peters ; her husband resided in Boston." Mrs. Peters "has a fine little 
boy, named Alexander Hamilton Peters, with whom I frequently amuse 
myself. A missionary preacher, John Brewer by name, boards here ; he 
is an intelligent, social and well informed young men. He has been a 
great traveler, and frequently amuses us by narrations of his adventures. 
He has traveled by land and by water, horseback and on foot ; he has 
been everywhere, and seen everything; as a preacher, he holds high 
rank and is very popular with the people of this place. He will con- 
tinue here but three weeks more; I am sure I shall miss him, and regret 
his absence. The physician of the place boards here; he is a clever 
young man ; but the place is very healthy, therefore the people can dis- 
pense with a physician of the first rank. The schoolmaster is likewise 
a boarder." 

Mention is also made of occasional calls on Squire Herbert, who was 
at one time very sick ; also of visits to Colonel Jordan's ; also of Mr. 
Jones and his family, the female members of which are spoken of as very 
well educated ; also of his acquaintance with Captain Black. I suppose 
this to be John Black, and that his title of Captain was derived from his 
position in the Cobb Light Infantry, the military company, probably, re- 
ferred to in the foregoing extracts, and, I think, named after General 
Cobb, who had large landed possessions in the vicinity of Ellsworth. 
He came from Massachusetts, and Captain Black married his daughter. 
LETTER FROM MRS. MILLIKEN. 

I wrote Mrs. J. C. Milliken of Boston, Massachusetts, for the tempo- 
rary loan of a manuscript history of Ellsworth, written by her kins- 
woman, Mrs. Martha Jellison. Mrs. Milliken very kindly sent me the 
following copy of the mention made therin by the author : 

" In 1811 John G. Deane, from Eaynham, Massachusetts, established 
himself in Ellsworth as attorney-at-law. He married Rebecca, daughter 
of Judge Padelford of Taunton, Massachusetts. Mr. Deane followed 
the legal profession until he was the father of a large family. He then 
made some profitable investments which enabled him to move to Port- 
land. 

" Mr. Deane was respected by all classes of society as a man .who con- 
scientiously discharged the business entrusted to him. He was a kind 
husband, an affectionate father, and a good neighbor." 



HISTOEICAL MEMORANDA. 215 

And then Mrs. Milliken adds the following notes by herself, which 
contain so many interesting and valuable facts that I take the liberty to 
print them here. 

" BOSTON, MAY 31, 1885. 
"Mr DEAR MB. DEANE : 

" Ellsworth must have been a very crude little town in 1811, although 
it was settled as early as 1773. Its only means of communication with 
the world was by water, the voyage to Boston often taking several 
weeks. There was a road to Castine at an early date after the settle- 
ment, but the road to Bangor was not built until 1815, that to Bucksport 
in 1812,and there was no better way through the eastern wilderness than 
a hunter's and lumberer's path until much later. For years there was 
one mail west each week, carried on horseback through Surry and Blue- 
hill to Bucksport, the postboy fording the creeks. 

" The wealth was for years exclusively in lumber, the inhabitants find- 
ing it more profitable to send their lumber west in exchange for sup- 
plies. 

"My great grandfather, who was the original settler and owner of a 
large part of the town, and who, being a loyalist, went off with the Eng- 
lish troops from Castine, built the first mills and vessels, and brought 
with him a superior class of men from Scarboro and Spurwink. Early 
in 1800 (I think) Colonel Black came with a Mr. Williams as agent for 
the great Biiigham purchase, which comprised many townships. About 
the same time the Jarvis family came to improve their tract of timber, 
called the ' Jarvis Gore,' and settled in Surry, where they built a fine 
house. You may remember that Leonard Jarvis represented the dis- 
trict in Congress. 

" The Otises came from Boston as agents for the property that after- 
ward bore their name. I think they were not owners. General Cobb's 
grant of land for military service was in Sullivan, and when he came to 
live on it the Sargents of Boston, came as neighbors. Mary Cobb be- 
came Mrs. Black, and Katharine Sargent, Mrs. Jones, or Madame Jones, 
as I knew her. 

" These families, though they lived at some distance, constituted a 
more cultivated society than many of the pioneer towns could boast, and 
the more cultured of the earlier settlers gathered about them. As late 
as I can remember there was a superior tone to the society. 

" The only religious worship before 1812 was irregular, there being no 
church organization and no clergyman of repute. In 1811 Mr. Nourse of 
Bolton, Massachusetts, was settled as pastor and schoolmaster, the two 
offices having always been united. In 1812 the first church was organ- 
ized, and the system of education, which made a complete revolution in 
the whole district. No more enthusiastic or self-denying teacher ever 
lived than Parson Nourse, and the town owed more to him than to any 
other of its citizens. 



216 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

"As lumbering was the principal business, all other was subsidiary 
to it. There had been several ' traders ' before Edward D. Peters, and 
Major Pond, who afterward moved to Boston. I think that Andrew 
Peters came from Bluehill about the time that your father came, and 
Jesse Dutton (father of the Deacon), who succeeded him in business. 
They had the usual variety stores that we all associate with country 
places. The Blacks only supplied the families of their own lumbermen 
and the men who took up farms on the Bingham lands. 

"I think there was but one lawyer in town before your father 
George Herbert. Judge Hathaway followed soon after. For a long 
time the only physician was Dr. Peck, whose lumbering figure and gen- 
erous powders you may remember. The old revolutionary pensioner in' 
breeches and cue, of whom you speak in your article, I remember ; I 
think he had no friends in town, and I cannot remember his name. 

"There were more than the usual number of 'characters' in Ells- 
worth, and it has always seemed a pity that some one at that early time 
should not have ' made a note ' of them. Your mother, with her won- 
derful facility of language, could have done it admirably. 

" I remember the great respect in which your father was held, both in 
Ellsworth and Cherryfield. He was a great loss to the town, which 
needed just such wise and liberal men to offset the smaller race of trad- 
ers that were coming up. I copy on the opposite page the short notice 
of him found in the manuscript, and I am sorry that I can do you no 
better service. 

" Very sincerely, - 

"C. J. MILLIKEN." 

A CENTURY OF EXISTENCE. 

AT the January meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
the oldest association of the kind in America, Dr. George E. Ellis the 
president said : " We are brought very near to, if we have not al- 
ready reached, the date in time which will mark the completion of a 
century of the existence and activity of this society the first in our 
country to lead the succession of the numerous and generally efficient 
and prosperous societies of like purposes in our states, cities, counties, 
districts, towns and villages. An interesting question at once pre- 
sents itself, as to the precise date of our nativity, from which we are to 
begin our reckoning. Usage and recognized precedent have established 
the rule that the life of a chartered or incorporated society, intended for 
perpetuity, begins with its authoritative official sanction. Yet it is a 
well-known fact that very many schemes have been in active existence, 
and many associations and fellowships for a great variety of purposes 
have had organizations and meetings of members before charter and seal 
gave them incorporation. The Royal Society of London received its 
charter from Charles n, in 1661. But for at least a score of years pre- 
viously the scholars, savants and philosophers, who asked for and ob- 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 217 

tained that charter, with seal and mace, had held their meetings and 
conferences, and had been gathering materials to promote in the same 
way the same objects which received the royal sanction. Our own now 
venerable and honored university still poor and suppliant with its 
flood of wealth dates its life from September, 1636, because the Gen- 
eral Court of the colony then recorded its purpose to plant and foster a 
college among the stumps in a patch of the wilderness in a new town. 
The court also made a promise of money for the object and designated a 
committee to take order of it. But none the less the memorial statute 
on the delta is inscribed " John Harvard, founder, 1638. " This earliest 
and most munificent benefactor was the founder of " Harvard College.' 
But the date of two years preceding fitly marks the inception of the 
seminary. 

' ' Following so honored a precedent this society might claim that this 
year will complete a full century of its existence. Curiously enough 
the first book plate in some of its earliest volumes bears the inscrip- 
tion, 'Established in 1790.' There was then something 'established ' 
which, soon after, it was thought best to have 'incorporated.' Those 
are the premises which we have before us for fixing the year of our na- 
tivity. And what is the significance of that word 'established'? It 
means something that is in being, not only in purpose, but in fact. The 
new-born infant is a reality in a household for watching over and for 
nutriment, perhaps before its name is decided upon. And that name 
may have been adopted in the household before it has been formally 
cpnferred in a sacred rite. It is, however, noteworthy that the faithful 
scribes of church and parish records in the mother country and in our 
early colony times, while very scrupulous in entering the date of bap- 
tism, fail to give the date of birth; as if a child's life began on the day 
when, as the phrase is, it was "christened." About many of our own 
worthies in whose biography we are interested, as, for instance, of John 
Harvard, we know the date of baptism, but not of birth. 

"Our records satisfactorily explain to us what was meant by the words 
'Established in 1790.' The books in which the legend was stamped 
were not private property, did not belong to individuals, but had passed 
into the ownership of associates, a fellowship formed of a few gentle- 
men brought intimately together to advance a common object. They 
were the same men who afterward sought and obtained a charter for 
their society. They had been holding meetings, gathering and contribu- 
ting materials for a common purpose. Later on one of this series of 
meetings was held at the house of an associate, Judge Tudor, on January 
24, 1791. Eight persons were present. They agreed to regard this as 
their ' first meeting.' It was not because it was the first meeting, but be- 
cause they then first gave organic form to their association by voting on 
'arti cles for its constitution and government.' Continuing their 'reg- 
ular ' and ' special ' meetings, at one of them, on January 29, ,1794, a 
committee was appointed to apply to the legislature for a charter. This 



218 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

was granted under an act of incorporation passed on February 19. Here 
again the date of baptism, so to speak, is given more definitely than the 
date of birth. 

"In any recognition, therefore, which we might see fit to make of the 
completion of our first centennial, we have an alternative for choice of 
date. Honoring the memory of that little group of cultivated and zeal- 
ous gentlemen who had found a joint attraction in intelligent historical 
interests and aims, we may find the origin of our society in their meet- 
ings held in 1790. Or we may date from the grant of our formal charter. 
It is for the members of the society, if the matter has interest for them 
and if any view should be entertained of recognizing our centennial, to 
discuss and to dispose of the question." 



HISTORICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 219 



HISTORICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 

THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF GEORGEANA. AND THE 
TOWN OF YORK. 

HAVING occasion recently, while elaborating a land-title in York to 
make some investigation of its ancient boundaries, I was surprised at 
the wide circulation given to erroneous statements of the extent and lim- 
its of this township; and as, from the character and official prominence 
given to one, and the wide circulation of others, these errors are liable 
to be re-copied and still further disseminated, these notes have been pre- 
pared to counteract these mis-statements. 

The particular point to which it is desired to direct attention is this : 
that the great majority of the so-called authorities, that touch upon this 
point at all, give only twenty-one square miles of territory to the ancient 
city of Gorgeana, instead of the forty-two square miles it received by its 
charter from Sir Ferdinaudo Gorges, which were recognized in its re- 
incorporation as the town of York, by Massachusetts in 1652, and which 
have, substantially, continued included in its borders to the present day. 

To give these erroneous statements in the order of their prominence : 

Note by the Commissioner on the sources of land titles in Maine, p. xi, 
prefixed to the Revised Statutes of Maine (1883). 

. . . "and by a second charter dated March 1, 1642, incorporated it, 
with a territory of twenty-one square miles, into a city called Gorgeana." 
(Varney's Gazetteer of Maine (1882), p. 607.) 

" Its limits were seven miles inland from the sea by three in breadth; 
and the Agamenticus (York) river formed its southwestern boundary." 
(Emery's Gorgeana and York, (1874), p. 40.) 

. . . "he incorporated a territory of twenty-one square miles." . . . 
(Sanford, Everts & Co.'s Atlas of York County (1872), p. 114.) 

" Her limits were seven miles inland from the sea, by three in breadth, 
with the Agamenticus (York) river for the southwestern boundary." . . 
. . . "In 1652, Massachusetts assumed control, the city charter was 
revoked, the name changed to York, iind an incorporation as a town 
granted, with limits enlarged probably nearly to those now existing." 

Such attempts, as this last clause, at manufacturing presumable; hi story 
cannot be too severely reprehended. By comparison with the extract 
from the incorporation by Massachusetts, cited from the records, below, 
it will be seen that this writer leads his reader into supposititious reason- 
ing at direct variance with the facts. 



220 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Cf., also (Everts & Peck's History of York County (1880), p. 217.) 

Do these writers suppose that Gorges intended by the terms of his 
charter to exclude from the benefits to be derived therefrom his grand- 
son for whom he had obtained a large grant (Records of -the Council for 
New England), or his "tenants who hold land upon the river of Acom- 
enticus" (York Deeds, i, Part ii, 6), or alderman, and afterward mayor, 
Roger Gard and his dwelling-house, all of whom were located upon the 
south side of the river of York (York Deeds i, 119). 

This error was undoubtedly promulgated by some- careless interpreter 
of the Gorges charters of incorporation, and the others have, apparently, 
blindly followed his lead. Extracts from these charters are reprinted 
here, to sustain the stand taken by the writer and make it clear to others, 
from Hazard's Collection of State Papers, wherein they were printed in 
1792, as "copies of originals now in possession of Daniel Moulton as 
clerk for the town of York," viz: (i, 470, the first, or borough charter, 10 
April, 1641) .... "establishe the Planters and Inhabitants of Acomen- 
ticus to continue .... by the name .... Towne of Acomenticus," . . 
. . . "the limitts of the said Corporacon which shall extend East West 
North and South three miles every way distant from the Church Chappell 
or Oratory belonging to the Plantacon of Acomenticus." 

(Id. i, 480, the second, or city charter, 1 March, 1642.) "My 

will is that the same from henceforth bee nominated termed and called 
by the name of Gorgeana And by that name of Gorgeana the said 

Circuite Precinctes Lymitt and Places I do establishe," &c. . . 

..." And doe therefore for mee my heires and assignes graunte ordeyne 
and establishe that the Circuite of the said Incorporacon within the Pro- 
vince aforesaid shall extend from the beginninge of the entrance in of 
the River Commonlie called and knowne by the name of Agameiiticus 
and soe vp the said River seaven Englishe Myles, and all alonge the Easte 
and North East side of the Sea-shore three Englishe Myles, in bredth 
from the entrance of the said River and vp into the mayne land seaven 
myles buttinge with the seaven myles from the sea-side vp the said River 
the bredth of three myles opposite there vnto." 

It is incomprehensible how this careless interpreter, who has been 
primarily responsible for so much subsequent blundering, could have 
disregarded all the plain indices to Gorges' intent; both the plainly ex- 
pressed seven miles by three miles on the opposite side of the river ; the 
" Circuite," which plainly indicated the three miles in all directions in 
the borough charter; and could have supposed that the area of the town- 
ship would be diminished in an Amplification of its privileges ; or that 
Gorges would have left out from participation in the proposed increased 
benefits his own tenants and adherents on the south side and have con- 
ferred these extra city privileges on the north side alone. 

For a clear distinction of the difference between a town and a city at 
that early date, see Coke's Commentary on Littleton, p. 115, cited in 
Richardson's introduction to York Deeds, i, p. 46 and note; and see 



HISTORICAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 221 

also the context for the best explanation yet given for Gorges' motive 
in changing the charters of incorporation. 

When Massachusetts, in 1652, annulled the city charter of Gorgeana 
and re-incorporated the place by the name of the town of York, she did 
not meddle with its ancient boundaries: 

(York Deeds, i, 27). " At a Court holden at a Place called Agamenti- 
cus or Gorgeana 22 Novemb r 1652 by the Comiss 8 of the Generall Court 

of the Massachusetts." "Further we do consent that the 

Town now called Agamenticus shall be hence forward called Yorke." . . 
. . . . " It is further agreed that the inhabitants of York & Kittery shall 
set out their Bounds betwixt them & the Inhabitants of Wells & York 
shall set out their Bounds betwixt them within One Year next ensuing 
otherwise it shall be done by Comiss rs appointed by the General Court." 
These bounds were from Brave-boat Harbor on the West (York Deeds, 
iii, 58) to the Ogunquit river on the east (Id. iii, 134 & i, parti, 9), and 
these have been its confines, with a slight change in the eastern line ever 
since. Cf. Hon. David SewalPs Topographical Description of York: 
Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 1 S. iii, 6. 

It might prove an entertaining pursuit to trace out the originator of 
this error, as he certainly started it long after Sullivan's and Williamson's 
time neither of whom were responsible for such a mistake and most- 
probably after Coolidge & Mansfield's valuable Description of New Eng- 
landMaine (1860), because they were the only authorities to properly 
set out the boundaries of both town and city and to leave the computa- 
tion of the areas to the student and investigator; but such pursuit might 
result in less than is sought to be accomplished by these notes, i. e. to 
counteract these mis-statements and to prevent their repetition in the 
future. WM. M. SARGENT. 

QUERY POINT INGLEBY. 

In his deed of 1643 to the mayor and commonalty of Gorgeana (York 
Deeds, iv, 46), Gorges names the point on the south side of the river 
"Point Ingleby:" Court Records, i, 303, " Country way laid out from 
the lot called Inglebys Lott from York through the woods to house of 
Hugh Gunnison at or near mouth of Piscataqua River," sufficiently 
identify this point as the one formed by Rogers' cove brook. 

For what part of the mother country was this so christened? 

I am indebted to Mr. James P. Baxter for the following information, 
from his valuable maps: that North and South Ingleby are hamlets in 
the county of Lincoln; and the suggestion that as one of the daughters 
of the Earl of Lincoln married one of Sir Ferdiuando Gorges' sons, and 
as the Countess of Lincoln was much interested fn colonization, if these 
hamlets can be shown to have been parts of the landed possessions of 
that family, a very plausible conjecture would be quite strongly con- 
firmed. 

Any further information bearing on the subject matter of this query is 
requested. WM. M. SARGENT. 



222 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

AN ALLEGED DEED BY PRESIDENT DANFORTH TO TRUSTEES OF THE 
TOWN OF YORK. 

At page 114 of Sanford, Everts & Co.'s Atlas of York County (1872), p. 
217 of Everts & Peck's History of York County (1880), p. 141 of Emery's 
Gorgeana and York (1874), p. 607 of Yarney's Gazetteer of Maine (1882), 
the following statement is printed: 

"In 1684 Thomas Danforth in behalf of the governor and council of 
Massachusetts deeded to Major John Davis, Edward Rishworth, Capt. 
Job Alcock and Lieut. Abraham Preble, trustees in behalf of the town, 
all land in town granted to it by Sir F. Gorges, thus .giving the town the 
right to dispose of the commons or ungranted lands as it saw fit. The 
consideration was that each family was to pay two or three shillings 
annually to Massachusetts." 

The indiscriminate use of the pronoun "it" by the writer of the above, 
renders this sentence one of the most difficult of apprehension it has 
been my bad fortune to meet with. I have assumed the writer meant to 
convey the idea that it was such a deed as President Danforth made to 
North Yarmouth, Scarborough and Falmouth, 1681-84. But we gener- 
ally understand that those deeds were given to extinguish the Rigby 
claim of title, and that such deeds were considered necessary only for 
such townships as fell within the Plough Patent. Cf. Williamson's 
Maine, i, 571 and 574. 

It certainly was not necessary for Massachusetts to give such a deed 
under her extended claim of boundary eastward under her charter of 
1628, because she had already passed such rights as she could confer to 
the townspeople by the incorporation of 1652. 

It was not necessary for her to give a quit-claim to any lands granted 
by Gorges personally (as for instance, Gorges' Neck, York Deeds, iv, 46) 
because all such prior grants by the proprietor were to be binding upon 
Massachusetts by the terms of the purchase deed of 1677. 

But there is very grave doubt whether there ever was, in fact, any such 
deed. It is not recorded chronologically; nor is it revealed by a search 
of the present imperfect index to the deeds still tolerated in use by York 
County; the present town clerk knows nothing of it; it is not mentioned 
by either Sullivan or Williamson. 

Who ever saw it? Who made the above alleged abstract from it? It 
is, of course,' possible that such a deed was executed to trustees for the 
town, as alleged, and that it may have been destroyed with the other 
papers in the Indian raid of 1692, without having gone upon the county 
records ; but, even in that case, it is very peculiar that it was not known 
to Sullivan or Williamson, or at any rate, not considered worthy of 
mention by them. 

At the present writing the impression prevails in my mind that this is 
another bit of made-up history by some irresponsible writer, who inju- 
diciously digested Williamson's remarks about the conveyances that 



HINTS TO CONTKIBUTOES. 223 

were made, and precipitously assumed that a similar conveyance was 
necessary in the case of York; and this impression is so strong and well- 
grounded upon the foregoing reasoning, that it will take the production 
of the genuine original of such alleged deed to overthrow the presump- 
tion against it. WM. M. SAKGENT. 



HINTS TO CONTRIBUTORS. 

IT was expected by the active members of the Maine Historical Society 
that the enlarged facilities for the prompt and complete publication, by 
means of a quarterly volume of its collections and transactions, would 
stimulate historical research and composition among its greatly increased 
membership. The experiment thus far has certainly indicated that these 
expectations will be realized. 4 

While historical study and investigation have been thus somewhat 
quickened, while the ranks of the workers have been reinforced by the 
accession from all sections of the state of competent and scholarly men, 
it may not be inopportune to indicate in some general way how the 
hoped-for intellectual industry may be most advantageously occupied. 

Much has already been done to make clearer the facts and data of 
Maine's first discovery and settlement, and doubtless there are unex- 
plored fields in which materials of value will yet be found to make more 
complete the story of our origin as a people. But in this field we have 
the efficient aid of a similar society in our parent state, now in the one 
hundredth year of its existence the early history of Maine being that 
also of Massachusetts, of which we formed a constituent part. The dis- 
tinctive history of Maine began in 1820, with the beginning of its inde- 
pendent political life. While we carefully study every document, every 
record, every relic, and the memory of every aged person, for facts bear- 
ing upon the settlement of our towns, and the beginnings of our social 
institutions, it must be remembered that the duties we owe to our pos- 
terity are to act well, and tell truly the history that falls within our own 
observation and memory, which will have all the glamour and romance 
for our children that the lives of our fathers and grandfathers have 
for us. 

Our collections require, to give them completeness, to make them a 
repertory for people at home and abroad, who may ask what Maine is 
and has been, and what part she has contributed to the upbuilding of 
a marvelous civilization under the auspices of freedom, biographical 
sketches of her foremost citizens. 

Among Maine judges we have the lives of Shepley, of Clifford, and a 
meager sketch of Judge Mellen ; there ought to be added a fitting his- 
tory of Ware, of Emery, of Whitman, of Parris and of Preble. Mr. 
Poor enriched our collections with the biography of one of Maine's sen- 



224 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ators Reuel Williams; they ought, too, to contain a history of the po- 
litical services of Lot M. Merrill and of William Pitt Fessenden, unless 
the conspicuous part the latter statesman bore in the events of the civil 
war and the reconstruction of the national constitution entitle him to a 
volume devoted to himself. 

Those leading statesmen, Peleg Sprague and John Holmes, ought to 
have conspicuous places in our annals. 

The popular interest with which some of our great lawyers and advo- 
cates are remembered, ought to be perpetuated, as we have tried to 
perpetuate the impression which George Evans made upon his time. 
And there are teachers besides, Professors Cleaveland and Packard, 
whose humbler, but equally important labors, ought to be magnified, to 
stimulate the ambition of youth. 

Besides prominent individuals, there are remarkable families, that 
have furnished more than one worthy worker in the development of our 
social and political life, whose story might be told like the Kings, 
from which we chose our first governor, the Washburns and Love joys, 
who have carried their enterprise and intelligence and practical abili- 
ties to aid in the upbuilding of more than one western state ; the Good- 
enows, with their fine culture, the Jarvises of Hancock county, with 
their high spirit and courtly manners, the Pettes of the eastern border, 
with their shrewdness, originality and force, and many others. 

There are too great popular movements which the facile historian 
might make both edifying and picturesque. We ought to have a just 
nd sympathetic account of the first Temperance Revival of 1825-30, 
and of the second or Washingtonian movement of 1840. 

The Know-Nothing movement of 1853-54, and the Greenback revolt of 
1878, and the land speculation of 1835-36, have never been fitly described. 
The time will soon come, if it has not already come, when we are far 
enough removed from the personalities affected, and the passions ex- 
cited by them, to tell with dispassionate candor and fullness the story 
of the Paper Credit frauds, and of the disputed election contest of 
1879-80. The actions of masses and classes of men in concert are still 
more interesting and significant than are the actions of individuals. 

ED. 



EEBATA. Above on this page, 14th line from bottom, Pettes should 
be Pikes. 

Page 169, 9th line from top, John S. Downes should read John T. 
Downes. 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 225 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 

Eead before the Maine Historical Society, December 22, 1885. 

BY GEOKGE POSTER TALBOT. 

IN exploring the ancient beginnings of the history of our state, 
we must not overlook the grand events, nearer our own times, 
that have already become historic. In these events in the great 
political changes, which have renewed and confirmed the popular 
liberties, and given strength and stability to our republican con- 
stitutionJames Shepherd Pike, a citizen of Maine, whose demise 
has lately happened, was a prominent actor. The tribute we pay 
his life of disinterested public service is all the more necessary 
and grateful, in that his public service was so inconspicuous. 
Applause follows loud and fast upon the footsteps of the military 
hero. The reputation that rewards brilliant oratory in the courts, 
or in the state or national legislature, and the distinction and 
emoluments that accompany the holding of high office, are 
promptly, spontaneously and universally accorded. But the 
private citizen, who becomes the advocate of the people, too dis- 
organized to concert for the maintenance of their rights, too poor 
to compensate, sometimes too short-sighted to appreciate their 
voluntary defender, whose only incentive is zeal for a just cause, 
whose only reward is the approval of a good conscience, and 
who discusses public questions in leading journals, where his per- 
sonality is merely shadowed in the initials of his name, or quite 
obscured in an association of unnamed editors, does not make a 
conspicuous exhibition of himself to the world. If the general 
public overlook such men, we must rescue them from their privacy 
and honor their achievements ; for it is the historian's business 
to discover and proclaim the men who really guide the thought 
of their times, and who initiate the movements which in their 
issues overthrew or established social and political institutions. 

James Shepherd Pike was born in Calais, in the state of Maine, 
on the eighth of September, 1811. His father was William Pike, 
15 



226 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

who was born in Portland, August 18, 1775, and his mother was 
Hannah Shepherd, born in Jefferson, Maine., in 1785. William 
Pike was twice married, and by his first marriage had a son, the 
late William Pike of Calais, and a daughter, who became the 
wife of Judge Anson G., son of General John Chandler, one of 
Maine's first senators in congress. James Shepherd was the 
eldest but one of the children of Hannah Shepherd, of whom 
Edgar, a brilliant scholar, graduate of Bowdoin College, died at 
the very opening of a promising career as a lawyer in the state 
of Louisiana, where he established himself immediately after 
leaving college ; Charles E. became a lawyer, practicing success- 
fully in Machias, Maine, in Boston, and in Wisconsin, where he 
now lives, and having been a member of the legislatures of both 
Maine and Massachusetts, and solicitor of the internal revenue 
bureau at Washington ; and Frederic A., late of Calais, deceased, 
is well known in the political history of the country as an influen- 
tial member of congress, during the important period of the civil 
war, as a leading lawyer and a sagacious, enterprising and suc- 
cessful business man. 

The Pikes are of the New England Puritan stock, the first im- 
migrant and progenitor having been John Pike, born in Langford, 
England, who removed to America in 1635, bringing his son 
Robert, then nineteen years of age, and four other children. He 
seems to have been mentioned in some old record as " John Pike, 
laborer, from Langford," but it is explained in Mr. Savage's 
" Genealogical Register," that it was sometimes necessary for the 
more prominent and zealous dissenters to conceal their places of 
residence and real description of their persons, to avoid detention 
and arrest ; and the.f act that his young sons, John, jr., and Robert, 
were educated persons, accomplished in the arts of speaking and 
writing, indicates that their father must have been of an estate 
above the condition of most laborers at that time. The old records 
of the Essex county court show that John Pike, sr., appeared 
in the courts more than once as the attorney of persons who 
prosecuted suits and obtained judgments in civil causes; and his 
own will, evidently written by himself, probated at Hampton in 
1654, shows by its phraseology, and by the amount and kinds of 
estate devised, of which an inventory is recorded, that the testa- 
tor was prominent among an emigration made up, as no other 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 227 

emigration ever was before or since, of educated and well-to-do 
people of the middle and upper classes. 

This Robert Pike became famous in the history of New Eng- 
land settlement, and was the " New Puritan," whose character and 
history his descendant, the subject of this sketch, has made illus- 
trious in a biographical work of great merit and interest, published 
by the Messrs. Harper in 1879. He seems to have been a man in 
whom the modern and liberal spirit appeared and asserted itself 
a full century before its time. The poet Whittier writes of Robert 
Pike : - 

I have been accustomed to regard him as one of the wisest and worthi- 
est of the early settlers of the region of the valley of the Merrimac the 
most remarkable personage of the place and time. I have always had an 
admiration for him, and in my story, " Leaves from Margaret Smith's 
Journal," I endeavored to do justice to him. 

The matters in which the radical and prophetic clear-sighted- 
ness of Robert Pike was conspicuous amidst the dogmatic and per- 
secuting superstition of his time were, first, his hostile criticism of 
the action of the Massachusetts legislature, of which he was a 
member, toward the Quakers, for which he was by that body 
tried, convicted, fined, and disfranchised ; second, his resistance 
to the dictation of his pastor, the Rev. John Wheelwright, and 
his excommunication therefor ; and third, his opposition to the 
Salem witchcraft persecutions of 1692, and his triumphant argu- 
ment against them. Our Mr. Pike, his biographer, says of him : 

It does not appear that he entertained sentiments that could be deemed 
heretical by the Puritan olergy of the time, even in his defence of Qua- 
ker preaching, or his more general doctrines of toleration and personal 
independence. He simply held " advanced views " of civil and ecclesias- 
tical liberty, which finally became dominant. 

The earliest Pike settler established himself in Newbury, Mas- 
sachusetts, where there is still a large farm which has been in the 
Pike family more than two hundred years. 

This family is numerous, and, like most New England families, 
has been widely scattered over the country, embracing among its 
members the author of Pike's arithmetic, with which many an 
old man has struggled in his youth ; Albert Pike, the poet, 
remembered for his Saul-like stature and long hair by the people 



228 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

of Arkansas and of Washington city, and Austin F. Pike, con- 
gressman and senator from New Hampshire. 

The line of descent from John, brother of Robert, the "New 
Puritan," is through Moses Pike, Timothy Pike, and Timothy 
Pike, 2d, to William, James Shepherd's father, who removed to 
Calais and was drowned in St. Andrew's Bay, July 1, 1818, in 
sight, perhaps, of the Mansion House in Robbinston, where his 
distinguished son established his beautiful home in the later 
years of his life. 

A good inheritance of character and intellectual vigor came 
from the mother's ancestry. Hannah Shepherd was a descendant 
of Rev. James Shepherd, the first settled minister of Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. Early in the settlement of Maine, some of his 
descendants came to Jefferson, in Lincoln county, where another 
James Shepherd became locally famous in the social and civic 
affairs of the community, and where the name is still in good re- 
pute by the excellence and intelligence of the many people who 
bear it. 

Mr. Pike enjoyed the ordinary school advantages of the time 
of Ms childhood, but the sudden death of his father, when he was 
only seven years old, left his mother's young family in poverty, 
and his school life terminated when he was only fourteen years 
old. He went into the store of Neal D. Shaw of Calais, largely 
engaged in lumbering and trade. He developed, from a boy, a 
rare aptitude for business, habits of industry, and unusual power 
of reticence and reserve, which made him a most circumspect and 
confidential person to be entrusted with the .responsibilities of 
commercial enterprises. His clerkship continued till he himself 
went into business, which was before he attained his legal ma- 
jority. He tried both trading and banking without any consider- 
able success ; and ultimately entered into a partnership with . 
James C. Swan, and engaged in the flour and grain and shipping 
business, until by its successful results he had acquired the mod- 
erate competence which became the nucleus of the considerable 
property he left at his decease. 

He had a sagacious mercantile judgment, a capacity for devis- 
ing large commercial enterprises, and a self-control and patient 
hopefulness which would carry him confidently through the 
discouraging periods of a great venture; and yet, when quite 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 229 

early in life he found himself in possession of a modest compe- 
tence, he abandoned the pursuit of gain and never recurred to it. 
His strength and originality of character were shown by the ease 
and completeness with which he was able to throw off the mas- 
tering passion of the country and the age the love of money 
and turn to pursuits that favored the bent of his genius. He was 
associated with men embarked in speculations, and listened intel- 
ligently to the development of their schemes; he passed through 
a crisis of our history, when the intimate association betwixt bus- 
iness opportunities and public legislation brought temptations to 
many of our leading public men, which their integrity and patri- 
otism could not quite resist, and none of these brilliant glimpses 
of private fortune, opening among the daily walks of public duty, 
dazzled for a moment his clear sense. 

The pursuit to which he devoted himself was that of a public 
writer and teacher a teacher, not in the department of science, 
for which he was not learned, nor of religion, for which he had 
no calling, but in the larger and more useful, if lower, field of 
politics, for which he was admirably endowed. His accomplished 
daughter, Mrs. Mary Caroline Robbins, wife of Dr. J. H. Robbins 
of Hingham, Massachusetts, writes of him : 

Though without school education, my father derived from books, of 
which he was through his early manhood an eager reader, an amount of 
general information as well as literary knowledge, that made him always 
among the best informed of men. He read slowly, and when he had 
finished a book he had made its contents absolutely his. His memory 
was unfailingly accurate, his judgment sound; and to hear him sum up 
his impressions derived from his reading was to get the marrow of the 
work itself, expressed in language of unusual vigor and originality. In 
his later years he read but few books, but was an exhaustive reader of 
newspapers. His literary taste was good, though often influenced by 
his prejudices, and his quotations from authors were always correct and 
apposite. 

Mr. Pike's first literary ventures were as early as 1833, and were 
published in the Boundary Gazette, a weekly, home paper of lim- 
ited circulation and brief existence. Thence he advanced to be 
successively a correspondent of the "Portland Advertiser," "Boston 
Courier" and "New York Tribune," always a favorite with the read- 
ers of those journals, and always securing attention by the freedom 
of his comments, the sagacity and independence of his counsels, 
and the vigor and directness of his style. 



230 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

As soon as he could afford it, which was soon after 1840, Mr. 
Pike began the habit of spending his winters in Boston, New 
York and Washington, a habit maintained through his life, with 
the exception of the five years when he resided abroad. This 
transferred his interests and his discussions from local and district 
concerns to the subject of national politics, and the general poli- 
tical development of the great national parties. He had confi- 
dence, frank and easy manners, an address at the same time cordial 
and dignified, ready resources for conversation, a fund of ideas 
and suggestions for less thoughtful men, so that he easily made the 
acquaintance of public men, and soon arrayed the ablest of these 
among his friends and co-workers. A man who has intellectual 
resources, who is neither a self-seeker nor a sycophant, commands 
the friendship of others upon his own terms ; and Mr. Pike, who 
was never a mere hireling writer, but wrote only when he had 
something to say, who early cut the leash that binds most men in 
some allegiance to party or to sect, and was never hampered by 
the more excusable bond of poverty, was always a person worth 
having at the side of a great politician. His standpoint as an 
independent thinker and writer was really a larger and more effi- 
cient one than that of the ordinary congressman, watched by 
passionate constituents and hampered by virtual or explicit pledges 
as to what he should do and say. The best use to which a pre- 
cocious youth can put a little money, if he can earn it, is to buy 
his time ; and the American youth, if he can discover it, will find 
no money he lays out will ever go so far in getting back equiva- 
lents, as that which he spends while he is still young in buying his 
freedom not only from masters and patrons, but from dominant 
creeds and conventionalities, and the great bugbear of unpopu- 
larity. Mr. Pike in early life paid like a man for this commodity, 
and had the good of it, with his money back and all the popular- 
ity with it he ever cared for. 

Mr. Pike's characteristic activity, the business to which he de- 
voted his life, was that of a public writer, aiming to shape the 
opinions of his fellow citizens to beneficent ends through the press. 
The office is an entirely modern one, the outgrowth of the news- 
paper and of democratic institutions. In Athens and in Rome, 
where one great city was the state, the assembled people in the 
agora and in the forum could affect the election of their magis- 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 231 

trates, and mold the form of their laws, and, in their turn, their 
minds could be persuaded and their passions moved by the elo- 
quence of popular orators. Paris has always claimed to be France, 
and her transient republics have been rather upon the Athenian 
and Roman than the Swiss and American model. Hence a high 
order of oratory, that modern culture has not been able to sur- 
pass, became the necessary outgrowth and supplement of such 
governments and of such environments. But how can the Amer- 
can demos scattered from the St. Croix to the Rio Grande, from 
Old Point Comfort to Puget sound be brought within ear-shot 
of one Demosthenes or of one Danton ? The claim of any one 
city to a metropolitan control over all the other cities would be 
instantly resisted by a combination of all the rest of the country. 
The orator must speak with his pen, and the newspaper must 
carry his fervid thoughts to every hamlet of the continent-cover- 
ing commonwealth. A thousand campaign speakers may period- 
ically take the stump to persuade the voters what officers to elect, 
or what general policy to approve, but for every day's reference 
to the people of the details of proposed legislation or administra- 
tion the newspaper must be the vehicle ; and from the newspaper 
the elected rulers must receive the encouragements or warnings 
of their constituents. In fine, what the agora and the orators 
were to the ancient republics, the editor and his correspondents 
are to our great modern republic its democratic mechanism. 

For this office, not named in any state or national constitution, 
nor organized under any law, but none the less vital and essential 
to our political system, Mr. Pike needed no qualification but his 
own commanding abilities and no appointment but the bent of his 
own genius. He had an inquisitive, orderly mind and a tenacious 
memory. He took keen and rapid note of facts rather than of 
ideas. He did not largely speculate or widely generalize. He 
saw the world as it was, rather than as it ought to be. He never 
preferred a complete ideal of remote and difficult accomplishment 
to a practical utility within reach, and to be brought about by ex- 
isting agencies. 

He was a sagacious judge of men, and was not imposed upon 
by their pretensions or their fine sentiments. He saw what good 
tendencies they had, and how they might work together to effect 
salutary results. But he did not despair because he found the 



232 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

great mass of men around him selfish, vain and foolish more 
careful to promote their personal fortunes than the public good. 
As most men are good-natured enough to help their neighbors 
after helping themselves, he thought their selfishness might be 
balanced and some good got out of them for the common welfare ; 
while a few crumbs of praise or emolument might be left within 
their reach to keep them in heart. All sentimentality was rather 
offensive to him, and, to rid himself of the imputation of it, he 
sometimes was willing to avow for himself and his co-adjutors a 
lower range of motives than actually controlled their conduct. 

With rapid intelligence he took note of affairs as they unrolled 
themselves in each day's news ; with sagacious judgment he formed 
his opinion of their import and tendency, and how they could be 
guided to the most satisfactory results ; and this opinion he was 
ready, often before any one else, to make known. Thus he stood 
in relation not so much to the age and the century as to the day 
and the hour. He was not the heavy man who waits in silence, 
till the event has completed itself and all the world has made its 
comment, to sum up with judicial comprehensiveness; he was 
the alert man, whose prompt word helps shape the event itself 
and makes its significance. No instrument suits the off-hand and 
ready genius of such a man so well as the daily newspaper and 
the telegraph, which vivisect " the very age and body of the time," 
while the deliberate book is their autopsy. 

From a discriminating reading of English literature, and Eng- 
lish only, Mr. Pike had equipped himself with a clear, direct and 
vigorous style. It was humorous, slightly sarcastic, abounding in 
telling points tersely expressed, aptly illustrated by citations from 
the best authors, always accessible in his capacious memory, and 
oftener by homely references to every- day life, or the familiar 
processes of daily employment ; but he never obstructed the move- 
ment of his argument by a multiplicity of rhetorical figures, nor 
failed to make his serious counsel intelligible or to point the moral 
of his discourse. The public soon became familiar with his well- 
known initials, J. S. P., and enterprising editors, though almost al- 
ways shocked and alarmed at his bluntness of speech and the bold- 
ness of his advice, were willing to give hospitality to, and even mod- 
erately to pay for, letters that made the dull pages of their jour- 
nals so sprightly and salable. His powers of vivid description 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 233 

were very rare. He knew what features of a scene, a subject or 
a person were picturesque and effective, and in what terms they 
could be most vividly set forth. Thousands of readers remember 
his description of the Negro legislature of reconstructed South 
Carolina, in a series of letters afterward embodied in a pamphlet 
entitled The Prostrate State." That vivid tableau of the un- 
couth and ignorant freedman as a law-maker and magistrate did 
more, perhaps, than anything that was published to open the eyes 
of Northern people to the cruel and unusual punishment which 
too tender-hearted to hang traitors or confiscate their lands they 
had inflicted upon their defeated . fellow citizens of the South. 
Here is a picture of Henry Clay's oratory, as exhibited in his 
old age in the American senate. It was upon the so-called " Com- 
promise Resolutions " of 1850: 

We know of no man, who -can excite simultaneously the feelings of 
admiration and resentment so effectually as Mr. Clay. His oratory 
teaches us to see how it is that an Irishman can enjoy a shillaleh fight 
with his best friend. In his speech of yesterday, Mr. Clay would say 
something in one breath, for which one desired to embrace him, and in 
another something that would prompt a man of any combativeness to 
knock him down. He portrayed the blessings of fraternal union, the 
delights of concord, harmony and peace ; he expressed his desire to heal 
divisions and allay animosities and irritations ; and then he challenged 
the administration to bring out a champion of its policy on the floor of 
the senate, and meet him face to face, and he promised to grind him to 
powder. Mr. Clay became deeply excited. He displayed the spirit and 
fire of his youth. Deep, pervading passion spoke in his impetuous ges- 
tures and his purple countenance. He became unusually voluble and 
1 mpassioned. His voice was never more flexible or more trumpet-toned. 
He thundered and lightened and stormed amain. He shook his hoary 
locks, gray with three and seventy winters. His features gleamed with 
demoniac energy. Withering blasts came from his mouth. He rained 
down censures and imprecations. He seemed to wing his way through 
and over the senate chamber like a hawk over the frightened flock of 
the barn-yard; self -poised, he pounced on this argument and that, and 
tore it in pieces as with the beak and talons of a vulture. Old as he is, 
his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He alluded to the 
policy of the administration on the territorial and slavery questions in 
terms of mingled scorn, contempt, derision, hate and inflexible opposi- 
tion. He denounced the plan in whole and in detail. He dared any sen- 
ator to rise in his place and defend it. 



234 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Two years later he thus speaks of the futility of all compromise 
legislation upon slavery : 

Herein is to be found the basis of Mr. Calhoun's judgment on this 
question. The idea that a " compromise,'* or a vote of congress on this 
question altered the real relation or judgment, or would influence the 
action of the Northern mind in regard to it, was a transparent folly that 
his eagle glance always pierced in an instant. O green and verdant gen- 
tlemen of the House of Kepresentatives ! ye who vainly fancy that car- 
rying the compromise measures through your illustrious body is a great 
political stroke, even a triumph over an ever-active principle in the heart 
of man; it is time you were resolving that the sun shall stand still on 
another Gibeon. It is time you were erecting a stage under the ends of 
the rainbow, in order to spike it upon the sky. It is time you had re- 
solved that the ocean shall cease to surge, the streams to flow, or the 
season to return. Vote winter to be eternal, that darkness shall reign 
forever, but do no such folly as vote that the human heart shall not throb 
in sympathy with the oppressed, and give voice to its sympathies. Vote 
not that the mental volition of a free people shall be fettered and chained 
down; vote not that the spirit of liberty shall be quenched! Do not at- 
tempt to betray freedom; do not offend humanity; do not provoke 
Heaven; do not expose congress to ridicule; do not do yourselves injus- 
tice by any such monstrous follv as this. You may compromise a tariff 
question, or a land or money question, for such are material in their na- 
ture, evanescent in character, and limited in scope. But you cannot 
compromise a question of human freedom, for its relations and influ- 
ences go beyond the stars, and its bearings and connections are eternal. 

This is the plain and trenchant way he rebuked Mr. Webster 
for his great apostacy to the cause of the North : 

We are constrained to regard the course of Mr. Webster, and those 
who have followed him in his lamentable desertion of principle, as per- 
nicious in the extreme, and deserving, therefore, of unqualified rebuke 
and condemnation. When led by distinguished men, such political ter- 
giversation as we have witnessed debauches the tone of public morals in 
all the walks of life. Literature is vitiated, the press is corrupted, the 
pulpit is infected. What have we seen in the last few years? Newspa- 
pers subsidized and turned to the right-about-face as quickly as ever an 
army changed front at the word of command ; books of education those 
mighty agents in forming the opinions of the rising generation emascu- 
lated of the manly sentiments of freedom; hoary clergymen preaching 
doctrines that hardened sinners mentally damn on the spot for their 
scoundrelism, and who, if Heaven had no more charity than earth, would 
be blasted by the lightnings of the Almighty for their impious desecra- 
tion of their office. Old Hunkerism in the pulpit is enough to make the 
world infidel. The preacher who fails to assert or by implication denies 



JAMES SHEPHEED PIKE. 235 

the supremacy of the "higher law" deserves to be roasted in sulphur. 
Yet has the political apostacy of the last two years unveiled to our 
vision such white-neckerchief ed renegades. 

In 1850 Mr. Pike received an invitation from Horace Greeley 
to become a regular correspondent of the "Tribune." It began in 
these terms : 

NEW YORK, April 24, 1850. 

Dear Sir: Will you write me some letters? You are writing such 
abominably bad ones for the ''Boston Courier," that I fancy you are put- 
ting all your unreason into these, and can give me some of the pure juice. 
Try. 

To understand the work which Mr. Pike did as a correspondent 
and associate editor of the " New York Tribune" during the next 
ten years, in forming and concentrating the opinion of patrotic ' 
citizens of the United States against the ambitious projects of the 
slaveholders ultimately culminating in insurrection and civil 
war it is necessary to review briefly the attitude of the slavery 
question at the time Mr. Greeley's curt and not complimentary 
invitation was accepted. 

The slave power, decidedly subordinate to freedom in the na- 
tional administration up to 1820, had that year obtained, after an 
intense struggle, a compromise that secured it virtual equality. 
Under this compromise the growth of free and slave states had 
been kept abreast, and for every free community admitted to th e 
fellowship of the Union had been improvised a slave-holding 
oligarchy on the model of South Carolina and Virginia. But free 
communities are more thrifty and populous than slave states, and 
a free people is more enterprising and migratory. It became ap- 
parent that the balance between the hostile interests in the na- 
tional senate could not be long maintained. All the national 
domain in which slavery was not inhibited by a statute, which 
was believed to have all the sanction of a constitution, had been 
devoted to a new home for Indian tribes removed from the Gulf 
states, really, because their presence there menaced the security 
of slave property ; while a habitable region as large as all the rest 
of the country stretched from the Mississippi river to the Pacific 
ocean, open to free settlers and devoted to free states. What 
could be done to maintain the threatened balance? A band of 
adventurers from the South and Southwest, under the leadership 



236 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

of Houston and Austin, invaded the border province of Mexico, 
and by plotting and fighting contrived to wrest from that republic 
her largest province of Texas. As soon as the military power of 
Mexico had been overcome, the United States hastened to ac- 
knowledge the independence of the new country, and with inde- 
cent haste to annex it with the consent of its American settlers to 
the Union. Had the high contracting parties of this alliance been 
content with the original boundaries of this conquered province, 
Mexico was too feeble to offer resistance ; but a claim was made 
for Texas of a frontier upon the Rio Grande, which would sever 
from a sister republic full a fourth of her territory. This claim 
Mexico did resist, and the United States government, in the full 
control of the slave power, not without some difficulty, managed 
to embroil the two countries in war. This was fought out bravely 
enough ; and with her capitol held in possession of our troops, 
Mexico had no indemnity which we would accept but the cession 
of another large section of her territory. With the acquisition 
of Texas, New Mexico, California and Utah the oligarchy seemed 
to have acquired land enough not hampered by the Missouri com- 
promise to extend the slave system indefinitely at their leisure, 
and maintain the balance of power against any probable growth 
of the free states. So far as political policy was concerned, the 
North had been completely foiled. But the course of events hap- 
pily favored the cause of freedom. The wonderful discovery of 
gold in the streams of California precipitated upon that region an 
immense immigration, largely of laboring poor men from the 
northern states. It acquired in a few months the capacities of a 
state, formed a constitution and asked admission to the Union. 
Such a population as occupied it could but be hostile to servile 
labor ; accordingly its constitution inhibited slavery in the terms 
of the original ordinance of 1787. 

Politically, too, the Mexican war had failed to enure to the ad- 
vantage of the political party that had principally fomented it. 
In the popular estimate General Taylor, who fought at Buena 
Vista, and not General Scott, who, amid the bickerings and dis- 
sensions of his generals, had taken the city of Mexico, was the 
hero of the war. With singular adroitness the Whigs fixed upon 
" Old Rough and Ready" as a name to conjure by, and on the 
breast of a periodical wave of popular excitement floated him 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 237 

into the presidency. There are last who shall be first ; and it was 
with no little chagrin that the Democrats, who had been foremost 
in doing the behests of slavery, submitted to see in the executive, 
chair a chief who, although a slaveholder, was no propagandist 
of slavery, and in his cabinet Tom Corwin of Ohio, who, on the 
outbreak of the war, had said -in a speech in congress that he 
hoped Mexico would welcome the soldiers of the Union, carrying 
on such an unrighteous warfare, "to bloody shrouds and hospita- 
ble graves." 

The whole South was filled with consternation and alarm. It 
had filibustered Texas and conquered half of Mexico to get room 
to expand its peculiar institution ; and while it was getting ready 
to appropriate its new acquisition, the alert and enterprising North 
had stepped in and appropriated a part of the dearfy bought soil 
to free labor, significant of the destiny that might await the rest 
of it. 

A furious pro-slavery agitation was at once set on foot through- 
out the South, and a southern convention was summoned to meet 
at Nashville to consider what the emergency required of southern 
patriots. Early in 1850 Mr. Calhoun, then very feeble and within 
a month of his demise, had read in the senate by Mr. Mason of 
Virginia, his last speech. Mr. Pike thus describes the scene in a 
letter to the " Portland Advertiser " : 

Mr. Calhoun tottered to the senate on Monday, carrying his manuscript 
with him. Too feeble to read it himself Mr. Mason of Virginia, per- 
formed the office for him. The speech was listened to with profound 
attention. It bears the peculiar characteristics of its distinguished au- 
thor; displaying great force, great earnestness, great directness, and 
being marked throughout with the analytic power, unity of idea, and 
simplicity and clearness of expression which stamp all his productions. 

No doubt Mr. Calhoun had already made up his mind that all 
compromises would be fruitless, and that the only remedy for the 
intolerable evils of the South was secession and independence. 
He was willing, however, to satisfy the consciences of his more 
confiding and loyal compatriots, to offer his last terms of recon- 
ciliation. He firmly believed slavery to be the cornerstone of the 
republic, its maintenance the condition of maintaining our govern- 
ment. His plan of continued union with the North was that it 
should concede to the slaveholders unrestricted access to Califor- 



238 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

nia and all the newly acquired territories, and give to the slave 
states, by an amendment of the constitution, a qualified veto upon 
all congressional legislation. 

The agitation set on foot in the South, transferred to congress, 
soon permeated the whole country. The North, grown used to 
concession, hesitated, and the commercial press of the large cities, 
though conservatively Whig in politics, began palpably to give 
ground before the imperious tone of the oligarchy. The southern 
Whigs were swept completely away in the sectional freshet. But 
the strength of the hostile influences, the extent of the demorali- 
zation, was indicated in the most conspicuous way by the defec- 
tion of Mr. Webster. 

Both Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay were known to have looked 
upon the nomination of Gen. Taylor, " a rough frontier colonel," 
as he was called, as a personal affront. Mr. Clay had gotten him- 
self returned out of order to the senate, and took no pains to 
conceal his contempt of the new administration and his hostility 
to its half-way policy. Mr. Webster had characterized the nomi- 
nation of Gen. Taylor as one not fit to be made, and was in no 
mood to give his administration the prestige of his talents and 
influence. As the debate in congress proceeded from week to 
week, great anxiety was felt in the North as to which side the 
great orator would take. Some reports placed him on the north- 
ern side, and said he would make a great speech in the tone of his 
Plymouth address, in harmony with all his previous public utter- 
ances in favor of the Wilmot Proviso. Others were as confident 
that he would sacrifice everything to save the endangered Union. 
On th^ seventh of March he declared himself, and, while submit- 
ting to a free California as a fact accomplished, he ridiculed and 
characterized as unnecessary any legislation against slavery in 
New Mexico a term then used to designate all the territory not 
comprised within the boundaries of California and Texas because 
from those high table-lands slavery was excluded by a divine dis- 
pensation, and it was useless for congress to re-enact the law of 
God. Mr. Pike, in the same letter to the "Portland Advertiser," 
thus comments on the great speech : 

Mr. Webster's speech, delivered on Thursday, made a wide and deep 
sensation. It was listened to by the most densely packed audience ever 
assembled within the walls of the senate chamber. It was a very able 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 239 

speech of course. Mr. Webster cannot speak without making an able 
speech. But in its main point, that of the application of the Wilmot 
Proviso to a territorial government for New Mexico, Mr. Webster disap- 
pointed the North by his declaration that he should vote against it. The 
sentiment is uniform among northern members, New England members 
especially, that on this question he must stand alone. Not a Whig from 
New England will go with him. We have no disposition to animadvert 
upon the speech, though we consider it open to censure both for what it 
says and for what it does not say. It is as remarkable for its omissions 
and deficiencies, as it is for its declarations. We shall say no more of it, 
than that we consider it unsound, impolitic, and mal apropos. Yet we 
cannot forbear to allude to the striking contrast exhibited by Mr. Web- 
ster's vote and action in 1848, in favor of applying the Wilmot Proviso 
to the Oregon territorial bill, and his present declaration, that he will not 
vote for the proviso in a territorial bill for New Mexico, because it would 
be "to re-enact the will of God." Pray tell us, was it the will of God 
that slavery should exist in Oregon, and did Mr. Webster make his great 
efforts on that memorable occasion to thwart that will? If not, what 
did he do then but " re-enact the will of God?" And we should be 
pleased further to be informed whether there was more danger of slavery 
going into Oregon all of which is north of the celebrated line of 3(5 30', 
than there is of its going into New Mexico, all of which is south of 36 
30'. 

Mr. Pike had not evidently anticipated this defection of Mr. 
Webster, for in a letter to the '* Boston Courier " of February 27, 
he had thus expressed himself : 

The free states hold the peaceable settlement of the whole teritorial 
question in the hollow of their hands. They have only to act steadily 
and moderately about the admission of California, and let alone every 
other feature of it, to accomplish all that they want to accomplish. The 
southern agitators and disunionists are in a bad way. Unless the 
North can be coaxed or wheeled, or nattered or cajoled, or driven into 
doing something for their relief, they must soon be checkmated. They 
have but a move or two more. In this strait the most beseeching faces 
have of late been turned toward ,Mr. Webster. Leading senators and 
leading newspapers the very antipodes of the distinguished senator in 
all things, have suddenly begun to coo round him like doves, begging 
him to produce some plan or bring forth some compromise which shall 
avert the threatened doom. We shall see what Mr. Webster will ' do in 
this emergency. 

This " letting alone of every other feature " except the admis- 
sion of California, which Mr. Pike sagaciously advised, was not 
at all suited to the temper of the Free Soilers, perhaps not to that 



240 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

of the anti-slavery Whigs. They were insisting upon prohibition, 
and believed they had the votes in congress to put it through. 
President Taylor in his annual message had recommended the 
immediate admission of California with her free constitution, and 
the admission of New Mexico when applied for, with whatever 
constitution her people might adopt. This plan did not suit the 
anti-slavery North; it infuriated the South. It was afterward 
characterized as the squatter sovereignty doctrine. The only 
realization of it in practice was a free California, and it was as 
distasteful to the propagandists of slavery as was the Wilmot 
Proviso, or abolitionism itself as distasteful as it was afterward 
when brought forward by Senator Douglas as a basis of a free 
Kansas. So even the moderate slaveholders of the border states, 
led by Mr. Clay, opposed the president's plan, and Mr. Webster 
gave them his virtual support. But in revolutions, in dealing 
with strong conflicting interests and the inveterate opinions of 
masses of united and determined men, we must do, not always 
what we wish, not what is best, but what can be done in the emer- 
gency. So that ultimately the whole anti-slavery North, including 
the most earnest Free Soilers, fell back upon the president's policy 
as a defensible line, and hoped with his popularity and patronage 
to make a successful stand upon it. 

Mr. Pike's striking and eloquent letters, mostly published in the 
" Boston Courier," advocating as against Henry Clay and the 
whole conservative party, Democratic and Whig, the president's 
policy, first attracted the attention of Horace Greeley, and drew 
from him the invitation already quoted. 

The letters seemed nearly to have made shipwreck of that organ 
of the white-gloved aristocracy of Boston, then in close social, 
commercial and political relation with the slaveholders. Poor 
Mr. Kettell, on the twenty-second of April, 1850, thus pitifully 
discloses his disabilities in a letter to Mr. Pike : 

I return your letter agreeably to your request. It went sadly against 
my grain to withhold it from the press, for no one can like it better than 
I do. If I were not hampered by business obligations in this particular 
matter there should be no impediment to the swing of your broad-ax in 
the " Courier." Nothing is better relished here. 

Again, three days later, he writes and thus depicts the slavery 
he is under to his employers : 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 241 

My hope and trust is that you may never be hampered in the free ex- 
pression of your thoughts through the columns of the " Courier." The 
reputation which you have gained for it is great. I wish the independ- 
ence of a public journal were a means of making it profitable ; but I am 
ashamed for our enlightened public to say, that the dullest, stupidest, 
most unideaed and slavish of all printed sheets are the very ones most 
certain of success in money matters. People are very eager to read what 
they will not pay for. 

Even Mr. Greeley's invitation did not indicate any sympathy 
with his notions, and he had to submit to a running controversy 
with the editor at the insertion of each of his outspoken letters. 
But Mr. Greeley had an antislavery public behind him. His best 
subscribers were furnished in large clubs in the New England and 
Western towns; and counted together they were a patronage 
well worth going for. So, though Mr. Greeley was not an aboli- 
tionist, though he never pretended to have any faith in any of the 
leading measures the abolitionists advocated or in the candidates 
they voted 'for, he gave admission not only to letters, but also to 
editorial articles written by earnest antislavery men, and was often 
too busy either to controvert or mutilate them. 

The transfer of Mr. Pike's trenchant pen from the " Boston 
Courier " to the " New York Tribune " widely extended his fame, 
and its popularity and influence. His contributions, sometimes 
coming in rapid succession, extend from April 26, 1850, to the 
end of the year 1852, during the latter part of which time Mr. 
Pike had become a co-editor and co-proprietor of the "Tribune." 
The burden of these writings is in protest against the so-called 
"compromise measures " introduced by Mr. Clay, the most odious 
feature of which was a new " fugitive slave law," which was af- 
terward ruthlessly and most imprudently put in execution in the 
northern states, to the great indignation of all humane citizens ; 
for it brought the before remote cruelties and meannesses of the 
slave system home to the sight and feeling of hosts of men and 
women, who had been otherwise indifferent to them. 

The " Tribune," with its constituency of the very elite of the 
humane and cultivated people of the North, fairly led the printed 
debate of the day against slavery ; and Mr. Pike, it is easy enough 
now to see, was the soul of all that was antislavery in the " Trib- 
une." This is a specimen of the fearless spirit in which he re- 
16 



242 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

buked the great Webster. It is in one of his earliest " Tribune " 
letters : 

How long is it since the great Northern champion of the Whig party, 
himself now bolting from its ranks, and leaving its main division to 
worry along as it best may without his presence and without his counsel's, 
uttered this remarkable declaration: " For myself on the dark and troub- 
led night that is upon us, I see no star above the horizon promising light 
to guide us but the star of the great, united Whig party. ' r We see how 
brief a period has elapsed since this eminent citizen, for whose great 
powers we entertain the highest admiration, and upon whose present 
position we look with no other feelings but those of profound regret, was 
clear in his apprehension that certain great national duties and obliga- 
tions devolved upon the Whig party as a distinctive body. And yet now, 
instead of using his great abilities to hold that party together, and to 
give unity and force to its action, he wields the two-edged sword of his 
logic and his eloquence to sever the withes that unite and bind it to- 
gether. 

In the same letter he thus pays his respects to Mr. Clay : 

Suppose Mr. Clay were in the presidential chair, and he acting in the 
plentitude of his influence and authority as a great party leader, as well 
as official head of a Whig administration, should have come down to 
Congress with the identical proposition that General Taylor offers, to 
compose the country, what whispers of opposition to it would have been 
heard in any quarter? Or if perchance a dissenting voice were feebly 
uttered amid the universal acclamation of concurrence we should then 
have witnessed, what fate would be that man's who should persist in 
contumacious resistance to the policy of the administration? The answer 
rises promptly to every man's lips. He would be condemned for mutiny 
and triced to the yard-arm as soon as the crew could be piped to quarters, 
to witness the ceremony. 

Later in the " Boston Courier," he thus vigorously follows up 
the great compromiser : 

Let us see what Mr. Clay assails the president for doing. It is not for 
recommending the admission of California, for here the senator from 
Kentucky vouchsafes his concurrence with the executive. But it is for 
recommending New Mexico to present a state constitution and to pray 
for admission into the Union. This is the thing the president has done. 
Mr. Clay, in the plentitude of his assumed authority, with a sublimity of 
impudence that surpasses all ordinary conception of this quality, says, 
in effect: "This is altogether wrong. New Mexico ought not to have a 
state government. She should be erected into a territory. She is unfit 
for a state government. Standing here in my place with all the responsi- 
bilities of my position upon me, I declare that I will not vote for her 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 243 

admission as a state. General Taylor, you should have known better 
than to have made such a ridiculous recommendation. Sir, you should 
have consulted me on this question." It is thus Mr. Clay undertakes to 
read the president a lecture upon what he has done in the discharge of 
his official duty, and to unceremoniously condemn and repudiate it as an 
unfit action for the president of the United States, he, Mr. Clay, assum- 
ing to be the sole judge and arbiter in the premises. We ask again, 
whence comes Mr. Clay's pretentious claim to supervise the official action 
of the president, and refer it for condemnation or approval to his indi- 
vidual judgment ? What means this unparalleled presumption of a de- 
mand upon the president to defend himself to Henry Clay? 

Upon what meat has this our Caesar fed? 
Who appointed Mr. Clay the lieutenant-general of the president? 

It is hard now to see why a senator, a portion of an entirely 
independent and co-ordinate department of the government, a 
member of the law-making power, might not disapprove, censure 
and vote against a recommendation of the president, whose office 
it is not to make or dictate laws, but to execute such laws as con- 
gress may see fit to enact. But the fiery invective of the corres- 
pondent shows the vigor with which the controversy was waged 
in and out of Congress, and the intensity of the public feeling. 

Unlike the prominent writers and thinkers of the time with 
whom it was the fashion to ridicule the threats of disunion as 
mere Southern gasconade, Mr. Pike seems very early to have fore- 
seen the grave issues to which the struggle between the sections 
would lead. In a letter to the " Boston Courier " of February 6, 
1850, he said : 

It is but too evident that if the South goes on to disunion on the alleged 
ground of disaffection, she goes on to civil war. Who doubts the result 
of such a contest? The contemplation of it is fearful, terrible in the ex- 
treme. The doom of slavery is sealed the day that contest commences. 

He never seems to have shared Mr. Seward's sanguine surmise 
that there would be no real war, nor to have supported Mr. Gree- 
ley's timid counsel, that when the war had begun, the " erring 
sisters" should be allowed to depart in peace, for he had thus 
declared in his first published letter in the " Courier ": 

There can be no peaceable dissolution of this Union. The government 
of the United States, headed by a president who has sworn to support 
the constitution and is determined to uphold the Union, will lay its heavy 
hand upon any man that attempts to disorganize and break it up. The 
Union is not looked upon by the government of the United States or by 



244 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

the people of the United States as a loose aggregation of States a con- 
federacy from which any member may withdraw at will, but as the result 
of a contract which binds every member, and which must be enforced, 
if necessary, against whichever of its members may turn recusant and 
desire to escape from its obligations, or reclaim the concessions it has 
voluntarily made to'the government of the whole. No attempt at seces- 
sion, therefore, can for a moment be countenanced by the national gov- 
ernment. The first step to sever that comprehending bond which encir- 
cles these states will call down its whole power to crush the effort. That 
power is great and terrible, for it rests upon the constitution and the 
laws, and is sustained by the affections and upheld by the mighty will of 
millions of free people. 

The "J. S. P." letters were widely read at the North, and 
there is no doubt that the ideas and sentiments so vigorously and 
eloquently expressed in them became firmly fixed in the minds 
not only of the Northern public, but of many men who after- 
ward, in high official positions, directed the legislation and the ex- 
ecutive policy of the government. No better rostrum could a 
fervid patriot have had, not even the halls of congress, from 
which to sound forth his admonitions and exhortations. 

In spite of the defection of the whole body of Southern Whigs 
under the leadership of Mr. Clay, then at the climax of his fame and 
power, in spite of the damaging desertion of Mr. Webster, the 
Whig party, with the prestige of Gen. Taylor's popularity, might 
have succeeded in defeating the so-called " compromise measures." 
But the North had had a favoring- accident in the gold discovery 
and rapid settlement of California, and now it had a disastrous 
accident in the sudden death of Gen. Taylor. Mr. Fillmore as- 
sumed the executive chair, and it was soon evident that his sym- 
pathies were on the conservative side of his party. A new cab- 
inet came in, among whom Mr. Webster was at once recognized 
as leader, and what had been -ridiculed as the " omnibus bill," 
now dignified as the " compromise and peace measures," was car- 
ried through both branches of congress. The most odious feature 
of this legislation was the new fugitive slave law, imprudently 
enforced, irritating the best sentiments of the Northern citizens, 
and making outspoken abolitionists of cool and conservative men. 
In its practical operation, therefore, this law was anything but a 
peace measure. But there lurked in the compromise a mere omis- 
sion and negation, out of which insidiously and inevitably grew 
the Kansas struggle, secession and civil war. 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 245 

After the slavery propagandists had gotten control of congress, 
and by the demise of Gen. Taylor of the administration, it re- 
mained to be seen whether they could get control of the Whig 
party. The Whig party had come into power with a popular 
president and a working majority of congress, and there was 
every indication that it might maintain its ascendency for a series 
of years. Mr. Pike was a sincere Whig of the antislavery type. 
He and his compatriots saw it was futile to attempt to make the 
Southern Whigs tolerant of the Wilmot proviso. On the other 
hand, they saw that it was impossible to make the body of the 
Northern Whigs forego opposition to slavery in the territories ; 
and that to insist upon that was to drive them in crowds into the 
ranks of the Free- S oilers, who were everywhere in the free states 
assailing them for their treachery to the cause of freedom, and 
thinning their ranks by winning over their most estimable sup- 
porters. But General Taylor's plan of letting in California free 
which really insured the whole Pacific coast against slavery 
and letting the case of New Mexico wait till she was ready to 
make a constitution, was a compromise, upon which North and 
South could stand, and upon which the integrity of the Whig 
party could be preserved. The contest that had gone disas- 
trously for the Northern Whigs in congress was early in 1852 
transferred to the Whig National Presidential convention. Mr. 
Webster had set his heart on the nomination, but found his seventh 
of March speech standing squarely in his path. He had received 
praises from Southern Whigs, and the premiership of the recon- 
structed administration ; but he had lost in all the Northern states 
the votes that could have put him in nomination at Baltimore. The 
North was far stronger in a Whig national convention than it 
was in congress, and the North selected General Scott as a pres- 
idential candidate, intending through him to express approval of 
the General Taylor policy of letting slavery alone. The South- 
ern Whigs and the administration were not strong enough to pre- 
vent the nomination of Scott, but they were strong enough to 
compel the convention, before nominating him, to indorse in the 
national platform the obnoxious " compromise measures." There 
was still Mr. Greeley's device open to the Northern Whigs, for the 
old hero to accept the nominntion and "spit upon the platform," 
and a number of ingenious gentlemen actually penned drafts of 



246 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

cunning letters, in which he was to take a position that would 
satisfy the South and at the same time leave some equivocation 
with which to gull Northern voters. The blundering old chief, 
however, in his eagerness swallowed, like another hasty plate of 
soup, not only the nomination but the platform along with it, and 
the ingenious letters became curiosities of political literature. 
From that time the election to the presidency of any Whig be- 
came impossible, and the campaign itself only a funeral procession 
of the party to its grave. Mr. Pike, who had voted in the con- 
vention with Pitt Fessenden and three other of the eight Maine 
delegates against the adoption of the Baltimore platform, tersely 
said in a letter of December 10, 1852 : 

Funeral honors will be paid by Congress to Mr. Webster. The obse- 
quies of the Whig party will not be celebrated till after the 4th of March. 

In deliberately refusing to apply any restriction to slavery in 
the territories acquired from Mexico, Congress had affirmed that 
such restriction was unfair and unfraternal to the South. In the 
legal cant of the time it was characterized as unconstitutional. 
How then about the slavery restriction of 1820 ? Was that not 
unfair and unconstitutional ? so it began to be affirmed by reck- 
less men. However, it was nothing but a statute, and may not a 
statute be repealed? So that when the territory of Nebraska 
came to be organized, Mr. Douglas 'succeeded, aided by the pat- 
ronage of the Pierce administration^ in engrafting upon the bill a 
clause repealing the Misssouri compromise. 

This mischief was only accomplished after an intense struggle, 
which convulsed congress. The whole power of the Pierce ad- 
ministration was flung into the scale to help the faith-breakers. 
The Southern Whigs, though they insisted that the South did not 
ask for such an advantage, said that they would gladly accept it, 
if it was tendered by the North. The great body of the North- 
ern Whigs stood firm for the maintenance of the national faith, 
and a few Northern Democrats, contemning the party lash which 
was vigorously swung by Pierce and Douglas, voted with them. 
The pretext that gave this measure plausibility with Northern 
men was, that it was referring the whole matter of their social 
and industrial customs to the people of the territories themselves, 
the very people solely interested. But this reference to the peo- 



JAMES SHEPHEED PIKE. 247 

pie of the territories was never intended by the plotters, was 
carefully excluded by the terms of the act itself as was palpa- 
bly shown in the long debate and the true purpose to force 
slavery upon a community that hated and feared it, was shame- 
fully exhibited by an attempt, backed by the executive power 
through its civil and military officers, persisted in through a series 
of years, and only abandoned after years of actual civil war, in 
which old John Brown was a leading partisan, to carry on which 
Northern churches actually took up contributions to be expended 
in the purchase of Sharp's rifles. 

The South retired sullen and embittered from this defeat, 
ready for the madness that preceded divine destruction. For, 
having the clear control of the country through the votes of the 
Democratic party, it recklessly threw away its advantage, picked 
a quarrel with its sufficiently subservient Northern allies, and by 
running a Southern candidate against Douglas, the favorite of the 
Northern Democracy, brought about the election of a minority 
candidate of the opposition, and made that election the pretext 
of a premature secession. Even after Mr. Lincoln's election, the 
institution of slavery within its own domain never stood more se- 
cure. More than that, the slave-holding aristocracy, by the par- 
tition of Texas into five states, stipulated for in the " compro- 
mise measures," by the acquisition of Cuba and St. Domingo, 
which had been vigorously plotted for, by seducing, as they might 
easily, New Mexico and all the more Southern territories, by 
keeping out Nevada and Colorado, really not yet with a stable 
population large enough to have a representation in the national 
senate, might have maintained what they deemed so essential, 
the balance of power, until this time, if not indefinitely. But 
they were mad ; and in their madness and blindness they pulled 
down the pillars of the Union, upon which as a thing not of right 
but of compact, their unrighteous institution stood, and it and 
they perished in the ruin. 

All through this long struggle, the trumpet of the " Tribune " 
gave no uncertain sound. This time its influence was not weak- 
ened by any divided counsels ; and the warnings and counsels 
and fervid exhortations which Mr. Pike sounded from Washing- 
ton were heartily responded to in the editorial rooms in New 



248 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

York. January 26, 1854, Mr. Pike thus notifies his Northern 
readers through the editorial columns: 

If the traitorous men at Washington, who are plotting the surrender 
to slavery of the free territory west of the Mississippi believed that a 
majority of the North would fail to sustain the movement, they would 
instantly cease their clamor and skulk back, and we should hear no more 
about it. But they have adopted the belief that the passage of the com- 
promise measures of 1850 and the triumphant election of Frank Pierce 
have taken all the spirit out of the North, and that the mass of the voters 
are now ready to wink at any party iniquity and sustain any party meas- 
ure, whatever its enormity.' 

Again on the thirteenth of February, he returns to the sub- 
ject : 

Whenever it shall come to this that Congress is filled with men, who 
possess none of the spirit of self-devotion, the country will become the 
constant prey of demagogues, such as are now practicing their infernal 
arts upon this body through the Nebraska bill. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, we fear that reflections like these per tinent though they be, will 
get no votes against the great iniquity. What is wanted is action, ac- 
tion, action. The North must rouse in its might and majesty. The peo- 
ple must declare themselves. The infamous scheme must fall, if it falls 
at all, before the direct assault of the people. It must be stunned by 
their blows aud blasted by their maledictions. It is no time for apathy 
and no time for soft words. Congress w as never more sensitive to the 
public voice than it is today upon this me asure. Its attention is on the 
alert, and its ears are wide open. Let them be filled with the accumu- 
lated thunders of a universal condemnation of this atrocious aggression 
upon the free states. Let those thunders roll till they shake the pillars of 
the capitol and resound throughout the contin ent. Public meetings should 
be everywhere held, petitions should be everywhere circulated. Every 
hand should be raised, and every tongue sho uld be loosened against this 
crowning infamy. Let the united voices of th e millions of the free 
states rise and swell like the increasing roar of the nearing cataract, un- 
til they shall drown every caitiff note of appro val of this monster fraud, 
and till every ear in Washington shall feel as though it were pierced by 
the sound of an archangel's trumpet. 

In April he gave this warning : 

Be assured, be assured, gentlemen disturbers of settled questions, 
gentlemen violators of sacred compacts, gentlemen robbers of the do- 
main of freedom, that you are provoking a storm of popular excitement 
of which you little dream. You are sowing the wind and you will reap 
the whirlwind. All will be quiet when your few lines shall have gone 
upon the statute book ? All will be peace and acquiescence as in 1850 ? 



J-AMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 249 

Oh ! but you are verdant. Douglas tells you this, doesn't he ? Pierce 
thinks it is so, doesn't he ? That consistent statesman, Caleb Gushing, 
assures you the bill will " crush out" the spirit of freedom, doesn't he ? 
Well, gentlemen, they are first-rate authorities, and you had better be- 
lieve them. But we tell you no ! The supposition is a gross delusion. 
. . . We have here intimated nothing beyond the opening of the 
great drama, that the repeal of the Missouri compromise will bring upon 
the stage. These are but suggestions of the first and most superficial 
acts it will introduce. Far graver consequences lie behind. It inaugu- 
rates the era of a geographical division of political parties. It draws 
the line between North and South. It pits face to face the two opposing 
forces of slavery and freedom in the national legislature, and gives birth 
to the most embittered sectional strife the country has ever yet seen. 

After a long struggle and parliamentary contests several times 
protracted through the night, Mr. Pike thus announced the event 
to the readers of the " Tribune " : 

The revolution is accomplished, and slavery is king ! How long 
shall this monarch reign ? This is now the question for the Northern 
people to answer. Their representatives have crowned the new poten- 
tate, and the people alone can depose him. If we were a few steps fur- 
ther advanced in the drama of reaction now going forward upon the 
great theater of public affairs upon this continent, he could only be 
hurled from his seat through a bloody contest. Happily we are not yet 
brought to that pass, and votes will serve instead of bayonets. It is for 
the people now to say whether they will submit to the new dynasty, or 
rebel and recover what has been perfidiously betrayed by their repre- 
sentatives into the hands of the enemy. It is for them to say whether 
they will be free men still, or the serfs of a slave-holding aristocracy 
to say whether the masters of the black race in the South shall be the 
masters of the white race in the North. 

Strangely enough at the very crisis when the patriotic heart of 
the country ought to have been electrified by such appeals and 
many other earnest men were giving them utterance it was oc- 
cupied with one of the most puerile and absurd agitations set on 
foot by obscure adventurers, and propagated through secret 
lodges with pass- words, signs and badges, that ever got control 
of an intelligent people. The animus of the whole movement 
was antipathy to foreign immigrants, and a new anti-popery 
furor, such as has periodically seized the English people during 
the last three centuries. When our clear-sighted statesmen re- 
turned from Washington to inform their constituents that the 
Southern oligarchy had procured the aid of the dominant party 



250 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

and of the administration to repeal the Missouri compromise, and 
spread slavery into all the free territories, they had to listen to 
some cock-and-bull story about the insidious plots of the pope 
and his cardinals. When they were assured that their watch- 
word must now be " Free Soil for Free Men," they shouted in 
response " America for the Americans ! " " Put none but Amer- 
icans on guard ! " It was the children of Israel over again re- 
ceiving Moses descending from Mount Sinai, glowing with the 
lightnings of heaven, with feastings and dancing around the 
golden calf. 

This curious excitement was however symptomatic of the 
changing epoch, of the complete disintegration of the old parties 
and the crystallization of new ones, While it lasted it had the 
force of a cyclone. It broke down the prestige of the Demo- 
cratic party in Maine, and in all the North; it bore a Know- 
Nothing governor, council and legislature into the old Boston 
State House. But it culminated the first year ; it was visibly dead 
the second year, and to have been a member of a Know-Nothing 
lodge was a reproach and political impediment ever afterward. 

The intervention of " Americanism " was a preparation for the 
formation of the Republican party, of which the Free- S oilers 
were the nucleus, and the antislavery Democrats with the mass 
of the Northern Whigs were the working body. Mr. Pike gave 
early if not the first advice to meet the combination of Southern 
Democrats and Southern Whigs by a counter combination. In 
his " Tribune " leader of January 26, 1854, from which I have al- 
ready quoted, he said : 

There has been no time during the last seven years when the Whig 
and Free-Soil parties have not been in a clear majority in nearly all 
the Northern states. The presidential election of 1848, and the con- 
gressional elections of 1850, furnish the only grounds of any just judg- 
ment as to the real strength of the antislavery sentiment in the country; 
and these elections justify the statement that in every free state that 
sentiment, whenever it could be fairly reached, would prove to be pre- 
dominant. 

Assuming this to be so, the only question to be answered is, whether 
that sentiment can be aroused and consolidated, and brought to bear in 
solid phalanx against the atrocious proposition in question. The fools 
in Washington believe it cannot. We believe it can. And we believe 
further, that this is by no means the whole strength of the North that 
brought into the field against this infamous project. We shall 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 251 

have the whole conservative force of the free states of all parties against 
it. We shall have all the men who do not believe in repudiating solemn 
engagements on the side of earnest opposition. Fair dealing and 
honest purposes will everywhere frown upon such faithlessness and 
fraud. Sober minded men who have leaned to the side of the South in 
the late contests, on the ground that the abolitionists were the aggres- 
sors, will turn and resist this movement as a gross outrage and aggres- 
sion on the part of the South. 

The whole conservative force of the free states was not suffi- 
cient to carry the election of 1856 against the slave power, which 
through the four years of Mr. Buchanan's administration steadily 
obstructed the freedom of Kansas, and endeavored by a decision 
of the supreme court to nationalize slavery, and make it a recog- 
nized basis of the republic, so that whatever unfriendly local leg- 
islation might do in any state, the national aegis should every- 
where cover the audacious claim of the planter to be the owner 
of his fellow-man. In 1860, however, this new political combi- 
nation seized the advantage thrown in its way by the conspir- 
acy, already plotting secession and disunion, and elected Mr. 
Lincoln president, with a house of representatives to support his 
administration. The withdrawal of Southern senators left the 
national legislature for nearly twenty years in the control of 
the Northern states, and the war, emancipation, conquest and re- 
construction followed in rapid succession. 

In the distribution of the important offices under the new ad- 
ministration, Mr. Pike was tendered and accepted the important 
position of United States minister at the Hague. There was a 
general displacement of the executive officers of the government, 
checked and delayed by no protest from any quarter ; civil service 
reform had not dawned upon the reformatory mind. The Dem- 
ocrats submitted to the turning out with great good nature as a 
part of the game they had played and lost, and would have 
laughed at any scruples on the part of their opponents, as if one 
should jump in checkers and not take up his man. Even under 
the strictest civil- service-reform regime, the greatest portion of 
the old Democratic office-holders would have been removable, as 
" offensive partisans " ; for they had not only served their party 
by electioneering and caucus manipulating, but what was far 
worse, they had systematically corrupted and debauched the pub- 
lic mind by palliating and defending the criminality of human 



252 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

slavery. The only other instance in his long political life, that 
Mr. Pike attempted to appropriate to himself the emoluments and 
honors of office, was when he ran as the Whig candidate in the 
then called sixth district of Maine, always strongly Democratic, 
against the sitting member, T. J. D. Fuller, and came within less 
than a hundred votes of an election. 

The diplomatic service during the civil war was a service of 
great importance and responsibility. A consternation seized the 
Federal government, when early in the struggle it became appar- 
ent that England, the old champion of emancipation, and France, 
our old ally in the revolutionary war, and all the great powers 
with the exception of Russia, were against us. The blockade of 
Southern ports, which the president had proclaimed, was a se- 
rious hindrance to neutral commerce, and Great Britain, especially 
interested in her cotton supply, was strongly disposed to ques- 
tion our right to impose it. After our rights as belligerents were 
conceded, the legality of the blockade followed, and we were not 
interfered with in maintaining it, except by lawless persons at 
their own risk. Without its strict enforcement it is plain to see 
the rebellion would have triumphed. Beside this, foreign sym- 
pathy with the confederates, prompted acts of aid by supply of 
arms and ships, and by allowing our captured merchantmen to be 
taken into neutral ports. When done by private persons unlaw- 
fully, we could not complain, but when permitted and encouraged 
by governments with which we were at peace, we could and did 
complain, and ultimately demanded and obtained indemnity. 

In all the protests and complaints of unfriendly acts, in all the 
representations of the strictly defensive and constitutional char- 
acter of our warfare upon our former fellow-citizens, Mr. Pike 
joined with our able ministers at other foreign courts, and though 
Louis Napoleon only waited the assent of England to form an 
offensive and defensive alliance with the South, and England 
herself was on the very eve of declaring war for the seizure of 
Mason and Slidell, through their good management and the wise 
caution of Mr. Seward, foreign complications were disentangled, 
and we were left to handle our big and bloody job by ourselves. 
Mr. Pike's own beneficent agency is shown in the fact that the 
government of Holland, to which he was accredited, was the first 
government to take the position with regard to belligerent rights 
that the United States desired. 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 253 

After four years' service, the employment becoming with the 
return of peace mere formality and the exchange of international 
civilities, Mr. Pike tired of it, and begged to be relieved. Upon 
the persuasion of Mr. Seward he prolonged his mission abroad to 
a term of five years in all, and returned home in June, 1866. 
Mrs. Mary Caroline Robbins, already mentioned, to whom I am 
indebted for an admirable sketch of her father's character and 
career, says : 

I do not think the foreign life was ever very congenial to him. It was 
very hard for him to be absent from home. His mind was filled with 
anxiety about the war; and the politely hostile attitude of all foreigners 
during the contest was hard to bear. 

Notwithstanding all the natural beauties he had seen abroad, 
intensely as he had enjoyed the society of cultivated and distin- 
guished men in Holland and in England, as well as in this 
country, Mr. Pike loved his own state of Maine, and he dearly 
loved the rugged banks of the St. Croix river, upon which he was 
born. In the autumn of 1866, he bought the house of General 
Brewer, in Robbinston, known as the " Mansion House," where 
he spent the remainder of his days, amusing himself by improving 
and embellishing the grounds, clearing paths to the wooded 
bluffs, planting forest trees, and in amateur farming, in which he 
took great pleasure. The house, to which he added a piazza, 
commands a magnificient view of the bay of St. Andrews and of 
the spires of that city just seen above a jutting point of the New 
Brunswick shore. Mr. Pike usually kept a yacht for the use of 
his family and friends, and his wife soon learned to be a skillful 
and fearless manager of the graceful but treacherous birch canoe. 
Good sense and good taste and practical economy characterized 
all Mr. Pike's expenditures. He did not undertake to make an 
Italian villa or a seaside Queen Ann cottage of the capacious old 
tavern house which he had bought. He renovated and furnished 
its ample rooms and wide halls in a style entirely in keeping with 
the original structure. Here he stored his books and papers, and 
here he pursued, when he was in the mood for it, his literary and 
historical studies. Earlier than the summer birds he came every 
spring to this cherished residence, and he lingered, loth to leave 
it, after the snows of winter had warned him to migrate. Here 
he dispensed a liberal hospitality and kept open house for his 



254 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

friends, and the friends and relatives of his wife. He knew how 
to entertain, giving his guests what was more choice than his 
generous table, his own society, and the pleasant reminiscences of 
his political and literary life. 

Probably no years of Mr. Pike's life were more rationally and 
contentedly passed than those which intervened between the close 
of his public service abroad, and his death. The period of crisis 
in the country's history, whose development he had watched from 
his youth with patriotic solicitude, had passed. It had been a 
time of intense strain upon the vitality of hosts of men in the 
field and in the counsels of the nation. Fortunate were the men 
who had lived through it, and could watch the slow recuperation 
of the country after revolution and civil war. Mr. Pike never 
hesitated about the utility and necessity of those radical measures 
of reconstruction, which our new fathers of the republic applied 
to relieve the peril into which rebellion had plunged us ; but like 
Seward, Chase, Andrew, Garrison, all the great antislavery lead- 
ers, he wished to be magnanimous in the great victory. Having 
beaten the slaveholders in arms, stripped them bare of their pre- 
carious wealth, their haughty pride, their unjust pretensions, he 
wished to conciliate their good- will and gain their own acquies- 
cence in this beneficent defeat. He scorned the idea of keeping 
up irritating insults over a fallen foe, and playing out of time the 
note of sectional discord, to perpetuate the ascendency of a merely 
polemic faction. One of the tasks which he undertook and per- 
formed with characteristic thoroughness, was to devote one of 
the winter vacations of his retirement to studying the perform- 
ance of the ex-slave as a legislator and a judge. He visited 
South Carolina, and in a series of masterly article's, printed in the 
< c Tribune " and afterward published as a pamphlet entitled " A 
Prostrate State," he sketched with terrible realism a picture of 
the emancipated negro, ignorant alike of language and cleanli- 
ness, lounging over the damask upholstery of the state house, or 
shuffling listlessly to his meals in the interlude of legislative con- 
fiscation and plunder of his late master. The reader could not 
have told which was uppermost in the judicial mind of the vivid 
writer, contempt for the poor field-hand, attempting to play the 
roll of law-maker, commiseration for his outlawed master, or a 
grim humor that enjoyed the poetic justice of this reversal of 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 255 

conditions. Every magnanimous Northern man could make his 
own reflections, and it cannot be doubted that the exhibition of 
Mr. Pike's picture did much to check the dominant party in a 
course of policy that was becoming fatal to the prosperity of both 
races, and to the real pacification of the South. 

The carpet-bag legislature of South Carolina was the last af- 
front a humane people could be brought to put upon a conquered 
foe that had made to them an unreserved submission ; and under 
a juster policy Mr. Pike reverted to more personal studies. These 
were in the direction of historical investigation. He went to 
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and patiently explored 
town and court records, and family annals and personal traditions, 
the result of which was the discovery among his own ancestry of 
a unique character, endowed with some of the mental traits and 
sagacious previsions that formed the basis of his own mind, and 
who, nearly two centuries ago, exemplified and maintained and 
suffered for the enlightened ideas of modern liberalism against an 
overwhelming tyranny of dogma that denied toleration to worship 
God, and maintained by capital punishment, coolly inflicted by 
legal tribunals with the sanction of the wise clergy and the pub- 
lic opinion of the time, the active agency of the devil in the ec- 
centricities and the very convictions of good men and women. 
The permanent form which this literary labor took was a pub- 
lished volume called the " New Puritan," to which I have already 
made reference. 

Soon after this publication in 1879, a larger work followed, 
called " First Blows of the Civil War," a summary of some of Mr 
Pike's own best work in the "Tribune" and other, journals, and a 
very interesting history of how the intellectual battle that pre- 
ceded the battle of guns was conducted and lost. 

Mr. Pike died November 24, 1882, at the age of seventy-one. 
He had closed his summer house rather later than usual, prepara- 
tory to his annual Southern migration. Without any warning to 
his family, without observed premonition of fatal illness, while 
spending the night with his wife at the hotel in Calais, whence 
he had expected to commence his Southern journey on the next 
day, he was seized with a sudden illness, of which, after a brief 
suffering, he expired. 

He was twice married, first to Charlotte, daughter of Lemuel 



256 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

Putnam Grosvenor, of Pomf ret, Connecticut, a lady of great love- 
liness of character, by whom he had but one child, Mrs. Robbins, 
now of Hingham, Massachusetts, and second to Elizabeth, daughter 
of Thomas Ellicot, formerly of Baltimore, Maryland, an accom- 
plished lady, the appreciative and congenial companion of his more 
public and distinguished life, who still makes her home, during all 
but the winter season, in the house on the St. Croix, beautified and 
made attractive by their joint and accordant tastes. 

To the character and public services of Mr. Pike, Charles A. 
Dana, his associate for many years in the editorial work of the 
11 New York Tribune," pays this tribute : 

Among the many eminent men, upon whom death has recently laid his 
hand, none was more eminent or more admirable than the one who has 
now fallen. His age we do not know, but suppose it to have been about 
sixty-five. [Mr. Pike seemed to his intimate associates younger than he 
was.] For more than thirty years we have known him so intimately 
that we can testify to the worth, dignity and power of his character. He 
had a spontaneous admiration for all that was noble and generous, and a 
spontaneous contempt for all that was base and mean. 

He was bred to commerce, and never enjoyed the advantage of a stu- 
dious education; but his original talents, clear intuitions, virile and un- 
sparing judgment, and picturesque and witty expression made him one 
of the most impressive and valuable public writers of the day. He was a 
regular contributor to the " Tribune" during the period of its greatest 
success, and since 1870 has written a great deal for the "Sun," both anon- 
ymously and with his own signature. 

The independence of Mr. Pike's nature was such that he shunned 
rather than sought the distinction of public office. The only official 
post he ever occupied was that of minister to the Hague, to which he was 
appointed by President Lincoln, and in which he rendered valuable ser- 
vices during the continuance of the civil war. Since then he has lived in 
that part of the State of Maine, where his active career was mainly 
passed, his residence being at Robbinston, at the head of Passama- 
quoddy bay. The fertility of his mind was inspired by the ardor, sin- 
cerity and boldness of a heart whose warmth was never quenched. His 
friendships were cordial and lasting. Those who knew him best had 
loved him most truly. 

He was a man, take him for all in all, 
We shall not look upon his like again. 

Mr. Whitelaw Reid, while editing a Cincinnati journal, gave 
this testimony of the importance of Mr. Pike's newspaper work : 

Mr. Pike's letters between 1850 and 1860 exerted a marked influence 
upon public opinion, They were eagerly read, extensively quoted, and 



JAMES SHEPHEKD PIKE. 257 

threw not a little light on the secrets of legislation and the coming po- 
litical action which prepared the way for the civil war. While acting as 
Washington correspondent, Mr. Pike was often behind the scenes, and 
was able to bring to the front important facts, which but for his vigilance 
and insight would have failed to see the light at the opportune moment. 
His comments on passing events were always sagacious, often profound, 
never superficial, and sometimes showing a far-reaching breadth of views, 
and a singular clearness of foresight and prediction. 

In a notice simultaneous with his death, his brother, Hon. F. 
A. Pike, aptly says : 

Thoroughly conversant with public affairs and writing more or less 
about them for publication, he has been averse for many years to ming- 
ling actively in business or politics. He was peculiarly self -sustained, 
and lived, his life in his own way, quite independent, so far as it is pos- 
sible to be, of other people. Genial and happy in his mode of living, he 
was quite too busy with his own thoughts and his own employments to 
pay regard to what is called public opinion. The old inscription over the 
door of the independent man could have been written over his study, as 
truthfully descriptive of his inmost feeling: " They say. What say they! 
Let them say." 

A well rounded life, subject to few disappointments and symmetrical 
to the end, with everything about him to enjoy, having accomplished his 
threescore years and ten without sickness, he ends his life in full vigor 
of mind and body. Such sudden deaths are terrible shocks to us who 
survive, but to those who go, they make an easy transit to the other 
world. 

Mr. Pike's estimable daughter, Mrs. Robbins of Hingham, to 
whom I have before alluded, touches her father's public labors 
and personal character with more delicate and tender appreci- 
ation. I cannot more fitly close this sketch than by reproducing 
her graphic deliniations : 

My father's political letters speedily attracted the attention of public 
men; and he became acquainted during his stay in Washington, with 
almost all the leading men with whom he was in political sympathy. 
With some of these he formed abiding friendships. Truman Smith of 
Connecticut, William Pitt Fessenden, John Davis of Massachusetts, 
Chief Justice Chase, Secretaries Corwin and Seward, and others, among 
whom was the able and eccentric Count Gurowski, held him in high es- 
teem. "I never meet your father," said Mr. Fessenden, once to me, 
"without getting something from him I like to hear Pike's views." 
Both Mr. Greeley and Mr. Dana recognized early the rare qualities of his 
understanding, and enjoyed his fearless expression of opinion. To me 
the most remarkable quality of my father's mind was his independent 
17 



258 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

spirit. He is the only man I ever knew sincerely indifferent to the 
world's opinion. Absolutely self-reliant, confiding wholly in his own 
shrewd judgment which justified his faith in it honest in acts as in 
conviction, fearing no man, scorning favor, he went straight forward, 
doing what seemed to him right, undeterred in little things, by Philis- 
tine disapproval or, in political matters, by the unpopularity of his views* 
This he showed when he dared to criticise Mr. Webster's position on the 
fugitive'slave bill in such terms that the publishers of the " Boston Atlas " 
declined the letters, with the sentiments of which, however, Mr. 
Schouler, the editor, as shown in their correspondence, was in entire 
accord. 

My father was first a Whig always an out-and-out Free-Soiler and 
joined the- Republican party at its very beginning. Mr. Fessenden has 
told me that on one occasion, in a convention, my father was warned to 
avoid agitation, and replied: "But I will agitate"; and the answer, 
Mr. Fessenden said, indicated his characteristic attitude. 

He saw clearly the consequences to which many were blind. He was 
called a disunionist, because for ten years before the war, he denounced 
the tendencies of the South in the direction of disunion. 

My father enjoyed London particularly, and I have heard him say that 
were he condemned to exile from his own country, it was in London he 
would make his home. He explored it thoroughly and en joy edit keenly. 
His diplomatic work gave him entrance to many pleasant houses, among 
them that of Lord Palmerston, in which he had opportunity to meet 
many distinguished men. He once visited Carlyle in his own house in 
Cheyne Row, and described him with characteristic picturesqueness. It 
had not been my father's purpose to call upon the sage of Chelsea, but 
one night while attending one of Charles Dickens' dramatic readings, he 
was attracted by the appearance of an old man, of striking aspect, who 
sat on the front benches, listening apparently with gleeful absorption, 
and fairly leading the applause, by slapping his knees with his old felt 
hat, and laughing loudly at every telling point. Dickens was evidently 
reading to him. My father had not then seen Carlyle, but putting one 
thing and another together, he hazarded the conjecture that the amused 
old man could be no other than he. He was so pleased with this touch 
of humanity, that he concluded to go and see the great man, and writing 
a note explaining what had encouraged him to ask permission to visit 
him, Mr. Carlyle promptly invited him to tea. Returning afterward to 
London, my father renewed his visits to the famous house, and listened 
to the wonderful talk, which, according to his report, sounded exactly 
like the printed pages of the great scholar and writer. 

The late Queen of Holland, a woman of unusual powers of mind, 
seemed to enjoy my father's conversation, and sometimes sent for him 
to take tea with her at the palace. He found her very frank and her 
disclosures and comments upon the character and conduct of royal per- 
sonages among them Queen Victoria and the Emperors Nicholas and 
Napoleon III not a little amusing. He traveled extensively in Holland, 



JAMES SHEPHERD PIKE. 259 

investigating its dykes and polders, its agricultural operations and model 
farms. He always took a great interest in farming everywhere, and 
made careful observation of the methods of different countries and 
districts. 

While in London he often visited the houses of parliament, and 
thought much closer attention was paid to the conduct of business by 
the commons than by the American representatives in congress. The 
time was favorable to listen to the great debates, D' Israeli being the 
leader of the opposition, supported by Mr. Lowe, while John Bright and 
Richard Cobdeii were prominent among the Liberals. His letters of that 
period, not now in my possession, I remember well as of uncommon 
interest, descriptive, as they are, of the visits to Lord Brougham at his 
house, and to the late Duke of Argyle, one of the few friends of Amer- 
ica among the English nobility during our civil war. 

In his domestic life my father was most genial. His conversation was 
full of interest, and a dry and original humor made his comments on 
persons and things highly entertaining. In what he said there was 
always the piquancy of unexpectedness, and commonplaces never inter- 
ested him. He told a story well, and the local, homely anecdotes, of 
which he had a store, had good point and obvious application. His per- 
ceptions were very quick, and his insight rapid and correct. He hated 
nothing so much as a bore, and it must be said he was a person whom 
it was not hard to bore. To younger people he was kind, even affection- 
ate, and always happy when providing for their pleasure. Nothing 
pleased him more than to surround himself with lively girls, with whom 
he was always a favorite. 

To the poor he was largely generous, though his benevolence was quiet 
and unconventional. He declined to join in public charities, but his 
neighbors, who were in need, used to receive annally at his hands barrels 
of flour and a supply of warm clothing for winter. He had many friends 
among the Passamaquoddy Indians, who knew they could come to him 
for gifts of money to supply a want, or help in the execution of some 
little project. He had for a neighbor an Irishman, old, and lame, whom 
he kept supplied with donkeys to draw his little cart, and so enabled him 
to eke out a meager living. Many of his charities were so unobtrusive, 
that his own family only learned of them from the recipients. 

He was a man of strong and sometimes unreasonable prejudices, though 
his judgments were mainly accurate and moderate. No show deceived 
him, and no fine words could hide from him a false heart. He was a 
firm believer in transmitted qualities of race, and had a habit of tracing 
the character of the younger generations to their ancestors whom he had 
known. His own traits were unique, and difficult to describe, nor would 
it be easy to determine to what combination of ancestral qualities to 
' attribute them. Ambition failed to torment him. He had no thirst for 
wealth. He sought no worldly distinction. Indifferent to blame or 
praise he calmly pursued his way. Shrewd in business, as in his other ca- 



260 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

pacities, having early secured a moderate competence, he worked only 
at his own good pleasure, and when he loved the thing to be done. 
Steady employment, hack labor was irksome to him. He always seemed 
satisfied with his fortune, and exempt from uneasy desires for something 
he had not. After the age of forty-five at the very period when the 
passion of thrift seizes the general mind he seemed to stand aloof from 
the rushing current of American life, and to have learned to rest. He 
never impressed one as having put forth his whole strength, and his re- 
serve of physical and mental force remained unexhausted to the last. If 
in his day he did not accomplish more, it seemed rather from lack of 
desire than of power. He was one of the few men who can live their 
lives according to their wish and plan, and he attained the best gift of 
life in attaining content. His death, sudden, almost painless, seemed of 
all others best fit to round his days. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 261 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 

RICHARD HAMMOND, HIS HOME AND DEATH. 
Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May 28, 1885. 

BY REV. HENRY O. THAYER. 

ACCURATE history is gained by toilsome work. Often the prize 
is long delayed. Especially does local history require minute and 
exacting research. In the historic field much can never be 
gleaned ; some that is gleaned will never be soundly threshed, 
that the grain may appear ; but always the chaff and the wheat 
must have patient and laborious siftings. 

Dimness and uncertainty overspread many historic fields. 
Upon many points the light will never shine in. Upon others, 
after delay, the parted clouds let down the sunshine. Positive 
results are peculiarly grateful. 

A point of our Kennebec history, hitherto befogged in uncer- 
tainty or adjudged to hopeless dispute, demands a re-examination. 
Past discussions have not to every one yielded satisfactory re- 
sults. A new theory, disruptive of old foundations, has met with 
stubborn incredulity. Old opinions, driven deep by frequent 
iteration, held or strengthened under the shadows of honored his- 
torical names, are not easily uprooted. 

It became the privilege of the writer several years since 1 to 
put forth and support a new theory upon this drifting and unde- 
termined problem. Evidence previously unknown was presented. 
Some accepted the proof as amply sufficient ; others, held by the 
grip and fascination of old tradition, doubted. 

A final solution of the problem is now attempted. In enlarg- 
ing the former proofs a restatement of the case and the evidence 
is necessary. The line of evidence invites the most exacting 
scrutiny, the most crucial tests, and an impartial judgment. 

The question re-opened for examination, is simply, The 
Location of the Establishment of Richard Hammond. 

Sentinel, Bath, 1877, Nov. 8 ; and 1878, Aug. 22. 



262 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Of this man, little is known, save that he was early engaged in 
the fur trade on the Kennebec, and fell a victim to savage rancor 
in the first Indian war. 

(1) IMPORTANCE OF THE PROBLEM. 

This tragedy at Hammond's bore relations to current events 
which have given it a noticeable prominence in local and general 
history. A large portion of the writers who have sketched the 
early history of Maine have included it. This emphatic recog- 
nition it has gained by reason of connection with King Philip's 
war. It was for the territory of the Kennebec, the first blood- 
shed of that vengeful crusade. 

In 1675, savage hostilities swept through the New England 
settlements ; " a war, on the part of the Indians, of ambuscades 
and surprises." 1 Deerfield, Hadley, Groton, are suggestive 
names, even now recalling fiend-like atrocities. The Piscataqua, 
the Saco, the Presumpscot, witnessed the stealthy attack, and the 
revolting deeds of pitiless foes. 

But eastward of Falmouth no lives were sacrificed. The rifling 
of Mr. Purchase's house by New Meadows river, the threats and 
insolence of the Indians, disclosed their hostile temper. Great 
alarm was felt on the Kennebec. Settlers and traders were 
anxious, watchful; but conciliatory measures prevailed. Friendly 
relations were ratified at Arrowsic, in native style and by a dance, 
by the old sachem Robinhood. 

But in the next year the repressed storm of war burst upon the 
eastern settlements. It swept pitilessly over Casco neck and 
vicinity. This was August 11, 1676. At least thirty-four per- 
sons suffered death or captivity. Two days later, upon the 
Kennebec, by other parties, the vindictive work of bloodshed 
and rapine was begun. Here the first blow struck was at 
the house of Richard Hammond. It was the signal and the 
example for the eastern natives to exact full payment for alleged 
wrongs. From this murderous affray, they fiercely pushed on, 
and in a brief period had swept all clean from Casco bay to the 
Penobscot. This sacking of Hammond's trading post was the 
initial blow in the eastern parts, of the desolating scourge of 
1676. It therefore may have befitting distinction. Any new 
facts, now obtainable, may demand attention. Nor are we be- 

iBancroft'a History, U. S. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 263 

stowing time and labor on a mere historical straw in seeking to 
determine the very spot. And further, that the locality is a dis- 
puted one, is singularly assigned to so many points, makes a valid 
claim that the true contestant for the honor if such it be 
should be ascertained if possible. 

It is a unique circumstance that an event of history should get 
lodgment by the voice of tradition in three different places. It is 
still more surprising that a fourth location should come forward 
as competitor of the others, and found its claim not on popular 
traditions, of which it has not a shadow, but on historical and 
documentary proof. By some enigmatical movements, Ham- 
mond's fort, as a waif on the drift of the tide, has been cast up at 
four points on the banks of the Kennebec waters. These are : 

1 At Stinson's point, once so called, which without question 
is at Potter's mills, on the west side of Arrowsic island. 

2 At Spring cove, on the northeast shore of Arrowsic, just 
below the Hell-gate passage. 

3 At the ancient Teconnet in Winslow, at the confluence of 
the Sebasticook with the Kennebec. 

4 Contesting the former traditionary locations, in Woolwich, 
at the head of Long Reach, in the Kennebec. 

Our problem deals with this estray, which in our sympathy for 
a wanderer, we would lead to its true and only home. 

(2) THE VOICE OF HISTORY. 

Written history has preserved certain facts, meager indeed ; 
has also put on record popular traditions, after they have floated, 
often re-shaped meanwhile, along the course of several generations. 

The original story, which for the facts of the case, is alone 
worthy of credence, is found in " Hubbard's Indian Wars." This 
work was published the year following the war. He wrote when 
the incidents detailed were fresh, and from information furnished, 
as he says, "by those intimately acquainted therewith." 

His account briefly stated is this : Indians visit Hammond's 
one evening ; a girl, daughter or servant, suspicious and alarmed, 
slips outside ; she is calmed and brought back by the wily savages ; 
others arrive, more suspicious conduct ; the girl, further terrified, 
escapes and hides in a field of corn ; hears a noise, scuffling and 
outcries ; then flees to Sheepscot river. Later reports show that 



264 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Hammond and two others were killed and the rest made captives. 
Hubbard further details how the savages next made themselves 
masters of Clarke and Lake's garrison, which we well know, and 
which he definitely shows, was located on Arrowsic island. But he 
indicates scarcely in the least the geography of the region. He 
refers to Hammond, simply as an " ancient inhabitant and trader 
with the Indians up the Kennebec." 

Yet he employs a few phrases which hint at the localities. He 
tells that after the sacking at Hammond's, and before the next 
attack, the Indians had " in the night passed over on the island 
called Arrowsic ; " also " passed down the river." Hence Ham- 
mond was located northward or up river from the other. This 
language has also plain implications that the savages were not on 
Arrowsic in their first mischief, but went down river and passed 
on to the island before daybreak, when they seized the second 
fort. Hubbard likewise writes that the fugitive girl from the 
cornfield " ran over the land that night to give notice " to them 
at Sheepscot river. No crossing of such waters as intervene in 
the journey from Arrowsic to Sheepscot; no finding a canoe 
providentially ; but simply a flight by land. These statements 
show Hubard's idea of these adjacent locations. 

It can be objected that he misapprehended them, though his 
informant knew them well. If so, a better informed witness ap- 
pears. Francis Card, made captive as the Indians retired up 
river from Hammond's, escaped and carried intelligence to 
Boston. His statement can now be seen in the Massachusetts 
archives. Card relates that while some came and took him and 
family, " the rest of their company went to Arrowsic, and there 
took the garrison." A resident, near and familiar with the places, 
he says, " went to Arrowsic." Common or ignorant people 
would make no mistake in using that expression. It can mean 
nothing else than that the Indians were not on the island in the 
first instance, but went thither. The ordinary meaning of words 
cannot be evaded. Therefore this historian's incidental references 
and the direct testimony of the captive Card, give evidence 
against the Arrowsic location. 

Governor Hutchinson's " History of Massachusetts Bay," sup- 
ports the above conclusion, 1 whatever the source of his infor- 

i Page 346. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 265 

mation, in a brief sentence, " They surprised the house of Mr. 
Hammond, an ancient trader at Kennebec, and from thence 
crossed over to Arrowsic island." He understood that the first 
murderous assault was not on the island. 

Such is the evidence of early writers, one contemporary with 
the event, and writing immediately after. I must believe, if no 
other evidence or statements were in existence, the universal 
conclusion would be that the massacre at Hammond's occurred 
elsewhere than on the Arrowsic. 

Nearly a century and a quarter after the war, appeared Gov- 
ernor Sullivan's " History of the District of Maine." In this and a 
historical sketch elsewhere, the affair at Hammond's is repeated 
with enlargements. His statements have all the indications of be- 
ing the gathering of traditions. On one page of his history, he 
writes that the descent was made upon Hammond's one Sunday 
morning when the people were at their devotion. 1 Directly over 
against it on the other page, he quotes Hubbard's statements, and 
among them that the attack occurred in the evening; but he 
neither certifies his own, nor challenges the other, and seems 
to be unconscious of the contradiction. However, he is explicit 
in regard to the location, " at Stinson's point, on Arrowsic 
island," 2 " on the east bank of the river and on the west side of 
the island." 8 There can be no question about his meaning. In- 
deed, when General Joseph Sewall sketched the history of Bath, 4 
and of course introduced this noted opening of Philip's war, he 
undoubtedly followed Sullivan, and interpreted him by giving the 
local name then in use, Potter's mills, as Sullivan had employed 
the name common in his day, Stinson's point. The Stinson emi- 
grants located at this place, and possessed these lands many 
years. This designation cannot be consistently applied on the 
west side of the island elsewhere. 

The authority of Judge Sullivan, based on alleged good oppor- 
tunities, has been largely conceded in this matter. The existence 
in his day of an account, definite as to circumstances and locality, 
which he wrote out, has led many to feel there must have been 
fact behind the story, and therefore his version has had large 
acceptance. With regrets that it is true and that it need to be 

1 Page 172. 

* Mass. Hist. Coll., series i, vol. i, p. 251. Dist. Maine, page 173. 

* Me. Hist. Col., vol. ii, p. 192. 



266 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

adduced it must be affirmed, our historian did make so many mis- 
takes in the history of "Old Georgetown," that his reliability 
and authority has been seriously weakened. 

For further citations, a step forward is taken, to the widely 
known work of R. K. Sewall, Esq., " The Ancient Dominions." 
Here comes into view a new location of Hammond's fort, at 
Spring cove, on northeastern Arrowsic. The author chal- 
lenges neither Judge Sullivan nor General Sewall. He simply 
affirms the location, and has stoutly maintained it to the present, 
as a tradition delivered to him. 1 

Recently a third contestant has come to the front. A local 
writer 2 assigns a new site for the trading post of Hammond, the 
ancient " Teconnet," in Winslow. Here it is said Hammond 
had his house, here trafficked, and here met his death. 

These three places and claims stand side by side in respect to 
source and authority. It can be confidently asserted that they 
are wholly drawn from traditions which have floated down the 
generations. This is quite certain for the first, and is admitted 
for the other two. In our ignorance of the channels, we might 
regard the one given by Sullivan as the most valuable, because in 
appearance the oldest. The two Arrowsic locations may be di- 
verging branches from a common trunk. But here are three 
candidates for our suffrages ; three opinions from which to se- 
lect and adopt one ; three localities for one historic event. To 
support them, there is evidently not a scrap of documentary evi- 
dence. I believe I make no unwarranted statement. Each rests 
wholly on the old story, which the father told his son, the ancient 
settler gave to his successor. 

Probably the claim for the site at Potter's mills has rather 
fallen into the background ; that at Spring cove is gaining more of 
the popular attention and acceptance, because frequently brought 
to "the public notice.. The Teconnet site is but little known. Yet, 
emphatically, error must have crept in somewhere, to locate an 
ancient trading post at three diverse points. 

But confusion and perplexity may well increase when a fourth 
location is added. Maine's second historian, the careful and 
thorough Williamson, mentions Hammond's fort four times. But 

1 Page 159. 

2 Am. Antiquarian, April, 1883. 



THE PEOBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 267 

for once he trips. He refers it first to Spring cove on Arrowsic. 1 
This is, however, merely an incidental reference for which his 
overburdened notebook is responsible, as some of his corres- 
pondents doubtless sent him the story. But when he narrates the 
affair fully, after examining, as we must suppose, all the then ex- 
isting details, he assigns it to Woolwich. He locates the un- 
known " Stinson's point," in that town. 2 The name of the town, 
put in brackets, indicates his own opinion, not a basis of reported 
fact. No such "point " has ever been recognized in Woolwich. 
My belief is that Williamson saw the bearing of Hubbard's state- 
ments ; saw that the expressions, " went to Arrowsic," <c passed over 
on to'the island," absolutely demanded the location of this fort on 
lands adjacent to, but not on, Arrowsic. Finding no proof to 
the contrary, but Sullivan's dictum, he overruled that writer's 
designation, assigned the event to Woolwich, and transported the 
name of the point also to that adjacent town. This accurate his- 
torian's location, therefore, is simply a conclusion from the gen- 
eral tenor of the early narrations. 

All subsequent writers may be summarily dismissed. They 
have only re'told the story ; have brought out no new facts, nor 
aided at all to locate the tragedy. 

Such conflict of historical authority is diverting, as well as con- 
fusing. A traveler finding at the four corners the guide-post, 
and seeing that each of the four finger-boards tells him that the 
town he seeks lies in that particular direction, would be in a pit- 
iable perplexity. We would like to find Hammond's fort. It is 
a historical necessity. It will assure our own satisfaction and 
save our children from wrangling. But thus far there is only 
obscurity or confusion. 

Some gain might accrue by weighing probabilities. Whose 
historical authority is the best ? Who most likely to get at the 
facts? Which location will best agree with the incidents re- 
ported ? Is it Arrowsic, east or west ? is it Winslow or Wool- 
wich ? Such discussion, however, would yield no decisive results, 
but might strengthen some one of the theories. Thus written 
history, and all information known to exist till recently, gives to 
this problem no solution, final and satisfactory. An important 

i Hist, of Me., vol. i, pp. 53, 331. 
* Hist, of Me., pp. 525, 535. 



268 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

historical event is, in this truth-loving age, dragged into a hopeless 
muddle of authorities. 

Without according undue importance to this matter, giving it 
only the place it may properly claim among the initial strokes of the 
first Indian war, it is with some reasonable gratification that I 
find myself able to present new evidence. A clew, which chanced 
to fall into my hands, has been followed intently. It has led me 
to treasures of facts hitherto unknown and unsuspected. Of 
what value to this confused problem, a candid judgment will de- 
termine. This evidence is wholly from our public repositories of 
records and documents. 

(3) HAMMOND'S FAKM. 

Ordinarily a man lives where his business interests are. The 
ownership and improvement of land will in a large majority of 
cases determine a man's home. Judge Sullivan wrote that it 
could not be ascertained that Hammond ever owned any lands. 
On the contrary, documents show that he was a large landholder. 

Lawsuits are proverbially stigmatized as vexatious and un- 
profitable. Indirect benefits have, nevertheless, flowed from 
them. They have occasioned the storing up of a large amount of 
valuable materials of history, for the use of the present, as of fu- 
ture generations. But for litigation on a disputed land-title, no 
further light would ever have shone into that confusion and dark- 
ness already exhibited respecting Hammond's fort. I draw from 
records and court files such facts as are required for elucidating 
this notable case, and finding a home for this wanderer. 

In the year 1648, one James Smith purchased of the native 
sachem, Robinhood, an extensive tract of land in present Wool- 
wich, measured on the Kennebec shore from Winslow's rock 
in Long Reach, northward to the Chops. 1 About a dozen 
years of occupation had passed, when he died leaving a wife 
and young children. Previously a claimant had disputed his 
title to his farm. 2 In process of time, perhaps speedily, this 
lone widow in the wilderness found another protector and hus- 
band in this very Richard Hammond. The tragic event already 
detailed made her a second time a widow. We are told by her- 
self in a petition to Governor Andros, 3 that the establishment 

1 Drake's Book of the Indians, p. 284. 2 Lincoln Co. Deeds, vol. i, p. 19. 
Mass. Hist. Col. 33, vol. vii, p. 181. * York Co. Deeds, vol. xx : 22. 



THE PEOBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 269 

at the time of her husband's death, comprised mills, a smith's 
shop, and other buildings. Subsequently a third husband cheers 
and protects this unfortunate woman, Captain John Rowdon of 
the Sagadahoc militia. In due time both paid the debt to nature, 
whether under the savages' tomahawk or by ordinary causes of 
death, none can tell. 

Upon this large farm, the west part of Woolwich, James 
Smith lived and died. In the next century, his heirs appealed to 
the law in defense of their title. By this was disclosed Ham- 
mond's relation to the family of James Smith, and also his owner- 
ship of land. 

From the evidence presented in this suit at law, in 1737, I 
take the deposition of Sarah Elkins, the daughter of Robert 
Gutch, Bath's pioneer minister : 

I do well remember James Smith more than seventy years past, and 
that the said Smith did dwell on a very large farm situate on the east 
side of Kennebec river, running from Merry Meeting bay down the said 
river unto Back Cove road, which was generally called in former days 
and accounted to be five miles of land fronting the said river, and after 
the decease of the said James Smith, then the widow of the said Smith 
married with one Richard Hammons, and then the land was called 
Hammons land, . . . 1 

Likewise John Dale testifies and says : 

That he well remembers one Hammonds, who lived on the eastward 
side of Kennebec river, with whom this deponent served his apprentice- 
ship, which Hammonds, as he was informed, married the widow of 
James Smith, who lived on a large farm on the eastern side of Kennebec 
river and possessed it in his own right, as this deponent always under- 
stood, though after said Smith's widow married with said Mr. Ham- 
monds, it was called Hammonds' farm. 1 

He further describes the farm as extending from a creek by 
Merry Meeting hill, to another river parting the farm from Ar- 
rowsic island, thence by Nequasset river and by the falls to the 
pond, and along the pond, including a great meadow, which 
the said Hammonds improved for many years by cutting and 
making the hay. He also declares his knowledge of two persons, 
recently deceased, James and Hazadiah Smith, that they formerly 
lived with him in the same house with their mother Hammonds, 
who always acknowledged them as her sons. 

Here are decisive points; a large farm, definitely bounded; 

i York Co. Deeds, vol. xx : 22. 



270 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Smith its owner and resident on it; known first as Smith's farm, 
and then as Hammond's. But the deponent fails to say in 
exact terms that Hammond did dwell on it. That, however, is 
the plainest implication. Indeed he employed the same ex- 
expression, "on the eastward side of Kennebec river," to show 
where Hammond lived, as where Smith lived. He knew no 
name to apply to this tract, and must designate it in that way ; 
but mentioning Arrowsic as he does, a definite locality and name, 
he would' have used it, had Hammond lived on the island. In- 
deed peculiar circumstances must have obtained, if this man, 
marrying a wife possessed of a farm five miles in extent, and him- 
self owning an adjacent track at Nequasset, 1 should remove his 
new wife and children to occupy leased land on Arrowsic. Or- 
dinarily the man who marries a widow with half a dozen children 
and many thousand acres of land, finds sufficient incumbrances to 
settle him on the spot ; and Hammond could not have had any 
estate on Arrowsic, for Clarke and Lake, its owners, held 
and improved it wholly for themselves, and gave no title nor 
conveyance of a single acre. 

A large number of instances might be cited from Hubbard and 
others, where " Kennebeck," " at Kennebec," " on Kennebec 
river," seems to denote a particular place, in distinction from 
Arrowsic. The latter was a name and place definite and well 
known ; other points had no names, or none in common use. 
Therefore this indefinite designation, " on Kennebec river," was 
employed. Still these cases are not sufficiently clear and con- 
sistent always to have much weight as evidence. These depo- 
sitions and connected facts alone would locate Hammond's home 
and trading post on this large farm. 

(4) HAMMOND'S HEAD. 

A pioneer settler, such as Smith, would beyond question place 
his dwelling by the river. Smith's southern boundary was over 
against Winslow's rock. 2 We should expect to find his home 
north of that point on the east side of the river. Evidence of the 
location appears in the conveyance of the Bath tract to Gutch. 
The eastern boundary is defined, " to run upward to the water's 

1 The aboriginal name of Woolwich, or precisely that part about Nequasset pond and 
stream and bay. 
A noted ledge in the Kennebec between Bath and Woolwich perilous to navigation. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 271 

side towards James Smith's." J His house, therefore, was a dis- 
tant object observed in laying out this land. Certainly it was 
above Winslow's rock, for Gutch's land lay south of that, as 
Smith's did north. A glance now upward along the city wharf- 
line will show the pertinence of the description. Yet this distant 
landmark, visible as the language clearly implies, stood on the 
other side of the river. So these informed deponents testify. 
Quite certainly no other mark of civilization lay in that direction, 
and it was chosen though across the river. The curve made the 
opposite shore prominent. If Smith's establishment, as this ex- 
pression demands, was in view, then this trivial clause in Gutch's 
conveyance will definitely locate Smith on the northeastern shore 
of Long Reach. 

Hammond became Smith's successor in marital bonds. The 
farm then took his name. Previously, without doubt, he had lived as 
an unsettled fur trader. Now he takes upon him the care of a 
family and landed estates. Is any supposition or conclusion al- 
lowable, except on positive evidence, but that Hammond now 
entered the former family home ? Indeed an item in proof ap- 
pears. In the suit at law for the defense of this estate, the writ 
recites the title 2 : 

Now the plaintiff in fact saitli, that James Smith his grandfather, late 
of a place called Long Reach, alias, Hammond's Head by Kennebec river, 
in said county of York, yeoman, deceased, was in his lifetime seized of 
said tract of land : &c." 

This is decisive. Smith dwelt by the river, and at a place 
called Long Reach. The place moreover is denoted by the name 
" Hammond's Head," some point on the shore of Long Reach. 
The name had at some time been applied. It was a locality on 
this large farm called " Hammond's farm." It must then have 
been originated and fixed in popular use by the fact of this 
trader's residence at this place. Can any incredulous objector, if 
candid, say otherwise ? Such origin of local names is certified by 
numerous instances along this river and elsewhere. Thus, Thorn- 
ton's head, Clapp's point, Trott's neck, Preble's point, Jones' 
eddy, Lee's island, Parker's head, Cox's head, Hunnew ell's point, 
in every instance the man was located there to plant the name. 
World- wide geography asserts this universal law. Discovery in 

1 Vide Anc. Dominions, p. 134. 

2 York Co. Court Files. 



272 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

unknown latitudes, some distinguishing event, or residence, af- 
fixes a person's name. 

One Richard Hammond was known as a fur trader on the Ken- 
nebec ; he possessed by himself and by right of marriage, a large 
tract of land; he had somewhere a defensible residence or. fort. 
Now at a certain eligible site on the river-front of that farm, 
which embraced the western part of Woolwich, is found a local 
name, " Hammond's head." Every conclusion will associate the 
two, the man and this spot ; there was his home, his fort, his 
business. Only valid proof can show the contrary ; certainly a 
floating tradition, catching here and there from Arrowsic to Te- 
connet, cannot do it. A mill and a blacksmith's shop were ad- 
juncts of the establishment. Samuel Smith, the wife's son, suf- 
fered the same fate as his step-father. The family, including 
workmen and servants, numbered sixteen when the savages 
struck their treacherous blow. Thus all the family and business 
interests were represented at this fort. Certainly it could not 
have been miles away from the farm. 

I have thus stated anew the line of evidence, presented several 
years ago in support of a new theory, which to some seemed ex- 
otic and presumptuous. The theory is sustained by this array of 
circumstantial evidence, and direct proofs, cogent, agreeing, cumu- 
lative. This evidence begins in the statements of Hubbard and 
the captive Francis Card, " went to Arrowsic," " over on to the 
island," and in the flight of the frightened girl, 'f over the land," 
not by the night crossing perilous waters, greatly enhancing the 
hazardous and noteworthy exploit. It continues in the facts 
which show the ownership of land by Smith, then by his suc- 
cessor, Hammond; Smith's dwelling at Long Reach, and that 
place of his residence afterward known as Hammond's head. 
Contemporary history and the public records furnish these proofs. 
"]S"one are traditional. The force of such evidence cannot be 
evaded. The positive averment that Hammond did live and die 
at this place which bore his name is alone lacking. But every 
probability, arising in the circumstances and the facts adduced, 
compels the conclusion that at the head of Long Reach in the Ken- 
nebec, the vengeful savages struck their murderous blow, and re- 
lighted the torch of Philip's war. 

Against this conclusive evidence, there stands up nothing bu^ 



273 

tradition, unsupported now by a single circumstance, the drifting 
story of two centuries, which, misshapen, divided, dispersed, 
has been cast up by the tide at three different places. Two of 
the three must be wholly worthless. Why not the third also, 
when contested by such a rival? 

The case might be rested here, a fair-minded jury would not 
hesitate in their finding. Yet the stories which the fathers and 
mothers told are precious ; the unyielding grip of preconceptions 
is unsuspected. Some are evidently still in doubt whether this 
arrayed evidence has equal weight with unattested, antagonistic 
traditions, whose ghost-like shadows yet linger in quiet Arrowsic 
and ancient Teconnet. 

(5) FURTHER EVIDENCE. 

It is my gratification to add further proof to secure final moor- 
ings for this spectral Hammond's fort, floating hopelessly up and 
down the Kennebec. 

Escape from the conclusion to which the foregoing evidence 
leads, will by some be found in the assumption, that though this 
trader held such relations to Woolwich lands, and left his name 
affixed there, yet he did not necessarily dwell on that* farm, or 
having dwelt there for a time, he removed to some other place, 
before that perfidious assault. It is granted that either of these 
suppositions is barely possible, but candor will say in view of all 
the facts, that they are exceedingly improbable. Reasons very 
strong alone would have induced Hammond to remove his new 
family to another home ; far stronger reasons must have pre- 
vailed later, if he abandoned this extensive property and built 
and fortified elsewhere. Conditions not to be detailed here, ob- 
viously would have debarred him from Arrowsic, for its owners 
sold no portion of it. 

It may be held that the argument from meager facts locating 
the so-called Hammond's head is weak and the conclusion 
shadowy, but a witness now offers testimony. It is Captain 
Samuel Harnden, a pioneer in the second settlement. He aided 
in building, in 1721, one of the first houses in Bath. Later he 
became one of the proprietors, who bought out the Smith heirs. 
He built his garrison at the head of Long Reach, on his selected 
portion of the company's lands, and his mortal dust rests near the 
18 



274 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

spot. He was in the best condition to learn the former history of 
the settlements on the Kennebec. As one of the purchasers 
of the Smith title to Woolwich lands, he could hardly have failed 
of acquaintance with those heirs, and the 'surviving sons of James 
Smith, one of whom lived fifteen years after Harnden came to 
Maine, and almost to the date of the lawsuit before mentioned. 
Men born on this farm, and others contemporary with Hammond, 
could have given him information. His sources of information 
were therefore direct and positive. 

In 1767, he conveyed a portion of his large farm to Jabez 
Bradbury, Esq. The deed, 1 [as seen in the Lincoln registry] , 
recites the boundaries, in part, in these terms : 

From said red oak westerly to a stake and stones in a small piece of 
marsh land ; thence on said Kennebec river southerly to the mouth of a 
spring that empties itself into the river, above Hammond's head so 
called ; and thence up said stream or spring to the head of the spring ; 
and thence to the bounds first mentioned. 

This statement from such a qualified witness must be decisive 
and final as to "Hammond's head." It was a locality upon this 
farm of Harnden's, which comprised the lands now surrounding 
and including the present village of Day's Ferry. 2 

The topography as above indicated will not now positively lo- 
cate Hammond's head, but points quite decisively to Narrow's 
point at the gateway of the Kennebec as it presses boiling into 
Long Reach, which presents a perpendicular cliff some sixty feet 
high against the water, and slopes back to the marsh and cove. 
Upon this small peninsula, on its elevation, or at the shore, or a 
short distance east upon Burial point, where Captain Harnden 
built his garrison, all probabilities will place the fortified house of 
Richard Hammond. This documentary proof establishes beyond 
question the locus of Hammond's head the name pointing back 
to the man, his home and his work, and advancing our obscure 
problem toward solution. 

A further step is however possible. Two other documents 
used in that suit at law have come forth from their hiding-place 
in the court files of York county. They should have been in my 
hands many years ago. I was told that no papers referring to 
this case were on file. A recent search disclosed them. This 
Lincoln Co Deeds, vol. v: 229. 2 Now West Woolwich post-office. 



275 

particular package bore marks of unwonted exposure to the 
weather and water, and they were frail and crumbling in the 
hand, yet wholly legible. They yield precise and valuable in- 
formation concerning this massacre at Hammond's. 

First is a deposition by one Deborah Burnet, who was a grand- 
daughter of Rev. Robert Gutch. She testifies in these words : 

About sixty years ago she lived at Kennebeck River; when for fear of 
the Indians she went with her parents to the garrison at Arrowsic ; that 
some time after she was there, she was taken by the Indians and after- 
wards put in a canoe, and landed at a place on Kennebeck River, called 
Hamonds, where she saw one Mrs. Hamonds and two of her children, 
called Herediah Smith and Mary Smith, who were also taken by the In- 
dians; and perfectly remembers that said Mary Smith saved their lives 
by interpreting the Indians' discourse, when they were determining to 
kill them, as said Smith informed them (she the said Mary understand- 
ing the Indian language) ; that the evening before she was taken, they 
heard guns fired, which she was informed was at Hamonds, and that Mr. 
Hamonds was killed on that evening; that she this deponent with Mrs. 
Hamonds and her said two children viz. Herediah Smith and Mary Smith 
were carried away by said Indians with other captives, some to Teconick 
with this deponent, and some with these Indians to Amarescoggin ; so 
this deponent was informed and further saith not. 

The captives were carried from the garrison on Arrowsic, the cap- 
tured and plundered establishment of Clarke and Lake, to a place on 
Kennebec river, called Hammond's, and thence to Teconnet. 
The distinction between Arrowsic and Kennebec river is indi- 
cated in this document, as in the deposition of Dale and elsewhere. 

The next deposition supplies some omissions existing in the 
evidence thus far presented : 

Joanna Williams, aged seventy-four years, testifies and saith that she 
well remembers one Mr. Hamons who married with one Elisebeth 
Smith widow of James Smith as I always understood; and I well re- 
member the said Hamons lived on a large tract of land lying on the 
easterly side of Kennebeck river above Arrowsic island. ... I like- 
wise well remember that said Hamons was killed by the Indians on said 
tract of land, and also Samuel Smith aforesaid. I also remember that 
the said Elezabeth Hamons was taken by the Indians at the same time 
her husband was killed, and also her daughter Mary Smith was taken at 
the same time; there was a large farm called Smith's farm, and after- 
wards Hamons, and called ISTegwasset Neck joining on one side on 
Negwasset river, and Kennebeck river on the other side, on which the 
said Hamons lived. Sworn to by the deponent in Inferior Court, at 
York, the first Tuesday of April, 1738. 



276 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The one point on which final proof might be required by the 
unconvinced and exacting, the home of this man, is here most de- 
cisively met. This is positive and confirms the previous circum- 
stantial evidence. This man did live and fell under savage vio- 
lence upon this large farm, situated " above Arrowsic island." 
Upon the river front of that described farm is found a definite lo- 
cality, referred to as Hammond's head. At that point we know 
Smith lived. The name affixed shows it was the very point 
where his successor Hammond lived. Here was a common home, 
the fortified trading-house. In the perfidious attack, the husband 
and son were stricken down and left stripped and contempt- 
uously cast out upon the river-bank ; the wife and children went 
into captivity. 

This cumulative evidence gives secure moorings for this drift- 
ing fort, and something more firm than moorings, for now it is 
cast up to rest on enduring foundations laid in the gneiss ledges 
washed by the tides of the Kennebec. It can be rebuilt in 
fancy, upon that northeasterly curve of Long Reach, where now 
are grouped the village dwellings of Day's Ferry. It was in 
1670, who can doubt, a striking object, environed by the dark for- 
ests, as was the garrison of Captain Harnden, eighty years later? 
near the same spot. 

This line of evidence, now made complete, repels all doubt 
from the conclusion, that at this point, the head of Long Reach* 
were enacted the bloody scenes made famous in our history in 
the oft-repeated story of Hammond's fort. 

It is worthy of note that also in Long Reach, only a mile be- 
low, occured the Preble massacre of 1758. The scarred corpses 
of Mr. and Mrs. Preble were carried up and buried close by Cap- 
tain Harnden's garrison, and near the spot, where once had flowed 
the blood of Hammond and his companions. One tragedy was 
the opening, the other the closing scene of the Indian wars in 
the Kennebec valley, extending through fourscore years. The 
extremes of savage warfare in this part of Maine were thus joined 
at points a mile apart, now within sight of the church spires of 
the city of Bath. 

It will be a fitting supplement to this paper to mention that 
Mrs. Hammond was released from captivity in the following 
June, when she carried letters from the Indians to the authori- 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 277 

ties at Boston. These dispatches add some important facts and 
disclose somewhat of the temper of the natives, and of the causes 
which from their point of view brought on this lamentable out- 
break and carnage. 

The official filing says, "Reed by Mrs. Hamond 1 July 77." 
Their worth as a new page of our Indian history, will claim a 
place for them here 1 : 

Having English friends I have sent Mrs Hamons to tell you that we 
have been careful of our prisners this is 3 times we have sent to you & 
have airways mised of you govenour of boston we would find your 
(mind ?) you find us all way for peace you airways broke the peace I 
would entreat you to send us a Answer of this (letter ?) by Mr. garner or 
Mr. Oliver If they be not at home send Mr wesell but send non of them 
that have been here already we think that them men that you sent be- 
fore were minded to (shoot?) 2 us Mrs Hamons and the rest of the 
prisners can tell that we have drove Away all the damrallscogon engins 
from us for they will fight and we are not willing of their company we 
are willing to trade with you as we have done for many years we pray 
you send us such things as we name powder cloth tobacko liker corn 
bread and send the captives you toke at Pemaquid 

governor of boston we do understand that Squando is minded to cheat 
you he is mind to get as many prisners as he can and so bring them to 
you & so make you believe that it is Kenebeck men that have don all this 
spoul 

govenour of boston we have bin dieted so often & drove off from time 
to time about powder that this time we would willingly se it furst & 
you shall have your prisners we can fight as well as others but we are 
willing to live pesabel we will not fight without they fight with us first 

here is 20 men women and children that is prisners most of them was 
bought we have not don as the damrellscoging engons did they kiled 
all their prisners at the spring we would have you com with your ves- 
sell to Abonnegog Mr Garner can tell that last somer that we did Agree 
and it was Squando Angons that did all the hurt 

Willian Woum Wood (?) 
hen nwedloked 
his H mark 

winakeermit 
moxes 

essomonosko 
(Filing on back.) deogenes 

Moxes & pebemoworet 

Indians W. H. & G- tasset 

reed by Mrs Hamond John 

1 July 77 shyrot 

mr thomas 

. Archives, vol. xxx: 241, 242. *0r cheat. 



278 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



Of the other document, the first part seems to be missing. 
Neither have dates, nor the place where written. 

. . . gov of boston this is to let you understand, how we have been 
abused, we love yo but when we are dronk you will take away our cot 
& throw us out of dore if the wolf kill any of your catell you take away 
our gons for it & arrows and if you see a engon dog you will shoot him 
if we should do so to you cut down your houses kill your dogs take 
away your things we must pay a 100 skins if we brek a tobarko pip they 
will prisson us becaus there was war at naragans you com here when we 
were quiet & took away our gons & mad prisners of our chief saga- 
more & that winter for want of our gons there was severall starved we 
count it kild with us whenever we are bound and thrown in the siler 
this doings is not like to mans hart it is more like womon hart now we 
hear that you say you will not leave war as long as on engon is in the 
country we are owners of the country & it is wide and full of engons & 
we can drive you out but our desire is to be quiet as for exsampl a hors 
was kiled by som yung boys & we are were to pay 40 skins 

governor of boston this is to let you to understand how major walldin 
served us we cared 4 prisners abord we would fain (?) know whither you 
did give such order to kill us for bringing your prisners is that your 
fashing to com & mke pese & then kill us we are afraid you will do so 
agen Maior Waldin do ly we were not minded to kill no body maior Wai- 
din did wrong to give cloth & powder but he gave us drink & when we 
were drunk killed us if it had not a bin for this fait you had your pris- 
ners long ago (Sentence unintelligible.) Maior Waldin have bin the 
cause of killing all that have bin kiled this sommer you may see how 
honest we have bin we have kiled non of your English prisners if you 
had any of ours prisners you wold a knocked them on the hed do you 

think all this is nothing 

deogenes madoasquarbet 

Candid students of history uncommitted to any theory can 
best judge of the force of the foregoing evidence in solving the 
problem of locality which we have been considering. The old 
and often-reiterated opinions, show a singular tenacity of life. I 
find the supporters of them, and especially one persistent advo- 
cate, still disposed to contest the ground. They have however 
put forth no new evidence, and only specious objections to what 
I have adduced. 1 To complete this connection it seemed to be 
appropriate to show from the history of Arrowsic that it was 
impossible for Hammond to have had his trading-house on that 
island as alleged. 2 

1 Under disguised signature, "Inquirer," in Ain. Sentinel, Bath, June 13 and July 22, 
1885. 

2 Paper read before Sagadahoc Hist. Society, April 13, 1886, and reported in Am. Sen- 
tinel, April 29. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 279 

Arrrowsic first purchased of Robinhood, in 1649, by John Rich- 
ards 1 ; was passed by conveyances, in 1654 and 1657, to Major Thomas 
Clarke 2 and Captain Thomas Lake, 3 merchants of Boston, who ob- 
tained sole ownership of the entire island. They made other 
purchases of Kennebec lands and entered upon extensive business 
and trade. These are best exhibited in the statement of Sir 
Bybye Lake, three-quarters of a century later 4 : 

They did erect and build several houses and out-houses and several 
saw-mills on the said Arrowsic island, Negwassey and other places on 
the main land ; cleared and made many inclosures ; brought many fami- 
lies to come and inhabit the same whereon were very great stocks of cat- 
tle; built several grist-mills, bake-houses, smiths-shops, cooper-shops, 
and other conveniences for handicraft trades ; caused to be built several 
ships, boats and vessels; fitted out and victualed and loaded them with 
the produce of the premises for Boston and other ports. 

A trading-house had been established in 1653 at the ancient 
Teconnet by their agent Christopher Lawson, but subsequently 
they made Arrowsic their chief station, each in turn residing 
there a year in superintendence of affairs. The only description 
of their establishment is given by the New England historian 
Hubbard. 5 He writes that they built a fort, several large, dwell- 
ings, and a warehouse, six edifices were within the fortified in- 
closure. One dwelling, probably the main structure, was styled 
the " Mansion House." This fort was intended for the safety of 
their merchandise, of themselves, their agents and craftsmen, but 
likewise for the protection of the inhabitants in the vicinity. 
John Gyles, who retired to it for safety from his home near Mer- 
rymeeting bay, calls it the " main garrison." 6 It may not be 
unfitting to call it the fortress of the Kennebec. , It mounted at 
least "two great guns," and soldiers were assigned for its de- 
fense. It became a business center and also an important post in 
its relation to government and the defense of the district, since 
after Massachusetts extended her authority over the eastern 
parts, Clarke and Lake both were appointed magistrates, and 

1 Of Weymouth and later of Boston. [Vide Bangor Hist. Magazine, Sept., 1887, p. 42.] 

2 A foremost merchant and man of wealth; captain in the artillery, 1656; major of 
Suffolk regiment; in gen. court eighteen years; speaker five years, assistant four years. 

s Of a distinguished English family of Lincolnshire. [Vide Me. Hist. Coll. V: 253.] 
Ensign of North Company, 1658, then captain. Selectman. 
* Chalmer's Colonial Opinions. 
Ind. Wars; Drake's Ed., vol. ii, pp. 159, 163. 
6 Gyles Memorial, p. 114. 



280 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

when fears of native hostility arose, to Captain Lake with others 
was assigned the superintendence of military affairs. Hence the 
" Arrowsic House " convened courts of law, was headquarters for 
general council, and its fortified walls offered hopes of safety to 
the people. 

At or near this fort evidently gathered the Indians in June, 
1675, and made agreements to keep the peace, when old Robin- 
hood " with great applause of the rest, made a dance and sang a 
song" confirming the engagements, and the day of conference 
and pledged amity was further celebrated in the use of generous 
portions of " rum and tobacco," distributed by Captain Lake from 
the stores of his warehouse. 

Mainly against this stronghold was aimed the vengeful assaults 
of the next year's war, though the first murderous stroke fell upon 
Hammond's house at evening, previous to the woeful surprise of 
this post the following morning. The general importance of thi s 
post may claim inquiry concerning its location, without regard to 
its bearing upon the previous problem. It is but due to say that in 
my early studies in the history of the Sagadahoc region, a question 
arose respecting the place of Clarke and Lake's fort a question 
which then thrust aside would frequently recur, and nearly ten 
years passed before complete evidence was gathered and adjusted, 
finally yielding confident conclusions. 

Unfortunately, Hubbard, almost the sole authority for the facts, 
made no direct statement where the fort was situated, on the 
north, or south, or on one or the other side of the island. But 
the first historian of Maine did assign a definite location. 1 "The 
fort which Clarke and Lake erected was near where the meeting- 
house in Georgetown now is. The remains of it were buried by 
the plow within thirty years past by Major Denny." The site of 
the old meeting-house is well known, upon southern Arrowsic near 
Butler's cove, where was the chief nucleus of the settlement of 
1715-20, under the superintendence of John Watts, the English 
agent of the heirs of Clarke and Lake. All probabilities also de- 
rived from the topography and the known ownership of land by 
Major Denny will place the fort quite near the meeting-house 
site. All subsequent writers have repeated Sullivan, accepting 

District of Maine, p. 173. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 281 

unquestioned his authority. But latterly evidence has suggested 
grave objections to the location he assigned. 1 



This writer derived his information from some one personally 
acquainted with Arrowsic and the events of the war, so that very 
considerable confidence can be given to such details as he gives. 

He tells that the fort was " near the waterside," and implica- 
tions from occurrences further confirm the statement. But it 
must be noticed that Sullivan's location is upon a high ridge, at 
the nearest one hundred and fifty to two hundred yards from the 
river, and still further from any accessible landing. 

Again he writes, " a mill and other accommodations and dwell- 
ings were within a mile of the fort and mansion house." If his 
information had a fair degree of accuracy, this is decisive. The 
nearest mill site is distant from the old meeting-house in a direct 
line two and one-eighth miles. Two other valuable privileges, one, 
if not both, improved nearly two and a half centuries, and now 
known as Potter's and Crosby's, or Mill island, are distant three 
and three-quarters and five miles. There are no others and 'none 
possible unless constructed at vast expense. That nearest one, 
Swett's, upon Back river, near the bridge to Parker's island, and 
difficult of access, was the most likely to be utilized at that time, 
and is also double the distance required by the historian. He 
also writes that there were dwellings near the mill, and from them 
the people " hardly made their escape upon the surprisal of the 
fort." This tends to put the mill and fort at no great distance. 
Reasonable accuracy therefore in the historian will make strongly 
against the accepted site of the fort at the south end of the island. 

Again circumstances in the surprisal of the fort furnish sup- 
porting evidence. The death of Captain Lake, " That good man, 
who might be emphatically so termed," as Hubbard kindly writes ; 
" That exemplary, good man, my good friend barbarously mur- 
dered," as dolorously ejaculates Mather, his pastor in the North 
Church, Boston, greatly added to the sense of the dire scourge 
laid on the eastern settlements. Lake and three others escaped 

1 The writer after having put himself with the confidence derived from exacting re- 
search, irreconcilably against all former writers in the matter of Kimmond's fort, with 
delay and reluctance, ventured at last on a like daring step, in affirming error in the mat- 
ter of Clarke and Lake's location; but can only put forth here conclusiocs to which 
slowly and unwillingly he has been finally driven by the facts obtained. 



282 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

from the fort unobserved at first, seized a boat or canoe, suggest- 
ing proximity of the fort to the water, and " made their way to- 
ward another island near by." Two of the men on landing, " fled 
away ten or twelve miles to the farther end of the island," and 
escaped, but Lake himself was shortly overtaken and killed. 
Hence the requirements of this narrative are, an island, one near, 
one of considerable extent. This can be no other than the ad- 
jacent Parker's island. If the fort was situated as supposed, these 
fugitives must have had a long run to the river, and then by boat 
could have rowed southward around the end of Arrowsic, and 
then turned to Parker's island on the east. Far more probably 
they would have pushed directly west across the river to Phips- 
burg, as Sullivan conceives. Or a very long run from the fort 
eastward would have brought them to the bay of Back river 
whence if finding a boat they could have pushed direct to the re- 
quired island. These are very unsatisfactory solutions of the 
occurrence described Any site of the fort along the middle of 
the island upon Back river is not rationally to be admitted, from 
whence a few minutes would have secured crossing to the other 
island. Any other flight must have been on the north of the 
sland in the Sasanoa river in order to reach Parker's island, and 
would be the most consistent if the location of the fort would 
support it. Another incidental statement confirms the supposi- 
tion of an eastward flight toward Parker's island. Captain Syl- 
vanus Davis, one of the fugitives, was wounded by a shot from 
the pursuers, but the boat reached the shore, and he was able to 
secrete himself; and Hubbard writes, "The Indians by the glitter- 
ing of the sunbeams in their eyes as they came ashore did not 
discern him." The historian understood that the conditions were 
such that the pursuers would be thus blinded. Hence they were 
pushing ashore toward the rising sun, or going eastward. The 
trend of evidence so far as furnished by these minor incidents 
makes plainly toward the northerly part of Arrowsic as a proba- 
ble location of the fortified post. 

Such a location is strengthed by a tradition which declares that 
Captain Lake was killed on the north part of Parker's island. If 
this was the fact, the flight must have been from some point on 
northern Arrowsic ; for if it had been from the alleged location at 
its southern part, the fugitives must have been pursued some five 



THE PEOBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 283 

miles, which the narrative makes impossible, as Davis heard the 
shot which manifestly ended the life of Lake. This account of 
the latter's death prevailed among the early settlers and was re- 
ported by Benjamin Riggs, Esq., to Hon. W. D. Williamson 
for his history of Maine. 1 It was likewise related to the writer 
by his son, Moses Riggs, Esq., who claimed to have knowledge of 
the place where the pursued merchant was killed ; but the story 
was cast aside as of little worth because out of harmony with 
the prevailing opinion of the situation of the fort, and when* af- 
terward it assumed greater value, the account had wholly faded 
from the aged man's memory. Though slight value may be ad- 
mitted for these preceding particulars as matters of evidence, 
they have sufficient force to create a doubt if Clarke and Lake's es- 
tablishment was at the south end of Arrowsic. 

DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. 

Documents brought to light in recent years clearly confirm 
the points already made, as the evidence leads us forward into 
the period of the unpopular administrations of the ducal gov- 
ernors, Sir Edmund Andros and Colonel Thomas Dougan, who 
well represented their royal master, James. He asserted right 
to he soil throughout the Province of Sagadahoc, which his of- 
ficials maintained harshly and with arrogance and oppression. 
After the abrogation of the Massachusetts charter, similar asser- 
tions of kingly prerogative was made west of the Sagadahoc, since 
it was held that the title was vested in the crown. All original 
purchase of lands was counted null ; ancient deeds were " no bet- 
ter than the scratch of a bear's paw"; owners who had occupied 
and improved for years were forced at the option of losing all, to 
take out leases at such rates and exorbitant fees, as such unscru- 
pulous officers might demand. Their greedy, haughty spirit in- 
tensified the bitter sense of injustice. Other lands these arbitrary 
officials appropriated to themselves or dispensed to whom they 
would. Arrowsic was in this manner seized from its rightful 
owners. 

When peace seemed secured after Philip's war, expelled settlers 
from the Sagadahoc began to return. We are told by Sir Bybye 
Lake, that in this period, Major Clarke " returned to said lands, 
and with the concurrence and assistance of the widow of the said 

iMSS. letters, Me. Hist. Soc. 



284 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

Captain Lake, endeavored with a very great expense to resettle 
the premises, and to repair and rebuild," l but of the date or de- 
tails we h-ive nothing. In 1679 a number of returning settlers 
had made a temporary abiding place on Stage island. For 
greater security and convenience they chose another place for a de- 
fensible, compact settlement, and sought the governor's approval 
of their plan. Governor Andros in response to their petition 
made the desired grant as thus described 2 : 

. . . To settle a Township upon the Southerne End of said Island 
Rowswick, not Improved A Little above or Northward of the first 
Marsh or Meadow Ground upon the Miine River or Westerne side of the 
said Island . . . and shall improve as far Northward as a ffence 
crossing said Island Aboute a Mile above said Place and said ffence 
Southward to the End of the Island. 

A line cutting off one mile of the lower part of the island will 
show the extent of the tract. A portion was set apart for com- 
mons, or public use, and probably their fort of defense was 
constructed upon it. The adjacent lands were laid out in lots, 
and this new settlement was named Newtown, and had its mu- 
nicipal officers and administration. It embraced settlers and 
their farms within several miles, on both sides of the river. 
We only need to notice that this granted tract was " unimproved " 
land, and it is impossible that former residents and neighbors of 
Clarke and Lake should have in their petition so termed it, if 
here were the improved but abandoned farms, gardens, sites of 
destroyed dwellings and the fort, revealing the ruin of the war. 
Rather was it not unimproved or wild land, a part of the island 
not yet entered upon. So much force as there is in this docu- 
ment shows that the Boston merchants had not established their 
warehouses, dwellings, and protecting fort upon southern Arrow- 
sic. Yet Sullivan had located them at the extreme south of this 
tract, one mile in extent. No protest of Major Clarke has been 
preserved, if he made any to a power that would not respect his 
rights, for Andros only gave effect to the will of James. Clarke 
died in 1684, and the business connected with the Kennebec estates 
was then managed by his son-in-law, Colonel Elisha Hutchinson, 
an honored name in Boston and progenitor of a distinguished 

1 Chalmer's Colonial Opinions. 

Mass. Archives, vol. iii, p. 337. Also Coll. Me. Hist. Soc. Documentary Series, vol. ir, 
p. 387. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 285 

family. 1 Soon came another stride of greed y rapacity and the 
arrogance of power. In 1686, John Palmer, land commissioner 
of this rigorous government, grants, 2 really gives, for thus these 
rapacious officials took care of themselves and each other, to 
John West, deputy-secretary of the same, the remaining portion 
of Arrowsic, and Dougan the governor confi rms it by virtue of 
authority derived from the crown of England worn by the former 
duke, now King James n. West immediately takes legal steps 
to oust the true owners. The facts are best shown by a letter^ 
dated June 29, 1687, 8 over the signatures of Hutchinson the son- 
in-law, and Mehitable Warren, a widowed daughter of Major 
Clarke, written to Thomas Lake of London, the son of the mur- 
dered Captain Thomas Lake of Boston : 

We take opportunity to acquaint you that Arowsic Island and the rest 
of the land thereabout which belonged to Major Thomas Clarke and 
your father, is this last Michelmas disposed of to sundry persons by or- 
der of Gov. Dougan, . . . but by what right he so acted, we un- 
derstand not. The pretensions are that we did not hold under the king, 
and therefore our Indian deeds, possessions and improvements are noth- 
ing worth. . . Sir Edmund Andros soon after the war granted liberty 
for people about twenty families to settle on the lower end of Arrowsick 
but did not grant them any propriety. Gov. Dougan hath granted to 
Mr. Jno. West (formerly of N. York now Deputy Secretary here) a 
person in great favor with our present governor, the upper part of Arow- 
sick, and he the said West hath sued out our tenant by writ of eject- 
ment and taken possession, which we thought very strange to be com- 
pelled to make answer in another country about 500 miles distant 
from where the land lieth and that on so short warning and such a time 
of the year, which is not fit to travel in this conntry, and therefore 
none to defend appearing at New York where the trial was, judgment 
was entered upon default for non-appearance and immediately execu- 
tion proceeded. 

The letter continues urging Mr. Lake to gain the influence of 
some friend among public men to interpose and to. have word 
sent over to Governor Andros to obtain a stay of proceedings. 

It is only needful to notice that after the repossession and im- 
provement of Arrowsic by Major Clarke and heirs, their tenant, 
who was ejected by harsh application of forms of law, was situ- 
ated upon West's grant, the terms of which specify, " all tene- 
ments, edifices, buildings, also fields, pastures, meadows and other 

1 Thomas Hutchinson, the noted governor of Massachusetts was his grandson. 
2 Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., vol. v, p. 125. 
'Lincoln Co. Court Files. 



288 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

privileges and appurtenances," a full proof of extensive previous 
occupation and improvements, and in marked contrast with the 
"unimproved" land of Andros' Newtown grant. Clarke's re- 
entry upon the deserted section was manifestly upon the upper 
part of the island, or above the mile limit of the Andros grant. 
It was lor repairing and rebuilding, and renewing the desolated 
estates, and conclusively shows that the former establishment 
and connected industries had not been situated upon southern 
Arrowsic. All these lines of evidence, even the lightest, are in 
harmony and tending to one result, direct inquiry to some other 
quarter for the required fort. 

Recurring to the facts which indicate a flight by water toward 
the north part of Parker's island, and proximity of the fort to a 
mill-site, we are led to examine the vicinity of Mill island, for 
Potter's mill on the distant west side seems out of the question. 
Another fact suggesting this eastern mill is the purchase in 1667 
by these business men of four hundred and fifty acres on Parker's 
island directly over against this privilege, evidently a foresighted 
plan to possess valuable timber lands near to their mill saws. If 
Hubbard was correct, the fortified post should have been within 
a mile of Mill island. Search discloses it five-eights of a mile 
from the present mill-dam, a field by a cove bearing notable traces 
of ancient occupation. Here relics have been gathered, imple- 
ments found, bones exhumed, flagstones of old pathways un- 
covered. Here are cellars close by the water, and a famed well 
of unknown antiquity. This place made mysterious by curious 
relics and proofs of an early settlement, and long an enigma to the 
writer, because not adjustable to the acquired history of the island, 
is at the so-called Spring cove on the northeast border. When found 
and its certified story told, it harmonized all parts of evidence 
and completed the proof. Step by step, the lines of history fol- 
lowed, led hither to "the mansion-house " of Clarke and Lake. 

VERIFICATION BY TRADITION. 

Fifty years after the Newtown grant, John Stinson, one of a 
family of sturdy Scotch-Irish immigrants from Ballaghmena, in 
the county of Tyrone, came to Arrowsic. In his manhood he at- 
tained distinction as a local magistrate and a justice of Lincoln 
county. He purchased, and made his home upon this land which 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 287 

comprises Spring cove, untilled, untouched, we must believe 
since the expulsion of the second war. His father had purchased 
adjacent lands from a grandson of Major Clarke, who managed 
the property for the heirs. Surely this family, if any, would 
learn the true history of those cellars, and paved ways. A great- 
grandson of Esquire Stinson now occupies the old homestead. A 
grand-daughter is yet living. Another, Mrs. Margaret Stinson 
Mitchell, died in Cleveland, Ohio, February, 1889, aged one 
hundred years and three months. One uniform tradition has al- 
ways prevailed in this family, and the story has been repeatedly 
told anew in each generation of a fearful tragedy enacted on that 
spot. From the present occupant and his father, the writer has 
gained the old story ; and also in rare privilege has received the 
same, written by the almost disabled and aching hand of Mrs. 
Mitchell, when nearing the bound of a century. Her early years 
were passed in the family of her grandfather. She stood a little 
child by his knee to read the Bible, and rode at his feet in the 
old-time chaise, as he in loyalty to his convictions, marshalled his 
family and workmen to the meeting-house. By these aged peo- 
ple was often repeated the story of the ancient Spring cove set- 
tlement, until its exciting events " were burned into her memory," 
as she averred. 

The main incidents of the account she detailed, agreeing with 
what her brother related to me, are these : An immigrant colony 
long ago ; a strong fort built ; when surprised full of people ; the 
leader bearing the name Lake ; a treacherous entrance to the 
fort by the Indians ; a horrible massacre ; great booty obtained ; 
fort, buildings, and scalped -victims burned to ashes. She further 
details the escape of the leader, whom her memory styles " Gov- 
ernor" Lake, who was followed toward Hockamock, and shot 
upon some islands. Curiously also is included the story of the 
" Governor's hat," worn afterward by one of the Indians ; a fact 
written by Hubbard, whose history, or other history of the occur- 
rence, Mrs. Mitchell affirms had never been read by any of her 
people. 

Attention is called to the fact of a well-defined circumstantial 
tradition existing after two centuries. It agrees closely with the 
events as given by the historian of the time. It makes precise, 
and has ever held without variation, the name of the head of the 



288 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

colony, Lake, " Gov." Lake, sometimes Sir Bybye Lake, 1 but a 
man of high standing or official station, the distinguished victim 
of the massacre. The authority of this family tradition is further 
enhanced by the fact that the lives of this lady, the chief narrator, 
and her grandfather, extended over one hundred and sixty years 
in the history of Arrowsic and bring report from the dim, farther 
side. Strong beyond parallel is a tradition of so few links, 
which alone would reasonably assure the true story of the Spring 
cove settlement. 

The writer for years rejected the. thought that Clarke and 
Lake's fortified post could have been on the northeast border of 
Arrowsic, but the line of evidence led surely in that direction. 
It began in the items of Hubbard's narrative, fort near the water- 
side, near a mill, fugitive's escape eastward to Parker's island ; 
it was extended in the tradition of Lake's death on the north end 
of that island ; all particulars difficult of explanation, or wholly in- 
consistent with the " South end of Arrowsic ; it was augmented by 
the Newtown grant, and the gift to John West, and the eject- 
ment of the tenant ; it was made strong by finding traces of no- 
table ancient occupation at the required proximity to a mill-site ; 
it was finally certified by clear and circumstantial accounts pre- 
served in the ancient family dwelling on the spot. History, doc- 
uments,' traditions, proofs written in the cellars and ruins, furnish- 
ing items trivial or strong, yet wholly harmonious and cumula- 
tive, assure a conclusion beyond cavil or rejection. 

Thus certified the curious traveler, or student of Maine history, 
can look upon the site of Clarke and Lake's fortified post, as tak- 
ing the delightful steamboat trip from Bath to Boothbay, they pass 
on the boiling tidal current beyond the upper Hellgate, and the 
fringe of forest on the right hand to the open land, where ad- 
vancing toward the crag of Hockamock, they can look back upon 
a large old farmhouse, orchard, and a field sloping to the water- 
side, and can see at the first point of the opening, cellars filled 
with thorn bushes, and an oak at whose roots is found that spring 
of purest water when not flooded by high tide, which was dug 
out and stoned in the long ago by unknown hands. Some forty 
years ago among many articles here exhumed, there came out 
from a heap of ruins now touched by the very tide, a curious iron 

i His position and zealous aid in behalf of the Watt's settlement in 1715 introduced his 
name in place of that of his grandfather, Captain Thomas. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 289 

affair, resembling a huge hoe, having a long harpoon socket for 
the introduction of a wooden handle, which, reasonable conject- 
ure will assign as an implement used in clearing coals from the 
large oven of a bake-house. Such accommodations are mentioned 
by Sir Bybye Lake, as provided for the convenience of the early 
settlers. Near Mill island, was unearthed a brass sword hilt and 
guard, obscure relics of times of desolating war. 

MENTIONED BY GOVERNOR SULLIVAN. 

The fort he mentions at the south end of Arrowsic, was mani- 
festly built for the defense of Newtown. Andros put a garrison 
there in 1688, and it protected the inhabitants till the abandon- 
ment of the river in the summer or autumn of 1689. His maj- 
esty's engineer a dozen years later, refers to it as a small square 
fort, palisaded. 1 In Sullivan's time nothing was known of N ew. 
town. 

RELATIVE PROBABILITY OF THE TWO TRADITIONS. 

For thirty years the tragedy of Hammond's fort has been assidu- 
ously put forth as the event which accounted for the ruined settle- 
ment of Spring cove. The evidence which locates at this point, 
the establishment of the Boston merchants, will insure the entire 
ejectment of Hammond from it. In fact this location of Ham- 
mond has for its support, not a fragment of historical or documen- 
tary proof, but a single tradition derived from the wife of Rev. 
Samuel Sewall ? who lived for a time upon Arrowsic subsequently 
to 1814, succeeding in the ministry the Rev. E. Emerson. In 
point of time, this tradition is not older than about 1820, and in 
authority is very weak in comparison with that held by the Stin- 
son family for generations. Indeed, Mrs. Mitchell, who from a 
living memory so recently related the story preserved by them, 
had passed her girlhood on the spot, had heard often repeated the 
startling tale, had married and departed from her home several 
years before the former narrator, after she came to Georgetown 
to reside for a time, obtained her account. Were the weight of 
authority of these two witnesses equal, one has the advantage of 
being supported by the unchanged tradition of her people. None 
wjll more strenuously repudiate the associating of the name of Ham- 
mond with the Spring cove tragedy, than the Stinson family. 

i Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y., vol. iv, p. 831. 

19 



290 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

But then this later and weaker tradition includes details similar to 
the older and true one, warranting the belief that by some ob- 
scurity of narration or lapse of memory, the wrong name, Ham- 
mond, drawn from a similar tragedy elsewhere, might have been 
thrust into the true account of the surprisal and sacking of 
Captain Lake's fort at Spring cove. By some such process was 
the story of Hammond and his wretched fate at a late period 
floated down to this locality on Arrowsic. 

LATER FORTUNES OF THE FAMILY. 

It will be a reasonable extension of this paper to add some 
further gleanings, which I have collected, respecting these persons, 
who experienced such vicissitudes of fortune in connection with 
their home at Hammond's head. 

It is worthy of note that, in 1648, when James Smith bought 
his land of Robinhood, Richard Hammond, or Hamons, was a 
witness to the deed. His presence may suggest acquaintance 
with the native language, so that his services were required in trans- 
actions with the Indians. Again, in 1653, at Teconnet, he wit- 
nesses an Indian conveyance to Lake and Spencer. In September 
of that year, one Abell Hammond is witness to a similar deed. It 
is conjectured that these men bore some relationship to families of 
this name early found in Wells and Kittery. Indeed the step- 
daughter Mary Smith married a person named Hammond and had 
her home in Wells. On a specimen writ under the Duke's gov- 
ernment, in 1665, appears the signature to the return, "Richard 
Lemons, constable." 1 The lack of such a peculiar name in lists 
of that period and other circumstances, will permit a guess that 
this name, changed by copyist or type, was really written Richard 
Hammonds and that as a fitting person he held that office and 
made service of that writ. He married the widow of James 
Smith previously to 1667. At that date this enterprising woman 
appears sending to John Winslow, evidently of the Plymouth 
colony, fourteen moose hides, weighing 230 Ibs., "on her own 
account." 

It seems that her eldest son, James Smith, married the daughter 
of Walter Phillips of Damariscotta river and in the war fled 
thence to Salem, where a son Samuel is on record as born to his 
wife Margaret, November 15, 1676, and a daughter Elizabeth, 

i Sullivan, Hist, of Maine, p. 291. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND^ FORT. 291 

October 24, 1678. It appears likewise that a daughter, probably 
the eldest, Elizabeth, married Lawrence Dennis, a chief citizen 
and magistrate of Newtown. One or more sons made a home 
after the war in Salem, and doubtless to this place returned the 
released captives. These connections with Salem strengthen the 
presumption that the pioneer settler Smith went to the Kenne- 
bec from that place, and was a blacksmith. A sojourn of the 
widow Hammond in Salem will make it quite probable that her 
third husband John Rowdon belonged there, as it is a local name. 

In following the fortunes of this woman, it is worthy of note 
that recent investigations have disclosed that descendants from 
one of her sons by James Smith, are residents of Oxford county, 
Maine. 1 

Nothing indicates how soon after her release from captivity, 
the marriage of Mrs. Smith- Hammond to Rowdon occurred, but 
they returned to her lands at Kennebec. The point of land at 
other times known as Hammond's head is once referred to as 
John Rowdon's point, and makes probable the residence of the man 
and family at this place. He chiefly appears in connection with the 
military service. In the winter of 1683-84 he certifies the state- 
ments of John Hornibroke, an Indian interpreter who lived a 
mile south of him, nearly east of Winslow's rock, concerning na- 
tive threats of war. 2 When the blockhouse of the Pemaquiders 
was built at Merrymeeting bay, in 1684, John Rowdon with a file 
of ten men was put in charge of it. 8 In 1688 he is the oificer in 
command of the militia of Kennebec river, and the roll of this 
company shows sixty-two men, all or nearly all, known as residents* 
doing service as town militia men. 

But one more page in the history of this family, which con- 
nects itself with the second war, of which exceedingly meager 
outlines and few details have as yet entered our histories, can now 
be briefly written. 

When rumors and fear of restlessness : among the natives pre- 
vailed in the season of 1688, a most impolitic act precipitated the 
hostilities which it was designed to avert. Justice Blackman of 
Saco seized some twenty chief Indians for examination and deten- 
tion till the true posture of affairs should be ascertained. The In- 
dians regarded this as a game in which they also could take a hand? 

1 Represented by Mr. H. D. Smith, cashier, National Bank, Norway. 
* Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., vol. v., p. 62. * Ibid p. 104. 



292 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

and the Kennebecks at once proceeded to their part of the play. A 
party came down the river, September 1, probably, seized and 
plundered " the Merrymeeting house," doubtless the above block- 
house, and took a number of persons as captives, or hostages. 
Thomas Stevens it is inferred, the settler from whom Steven's 
river derived its name, had at this time removed to the Kennebec, 
He was on his way by canoe to the house of John Bisbe, who 
lived on the east side of Long Reach, or Tuessic Neck. As he 
reached the house, five Indians rushed out, seized him, saying he 
was their prisoner, as also was Bisbe within his house. They 
told him they did this because Captain Blackman had taken twenty 
Indians and sent them to Boston, and when those should be re- 
turned, these prisoners should be released. They had already 
taken Captain Rowdon and John Hornibroke with their wives 
and children, and had them in custody in Rowdon's house. To 
capture the captain of the Kennebec militia was a feat worthy of 
their boasting. The new captives were taken up to Rowdon's, 
and then all but Mrs. Rowdon were sent to Merrymeeting. She 
was left in her house, and commanded to stay till they should 
send down a letter, which she must convey to the English author- 
ities. Stevens was told not to be afraid as he would see a great 
many Indians by and by. At Merrymeeting bay, the captives 
were welcomed with joyous demonstrations and the firing of 
guns. In the night, a party of Androscoggins came, and then 
there were more salutes, shouting, and exultation ; "See how 
many English servants we have got," the Indians cried. Captain 
Rowdon was directed to write the letter, but the messenger sent 
down with it returned, reporting that Mrs. Rowdon had run away, 
which led them to inquire if that was English fashion. Casting about 
for a messenger, they selected Stevens, now seventy years old, say- 
ing, " This old fellow shall go, for he can neither do us good nor 
hurt." He judged there were nearly fifty men well-armed with 
various weapons. Hopehood and Egeremet were among them, 
and the latter sent word to the English, that now they would 
have time to gather in their corn and cattle, as there would be no 
more stir till they heard from Boston. Hopehood proposed to 
have a party call on Mr. Dennis and have him send a demand to 
the governor for his two sons. The Indians then with their cap- 
tives retired up river. 1 They regarded themselves as aggrieved 

1 Mass. Archives, vol. cxxix, p. 166. 



THE PROBLEM OF HAMMOND'S FORT. 293 

by that arrest of their men, and in reprisal had secured these hos- 
tages ; but their conduct and apparent spirit at this time commends 
them for self-restraint, and it was highly honorable and consid- 
erate to suggest, that now the English could freely secure their 
property before the Indians felt compelled to make war. 

This hapless woman, points in whose eventful history have been 
touched, a third time in her home at Kennebec was separated 
from a husband. Death had early seized the first; the tomahawk 
struck down the second ; and now the third is forced from her side 
into the wilderness, to the abodes of savages ready on slight pre- 
texts for murder and cruel war. Later at a conference, to the 
inquiry for Kowdon, the chief replied that he was far away up 
Kennebec river, and it is stated that he never returned. 1 His 
fate is not difficult to infer, for when war began his life would be 
cast in, to balance the loss of some of their chief men. The wife 
had found one bitter experience in captivity at Teconnet enough. 
Overborne by fear and distrustful of Indian faith, she fled down 
river to the forts, toward the shelter of civilized homes, and 
Hammond's head was again deserted. 

It is presumed that in a little while all of these captives, except 
Rowdon, were restored. Hornibroke certainly returned. The 
Indians were not pacified, but probably took no attitude of fur- 
ther hostility on the Kennebec till spring. And then by reason 
of the watchfulness of the inhabitants, not many lives w ere sac- 
rificed. On the twelfth of May, 1689, the garrisons left by Andros, 
abandoned Pejepscot and Fort Ann. A week later the savages 
swept down on the west of the Kennebec, burning houses and 
killing cattle. The people had sought the protection of the for- 
tified posts at Newtown and Sagadahoc. A few soldiers helped 
to hold these places, and earnest pleas were sent to government, 
to reinforce them or to remove them all to places of safety. In 
June, those at Newtown represented their peril and distress, and 
reported that they had some two hundred cattle and nearly as many 
swine. It must have been soon after this, or not later than July, 
that the houses, all but one, in Newtown were destroyed and the 
fort abandoned. 2 

i Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii, p. 508-9 

* Vide Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., vol. v, p. 394, but not in agreement in date. Certainly in- 
habitants and soldiers continued there till after the 10th of June, and the government, 
voted supplies. [Mass. Archives, vol. cvii, pp. 97, 100.] Quite probably Newtown was 
h eld as long as Sagadahoc, which seems to have been abandoned by^ the first of August. 
Thornton's Pemaquid, Coll. Me. Hist. Soc., rol. v, p. 277.] 



294 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

On the twentieth of July, ten of the inhabitants, protected by sol- 
diers, going from the fort at Sagadahoc l to their possessions on 
the west side of the river, for cattle, were assailed while in the 
boats, and six were killed, three soldiers, with John Vereen, Wil- 
liam Baker, and Charles Hunnewell. Provisions were now be- 
coming scarce, as in the straitness of a siege, and in a few weeks 
it appears that the people and the soldiers were withdrawn, and 
the Indians left in undisputed possession of the country for a time. 

1 On Stage island. 



EOBEET HALLOWELL GARDINEK. 295 



ROBERT HALLOWELL GARDINER. 

t 

BY REV. ASA DALTOX, D.D. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, February 9, 1888. 

A DUE regard to the fitness of things requires us to put on 
record our sense of the loss we have sustained in the death of 
our late associate Mr. Robert Hallowell Gardiner. 

Mr. Gardiner was endowed with those personal qualities which 
inspire the affection of friends, and compel the respeot of all, and 
he belonged to a family long and closely connected with the inter- 
ests and growth of this community. The family not only enjoy 
the distinction of giving their name to the city of Gardiner, but 
the higher satisfaction of having contributed largely and unin- 
terruptedly to its prosperity and culture. 

Doctor Sylvester Gardiner, the great-grandfather of the late 
Robert Hallowell, was a descendant in the fourth generation 
from Joseph Gardiner, who emigrated from England and set- 
tled in Rhode Island. Joseph was the father of Benoni, Benoni 
of William, and William of Sylvester, who, after studying medi- 
cine in Edinboro and Paris, became a physician of eminence in 
Boston, where he accumulated a fortune by the importation of 
drugs. He invested his money freely in eastern lands on the 
Keimebec river, and became the leading director, as well as pres- 
ident of the Kennebec Land Company, from which he subse- 
quently purchased the tract on the west side which bears his 
name. His principles, tastes and prejudices inclined him to side 
with the English government in the Revolution, in consequence 
of which his real and personal property was confiscated. His 
furniture and library were sold and scattered. Happily for the 
family a flaw in the legal proceedings against the estate at 
Gardinerston caused a delay in the proceedings, and peace was pro- 
claimed before a renewal of the action. After the war Doctor 
Gardiner removed to Newport, Rhode Island, where he for som6 
years practiced his profession, and died the year before the 
adoption of the constitution, one hundred and two years ago. 



296 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

Doctor Gardiner provided in his will that a part of his prop- 
erty should be sold and the proceeds be equally divided among 
his six surviving children, John excepted, whom he partly disin- 
herited as a rebel in politics, and a radical in religion. William, 
the second son, inherited the bulk of the Gardiner estate on the 
Kennebec, but died unmarried. The remaining four children 
were daughters, all of whom married. By the terms of Doctor 
Gardiner's will Gardinerston fell next to his grandson, Robert 
Hallowell, whose father had married the doctor's daughter Han- 
nah. Robert Hallowell jr., adding the name of his maternal 
grandfather to his own became Robert Hallowell Gardiner. 

Graduating at Harvard, class of 1801, he soon took up his 
residence at Gardiner, the name by which the town, which up to 
this date had. been a part of Pittston, from this time was called, a 
great improvement upon Gardinerston. For more than threescore 
years Mr. Gardiner was the leading citizen of that community, to 
whose welfare he devoted himself with a conscientious zeal and 
steadfast purpose seldom seen. Beside improving his own es- 
tate and building the beautiful Elizabethan house upon it, he 
.established the Gardiner Lyceum and erected the Episcopal 
church, whose Gothic style was at that time novel in New Eng- 
land. He also presented the town with the plot of ground 
known as the Common, now an elegant park adorned with shrub- 
bery and shade trees. 

His interest in the town continued to the day of his death in 
1864, and in Robert Hallowell jr., his third child and eldest son, 
he had a worthy successor. Of nine children six survived him, 
as in the case of Doctor Sylvester Gardiner. 

Robert Hallowell, the immediate subject of this paper, was born 
in Pittston, November 3, 1809. He died in Gardiner, September 
12, 1886, having lived seventy-seven years a long, useful, and 
-honorable life. His boyhood was healthy and happy. He grew 
up in an atmosphere of refinement, knowledge, and piety. His 
mother was a Boston Tudor, a woman of unusual mental activity 
and superior culture. His early education was under the di- 
rection of private tutors, but he subsequently entered a class in 
the Lyceum, established at Gardiner by his father ; a school simi- 
lar to and anticipating the schools of technology of the present 
day, and afterward studied at the well-known Round Hili 



ROBERT HALLOWELL GARDINER. 297 

school, Northampton, Massachusetts, in which the historian Ban- 
croft was a teacher. He was matriculated at Harvard as an ad- 
vanced student in his sophomore year, and graduated with honor, 
class of 1830. Colonel Long, an engineer of the United States 
ordnance department, induced him to adopt that profession, which 
he practiced for several years in the state of Georgia. His early 
life there was in the Cherokee country, where he was employed 
by the state in making surveys of new roads to connect Georgia 
with the farther West. 

In 1840 he returned to Maine. In 1842, he was married, at 
Newport, Rhode Island, to Sarah Fenwick, daughter of Noble 
Wymberly Jones of Savanah, Georgia, to whom he had become 
attached during his residence in that state. They lived in Gar- 
diner until the care of his wife's property required them to re- 
move to Augusta, Georgia, where he became one of its most 
active, enterprising and useful citizens. 

Following the example of his father and grandfather, he was 
soon recognized as public spirited and responsive to every reason- 
able call upon his purse, his time, and his talents. His experience 
as a civil engineer enabled him to devise plans for the sanitary 
improvement of the city, also for the protection of the river banks 
from encroachment, and especially to promote a project to im- 
prove the river for manufacturing industry. He was chiefly in- 
strumental in forming a company which gradually grew to be 
prosperous and paying, not indeed to Mr. Gardiner, but to those 
who succeed him. Mr. Gardiner labored and others entered into 
his labors, reaping the fruits of his sagacity and enterprise. But 
our friend did not limit his endeavors to the material interests of 
his adopted city. Like his father before him he built and en- 
dowed a church in a part of the city where it was much needed. 

When the Southern states seceded, Mr. Gardiner found him- 
self in a difficult and delicate position. His wife was a southern 
lady, whose family was identified with the South. Mr. Gardiner 
himself had given good proof of his regard for Augusta and Geor- 
gia, but he could not raise his hand against the Union. With 
his wife he came North on the last train that was allowed to 
pass through Tennessee, and soon after went abroad, passing the 
greater part of the following four years on foreign soil. 

On the return of peace and the death of his honored father, 



298 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Mr. Gardiner succeeded him at Oaklands, and from that time de- 
voted himself to the care of this estate as well as to the general 
interests moral and material of the community, following his father 
not with unequal steps. Apparently, years of happiness lay be- 
fore him; but a shadow soon fell upon his path, and darkened his 
household. His beloved wife was not long permitted to share 
with him the quiet and rest they had anticipated at Oaklands. 

They had never had children. Mrs. Gardiner died in 1869, 
leaving her husband to pass his widowed life alone in the stately 
mansion. Ever afterward there was a tenderness in his mannerj 
which but faintly indicated his sense of the great bereavement. 

In addition to his home duties, however, Mr. Gardiner kept up 
to the last his interest in his native city and state, occupying 
himself with various useful and pleasant pursuits. 

He was much interested in meteorology, and kept a record of 
the weather for the use of the United States government, which 
for many years he regularly transmitted to Washington. 

He was a member of the Maine Pomological Society, and for 
several years its president. As a member of the Maine Histor- 
ical Society he took an active part in its proceedings, and in 
many ways contributed to its usefulness and efficiency. As pres- 
ident of the Society he gave much time and attention to its af- 
fairs, and both personally and officially was held in the highest 
respect by all its members. 

But the cause to which Mr. Gardiner was most attached was 
that of religion and the church of his fathers. To this he freely 
gave money and time, thought, talent, influence all he had and all 
he was for it was the cause which commanded his hearty assent, 
his warmest affections, and was closely associated with all that 
was dearest to him on earth and in heaven. Of his own parish 
at Gardiner, he was, for many years and at the time of his death, 
the senior warden. 

He had also been for a long time a lay-deputy to the General 
Convention of the Protestant Episcopal church at first from 
Georgia, and after his change of residence, from Maine and at 
the time of his death was still a deputy to the convention on the 
eve of assembling. He was also treasurer of the Diocesan Mission- 
ary Society to the end, and held several other church trusts. 

We cannot close this paper without recognizing that Mr. 



ROBERT HALLOWELL GARDINER. 299 

Gardiner was singularly happy in the circumstances of his birth, 
education, temperament, and general environment. 

His form was erect, his bearing graceful and friendly, his coun- 
tenance amiable and gentle, his manners those of a cultivated 
scholar and gentleman. He was never haughty or assuming, ar- 
rogated nothing to himself, but bore himself modestly, even 
meekly. His opportunities were indeed superior to what falls to 
the common lot, and none can say that he abused them. In our 
democratic state, he was born to an affluence which might, and in 
many cases would, have proved the source of selfishness and pride 
on the one hand, and the occasion of envy and hatred on the 
other. But Mr. Gardiner bore his faculties so meekly, he was so 
considerate, modest, and gracious, that none but born Philistines 
could have cherished ill-will, envy, or malice toward one who 
evidently wished well to all, and daily did something to promote 
the happiness of his brethren of the church, the city, and the 
whole community. 

What seems especially worthy of our approval and emulation 
is Mr. Gardiner's habit of identifying himself with the two cities 
and communities in which most of his active life was passed. 
Augusta, Georgia, and Gardiner, Maine, are both the better for his 
having lived in them. If our men of wealth and position are 
truly wise in their generation, they will not fail to discover that 
to identify themselves with the permanent interests and highest 
good of their respective cities, is the safest way in which they 
can walk, and the surest road to happiness for themselves and 
for the children who shall come after them 



JOHN ADAMS IN MAINE. 301 



THE PROFESSIONAL TOURS OF 

JOHN ADAMS 

IN MAINE. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, May 28, 1885. 

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. 

UPON the reduction of Quebec, in 1759, the settlement of Maine, 
which had been long interrupted by Indian hostilities, was per- 
manently resumed. During the next year, the establishment of 
the county of Lincoln, embracing the whole territory between 
the Androscoggin and Nova Scotia, had an important influence 
in developing the resources of that section, and in rescuing its 
vast forests from almost a state of nature. The inhabitants of 
the district then numbered scarcely fifteen thousand, scattered 
along the coast from Kittery to Pemaquid; the extreme points of 
civilization being a few humble fortresses erected on the princi- 
pal rivers, as a protection from French and savage incursions. 
A little colony which clustered around one of these border de- 
fenses called Frankfort, situated opposite Swan's island, on the 
easterly bank of the Kennebec, was selected for the shire town of 
the new county, and incorporated under the name of Pownal- 
borough, in honor of Thomas Pownall, governor of Massachusetts. 
It was a large town in extent, including what are now Wiscasset, 
Dresden, Alna and Perkins, but then contained only one hundred 
and fifteen families. 

Close upon the formation of the county followed men who 
were to take a prominent part in its affairs. Here came William 
Gushing, afterward chief- justice of the commonwealth, and one 
of the judges of the United States supreme court, together with 
his brother Charles the one having been appointed judge of pro- 
bate, and the other sheriff. Jonathan Bowman of Dorchester, 
had already arrived, with a commission as register of deeds. He 
and Charles Gushing had graduated together at Harvard college 
in 1755. Another classmate, the Rev. Jacob Bailey, sent as mis- 
sionary of the Episcopal church, by the " Society for Propagating 



302 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

the Gospel in Foreign Parts," soon joned them. With others at- 
tracted by the growing prosperity of the place, " they formed a 
community," says Mr. Willis, in his " Law and Courts of Maine," 
" as enlightened as it was genial and courteous." No town in 
the district, before the revolution, was so distinguished for able 
and talented young men as Pownalborough. Indeed, it would 
be rare to find at any time, in so small a population, so many re- 
fined and educated people. 

An agreement made by the Plymouth company, which claimed 
a title to the soil on both sides of Kennebec river for fifty 
miles, to furnish county buildings, was performed in 1761, by the 
erection of a court-house, three stories high, and still a conspicu- 
ous object to those who pass by land or water. At first, no term 
of the superior court, which corresponded to the present su- 
preme court, was held, but all matters cognizable by that tribunal 
were heard at Falmouth. Two sessions of the court of common 
pleas, however annually took place. The poverty of the people, 
and the wide distance between settlements were not conducive to 
much litigation. For several years, David Sewall of York, and 
Noah Emery of Kittery, remained the only legal contemporaries 
of Judge Gushing in the whole district. Until 1774, there were 
but two regular practitioners in Falmouth. Legal business, how- 
ever, was not done exclusively by resident members of the pro- 
fession. A custom had obtained, which continued until Maine 
became an independent state, for distinguished lawyers from 
Boston to " travel the circuit," as it was called, accompanying the 
judges as they proceeded from one shire town to the other, and 
conducting many of the more important trials. 

Among those who thus penetrated the eastern wilderness, was 
John Adams, the second president of the United States. Grad- 
uating at Harvard in the same class with Gushing, Bailey, Bow- 
man and Sewall, before mentioned, he became distinguished in 
his profession at an early age. In 1765, by recommendation of 
Oxonbridge Thacher, a leading member of the Suffolk bar, he 
first visited Pownalborough, to take charge of a land case. Per- 
haps a desire to see his classmates there, with two of whom, at 
least, he had corresponded since their college days, was an addi- 
tional inducement for the journey. At that period intercourse 
was maintained almost wholly by boats, as no roads existed. It 



JOHN ADAMS IN MAINE. 303 

was not until the present century that rivers and other water- 
courses ceased to constitute the most feasible means of commu- 
nication between Maine settlements. Mr. Adams, however, 
traveled on horseback, finding his way through the woods from 
Brunswick to Fort Richmond by the aid of blazed trees. His 
biographer relates that " Pownalborough was then at almost the 
remotest verge of civilization, and it was with the utmost diffi- 
culty that he was enabled to reach it." 1 After encountering the ob- 
structions of nearly impassable roads, through an inhospitable 
region, he succeeded in arriving at the place, and gained his case, 
which was of magnitude, much to the satisfaction of the client 
who employed him. The verdict promoted his interest and rep- 
utation. It induced the Plymouth company, Doctor Gardiner, 
and other land proprietors, to retain him in their actions, which 
were numerous, causing his annual attendance at the appellate 
court in Falmouth, during the next nine years. 

The diary of Mr. Adams contains little about his PownaL 
borough visits. From his aversion to " taverns," as public houses 
were then called, he probably enjoyed the hospitalities of Sheriff 
Gushing or Mr. Bowman, both of whom lived in the open style 
of the period. He remarks that taverns through the whole Prov- 
ince were too numerous. "You will find dirt enough, and very 
miserable accomodations of lodging for yourself and horse. Yet, 
if you sit the evening, you will find the house full of people 
drinking drams, flip, toddy; carousing, swearing." Probably 
the Pownalborough " tavern " was not excepted from this gen- 
eral illustration. At one time the basement of the court house 
was used for public entertainment. A protest against such, use 
is in the Massachusetts archives, signed by attorneys, jurors, and 
others, who request a removal of the courts, if better conven- 
iences for travelers were not provided. 2 The county seat re- 
mained as originally established for thirty-four years. In 1764, 
Wiscasset became the shire town, and Pownalborough assumed 
its present name of Dresden. President Adams appears to have 

1 Increase Sumner, afterward governor of Massachusetts, visited Pownalborough, in 
1773. A letter to his brother-in-law, Colonel Cushing (N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, viii, 
109), states that the return journey to Boston, occupied eight days. 

2 A petition from Medancook and Muscongus plantations to the general court, in 1767, 
represents that strangers " have to lodge on the floor, or in barns, or sit up all night by 
the fire." Bangor Hist. Mag., ii, 158. 



304 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

retained pleasant recollections of the place. In a familiar letter to 
Judge Fulton, after retiring from public life, he writes : 

I am sorry that the name of Pownalhorough has been changed to that 
of Dresden; that of a virtuous and sensible man to that of a scene of 
frivolity. Pownall was a Whig, a friend of liberty, a lover of his country, 
and he considered North America part of his country as much as Eng- 
land, Scotland, or Ireland. 

As has been before stated, the success of Mr. Adams in his 
first Lincoln case introduced him to notice in the other Maine 
counties. Between 1765 and 1775, his name is entered on the 
docket of the superior court at Falmouth in thirty-two actions. 
Some of them were not of great importance. That of Thomas 
Childs, appellant, against Enoch Freeman, which he mentions as 
arguing in 1771, involved the sum of only ten pounds, although 
four distinguished lawyers participated in it. With Judge 
Gushing he was frequently associated as counsel. Opposed to 
them were generally Theophilus Bradbury and David Sewall, and 
occasionally David Wyer of Falmouth, James Sullivan of Bid- 
deford, Mathew Livermore of Portsmouth, Daniel Farnham of 
Newburyport and Jonathan Sewall of Boston, all eminent and 
learned advocates. The last term he attended there, was in July, 
1774, after he had been chosen a member of Congress. It was 
then that his memorable farewell interview with Jonathan Sewall, 
last named, took place. " Congenial tastes and sentiments had 
bred a warm and intimate friendship between them," says the 
biographer of Mr. Adams, " rendered interesting not only by its 
pleasing and long-continued intercourse of mutual good offices 
and kindness, but painfully so by its subsequent dissolution oc- 
casioned by the different sides which they took in the Revolution 
of Independence." They walked together upon Mun joy's hill> 
before breakfast, and earnestly discussed the great questions 
which were agitating the country. They could not convince each 
other. Mr. Adams terminated the conversation by saying, " I see 
we must part ; and with a bleeding heart I say it, I fear forever ; 
but you may depend upon it that this adieu is the sharpest thorn 
on which I ever set my foot." After this, they did not meet 
again until 1788, in London, where Mr. Adams was ambassador 
of the free American states. 

Of Mr. Adams' ten annual eastern circuits, his diary gives an 



JOHN ADAMS IN MAINE. 305 

account of only four those made in the summers of 1770, 1771^ 
1772 and 1774. The journeys were usually performed in a sulky 
or chair, but sometimes on horseback. They were relieved by 
calls upon friends along the route, and by evening gatherings of 
members of the bar in the shire towns. The latter was always 
especially congenial to Mr. Adams. His diary says : 

Many of these meetings were the mpst delightful entertainments I ever 
enjoyed. The spirit that reigned was that of solid sense, generosity, 
honor, and integrity; and the consequences were most happy; for the 
courts and the bar, instead of scenes of wrangling, chicanery, quibbling, 
and ill manners, were soon converted to order, decency, truth and can- 
dor. Judge Pratt was so delighted with these meetings and their ef- 
fects, that when we all waited upon him to Dedham, on his way to New 
York, to take his seat as chief-justice of that state, he said to us, "Breth- 
ren, above all things, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." 

Such interviews, as well as many other incidents of the circuit, 
at Kittery, York, and Falmouth, are repeatedly described by 
him. In colonial days, royalty reflected a pomp and circumstance 
upon the courts, which were in striking contrast to the simplic- 
ity of modern tribunals. The judges w r ore robes of scarlet, with 
large cambric bands and immense wigs, while the barristers had 
gowns, and also bands and tie wigs. As the judges approached the 
shire town, the sheriff met them with an escort and a flourish of 
trumpets; their arrival was announced by cannon, and the daily 
summons of the court, before bells were introduced, was by beat- 
ing a drum. Mr. Adams gives the following account of the 
reception of the court in York county, in 1774 : 

When I got to the tavern on the eastern side of Piscataquis river, I 
found the sheriff of York and six of his deputies, all with gold-laced hats, 
ruffles, swords, and very gay clothes, and all likely young men, who had 
come out to that place, ten miles, to escort the court into town. 

Mr. Adams found his frequent absences objectionable, as inter- 
rupting a regular course of thought and employment of time. 
" What plan of reading, or reflection, or business," he complains, 
writing in 1768, " can be pursued by a man who is now at Pow- 
nalborough, then at Martha's Vineyard, next at Boston, then at 
Taunton, presently at Barnstable, then at Concord, now at Salem, 
then at Cambridge, and afterward at Worcester? . . . It is 
a life of ' here and everywhere,' to use the the expression that is 
applied concerning Othello to ^Desdemona's father. Here, and 
20 



306 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

there, and everywhere, a rambling, roving, vagrant, vagabond 
life; a wandering life." How little did he then imagine that 
events were already in progress, which for nearly a coming gen- 
eration would require his almost constant separation from the 
tranquil enjoyments of home ! 

The records of the courts, and his own diary, constitute the only 
memorials of Mr. Adams' visits to Maine. Many places described 
by him would now scarcely be recognized. Most of the old 
houses where he was hospitably entertained, have, with their gen- 
erous owners, passed away. After the lapse of a century, what 
was once Pownalborough has changed less than any other locality 
which he mentions. All vestiges of the old fort have disap- 
peared, and a few stones only mark the spot where once rose the 
church and the modest mansion of the village preacher ; but the 
court house, retaining its exterior form and appearance, is still 
preserved. It is to be hoped that the good taste which has in- 
duced the present proprietor, a worthy descendant of one of the 
most prominent early settlers, to resist any attempt at modern- 
ization,, may be transmitted to his posterity, and that the an- 
cient edifice may long be spared. 



LIST O-F CASES in which the name of ADAMS appears as counsel between ' 
the years 1765 and 1775. Copied from the Minute Books of the Su- 
perior Court of Judicature. 

At Falmouth for the Counties of Cumberland and Lincoln, on the 
fourth Tuesday of June, A. D., 1769. [June 27.] 

Jos. HUTCHINGS, apt., v. JOHN BOYNTON, aplee. 

Gushing and Adams, Sewall and Bradbury. 

[Begun in 1767 but the name of Adams does not appear until 1769.] 

SYLV. GARDINER, apt., v. WIL. TYNG, aplee. 

Cashing and Adams, Sewall and Putnam. 

[Begun in 1767.] 

SYLV. GARDINER, ap. v. Jos. CARLTON & al., aplees. 

Cushing & Adams, Bradbury & Sewall. 

SYLV. GARDINER, apt, v. NATH. LORING, aplee. 

Putnam & Adams, Sewall & Bradbu ry. 

WILLIAM PHILBROOK, apt. v. ELEAZER TYNG & al., aplees. 

Adams & Wyer, Bradbury & Putnam. 

JAM. BOWDOIN, ESQ., apt., v. THOM. SPRINGER &al. aplees. 

Cushing & Adams, Sewall & Livermore. 



JOHN ADAMS IN MAINE. 



307 



ABKAM OSGOOD, apt. v. MARY HOPE, Aplee. 

Farnam & Adams, Bradbury & Livermore. 

PROPRS. OF YE KENEBECK PUECHASE apts. v. ABIEL LOVEJOY. 
Myer & Adams, Sewall & Bradbury. 



At Falmouth, Tuesday next after fourth. Tuesday of June [July 3], 
1770, 

v. 



2d PARISH IN FALMO., apts., 
Bradbury & Adams, 

JAS. BOWDOIN, ESQ., apt., 
Cushing & Adams, 

JAM. BAILEY, apt., 
Cushing & Adams, 

JOHN RANDALL, apt., 
Sewall & Adams, 

JOHN JONES, apt, 
Sewall & Bradbury, 

ELEAZER TYNG, v. 

Bradbury & Sewall, 

HEN. HODGE adr., apt. 
Cushing & Adams, 

KENEBECK PROPRS, apts. 
Cushing & Adams, 

JONA. DAVIS, v. 

Sullivan & Wyer, 

GEO. DOUTY, apt., v. 

Wyer & Gushing, 

At Famouth, July 2d, 1771. 

THOM. CHILD, apt. 
Farnam & Sewall, 

JOHN TYNG, apt, . v. 

Bradbury & Sewall, 

ANDREW TUCK, apt, 
Bradbury & Sewall, 

SYLVESTER GARDINER, apt, 
Cushing & Adams, 

MERCY PHILPOT, apt, 
Sullivan & Sewall, 

WISCASSET PROPRS, plfs, v. 
Sewall, 

At Falmouth, June 30, 1772. 

ISAAC LEVI, apt, 
Farnam & Wyer, 

WIL. ELDER & al., apt, 
Wyer & Sullivan, 



JNO. WISWALL. 

J. Sewall & Wyer. 
v. BENJ. BRANCH. 

J. & D. Sewall. 
v. THOM. BODKIN. 

Bradbury & Wyer. 
v. SAME. 

Bradbury & Wyer. 
0. JONA. COOK, aplee. 

Cushing & Adams. 
SYLVEST. GARDINER & al. 

Cushing & Adams. 
v. JOHN PATRICK. 

Bradbury & Wyer. 
v. ABIEL LOVEJOY. 

Sullivan & Wyer. 
THOM. THOMPSON. 

Bradbury & Adams. 
EPHR. JONES & al., aplees. 

Bradbury & Adams. 

v. ENOCH FREEMAN. 

Wyer & Adams. 
SYLVEST. GARDINER, & al 

Gushing & Adams. 
v. SAM. MORRILL. 

Wyer & Adams. 
v. ABIG. THOMPSON. 

Bradbury & Sewall. 
v. CHAR. GUSHING, ESQ. 

Cushing & Adams. 
PROPRS UND LAKE & CLARKE. 

Adams. 



JNO LANGDON & al. 

Sullivan & Adams. 
THOM. TROTT. 
Bradbury & Adams. 



308 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

At Falmouth, July 5, 1774. 

ENOCH FREEMAN & al. apts, v. THEOP. BKADBUKY, aplee. 

Wyer & Adams, Sullivan & Bradbury. 

JON. ANDREWS & al., apts, v. RICHARD KING, deft. 

Q. Sullivans, m Bradbury & Adams. 

RICH. KING, apt, v. JOHN STEWART & al. 

Bradbury & Adams, Q. Sullivans. 

AARON BURNAM, apt, v. Jos. LIBBEE & aplees. 

Bradbury & Adams, Sulv. & Wyer. 

According to the records the first term of the superior court of judica- 
ture for Lincoln county was held at Pownalborough on the " Second 
Tuesday next following the fourth Tuesday of June (July 11), 1786. Be- 
fore that time the court was held at Falmouth, for the counties of 
Cumberland and Lincoln. 

Hutchins v. Boynton (the first case where the name of Adams appears 
as counsel) was tried at the inferior court of common pleas held at Pow- 
nalborough, Lincoln county, on the first Tuesday of June, 1767, and 
was appealed to the superior court of judicature in the same year. 

Gardiner v. Tyng was tried at Pownalborough in the same court 
(inferior court of common pleas) on the last Tuesday of September, 1766. 
Appeal ed as above. 

Correct. 

ATTEST: 

JOHN NOBLE, 

Clerk. 



REV. EUGENE VETROMILE. 309 



REV. EUGENE VETROMILE. 

A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND PHILOLOGIC LABORS. 

BY HUBBARD WINSLOW BRYANT. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, December 21, 1883. 

THE REV. EUGENE VETROMILE, a corresponding member of this 
Society, died on the 23d of August, 1881, in his native city of Gal- 
lipolis, Italy. In his death, the world at large has lost an emi- 
tient philologist and a devoted missionary. A brief sketch of his 
life and labors may be of interest to the members of this society. 

Eugene Yetromile was the son of Pietro Vetromile and An- 
thonia Margiotta, and was born in the ancient city of Gallipolis 
on the Gulf of Tarentum in Southern Italy, February 22, 1819. 
Gallipolis is an island and connected with the main land by a 
long bridge of many arches. The origin of this city is unknown, 
but it is said to have been built centuries before the foundation 
of Rome. Greek survivors of the Trojan war are said to have 
settled in this province, and to this day the Greek language 
is commonly spoken there. Father Vetromile himself had a sort 
of Greek-Italian accent which he was never able entirely to over- 
come. 

There in his native province, and at Naples, the Father received 
his early education under the tutorship of the Reverend Doctors 
De Pace and Leopazzi, and was received into the society of Jes- 
uits in 1840, and for several years he discharged the duties of 
professor, prefect or teacher. 

I am informed by the Reverend Father Ciampi of Boston college, 
that he sailed in company with Father Vetromile from the port of 
Leghorn early in July, 1845, on board an American merchant ves- 
sel called u The Coosa." They entered the College of the Jesuit 
Fathers, at Georgetown, District of Columbia. Here Father Vet- 
romile remained for three years to complete his studies in theology, 
and was ordained priest in 1848. His first labors were at Port 
Tobacco, Maryland, and in the college at Georgetown, near 
Washington, District of Columbia. 



310 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Father Vigilante of St. Inigoes, Maryland, writes : 

I first knew the late Father Vetromile in 1842, and for six years we 
dwelt together under the same roof. I always admired his frank and 
noble character. He would disdain to use any quibbles, or indulge in 
any peevishness when contradicted, and was always of an even temper. 

During the college life of Father Vetromile he received his 
first knowledge of the language of the Abnakis, from the Rev. 
Virgil H. Barber, S. J., and in 1854 went to Bangor and Oldtown 
as a Jesuit missionary to the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy In- 
dians. Here in connection with the Rev. Father Bapst he lab- 
ored, and when the Jesuits departed from this state as a body 
he seceded from that society and remained in this state, and was 
connected with the diocese of Portland. At Oldtown he suc- 
ceeded as patriarch of the Indians, Edmund Louis Demillier, 
priest-missionary of the congregation of .Picpus, who, after twenty 
years of devotion to the Indians, yielded up his life on the 18th 
of July, 1843, and now awaits the resurrection of the just, in the 
little cemetery at Pleasant point, in the town of Perry, on the 
northeast coast of Maine. 

Father Demillier was a methodical student of the dialects of 
the Indian tribes of Maine, and a careful penman. His manu- 
scripts in the archives of the church are marvels of neatness and 
beauty. They were extensively used by Father Vetromile in his 
several compilations. For many years Father Vetromile labored 
among the Indian tribes of Maine, with an occasional respite of 
travel and journeyings abroad. In the years 1858-59 'he was pro- 
fessor of natural philosophy, chemistry, and astronomy in the Col- 
lege of the Holy Cross at Worcester, Massachusetts. During 
this time he also served at the different missions dependent upon 
that college. After leaving Oldtown, he was stationed as mis- 
sionary from 1859 to 1868 at Bangor, Ellsworth, Biddeford, East- 
port and Machias. 

He left Machias in May of 1881, intending to reside in Italy 
for two years, and then return to this country. Before leaving 
the state he had accepted an invitation from our Society to de- 
liver an address here on the Indian tribes of Maine, but found, 
that, as he must spend so much time in reviewing his dictionary, 
in manuscript, of the Abnaki language in the bureau of ethnol- 
ogy, in Washington, he could not spare the time to remain over 
and make the promised address. 



REV. EUGENE VETROMILE. 311 

His literary style is easy and colloquial, and his devotion 
to the church of Rome is everywhere apparent in his writings. 
In contemplating the pulpit from which Calvin preached at Ge- 
neva, he says, " Calvin established the doctrines of Puritanism, 
which soon spread in France, Germany and England, and was 
unfortunately imported into this country by the Mayflower." In 
another place he says, " Gallipolis received the Catholic faith 
from the Apostle St. Peter, who was in this neighborhood three 
times ; the city and entire province take great pride, and with 
good reason, in the fact, that, having once received the true 
faith from St. Peter they have kept it faithfully to this day." 

Gallipolis being a Greek city the practice of religion there was 
formerly according to the Greek ritual ; but that is now abolished 
and the Latin form of worship prevails, although many Greek 
customs and practices remain. 

In his travels in Europe, Father Vetromile gives the origin of 
the word Acadia as an Indian word of the Micmac tribes, mean- 
ing our dwelling, or where we live. " That was not the name 
by which the Indians called it, but it was called so by the French, 
who, hearing the Indians saying Akadie, we live there, there 
are our dwellings very naturally took that expression for the 
name of the country. 

He contributed two articles for our collections viz. Article 
nine, volume vi, on " the Abnaki Indians," which was prefaced by 
a brief memoir of the writer by the Rev. Dr. Ballard, and Article 
nineteen, volume vii, on " Acadia and its Aborigines." He pub- 
lished a ritual for worship and religious instruction in the various 
Abnaki dialects, called " The Good Book." He compiled a 
Book of Hymns and Prayer Songs, published in 1$59. This, as 
he says in the introduction, is not only to give some practical in- 
struction on church music, to aid the native Americans to sing the 
praise of the Lord according to the different rites of the Catholic 
church, but also to preserve several unwritten native tunes, kept 
by them only in tradition. 

The " Stations of the Cross," and a volume of " Bible Stories " 
were also prepared bv Father Yetromile for the use of the In- 
dians. For several years he prepared pictorial calendars for the 
use of his native pupils. They were termed " Sande Awikhigan." 
We have them for these years, 1861, 1862, 1871, 1873, 1874, 1875 



312 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

1876. It appears that Father Vetromile believed the Micmac 
tribes to be a portion of the Abnakis. We learn that they are 
not so regarded by the Penobscots, neither were they so regarded 
as such by Father Rale, who gives a list of the villages of the 
Abnaquis in his writings. His history of the Abnakis, published 
in New York in 1866, has already become a scarce book and is 
now seldom to be met with. It was advertised to be sold for the 
benefit of the Indians. It is dedicated to Bishop David W. Ba- 
con of Portland, and is an interesting little work of one hundred 
and seventy pages. 

In 1867 Father Vetromile left the city of Biddeford, Maine, to 
travel in Europe and the Holy Land, and published his travels in 
two volumes, in 1871. 

In 1876 he started on another tour around the world, and pub- 
lished, in 1880, an account of his travels under the title of " A 
Tour in Both Hemispheres," or " Travels Around The World," 
A copy of this work he sent for this Society's library, together 
with a box containing his own manuscript notes, three small 
quarto volumes and loose sheets, letters from John G. Shea, and 
other scholars, also fifty or more letters that he had received 
from the lamented Rev. Dr. Edward Ballard, a former secretary 
of our Society. The crowning effort of Father Vetromile's lit- 
erary labors is his dictionary. For a quarter of a century he had 
worked upon it, during the intervals of his labors as a priest and 
missionary. 

Mr. James C. Pilling, the chief clerk of the bureau of ethnol- 
ogy, connected with the Smithsonian Institue, has kindly sent me 
from his catalogue an extract referring to this dictionary, which 
is as follows : 

Vetroraile (Rev. Eugene). A dictionary of the Abnaki language, En- 
glish-Abnaki and Abnaki-English. Three volumes, folio. Material col- 
lected by Father Yetromile while a missionary among the Abnakis, dur- 
ing- the years 1855 to 1873. Volume I, pp. 1 to 573 contains prefatory 
remarks, description of the alphabet used, synopsis of the Abnaki lan- 
guage, including brief grammatical remarks', a table of abreviations and 
the Abnaki-English dictionary, from A to H inclusive. 

Volume n, pp. 3 to 595 contains farther remarks on the grammar and 
a continuation of the Abnaki-English dictionary, I to Z inclusive. The 
dictionary in each of these volumes is divided into four columns. The 
first contains words from the Abnaki dictionary of the Rev. Father 
Rasles; the second, words in the Penobscot; the third, Mareschit; and 
the fourth, Micmac. 

Volume in, pp. 1 to 791 contains the Abnaki English dictionary A to 
Z, and includes words in the Penobscot, Etchimin, Mareschit, Micmac, 
Montagnie and Passamaquoddy dial ects. 



EARLY HISTORY OF DRESDEN. 313 



LEAVES FROM THE EARLY HISTORY OF 
DRESDEN. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, March 87, 1880. 

BY CHARLES E. ALLEN. 

I PROPOSE to speak of the ancient history of a quiet Maine 
town ; but am aware of the fact that this section, like most of our 
municipalities, has no real antiquity. The interest w T hich centers 
about Plymouth rock is felt rather on account of events which fol- 
lowed, and in which the little company of farmers and artisans, 
who sought a winter home on the shore of Plymouth bay, were 
actors, together with their descendants, than by reason of the 
remoteness of the period in which the acts recorded transpired. 

I am of those who find themselves fully in sympathy with the 
spirit of a sentiment expressed by the late John A. Poor, when 
he remarked in substance that much of the interest, which had 
been made to cluster about the history of Plymouth, belonged at 
least in equal degree to the history of our own state. In claim- 
ing this, it is neither our wish nor within our power to detract in 
the least from the little band of wanderers, who signed the his- 
toric compact in the cabin of the" Mayflower "; and then founded 
a colony in the wilderness of Massachusetts. We may truthfully 
assert, that our Maine wilderness became at a later period the 
home of wanderers whom religious intolerance and persecution 
forced from sunny France with far greater severity, than that 
which drove the humble artisans who formed the congregation o 
John Robinson from England via Leyden, to America. If " civ- 
ilized New England is the child of English Puritanism," as Palfrey 
has said, it is also true that all America, from Maine to the Car- 
olinas, felt the refining influence of the Protestant movement in 
France. 

. The result of the revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis 
xiv was to give to America many Huguenot (a nickname) ref- 
ugees, who in turn bequeathed to us many honored names, such 
for instance as Jay, Bayard, Guion, Laurens, Bedell, Dupuy 



314 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

and others. A small colony of these wanderers settled on the 
banks of the Kennebec river ; and I now ask your attention, 
while we briefly examine some of the annals of the section in 
which they settled annals too well authenticated to leave room 
for a reasonable doubt as to their absolute truthfulness. 

The territory, which comprises the present town of Dresden, 
orignally formed a portion of the Kennebec tract sold by the In- 
dians to Christopher Lawson in 1649, and which was conveyed 
by Lawson to Lake and others in 1650. Tradition says that it 
was first settled about 1630 ; and as some of our coast towns were 
comparatively prosperous trading-posts at evon an earlier date, it 
is not improbable that pioneers occupied temporary habitations 
within the district, which then included the present towns of Dres- 
den, Wiscasset, Alna, and Perkins, as early as the date mentioned. 

It was not, however, until the year 1752, that several French 
Huguenot wanderers, induced by liberal offers made them by 
representatives of the Plymouth proprietors, and by the success 
which had attended the efforts of some of their German brethren 
in the present town of Waldoborough, settled within the limits of 
the present Dresden. Like the Puritans at Plymouth one hun- 
dred and thirty-two years earlier, they were people possessed of 
that peculiar practical intelligence, which is characteristic of in- 
dividuals belonging to the so-called middle classes of society. 
The cabin of the " Mayflower," beside other artisans, sheltered at 
least one tailor ; the vessel which brought our Huguenot wan- 
derers from Boston to the Kennebec, brought hither, with other 
artisans, at least one French lace- weaver. 

Charles Estinay Houdelette, a weaver of lace, fled from France 
to Germany, leaving a web in his loom. He was a French Prot- 
estant, or Huguenot, who, with others like him, settled on the 
bank of Eastern river in 1752. Eastern river the Mundus- 
cottook of the Indians is a winding, navigable tributary of the 
Kennebec, which divides the present Dresden into two nearly 
equal parts. On the banks of this picturesque stream, a mile and 
a half east from the present village of Richmond, and near what 
is known locally as the Middle Bridge, the little party of wand- 
erers erected habitations. In their new home they engaged 
chiefly in agriculture, although some of them from being veavers 
of lace in France, easily became weavers of linen fabrics in this 



EARLY HISTORY OF DRESDEN. 315 

wilderness country. Samples of these fabrics are still held by 
their descendants as heirlooms, and they rival in fineness the 
product of famous looms. 

I have often wondered what sentiment prompted these wan- 
derers to give their wilderness plantation the German name of 
Frankfort. Possibly they saw in the winding Eastern river a 
copy of the Main ; and believed that their descendants might see 
the beautiful meadows within its narrow valley, walled as they 
are by hills of sufficient height to command views of the distant 
White Mountains, the home of a population as prosperous as was 
that of the German city. The Kennebec may have suggested to 
them the Rhine. 

In 1754 these settlers united with their brethren of George- 
town, styling themselves a collection of Protestants from Great 
Britain, Ireland, France, and Germany, in asking the Venerable 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts that 
a missionary be sent them. On the recommendation of Governor 
Shirley and others Mr. Macclenaghan was sent them, on a salary 
of fifty pounds, or about two hundred and fifty dollars. He re- 
mained in Frankfort a little more than two years. 

November 24, 1759, these settlers again petitioned for a min- 
ister. This petition bore, with others, the name of Charles Es- 
tinay Houdelette, together with such unmistakably French 
names as Pechui, Pochard, Shoul, Jacqueen, and the German 
Mayer, together with the Scotch McGown, many of which names, 
more or less Anglicised, are borne by residents of Dresden today. 

Popular historians say that Dresden was settled by Germans ; 
but while the German element was represented, especially at a 
later period, Rev. Jacob Bailey was evidently correct when he 
declared that Dresden was really settled by the French. Fami- 
lies are able to trace their ancestry as clearly as did the lady who 
showed me the evidence that Charles Estinay Houdlette was twice 
married in France; that his first wife's surname was Guliver; 
that she was niece to a duke ; that their four children were 
named respectively Lucy, Martha, Mary and Louis. The second 
wife was Susannah McCray, who had for children Jane, Mary, 
Dolly and Catherine. 

The petition of 1759 was answered by sending them Rev. 
Jacob Bailey, above referred to, in 1760. Mr. Bailey was a na- 



316 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

tive of Rowley, Massachusetts ; was a graduate of Harvard, in 
1755; was a classmate of John Adams, of Charles Gushing and 
Jonathan Bowman. He went to England to take holy orders,* 
and came to Frankfort immediately on his return. Here he con- 
tinued to labor until the troublous times incident to the war of 
the Revolution, drove him, a loyalist, to Nova Scotia, in 1779, 
where he died in 1808. He seems to have been a man of supe- 
rior intelligence, with ideas and morals in advance of most of those 
by whom he was surrounded. A sketch of his life, the compara- 
tively well-known volume, entitled " The Frontier Missionary," 
published in Boston, in 1853, 1 is a valuable contribution to the 
history of the times and of the section in which he labored. 

Fort Shirley, sometimes called Fort Frankfort, was erected in 
1754. Its site was a few rods distant from the structure well- 
known as the old court house of Pownalborough. At least one lady 
still living in Dresden, and now ninety-one years of age, remem- 
bers playing about its partly ruined timbers when a child. This 
structure sheltered the first congregation gathered in Frankfort 
to participate in religious services under the ritual of the Church 
of England, although no doubt that the Jesuits Andron, Bigot, 
and possibly Ralle and others, had long ere this celebrated mass 
within the limits of this town, with a congregation of Indians as 
worshipers. 

In 1760, the county of Lincoln was formed; and Frankfort 
plantation, having become the new town of Pownalborough, was 
made its shire town. The last official act of Governor Thomas 
Pownal was to sign the act creating the new town, named in 
honor of himself. Charles Sumner, in " Prophetic Voices," calls 
Governor Pownal the purest and best of the old colonial govern- 
ors, and perhaps the least known. He signed the charter of the 
new town February 13, 1760. In 1761 the Plymouth company, 
or rather the proprietors of the Plymouth patent, erected the 
building for the courts. This, known as " the old court house," 
now occupied as a dwelling, is a conspicuous object on the east- 
ern bank of Kennebec river, some two miles above the village of 
Richmond. The structure sheltered Mr. Bailey's congregation 
nearly ten years, or until 1770, when the edifice known as St. 
John's church, Pownalborough, situated on an eminence a little 

1 This is probably the volume referred to in the letter of John H. Sheppard, copied in 
our Historical memoranda in this number. 



EAELY HISTORY OF DRESDEN. 317 

back from the Kennebec, was so far completed as to be occupied for 
the first time November 4. This structure long ago disap- 
peared, together with the parsonage-house adjacent, although the 
site, with the graves in the churchyard, is distinctly traceable ; 
but it has been succeeded by a modern edifice at Dresden Mills 
village, where Episcopal services are still sometimes conducted. 

In 1765, a young attorney, thirty years of age, named John 
Adams, afterward second president of the United States, at- 
tended court in the old court house, as counsel for the Plymouth 
company. He experienced ^great difficulty on his journey, in- 
cluding falling sick by the way, but finally reached here, gained 
his case, and became counsel for the company in all their cases on 
the Kennebec. He felt great interest in the place, then " at the 
remotest verge of civilization" as he expressed it. In 1817, in a 
letter to William Tudor, he expressed great regret that its name 
had been changed from Pownalborough to Dresden. 

June 25, 1794, that part of the town, known as the west pre- 
cinct of Pownalborough, was incorporated as Dresden, the name 
being proposed by Doctor Ernst Frederick Philip Theobald. 
Doctor Theobald was born in a small town in the Grand Duchy 
of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, December 2, 1750, and graduated at 
the then celebrated university of Gottingen, in 1774. He was 
chaplain and surgeon in that division of General John Burgoyne's 
army, which was under the immediate command of the Baron de 
Riedesel. Burgoyne's triumphal march from Quebec via lakes 
Champlain and George, ended in surrender to the American Gen- 
erals Gates and Arnold at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. Baron 
Riedesel is mentioned by Massachusetts historians as among the 
prisoners of war paroled at Winter Hill, in the present city of 
Somerville. The house on Brattle street, in Cambridge, where 
the Baroness scratched her name with the diamond of her ring 
on a pane of glass, was standing a short time ago, and I presume 
is to this day. The young German physician, Doctor Theobald, 
was paroled with the baron, and hearing of the German colo- 
nies at Waldoborough and at Pownalborough, he came to Maine, 
where tradition says he at first ministered to the spiritual needs 
of his countrymen, in their native tongue in the old Lutheran 
church still standing in Waldoborough. Certain it is that he af- 
terward settled in Pownalborough, where he was married to Sally 



318 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Rrttal by Jonathan Bowman, Esq., in 1781, and where he prac- 
ticed medicine, was a yearly toll-payer over the lower bridge in 
Dresden, and where he died in 1808. His descendants still live 
in Dresden and vicinity. 

The French army sent to America in 1780, to aid the colonists, 
and which was under the command of Count de Rochambeau, 
contributed Major John Polereczky to the number of early set- 
tlers in Dresden. He was town clerk for fifteen years, and lived 
on the east bank of Eastern river, which stream was for a while 
called the Sydney, 1 know not why. 

William Willis, in " History of the Law, Courts, and Lawyers 
of Maine," says, " No place in Maine, previous to the Revolution 
was so distinguished for its able and talented young men as Pow- 
nalborough." He mentions Bailey, Gushing, Langdon, Bowman, 
Bridge, and others. I have already mentioned Rev. Jacob Bailey. 
William Gushing was born in Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1733, 
graduated at Harvard in 1751, removed to Pownalborough, and 
became the first judge of probate for Lincoln county. He was 
judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, in 177*2, and in 
1789 was appointed by President Washington judge of the 
United States supreme court. Jonathan Bowman was the second 
judge of probate for Lincoln, and also clerk of the courts. Ed- 
mund Bridge, fifth in line of descent from the Puritan John 
Bridge, who about 1635 was deacon of the first church in Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, settled in Pownalborough in 1760. In 
1782, Governor Hancock appointed him sheriff of Lincoln county, 
which office he held over thirty years. His oldest son James, 
born in Pownalborough in 1765, read law with Theophilus Par- 
sons, in company with John Quincy Adams. Edmund's fourth 
son, Samuel, was the father of Samuel James Bridge, born in 
Dresden in 1809 (June 1). Samuel James Bridge was a mer- 
chant in Boston, and United States appraiser there. Afterward 
he held the office of appraiser-general for the Pacific coast. He 
is today a resident of Dresden, and is closely connected with the 
interests of the old town. He is known, as the donor, among 
other generous gifts, of the statue of John Harvard to the 
grounds of Harvard college, a few years since, and he is at pres- 
ent interested in educational projects in his native town of 
Dresden. 



EARLY HISTORY OF DRESDEN. 319 

The question is not an important one, and yet there is some 
historic interest attached to it, did Arnold visit Pownalborough ? 
Willis says he did, and such is the tradition in the Bridge and 
other Dresden families. And yet some have thought the state- 
ment of sufficient importance to question its accuracy. In the 
first volume of Collections of the Maine Historical Society is a 
special account of Arnold's expedition up the Kennebec, which 
says that on the 20th of September, 1775, the expedition came to 
anchor opposite to Pownalborough, and above Swan island. 
Rev. Mr. Bailey, who, with his little congregation, varying from 
twenty-five to seventy-five persons, was much disturbed by its 
presence in the river, alludes to it, although a special account 
written by him was never published. Certainly it is more than 
probable that Mr. Willis' account is absolutely correct, as at that 
time Pownalborough was the most important place on the Ken- 
nebec. Edmund Bridge contributed to the funds of the expedi- 
tion, which was for that period a most difficult as well as a 
brilliant undertaking. 

It is certain that Prince Talleyrand visited Maine in 1794. No 
doubt that he tarried for a night in the Bridge house, which is 
still standing in Dresden. North, in his " History of Augusta," 
says that a young Frenchman, supposed to be the Duke of Or- 
leans, afterward King Louis Philippe, accompanied him. There 
is some doubt, however, about the Duke of Orleans leaving 
France until the year 1796, although it is certain that he did 
visit America, and probably, as Mr. Bridge claims, he also tar- 
ried at the Bridge mansion, which at that time served as a sort of 
relay house between the then important port of Wiscasset and 
the interior settlements along the Kennebec. 

Dresden contributed a delegate to the convention which met 
in Portland, in 1819, to frame a constitution for the proposed new 
state of Maine. This delegate was Captain Isaac Lilly, who oc- 
cupied a farm next north of my own, or near the locality known 
as Cedar Grove. My own farm was formerly owned and occu- 
pied by a Revolutionary -soldier Solomon Blanc'hard. 

I have indicated a few of the milestones set along the path- 
way of the local historian, who may at some 'future time interest 
himself in the romantic annals of a section, into which the stud- 
ent has thus far failed to do more than give a superficial glance^ 



320 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

For although I have confined my remarks to Dresden, equal inter- 
est attaches to a large section, of which this town is but a small, 
although a very important part. My sketch could not be ex- 
haustive, even had I time to make it so. Many of the facts are 
known to some of you already. I believe that others, which I 
have presented, are entirely new to you. I trust that all have 
proved to be interesting to you, as they certainly are to me. 



HISTOEICAL MEMOKANDA. 321 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 

TRACES OF TALLEYRAND IN MAINE. 

IN the April number of this publication are comments upon a tradition 
mentioned in the editorial columns of the " Machias Union," of the visit 
to Maine, as early as 1794, of the famous diplomatist, Talleyrand. Edward 
H . Daveis Esq. of this city, son of the distinguished and honored early 
member of the Maine Historical Society, Charles S. Daveis, has presented 
to that Society two letters, which we publish, in which further traces 
appear of the visit to Maine of the famous Frenchman. The first is from 
Judge Nathan Weston, grandfather of the present Chief- Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court, and is as follows : 

AUGUSTA, January 18, 1854. 
Dear Sir : 

In 1794, if I am right in my reckoning as to time, when I was twelve 
years old, Talleyrand with another French gentleman, spent a few days 
in what is now Augusta, then a part of Hallowell. He was known to 
have been a man of high rank, and a distinguished actor in the French 
revolution, although the more salient parts of his character had not then 
been fully developed. My curiosity was strongly excited, and I had 
many opportunities of seeing him, and noticing his appearance, bearing 
and deportment, which are strongly impressed on my memory. 

He was thin, his complexion dark and sallow, his countenance highly 
intellectual, indicating deep thought, with an ai r grave and abstracted. 
He was lame and walked in the streets with one arm locked in that of 
his French companion, aided by a cane, in his other hand. 

It was then understood that he did not speak English. His companion 
did. While they were together he inquired of me where they could get 
some apparatus for angling in the river. He had all the amenity which 
belongs to his nation; but Talleyrand uniformly preserved, when I saw 
him, an imperturbable gravity. 

His habit of reserve could be more easily maintained, while it 
was understood that he did not speak English, and he might hope that 
from this belief others might speak more freely in his presence. He had 
been a year in a diplomatic capacity in England, and I am well advised 
that he could speak our language, when he chose to do so. 

When in Philadelphia, he was a frequent visitor at the house of Gen. 
Kiiox, then secretary of war. His oldest daughter, afterward Mrs. 
Thacher, stated to me that she had often conversed with Talleyrand in 
English. On one occasion she spoke favorably to him of a young gen- 
tleman, who had just withdrawn. He did not appear to sympathize 
with her in opinions, but said in reply : " He is very tall." 
21 



322 MAIXE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Mr. Benjamin Vaughan did not come to Hallowell until two or three 
years after Talleyrand was here. 

By the same mail, you will receive a paper,* containing some remi- 
niscences written by me, in which Talleyrand is mentioned. 
Very truly yours, 

NATHAN WESTON.. 
HON. CHAELES S. DAVEIS. 

Judge Weston's personal description, answers to what is known of 
Talleyrand. An accident of his childhood made him lame for life, and it 
was this which determined him to a clerical career, for which his char- 
acter and ambitions ill fitted him, instead of the military career open to 
him by his patrician birth. 

In 1809 when Napoleon's splendid fortune begun to show signs of ap- 
proaching eclipse, the wily minister, with his sagacity to read the signs 
of the times and his instinct to be on the winning side, had given such 
indications of defection, that his imperious master reproached him with 
having received all his fortunes at his hands, with the chief guilt of the 
murder of the Due d'Enghien, with having enriched himself by specu- 
lating in stocks, and receiving bribes from foreign powers. The crafty 
prince received this torrent of angry reproof in impressive silence, and 
only remarked "when he was out of the room and limping away," 
" What a pity that such a great man has been so badly brought up." 

But the courteous "French companion," upon whose arm the lame 
man leaned, was he Louis Philippe, the citizen king? .The Machias tra- 
dition, as has been seen, declares that these two famous men were fellow 
travelers in Maine. Hon. Charles E. Allen in his paper in this number, 
"Leaves from the Early History of Dresden," says they were believed 
to have been together in Hallowell. 

Judge Weston would have been likely to have mentioned the French 
king, if there was any prevalent belief in the place of his early residence, 
that he was the companion of the great diplomatist. But he describes a 
person whose courtly manners might well have been acquired in the 
society of the high nobility of France. 

It is a matter of historic certainty that Louis Philippe spent some 
time in the United States, and there is a tradition afloat that he kept 
school here. The distressed prince might have accepted pecuniary or 
other aid from some American citizen, for which he insisted on giving 
same equivalent in French lessons to the daughters of his benefactor. He 
would hardly have been eligible as a schoolmaster for any such schools 
as w ere in vogue here in 1794. 

Louis Philippe, although his father the Duke of Orleans had gone 
recklessly into the revolution, had assumed the title of Egalite and as a 
member of the convention had voted for the death of his cousin, the 
king, could never atone for his kingly blood. When the Terrorists be- 
came suspicious of everybody, even their own associates, they sent old 

*I have not been able to find the paper referred to. 

E. H. DAVEIS. 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 323 

Egalitt to the guillotine, and proscribed his son. Dumouriez, the repub- 
lican general, whose victories over the allies came near making him the 
Napoleon of the revolution, meeting one defeat, had incurred the sus- 
picion of the jealous cabal that dominated France, and was also pro- 
scribed. He went into exile, taking with him Louis Philippe, then only 
twenty years old, as a companion. This was after 1793. 

It is known that Dumouriez went first to Brussels, then to England. 
If the young prince was with him and came to America, he would have 
been quite likely to have been in England, at the end of January, 1794, 
when Talleyrand was sent out of the country by orders in council and 
sailed for America with letters to the English minister at Washington, 
and to have there, left Dumouriez and joined Talleyrand on his voyage 
to the United States. 

The probability seems then quite strong that the companion of Talley- 
rand in his route through Maine in 1794 was the French sovereign. 

The other letter referred to is from John H. Sheppard, a member of 
the Massachusetts legislature in 1854, but apparently born in Maine, 
perhaps at Wiscasset. It is also addressed to Mr. Daveis, senior and is 
as follows : 

Ho. OF REP. 

BOSTON, Jan'y 30, 1854. 
CHARLES S. DAVEIS, ESQ. 

Dear Sir: I have been much engaged in the legislature, or would 
have replied to your favor of the twentieth inst. before. 

I am obliged to you for your good opinion of my notice in the "Boston 
Journal" of Mr. Bartlett's graphic biography of Jacob Bailey. Subjects 
touching the early history of Maine have long been interesting to me, and 
I have long thought that the flourishing state of Maine where so much 
of my life was passed contains a mine of rich matter for the lover of 
the past. 

As to Talleyrand I wish I could give you some information. When a 
boy I had often heard of his visiting Hallowell, where my father for- 
merly resided and being at Judge Bobbins Chandler Bobbins, Esq. t 
afterward judge of the C. C. Pleas, and that he came by the way of 
Wiscasset, where he arrived, I think, in one of General Wood's ships. 
Of the last fact I will ascertain for you more particularly the first oppor- 
tunity. 

But you labor under a mistake about Talleyrand's coming to this 
country in a vessel commanded by my father Judge Western ( Weston) 
was altogether in error. My father I suspect was not in Maine at that 
time, nor Dr. Yaughan, with whom he was very intimate. The fact is 
my father was educated in London as a merchant, and after visiting 
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, finally settled in Hallowell, and 
there for years was in trade and connected with Charles Vaughan, Esq. 
brother of Dr. Vaughan. Being unfortunate in business, about the first 
of this century, he gave up his store and took charge as supercargo, of a 
ship to the East Indies, and afterward in subsequent voyages with an 



324 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

experienced mate took the command himself of a ship. From this per- 
haps originated Judge Weston's mistake. 

When I visit Wiscasset I will try and get more particular information 
on this subject. 

I am pleased to hear your health is so much re-established. 

With respect, yours truly, 

JOHN H. SHEPPABD. 

Mr. Sheppard's letter effectually contradicts a part of the Hallowell 
rumor, that Talleyrand arrived in Wiscasset in a ship of General Wood, of 
which Captain Sheppard was master. It leaves standing the reputation, 
apparently reported by Judge Weston, that Wiscasset was the port 
of the United States of the disembarkation of the French exiles. 

But that too is probably erroneous. The Machias people have as dis- 
tinct a tradition of Talleyrand in their town as the Hallowell people 
have of his sojourn in their settlement. Of course in the littlfe commun- 
ity they were much talked about, and as they arrived in Augusta 
(Hallowell) from Wiscasset, known to be a place at which ships arrived 
from foreign ports, it was very likely that a conjecture should have 
obtained that the distinguished visitors landed there. Of course it was 
undoubtedly essential in 1796 as well as it is in 1890, that every Yankee 
should be informed by every stranger he encountered, Where he came 
from ? and as this common inquiry was baffled by the reticence of the 
older traveler and not likely to be answered against his cautious advice 
by the younger, the conjecture had to take the place of the fact in the 
completed history. 



CAPT. ABRAHAM PEBBLE'S COMPANY, 1703. 

The accompanying list of Captain Treble's company I have copied from 
the original memorandum in his own handwriting, which has been 
loaned to me by the Hon. J. Wingate Thornton, to whom it belongs. 

The writer, Abraham Preble, was the son of Nathaniel, and grandson 
of Abraham and Judith (Tilden) Preble, the common ancestors of all of 
the name in America, and should not be confounded with his uncle 
Abraham, born 1642, died 1714, aged seventy-two, who was also as it is 
inscribed on his tombstone, " Capt of the Town" of York. He doubt- 
less relinquished that military office before 1703, on account of his age 
(sixty-one), in favor of his nephew. The latter was many years and 
until within a year of his death the town clerk. Many pages of the 
town records are in his handwriting, or attested by his signature, iden- 
tical with the handwriting and signature of the original memorandum. 
The blue slate headstone over his grave in the old burial ground in 
York, was in excellent preservation when I saw it abotvt two weeks 
since, and bears the following inscription : 

Here lies buried ye body of Mr. Abram. Preble, Esq., and Capt. in ye town and judge 
in ye County of York, he served his country in other various posts and at ye time of his 
death, which was on March 14, 1723, in ye 50th year of his age, he sustained no less than 
nine offices of honor and public trusts for the town County and province. 



HISTORICAL MEMORANDA. 325 

He was the third Judge Preble. Descendants from him of the name 
are still living in York. 

The following letter, dated July 4, 1719, from him to Captain Pepper- 
ill, copied from the original, may be of interest. 

YORK, July ye 4th 1719 
Capt Pepperill 

Pr dont Let my Sloop Come home with out a piece of a Sheet Cable, pray you 
to Put forward to Git one Cost what it will, pleasd to help my People with a Little vit- 
tles to bring them home: desird you to make the former your one bisness and with dud 
Respect your humble Servant 

ABRAM. PREBLE 
Pray Set your head to work 
and Let Good Will be at home. 

To 

Capt William Pepperill 
in^Kittery 
p Mr. Burrill 

QUERY. Was the name of this sloop " The Good Will," and this postscript a pun upon 
her name? 

The company list is interesting as it probably comprises the names of 
the flower of York, or of the young men at that date, Captain Preble be- 
ing only twenty-nine years of age, capable of bearing arms in its defense 
against the Indians, who ten years before had slaughtered so many in- 
habitants and destroyed so much of the town. 

Truly Yours, 

GEO. HENRY PREBLE. 
Portland, Me., September 4, 1876. 

LIST OF CAPT PREBLE' s COMPANY, 1703. 

Lieut. Lewis Bane, John G-ipson, 

Sargt. William Bats, *Samuel Gurney, 

Sargt. Josiah Kidgs, John Nornel, 

Sargt. Nathan Lord, Antony Barks, 

Corp'l. Thamas Pool, Joseph Young, 

Corp'l. Josiah Bridges. *John Whitney, 

Joseph Waite, William Bryer, 

Ephrim Child, George Nutt, 

Timothy Whittney, *Nathaniel Ailing, 

Peter Bats, Joshua Hubard, 

Samuel Wattkins, Joshua Brimhorne, 

Samuel Everit, Rebert Muncon, 

Ebenezer Tucker, * Robert Harris, 

* Joseph Smith, *Simyan Merrifield, 

James Hill, Sollom on Rose, 

*Isaac Pronender, John Redhead, 

Nathaniel Whittney, Abraham Batting, 

John Perrey, Clerk, Elishea Ailing, 

BARWICK, Nouemr ye nth. 1703. 

This may cirtyfie whome it may Conceirn that the aboue written is the 
Tru and faithful List of all Her Majesty's souldirs und^my comand 
Erors exsepted. 

Wittness, 

ABRA M PREBLE, Capt. 



326 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



BOOK NOTICES. 

HlSTOEY OF RUMFOED. 1 

DE. WILLIAM B. LAPHAM, a valuable and efficient member of the 
Maine Historical Society, has completed and published since our last 
quarterly number, his history of the town of Rumford, in Oxford 
County, Maine, a handsome octavo volume of four hundred and forty- 
eight pages. It is the pride of our Society, and the vindication of its just 
claim to the liberal suppport of our fellow-citizens, that it stimulates 
and encourages this kind of literary work. The histories of so many of 
our Maine towns, every year added to by the industry ^,nd research of 
patient and competent investigators, that form such valuable contribu- 
tions to our own .library and to that of the state, the towns, the col- 
leges and the public schools, are furnishing for the annalist, the statis- 
tician and the historian precious materials to make the general history 
of the future accurate and complete. In the accumulation of details 
there must be, of course, many things that it is best to forget, as well as 
some things that it is well to remember; but the student, properly 
equipped for his task, if the materials are ample and the record un- 
broken, will know which to use and which to omit, where all the data 
are collected, fitly arranged and carefully indexed. 

The physical feature that marks the region, and that which doubtless 
attracted the first settlers to it, is the Androscoggin river, which, in 
passing across the township from west to east, a straight line of seven 
miles, measures in its windings over eleven miles in a series of cascades, 
the principal of which in the lower part of the town has a total fall in a 
mile's distance, of about one hundred and sixty-three feet. When we 
consider the multitude and great height of its falls many of them 
now utilized for machinery the breadth and fertility of its intervales, 
the grandeur of the mountains that overhang its headwaters, and the 
extensive and picturesque lakes the delight of sportsmen and tour- 
ists that supply its equable currents, the Androscoggin must be re- 
garded as by far the most interesting and beautiful river in Maine, if 
not in the United States. 

Dr. Lapham does not think the corporate name of the town was 
selected to honor Count Rumford, but rather that when the distin- 
guished savant, Benjamin Thompson, a proprietor, though never a set- 
tler in the town, had a title conferred upon him for his political and 
scientific services, he selected a name meant to honor his native town, 
Concord, New Hampshire, which was first incorporated under the name 
of Rumford. 

1 History of Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, from its first settlement in 1779, to the 
present time. By William B. Lapham, Augusta. Press of the " Maine Farmer," 1890. 



BOOK NOTICES. 327 

It might even be conjectured, from some of the racy anecdotes told by 
the doctor of the adventures and perils into which some of the settlers 
ran in their pursuit across a dangerous river, of their favorite potation 
that there was a premeditated purpose of honoring the name of the 
popular beverage in the name of their town. The fact, however, is that 
the name was imposed upon them by the discretion of the legislature, 
the towns-folks having petitioned to be incorporated under the insignifi- 
cant name of China; and however much the stimulus of strong drink 
may have contributed to solace the pioneers under the hardships of 
their primitive life in the wilderness, it is probable that it was an 
equally potent element for good or evil in the settlement of every other 
old town in Maine. 

Rumford, Maine, was settled by a colony from Concord, New Hamp- 
shire, originally called Pennacook, but incorporated as Rumford, and 
the migration happened in this wise. Pennacook had been granted 
by the General Court of Massachusetts as a part of that colony's lands, 
on the usual conditions, to a number of families in 1725, who had set- 
tled upon and partly cleared it. But the government of New Hamp- 
shire, organized under the proprietary rights of Mason and Gorges, 
granted the same territory in 1727 to Jonathan Wiggin and one .hundred 
and six others, who in 1733 commenced proceedings to dislodge the 
Massachusetts settlers. 

The disputed title was referred for settlement to King George the Second, 
who, in 1740, decided in favor of the New Hampshire grant. Then the in- 
habitants who had procured incorporation as the town of Rumford, peti- 
tioned the General Court for indemnity, and were granted the present 
township of Rumford in Maine in compensation for the New Hampshire 
lands they had lost. 

The proprietors held their meetings in Concord, so named to com- 
memorate the amicable settlement between the disputing claimants, 
and a part of their number among them Thompson, afterward Count 
Rumford never came to Maine at all. It was not till 1779 that the 
first settlers came, and by the time the plantation was well under way, 
the revolutionary war had ended, the constitution had been formed and 
ratifi ed, and that happiest, and on the whole, most prosperous era in 
our history, had begun before our terrible civil war, and before the luxury 
attendant upon the vast expansion of private and corporate wealth had 
greatly modified the social equality of the people. 

Happily, too, the Indian wars, with their horrors of massacre, burn- 
ing and captivity, had just closed, though the terror of the savages was 
perpetuated by the memory of their recent attack upon the neighbor- 
ing settlement of Bethel. The scattered hamlets of Maine were pecul- 
iarly exposed to these depredations, because the Maine tribes were 
specially cruel and warlike, and the compact settlements about Massa- 
chusetts bay could more easily organize for mutual defense. 

But the little frontier colony was never raided, and we must believe 
that between the Indians and the settlers there exsisted friendly rela- 



328 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

tions, since it is related that the first settler, Jonathan Keyes, having 
cleared a lot and built a camp in Kumford, returned to Massachusetts, 
leaving only his two sons, one fourteen, the other nine years old, with 
no other neighbors for the whole winter but the roving aborigines. 

Doctor Lapham does not attempt to put the annals of the town into 
a continuous narrative. Nor, indeed, could he have done so. There was 
nothing distinctive in the events that affected these people. They 
passed through precisely the same changes from poverty to comparative 
independence, from privation to comfort, from rudeness and isolation to 
the enjoyments and refinements of social life, that other communities 
did in a hundred other towns built up at the same time. 

The first comers generally belonged to the Congregational or standing 
order, and, as soon as the members and means permitted, established a 
church and a ministry, which have had succession to the present time. 
But this was in fact the state religion, the minister being hired and 
paid by the town. It is the fatality of a religion made a part of a polit- 
ical establishment to grow formal, and lose the fervor of devoutness. 
Accordingly Methodism, a more intense type of piety, soon came in and 
brought under its influence the minds to whom the concerns of the spir- 
itual world were more absorbing realities. Later on appeared the first 
heralds of that rationalism which has everywhere in New England un- 
dermined the integrity of the ancient faith of Calvin and Knox, this 
time, as generally in the Maine towns, in the persons of the Universa- 
lists, disciples of Ballou. 

The temperance sentiment came rather late, for reasons perhaps 
already hinted at, but when it came it was sincere, genuine and perma- 
nent, and disposed to favor and have faith in those measures of legal 
repression which have always commended themselves to Maine temper- 
ance people. 

In politics a similar revolution is apparent from the record of the vot- 
ing. Going heartily and almost unanimously for separation, the Rum- 
ford citizens gave their votes, with strong majorities, to the democratic 
candidates, up to the great crisis that accompanied the repeal of the Mis- 
souri Compromise, when in common with the democrats of Oxford, 
Hancock, Waldo and Penobscot counties, they went over in large bodies, 
under the leadership of Mr. Hamlin and the Morrills, to the antislav- 
ery, and so to the Republican party. 

But if our author does not entertain us with a continuous story, because 
there is none to tell, he admirably and judiciously arranges such mate- 
rial as he has. There is a continuous record of the succession of town 
officers, and of the gradual growth of the municipal budget. 

An interesting chapter tells the wonderful career of Count Rumford, 
who, but for the jealousy of his too partisan neighbors, might have 
been a citizen of Rumford and of Maine, and have contributed to the 
country he always loved his invaluable scientific discoveries and his 
world-wide fame. 

A charming chapter, much in the manner of Mr. Macaulay's famous 



BOOK NOTICES. 329 

Third Chapter, tells " How the Early Settlers Lived," and gives us a 
graphic picture, as Macaulay did for the period he described, of the 
industrial arts, the stage of mechanical invention, the customs, equi- 
page, dress, modes of travel all of which are valuable because they 
are indicative of the exact grade of civilization prevalent in country New 
England, in the beginning of this century. 

There is an excellent genealogy of all the principal early residents of 
the town for three generations, the collection and arranging of which 
must have cost much labor and research. It is surprising how soon our 
own family histories perish out of the memories of the living, when 
some person, curious in such matters, does not collect and record them. 
To have this whole work accurately done for a community, is a great 
service, and the beginning of a genealogical history that may embrace 
our whole people, and be continued from the beginning of European 
life on this continent to the latest ages. 

This volume will be regarded as a treasure by all the residents and 
natives of the town whose story it preserves, and have beside an inter- 
est for the student and general reader. 



THE BRADBURY FAMILY. 1 

Dr. Lapham has also just completed a valuable contribution to our 
genealogical history in a memorial of the Bradbury family, with which 
is connected not only many persons of that name well known in the his- 
tory of this state and New England, but others equally conspicuous 
who are allied to it by marriage. 

The expense of compiling and editing this important work has been 
borne by Hon. James Ware Bradbury, the distinguished ex-president of 
the Maine Historical Society. The late John Merrill Bradbury of Ips- 
wich, Massachusetts, had collected material which forms the nucleus of 
this work, and Captain Wm. F. Goodwin of the United States army, 
connected with the Bradburys, had collected other material relating to 
the family history, some portions of which had been printed in Dawson's 
Historical Magazine. 

Dr. Lapham editor and compiler has arranged these collections sup- 
plying omissions and dates, and adding the genealogy of a number of 
families, making the whole more interesting and readable by interspers- 
ing personal sketches and notes concerning allied families, and some 
authentic and original historic documents. Among these later we 
select for publication as of general interest a part of the 

DIARY OF JOHN BRADBURY OF YORK. 

Deacon John 6 Bradbury was the son of Elder John* Bradbury of York 
and a descendant of Thomas 1 Bradbury of Salisbury, Mass., through 

1 Bradbury Memorial, Records of some of the Descendants of Thomas Bradbury of 
Agamenticus (York) in 1634, and of Salisbury, Mass., in 1638 with a brief sketch of the 
Bradburys of England compiled chiefly from the collections of the late John Merrill 
Bradbury of Ipswich, Massachusetts, by AY illiam Berry Lapham. Portland: Brciwn 
Thurston Company. 



330 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Wymond 2 and Wymond 8 . He was born in York and spent the greater 
part of liis life there. He was a lieutenant in the service in the vicinity 
of Lake George in 1760 and after, and kept a diary which is published 
in the Bradbury Memorial." The diary of his service and also the fol- 
lowing relating to matters in York, were presented to the Maine Histori- 
cal Society by a descendant, John W. Bradbury, Esq., now of Petersburg, 
Va. The sons of John Bradbury, Esq., settled in Chesterville, Maine, and 
among his descendants are Prof. John S. Sewall of the Bangor Theologi- 
cal Seminary, and others of the same family, Simon P. Bradbury of 
Bangor, Benjamin F. Bradbury of Boston and Mrs. Hannah Goodwin of 
Boston, the well-known writer of poetry and fiction. The father of John 
Bradbury, born in Salisbury, Mass, 1697, came to York in early manhood 
and was the first of this name in town. He was ruling elder of the 
church, member of the general court and of the council for many years, 
judge of probate, and a very prominent citizen. John Bradbury jr. was 
deacon of the church, justice of the peace, representative to the general 
court and was highly respected. The date of his death is told by his 
son David, in the last entry in this diary. W. B. L. 

DIARY. 

York, Me., August 19, 1762. Wednesday last Susanna Hall died and 
was this day buried. 

Likewise news of the death of James Herrick ; likewise Col. Chandler 
of Worcester. 

Aug. 30. This day my father set out for the eastward on public 
business. 

Sept. 3. The face of the earth now looks with a new aspect; a new 
spring seems to have come again. 

Sept. 20. This morning Stephen Simpson died of a wound by a stab 
near his eye ; son to Jos. Simpson. 

Sept. 23. Mr. Gowen arrived here with Samuel Cosen who deserted 
last spring, committed him to goal. 

Oct. 1. Sent 2 barrels of apples to my brother to Halifax. 

Oct. 4. This day Mr. Gowen set out for Boston to carry Coson the 
deserter. 

Oct. 12. Took Stephen Frost who deserted from Halifax. He got 
b onds which cleared him from going to goal. 

18. This day heard the agreeable news of St. John and Newfoundland 
being retaken with the loss of but 4 men. 

Oct. 19. Set out that day with a number of gentlemen for Aggamenti- 
cus; arrived on ye top of ye hill at 12 o'clock. At 1 set out for home 
and arrived at Lt. Frosts at 3 and dined. Shot at a number of fowl and 
geese and killed 8. 

Oct. 20. This night had our fowl dressed ; had a sivil entertainment at 
Mr. Moses. 

Oct. 21. This day my father set out for New London on some busi- 
ness of Mr. Holts. 



BOOK NOTICES. 331 

Oct. 28. This day Elder Goodwin died by a fall from a house. 

Nov. 8. Keceived a letter from my brother Jos. at Halifax with news 
that he had engaged to stay all winter. 

Nov. 14. Last night some of the men I enlisted got home from Crown 
Point; likewise from Halifax. 

Nov. 16. This day John Lanes and some others arrived home from 
Crown point. 

Nov. 22. This day Capt. Samuel Black arrived hear from halif ax with 
4 officers and 50 or 60 soldiers, 6 of them sick. 

Nov. 23. This day put them ashore in a house. 

Nov. 24. Last night one of them named Cook died, and this day 
buried. Capt. Black sailed for Boston with the rest. 

Nov. 30. Wm. Grow arrived home from Annapolis. 

Dec. 3. This day Nathaniel Sparhawk Junier was drowned going to 
Portsmouth. 

Dec. 6. Richard Banks jun . died. 

Dec. 11. This evening the widow Card was buried. 

Dec. 13. Last night Humility Jonson died. 

Dec. 14. Last night Susannah Currier died. 

Dec. 16. Last night the wife of Job Banks died. 

Dec. 23. This day by order of the colonel all the militia met att Mr. 
Ingraham's to Receive their Commission under the New King. 

Jany. ye 1st. 1763. Attended publick worship. 

Jany. 3. Last night a very sevear Snow storm set in snow fell 18 
inches deep. 

Jany. 4. This day the Court was to set here, But the Weather being so 
bad, was adjourned to to-morrow. 

Jany. 11. This day Summoned in his majesty's Name to attend as a 
Juryman of inquest on the Body of Richard Brawn found dead in the 
woods who being the Night before too free with Rum in going home, the 
snow being deep and weather extreme cold fell down and perished. 

Jany. 17. News of a peace. 

Jany. 18. This day Capt. Jefferds and myself insured one hundred 
pounds old tenor for Capt. Junkins on board the sloop Phenix, Abram 
Adams master, from Boston to York at the rate of fifty per cent. 

Jany. 20. This day Jo Minter and Lucy Kingsbury were married. 

Jany. 24. This day set out for Boston and arrived to Boston the 27 
day, 4 o'clock afternoon. 

Jany. 28. This day a packet arrived hear with Certain News of a peace 
or cessation of arms. 

Feb. 7. This day a Cessation of Arms between the Nations was pub- 
lickly read and the guns of ye Castle and Batteries were discharged on 
the same account. 

Feb. 8. This day all the provincial officers were invited to attend at 
Consort hall at 7 o'clock to drink the king's health; attended accordingly 
and many loyal healths were drank. 

Feb. 19. All the recruiting officers desired to wait on a committee 



332 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

this morning at the British Coffee House relating to Billeting Money; 
attended accordingly. 

Feb. 24. This day Major Hill, Esq., Chadbourne and Gowen set out 
for home. 

Feb. 25. This day my father set out for York with stores &c., &c. 

March 5. This day the Recruiters Billeting Roll was carried into the 
Counsell. 

March 10. This day received Stephen Frosts wages from Col. Emery 
1: 5: 3. 

March 17. Sailed this morning at 2 o'clock with Capt. Bragden; ar- 
rived at York at 1 o'clock afternoon; Dined at Deacon Say wards. 

York April ye 1, 1763. A fine, pleasant day But a vast Body of snow on 
the ground. 

April 29. Began to plant and sow. 

May 12. Capt. Thomas Bragden chosen Representative in ye Room of 
my Father. 

May 17. This day Nathaniel Barrell came home after being absent 3 
years, to the great joy of his wife and friends. 

June 2. Last Wednesday being ye anniversary for the Election of 
Counsellors, my father was elected as one, and this day set out for Bos- 
ton. 

June 17. This day my brother Joseph got home from hallifax after 
being absent about 14 months. 

June 17. Received a letter from my father by Capt. Johnson Moulton, 
who had been absent more than 2 years. 

June 19. This week the Superior Court set hear. 

Aug. 11. This day is by the King set apart as a Day of thanksgiving 
on account of ye peace. 

Jany. 19, 1764. This night at 12 o'clock Capt. Joseph Bragden sailed 
for Mt. Desert with his and Capt. Sawyer's familes on board. 

Jany. 26. This day I was married to Mis. Elizabeth Ingraham, daugh- 
ter of Mr. Edward and Mrs. Lydia Ingraham of York. She in the 20th 
& I in the 28th year of our age. 

May 18. This day I moved my wife up to my father's house. 

Oct. ye 29. Monday half after 11 o'clock my wife was delivered of a 
man child being married 9 months and in ye 3d day. 

Nov. 4. This day carried my child forth to baptism; caled his name 
John. 

Jany. 7, 1765. This day moved my family up to Newtown. 

May 29, 1765. This day Thomas Haines and Abigail Bradbury were 
married at Portsmouth. 

Jany. 18, 1766. William Bradbury was born. 

York, Nov. 20, 1797. This day Theodore Simpson, son of deacon 

Joseph Simpson about 18 years old, was sent after a horse, and after 

looking a great part of the following night, was found the next day, 

hanging by the neck with ye bridle. 

. March 20, 1766. Last night about 1 o'clock my mother-in-law, Mrs. 



BOOK NOTICES, 333 

Lydia Ingraham departed this life, and ye 22d was buried in ye New 
farm. 

Feb. 11, 1770. This day Mrs. Mary Ingraham was found de^ad in her 
house; supposed died in a fit. Likewise Joseph Smith the night follow- 
ing. Both found in one day. 

York, Sept. 27, 1770. This day Reverant Mr. George Whitefield 
preached hear. 

Sept. 30, 1770. This day Rev. Mr. Whitefield departed this life at 
Newbury. 

Joseph Bradbury (son of the writer) departed this life after about 
seven Days sickness of a fever and flux the 28th day of August 1778. A 
very sensible, beautiful, agreeable and pleasant child. 

March 24, 1779. Joseph Bradbury ye second was born about 12 o'clock 
at night. 

May 12, 1777. Thisday Universally beloved Jothan Moulton De- 
parted this life, whose death is greatly lamented. 

York, Dec. ye 3d, 1778. This day about 10 o'clock my honored father, 
John Bradbury, Esq., departed this life after about 8 days sickness of a 
fever, in the 82d year, of his age, and on the 5th was Decently Enterd. 
July 13, 1781. This day my unkel Jabez Bradbury died. 
May 7, 1781. Dorcas Bradbury was born after sun set. 
Oct. 6, 1782. This Day my Eldest sister Lucy Webber Departed this 
Life, after a long and painful sickness. 

Dec. 10, 1786. This day my sister Mariah Simpson died after more 
than 3 years distress of mind, and but Little use of her reason great part 
of the time. 

York, Sept. 28, 1787. This morning Mrs. Abigail Bradbury, my 
mother, Departed this life after a long and distressing condition, with a 
cancer in her thigh, aged 88 years and some weeks. 

York, April 8, 1785. This Day went to mill with a handsled on the 
snow, it being 2 or 3 feet Deep and very Difficult walking. 

The judgments of Heaven (are) heavy upon us, Vice and Wickedness 
reigning in triumph, Poverty and want Flourishing, Taxes and the poor 
increasing, old age and Death hastening, Trouble increasing upon us and 
god Departing from us. 

July ye 8, 1783. Jotham Bradbury was born. 

Jany ye 8, 1784. Ye above Joseph Bradbury departed this life after 
about 3 weeks sickness by a Distressing Cough. 

Apr. 17, 1779. This day bought one bushel and half of corn of Samuel 
preble and paid him 30 dollars or Nine Pounds lawful money for the 
same. 

Jany. 27, 1761. This day my oldest daughter Lydia was married to 
Thomas Davenport of Hallowell. 

Feb. 17, 1791. This day my son & son-in-law set out for Chester 
(Chesterville). 

Feb. 16, 1800. This day my son-in-law and daughter arrive here after 
a year's absence with their fifth child. 



334 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Feb. 2 1791. Set out for Hallowell. 

March 21, 1791. My son Joseph set out for Chester. ( Chester ville). 

Births of my children 

i. John, Oct. 29, 1764. 

ii. William, Jaiiy 18, 1766. 
iii. Lydia, Aug. 27, 1767. 
iv. Joanna, Nov. 6, 1768. 

v. Samuel, Feb. 9, 1771. 

vi. Elizabeth, Jany. 26, 1773. 
vii. Mary, Nov. 8, 1774. 
viii. Joseph, Nov. 9, 1776. 
ix. Joseph, March 14, 1779. 

x. Dorcas, May 7, 1781. 
xi. Jotham, July 8, 1783. 
xii. David, June 5, 1785. 

Aug. 31, 1801. Joseph Bradbury set out for Chester, perhaps for the 
last time. 

June 14, 1806. This day my Brother Cotton Bradbury died in the 84, 
year of his age, sudden. 

York, August 30, 1781. This day I was chosen by 20 out of 23 votes 
for a deacon in the first church of Christ in York. 

York, July 11, 1802, This day Samuel Bradbury and Dorcas Kemick 
ware married. May their Long Courtship be Kewarded with Peace in 
this Life and happiness in a future state. 

Dec. 3, 1801. Paid Rev. Mr. Messenger in Cyder & for his paying con- 
stable Eliot Rayns my Tax for 1800 which was 7 dollars and 38 cents. 

June 28, 1812. David Bradbury and Sofia Chase were married. 

Oct. 28, 1813. Rufus Simpson and Dorcas Bradbury were married. 

York, July 11, 1821. This day my honored father, John Bradbury 
departed this life in the 85th year of his age, and on the 18th was decently 
Intered by me his youngest son David Bradbury. 

i 

Sm FERDINANDO GORGES AND HIS PHOVINCE OF MAINE, INCLUDING THE 

CHARTER GRANTED TO HIM, HIS WILL, HIS LETTERS AND ALL OTHER 

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, edited by James Phinney Baxter, Volume I, 
Boston, Mass., published by the Prince Society, pp, 260. 
This is one of the most interesting and valuable historical volumes of 
the year. It gives the results of Mr. Baxter's researches in the 
British museum, in the office of public records, also at Plymouth, Eng- 
land, Bristol, Wraxall, Lambeth in the Bodlean library, at Thirlstane 
House, and many other places which he visited and where he became 
possessed of copies of original letters and documents bearing the signature 
of Gorges, numbering about two hundred. These are followed by a 
reprint with copious notes of a rare and interesting book published in 
London in 1622, called "A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Planta- 
tion of New England. The volume is illustrated, and two more are to 
follow upon the same subject. 



EDITORIAL ITEMS. 335 

COLLECTIONS OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, volume x. The 
initial article of this volume, is a biographical sketch of Hon. Hugh Blair 
Grigsby, occupying twenty-seven pages. The remainder of the volume 
is taken up with the proceedings of the Virginia Federal constitution of 
1788. Historically the volume is a valuable one. 

MEMOIRS OF THE LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, volume in. The 
entire volume is devoted to the campaigns around New York and 
Brooklyn in 1776, and forms a very interesting account of the early cam- 
paigns of the war for independence. 



EDITORIAL ITEMS. 

A private letter, with permission of the writer, is printed from Rev. 
John O. Fiske, D.D., of Bath. We are very sure that from a writer so well- 
informed and so genial, our able contributors, Messrs. Elwell and Deane, 
will pardon the bluntness of his contradictions. 

BATH, April 18, 1890. 
HON. GEORGE F. TALBOT, PORTLAND, ME. 

My Dear and Honored Classmate and Friend : With the garrulous- 
ness of an old man who has little to do beside coughing, I desire in a 
gossipy way to congratulate you on the very interesting matter of your 
second quarterly number of historical collections. I have read them all 
with pleasure. But in the atrabiliousness of an old anatomy, strug- 
gling and groaning under mortal disease, I desire permission to say that 
I am moved with intense choler against Mr. Elwell for presuming to say 
in his valuable notice of Governor Lincoln "Seventy-four years ago, 
when as yet no voice had been raised against slavery in this land, and to 
doubt its sacredness was the one unpardonable crime"; page 152. 

Why, what does this biographer mean ? Old Doctor Sam. Hopkins 
of Newport, Rhode Island, published a strong sermon against the sin of 
slaveholding in 1776. The Quakers from their very origin, and in this 
country in 1688, openly and earnestly denounced slavery, and petitioned 
our first Congress against it. Five times before 1808 the Presbyterian 
General Assembly denounced the sin of slavery in good set terms. At 
the very first meeting of the Methodist General Conference in 1784, sim- 
ilar testimony was unanimously given, and orders were passed that min- 
isters holding slaves should be expelled! Before the revolution Virginia 
petitioned Parliament that no more slaves should be sent into the col- 
ony. In 1787 slavery was excluded, by vote of Congress, from the north- 
west territory. Mr. Jefferson, who voted for that ordinance, " trembled 
when he remembered that God was just," etc., etc., etc. What does 
Brother Elwell mean ? 

So I would have told Llewellyn Deane, whose sketch of his father is 
so valuable, that there never was a prominent lawyer in this state named 
John Orr. It was Benjamin of Topsharn and Brunswick whom he 
should have named. 

Our old friend, Cyrus Woodman, is well discussed. 

But enough. I wish it were in my power to get up to some of the 
Historical Society meetings and to Portland. 

Affectionately yours, 

JOHN O. FISKE. 



338 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

DANFORTH'S DEED TO THE TOWN OF YORK. 

"But there is very grave doubt whether there ever was, in fact, any 
such deed. It is not recorded chronologically; nor is it revealed by a 
search of the present imperfect index to the deeds still tolerated in use 
by York County; the present town clerk knows nothing of it; it is not 
mentioned by either Sullivan or Williamson. Who ever saw it ? Who 
made the above alleged abstract from it ? It is, of course, possible that 
such a deed was executed to trustees for the town, as alleged, and that it 
may have been destroyed with the other papers in the Indian raid of 
1692, without having gone upon the county records ; but, even in that 
case, it is very peculiar that it was not known to Sullivan or William- 
son, or at any rate, not considered worthy of mention by them." 

Ante pp. 222, 223. 

The writer of the query referred to had the good fortune, while 
searching the indices of the Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceed- 
ings (x-164) to find that David Sewall, who was for many years town 
clerk of York, had made and presented to the above Society copies of 
various papers of historical importance, and that among these papers 
was a copy of the above deed which purported to be " copied from the 
Record in York Town Book 500 &c." 

On visiting Boston and making examination of Mr. Sewall' s copies, 
this copy was found, and the librarian of that Society, Hon. Samuel A. 
Green, courteously promised to either furnish a copy for publication in 
the Maine Historical Society's Collections and Proceedings, oy to 
make the paper the subject of a communication, so that in some way it 
might become available. This copy is embodied in Dr. Green's commu- 
nication, as printed in the Proceedings of the Meeting of the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society, held April 10, 1890. W. M. S. 

No proceedings of the Maine Historical Society appear in this vol- 
ume. The next in order for publication are the proceedings in honor 
of Professor Packard, too long for the space allowed in the present 
number, but too interesting to be abbreviated or partly printed. They 
will appear in the October issue. 

SINCE the issue of our last quarterly number the Maine Historical So- 
ciety has suffered a severe loss in the death of one of its most efficient 
members, Hon. William Goold of Windham. He was a most indefati- 
gable explorer among all the accessible materials of our state and na- 
tional history, a copious and facile writer, whose many and important 
papers have enriched our collections, and a punctual attendant of all the 
meetings of the Society. It will be difficult to find in our membership 
the man, who will take up the pen he has laid down, and carry on the 
work in which he took so delighted an interest. More formal and com- 
plete notice of his character and work will appear later in our publi- 
cations. 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 337 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN, D.D., LL.D. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, February 20, 1890. 

BY HENRY S. BURRAGE, D.D. 

BROWNING sings of 

One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward, 
Never doubted clouds would break. 

Such a man, in any sphere of life, will have a place among those 
who bring things to ptfcs, and who in consequence, sooner or 
later, are deemed worthy of 

Honor and reverence, and the good repute 
That follows faithful service as its fruit. 

Such a man was James Tift Champlin, the sixth president of 
Colby University. 

He was a son of John and Martha (Armstrong) Champlin, and 
was born in Colchester, Connecticut, June 9, 1811. Soon after 
his birth his parents removed to Lebanon in the same state, 
where he spent his boyhood and youth on his father's farm. The 
desire for a collegiate training at length took possession of him, 
and in the autumn of 1828, when a little more than seventeen 
years of age, he repaired to Colchester Academy, where he en- 
tered upon a course of preparation for college under Preceptor 
Otis. His studies were continued at Plainfield Academy, under 
Preceptor Witter. 

In September, 1830, he was admitted to the Freshman class in 
Brown University. Dr. Wayland had entered upon his duties 
as president of the University in February, 1827, and his strong 
personality made an abiding impression" upon the young student. 
"I greatly admired the man," was his testimony in his later 
years, " and received a great impulse from his life, his teachings, 
and especially from his sermons in the church, and his short, 
pithy addresses to the students in the chapel." At the gradua- 
tion of his class in 1834, he delivered an oration on "The Phi- 
22 



338 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

losopher and the Philanthropist Compared," with the valedictory 
address. Among his classmates were Hon. J. R. Bullock, after- 
ward governor of Rhode Island, and the Rev. Silas Bailey, D.D., 
president of Granville College, now Denison University, at Gran- 
ville, Ohio, but later president of Franklin College, at Franklin, 
Indiana^ 

A few months before he received his degree, Mr. Champlin 
was elected principal of the Manual Labor School at Pawtucket, 
Rhode Island, near Providence. But the position was not an 
agreeable one, and in a few months he returned to the Univer- 
sity as a resident graduate. In September, 1835, he was ap- 
pointed a tutor in the University, and retained the office until 
March, 1838. Rev. J. S. Maginnis, D.D., in the preceding year, 
had resigned the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Port- 
land, Maine, in order to accept the professorship of Biblical The- 
ology in the seminary at Hamilton, New York. He suggested Tu- 
tor Champlin as a suitable candidate for the vacancy, and the latter 
came to Portland and preached in the old church on Federal 
street the first two Sundays in January, 1838. Correspondence 
followed, and February 5, 1838, the church voted unanimously 
to extend a call to Mr. Champlin. The society concurred on the 
following day. Mr. Champlin preferred not to decide the ques- 
tion of duty in reference to this call until he had become better 
acquainted with the people among whom he was invited to labor. 
After spending several weeks in Portland he addressed a letter, 
April 11, to the committee of the church, announcing his accept- 
ance of the call, and having been received to membership, April 
30, from the Baptist church in Lebanon, Connecticut, with which 
he united in his boyhood, Mr. Champlin was ordained in Port- 
land, May 3, 1838. At this service Dr. D wight of Portland read 
the Scriptures and offered prayer ; President Pattison of Water- 
ville preached the sefmon ; Rev. Adam Wilson of Portland of- 
fered the ordaining prayer ; Rev. Thomas Curtis of Bangor gave 
the charge to the candidate ; Rev. T. O. Lincoln, pastor of the 
Free Street Church, Portland, extended the hand of fellowship ; 
Rev. Z. Bradford of Yarmouth delivered the address to the 
church ; and the concluding prayer was offered by Rev. Almon 
Felch of New Gloucester. Mr. Champlin entered upon his labors 
with great earnestness and proved an efficient and successful pas- 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 339 

tor. But from the first his health was very precarious. His 
lungs were weak and susceptible to cold and irritation, and 
preaching greatly aggravated the difficulty. But he loved the 
work and was happy in it. 

In the second year of his pastorate, June 12, 1839, Mr. Champ- 
lin was married to Mary Ann Pierce of Providence, Rhode 
Island, President Wayland performing the ceremony. 

In 1840, about eighty new members were added to the church. 
On the annual Fast Day, 1841, Mr. Champlin preached a sermon 
on the " Death of President Harrison," which was published by 
request of the society. But pleasantly as he was situated, and 
much as he loved his work, the bronchial difficulty that had 
troubled him from the beginning of his pastorate increased, and 
there were times when he was unable to preach. At the annual 
commencement of Waterville College, August 11, 1841, he was 
elected professor of Ancient Languages in that institution. The 
conviction already had been frequently forced upon his mind that 
it would be impossible for him long to continue in the pastorate. 
Yet he could not endure the thought of engaging in any entirely 
secular calling. A. professorship at Waterville would enabled 
him to continue his labors for the higher interests of mankind ; 
and in a letter, dated August 23, 1841, he presented to the church 
his resignation as pastor. In this letter, after stating the reasons 
that had led him to request dismission, he said, referring to the 
position offered to him at Waterville : 

As this office will enable me to avail myself of my early studies, and 
at the same time presents a field of usefulness perhaps fully as important 
as the ministry, while it will relieve me almost entirely of the most in- 
jurious part of my present employment, I feel myself bound to ask my 
dismission as pastor of this church in anticipation of accepting the ap- 
pointment. 

The letter closed with an expression of sincere and heartfelt 
thanks for the Christian kindness and courtesy which the mem- 
bers of the church had invariably shown to its pastor and his fam- 
ily. The resignation was accepted, and a committee of the 
church, consisting of Thomas Hammond, Joseph Ricker and 
Joseph Hay, addressed to Mr. Champlin a letter which closed 
with these words : 

Allow us to express our highest sense of the value of your labor among 
us, of the truly evangelical character of your pulpit ministrations, of the 



340 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ability and impartiality with which you have expounded to us the word 
of God, and of the solicitude with which you have watched over eu** 
spiritual interests. We heartily thank you for your labors of love 
among us, for your patience and forbearance, and for all the means you 
have adopted to do us good. The Lord abundantly reward you and 
bless you in the new and effective sphere of usefulness which He has 
opened before you. 

The society also adopted appreciative resolutions prepared by 
a committee, of which Lemuel Cobb was chairman. 

Dr. Champlin removed to Water ville, September 8,' 1841, and 
entered upon what proved to be his life work, succeeding in his 
professorship the late Phinehas Barnes. Waterville was then a 
remote country village on the stage line between Augusta and 
Bangor. For twenty years the college had struggled with pov- 
erty, and as yet only the beginnings of a collegiate institution had 
been made. It was still the day of small things. The endow- 
ment was small; the equipment was small; the salaries were 
small and the classes were small. But the institution had a 
strong corps of instructors. Three of them, Dr. G. W. Keely, 
professor of mathematics and natural philosophy; Dr. J. R. 
Loomis, afterward for twenty years president of Lewisburg, now 
Bucknell University, professor of chemistry an d natural history ; 
and Dr. Champlin, professor of Greek and Latin, were graduates 
of Brown University. Loomis and Champlin, who were pupils 
of Dr. Wayland, had imbibed his spirit and adopted his methods, 
and this last was also true of Prof e ssor Keely, who was a tutor at 
Brown in the first year of Dr. Wayland's presidency. 

In 1843, Rev. David N. Sheldon succeeded Eliphaz Fay as 
president of the college. At the same time Martin B. Anderson, 
a graduate of the college and afterward president of Rochester 
University, was made professor of rhetoric. These all were men 
of- intellectual strength, and by their ability and sound scholar- 
ship they gave to the college a reputation which it had not before 
secured. 

Early in his connection with the college Professor Champlin 
felt the need of a better edition of " Demosthenes on the Crown " 
than the one by Mr. Negris, in use at that time. Gathering 
around him the best helps he could obtain he devoted himself un- 
tiringly to his task, availing himself of the encouragement and crit- 
icism of his interested associates. The work was finished and 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 341 

published in 1843, and immediately came into use in many of our 
American colleges. A review of the work, by Professor Felton 
of Harvard College presumably, appeared in the " North American 
Re view "for January, 1844 (pp. 240-43). After indicating what 
is required in a good critical edition of this " most valuable and 
interesting among all the remains of Attic eloquence," the re- 
viewer said : 

r These conditions have been ably fulfilled by the present editor. The 
text he has presented is a great improvement upon that of Mr. Negris. 
It is fairly printed, and on good paper. The only fault to be found with 
this part of the work is a number of typographical errors in that portion 
of the text which accidentally was deprived of the benefit of the editor's 
revision. A well written preface explains the editor's plan, and states 
the sources from which he has drawn his chief materials. This is fol- 
lowed by a copious analysis, embracing a general sketch of the plan of 
the oration, and then a careful enumeration of the topics, paragraph bj 
paragraph, as they are successively handled by the orator. This anal- 
ysis is carefully and accurately executed, and will be of material advan- 
tage to the student for understanding the orator's arrangement. The 
text is followed by a body of notes, containing ample explanations of 
legal terms and technical formulas, historical facts comprehended in the 
political life of the orator, and careful analyses of the difficult passages. 
The best authorities have been fully consulted, and the information they 
contain judiciously combined. Hermann's excellent manual of "Politi- 
cal Antiquities," and Thirwall's learned and impartial "History of 
Greece," have been constantly used. We approve the plan of this edi- 
tion, and think the execution of it faithful and able. The work is a 
valuable addition to the series of classical books published in the United 
States. 

Professor Champlin's edition of the " Oration on the Crown " 
passed through many editions, and for more than thirty years 
was the text book generally in use in American colleges in the 
study of this masterly oration. 

Other classical works followed. In 1848, Professor Champlin 
published " Select Popular Orations of Demosthenes;" in 1849, 
a translation of Ktihner's Latin Grammar from the German ; in 
1850, an edition of the " Oration of ^Eschines on the Crown ; " 
in 1852, a " Short and Comprehensive Greek Grammar." In 
1855, in recognition of his scholarly worth the University of 
Rochester conferred upon Professor Champlin the honorary de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity. 

In 1857, on the resignation of President Pattison, he was 



342 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

elected president of the college and professor of moral and in- 
tellectual philosophy. The difficulties of the position he clearly 
recognized. In his inaugural address delivered Tuesday after- 
noon, August 10, 1858, he said: 

Knowing full well, as I do, the history and condition of the college, I 
do not regard the office as a sinecure. Following a succession of able and 
learned men, and entering upon my duties at an important crisis in the 
history of the institution, I see nothing but labor and responsibility be- 
fore me, and in these indeed, I find my chief incitement. Whatever 
may be the illusions of youth in this matter, one at length learns that 
labor is less irksome than leisure, and responsibility more inspiring than 
a state of easy, quiet security. A fair field for the exertion of one's 
powers, the opportunity of doing something for the higher interests of 
society, the hope of giving greater efficiency to an important instrumen- 
tality, the consciousness that a large circle of interested spectators are 
watching the working of a new arrangement, are among the most power- 
ful and wholesome incitements which can be addressed to the human 
mind. 

Such motives seems to me to exist in all their power in the present 
case. I admit the responsibility of the position. I welcome the labor 
and hope to be able to approve myself to the f rien ds of the institution 
as a faithful servant whether successful o r not. Indeed, I see much to 
encourage in the case. With a highly eligible situation, with a respect- 
able number of interesting and interested s tudents, with an increasing 
band of Alumni to advocate our interests wherever they go, and a large 
constituency of friends, who, I trust, will show themselves ready when 
the call is made as it must be soon to supply the only great need of 
the institution, "material aid," I cannot but feel that there is no ground 
for discouragement. Certain it is that if Waterville College, in its pres- 
ent state of maturity, and with its acknowledged advantages of situation, 
etc., does not in the future make reasonable progress, it will be either 
from the want of proper management here, or for the want of proper 
co-operation and support among its friends. Let us hope that neither 
will be wanting, that the designs of Providence in planting the institu- 
tion may not be frustrated. 

In the spirit of these noble words, recognizing freely the ob- 
stacles to be overcome, Dr. Champlin entered vigorously and 
intelligently upon his new task. Waterville College, in 1857, had 
three buildings, very much out of repair, and an invested fund of 
about twelve or fifteen thousand dollars. To increase this fund 
was a matter of present urgent necessity, and in 1859, Rev. Hor- 
ace T. Love was employed by the college for the purpose. He 
succeeded in obtaining subscriptions to the amount of twenty-five 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 343 

thousand dollars, and then relinquished his agency. The work 
was soon taken up by President Champlin and other members -of 
the faculty, but their self-denying efforts were not crowned with 
great success. National affairs, to the exclusion of other things, 
attracted the attention and demanded the energies of the people. 
But, in the third year of the civil war, when in Boston one day, 
Dr. Champlin learned from the late Jonah G. Warren, D.D., then 
corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Missionary 
Union, that Gardner Colby of Newton, some of whose early years 
were spent in Winslow and Waterville, and whose mother Dr. 
Chaplin, the first president of the college, had befriended, was 

meditating generous purposes toward Waterville College. Dr. 

Champlin called on him at once, and the result was that Mr. 

Colby attended the commencement of the college in August that 

year. On commencement day Dr. Champlin received from Mr. 
Colby the following note : 

WATERVILLE, Aug. 10, 1864. 
REV. J. T. CHAMPLIN, D.D., 

My Dear Sir: I propose to give Waterville College the sum of 
fifty thousand dollars (50,000), the sama to be paid without interest as 
follows, viz. : 

Twenty-five thousand dollars when your subscriptions shall amount to 
one hundred thousand dollars, independent of any from me. 

Twenty-five thousand dollars when one hundred thousand dollars is 
paid on your subscriptions, not including any from me; and upon the 
condition that the president and a majority of the faculty shall be mem- 
bers in good standing of regular Baptist churches. 

If either or any of these conditions are broken, the entire fifty thou- 
sand dollars shall revert to myself, or my heirs, or assigns. I remain, 

Yours very truly, 

GA.EDNEB COLBY. 

The contents of this note were made known to the alumni and 
friends of the college at the commencement dinner. Rev. F. W. 
Bakeman, D.D., who was then a student in the college, and as one 
of the marshals of the day, was present at the dinner in the old 
town hall, has given a graphic account of the scene when the 
announcement of this proposed gift was made : 

Dr. Champlin arose and stood a brief pause, as if to command the unre- 
served attention of the company. How pale he looked ! How strangely 
his voice seemed to shake as he spoke ! There were no tears in his eyes, 
but there was what makes tears in his utterance. As long as I live I 



344 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

shall recall the grand old man in that historic hour, which was to him 
the victor's crown, after years of hardest warfare. And now the an- 
nouncement was given that the gentleman at his side, a short, plump 
little man, with benevolent appearing face, who might have been taken 
for one of the Cheery ble brothers, had made a definite and final propo- 
sition to give the college the sum of fifty thousand dollars as a perma- 
nent fund, on condition that the friends of the institution should add 
one hundred tho usand. The announcement ran through that company 
like a kindling fire. Mr. Colby was known to few; his intention was 
known to fewer still. The rumor had not got abroad. It was a genuine 
surprise. For a moment there was stillness, as in the hush before the 
breaking of the tempest, and then there was a tenofpest a wild 
demonstration of joy and glad surprise, such as I have never since wit- 
nessed. Hands, feet, voices, knives and forks rapping on the tables, all 
bore a part in the concert of applause. Men shook hands and fairly 
hugged each other in their transports of joy. Such unfeigned delight 
is seldom seen. The hall rang again and again to their cheers. It 
seemed as if they would never stop. The fountains of affections had 
'been broken up, and their torrents could not be easily checked. !tf ever 
from that day have I questioned the devotion of Colby alumni. Fifty 
thousand dollars does not seem so great now as it did then. For Water- 
ville, under the circumstances, that sum was a princely fortune. But 
there was more than this in consideration. Men saw that this donation 
meant one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of endowment. They had 
faith to believe that it would be raised. In this glad hour the long 
needed inspiration had come and all things were now possible. Men 
realized instinctively that on this auspicious day a new era had begun 
for our long struggling institution. This hour marked an epoch. Mean- 
while,, through all this storm "of applause, the Cheeryble brother, who 
was its beneficent cause, sat blushingly. To the clamorous calls of his 
name he made a brief response, no word of which can I recall. The 
facts of that day crowded, out words. What Mr. Colby felt on that oc- 
casion no man can know. I have often thought that ten years of life 
would be a small price for the experience of so blissful an hour. Finally 
the doxology was sung, and the commencement of 1864 was over; the 
night-time in the history of Waterville College was ended, and morning 
had come to Colby University! 

In raising the one hundred thousand dollars required in order 
to secure Mr. Colby's conditional gift, Dr. Chainplin performed 
heroic service, as did some of his colleagues ; and the money was 
at length obtained, Then, in 1866, at Dr. Champlin's suggestion, 
and entirely without any understanding with Mr. Colby, the trus- 
tees voted to apply to the legislature of the state for an act 
changing the name of the college to Colby University ; and the 
act was passed January 23, 1867. 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 345 

The college now entered upon an era of prosperity. Added 
funds came into its treasury for building purposes. Memo- 
rial Hall, costing about forty thousand dollars was erected; 
Coburn Hall, costing more than twenty-five thousand dollars, fol- 
lowed ; then the old chapel, now Champlin Hall, was remodeled 
at an expense of six thousand dollars, and the North College at 
an expense of eight thousand five hundred dollars. And yet in 
1872, when these improvements had been made and paid for, the 
invested funds of the college had increased to two hundred 
thousand dollars. Of the money thus expended, or invested, Dr 
Champlin obtained (directly or indirectly) and collected nearly 
two hundred thousand dollars ; and as chairman of the pruden- 
tial committee he had the entire oversight of the above named 
improvements, and the chief direction of the investment of the 
college funds. 

During this period of upbuilding and endowing the college, 
Dr. Champlin prosecuted his studies with old-time vigor. When 
he became president of the college he devoted himself to the du- 
ties of his professorship of mental and intellectual philosophy 
with the same interest with which he had hitherto devoted him- 
self to the Latin and Greek classics. He soon published an edi- 
tion of "Butler's Analogy and Ethical Discourses." This was 
followed, in 1860, by " A Text Book on Intellectual Philosophy ; " 
in 1861, by his " First Principles of Ethics ;" and in 1868, by his 
" Lessons on Political Economy." These works passed through 
successive editions, and were used as text books in other colleges. 
But. as the late Mr. H. W. Richardson, editor of the " Portland 
Daily Advertiser," and a pupil of Dr. Champlin, said : 

The service which Dr. Champlin rendered to the college and to this 
generation is not measured or even indicated by a list of his published 
works. He was not merely or even primarily a literary man. He was 
pre-eminently a man of affairs, a man who would naturally have be- 
come a great merchant, or a successful politician. He edited Greek and 
Latin text books because in the place where he found himself that was 
the thing to do. When he left the professorship of ancient languages, 
he turned to other studies without regret, and with the same industry 
and sound appreciation of the requirements of his new position. 

August 2, 1870, in connection with the annual commencement, 
President Champlin delivered a historical discourse, it being the 
fiftieth anniversary of the college. Having reviewed the history 
of the college he closed with these words : 



346 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Standing now, as we do, at the middle point of the first century of 
the existence of the institution, whether we look backward or forward, 
have we not reason to thank God and take courage ? The college has been 
useful. The University, I have no doubt, is destined to a still higher 
usefulness. The foundations are already laid, and well laid, and the 
superstructure, I am confident, will gradually rise in fitting beauty and 
proportions. It will have a history to be recounted, I.have no doubt, at 
the close of another half-century, and as the centuries roll on, chapter 
after chapter will have to be added to this history, till some future gen- 
eration, looking back over its whole course, and estimating the influence 
which has gone forth from it to bless the world, will come to realize, if 
we do not now, how great a boon to a community is'a Christian institu- 
tion of learning, established and sustained and nurtured up to a high 
purpose by the prayers, the labors and the contributions of the wise and 

- good. 

Dr. Champlin now felt that his work as president of the college 
was done, and at the commencement in July, 1872, he asked to 
be relieved of the burden he had carried so long. By request of 

the trustees he remained at his post a year longer. When he 
then retired from the service of the college, Colby University had 
an invested fund of two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars, 
and no debts. He had been connected with the college thirty- 
two years, one-half of the time as professor, and one-half of the 
time as president. 

The trustees of the University, in accepting Dr. Champlin's 
resignation, adopted the following resolution : 

Resolved, That in accepting his resignation, the Board of Trustees 
would express their gratitude to Dr. Champlin for the long continued, 
diligent and laborious services which he has rendered as an instructor, 
and for the singular devotedness to the general interests and welfare of 
the University which he has uniformly manifested ; and, that in retiring 
from the office of the presidency, he will bear with him the friendship 
and good wishes of this Board. 

In 1860, Brown University conferred upon Dr. Champlin the' 
honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1872, when he re- 
signed the presidency, Colby University conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 

It was Dr. Champlin's purpose upon his retirement from the 
college to spend his remaining years in Waterville. But three of 
his children were living in Portland, and family ties soon drew 
him thither. He removed to Portland in April, 1874, and here 
among his books, and surrounded by those whom he loved, he 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 347 

passed the closing years of a useful and busy life. In 1875, he 
was made a trustee of Colby University. Continuing his literary 
labors he prepared a volume of " Bible Selections for Family Read- 
ing." Then, returning to his classical studies, he prepared a volume 
of Selections from Tacitus," which he published in 1876. In 1880, 
he published a work on the Constitution of the United States. 

Of his minor publications the following are worthy of men- 
tion : In 1846, Dr. Champ lin preached a sermon before the 
Maine Baptist Convention at Brunswick, entitled " Apollos the 
Preacher," which was published by the Convention. He pub- 
lished also the following review articles : " Popular Lecturing," 
Christian Review, April, 1850 ; " Grote's History of Greece," 
Christian Review, October, 1851 ; " Bishop Butler," Christian Re- 
view, July, 1854; "Hume's Philosophy," Christian Review, April, 
1855; "Moral Philosophy," Christian Review, April, 1860; "Pro- 
tection and Free Trade," Baptist Quarterly, October, 1873 ; and 
" Psychology," Baptist Quarterly, April, 1874. June 24, 1856, he 
delivered an address before the Society of Missionary Inquiry of 
Newton Theological Institution on " Religion and Philanthropy." 
March 14, 1878, he read a paper before the Maine Historical So- 
ciety, entitled " Educational Institutions in Maine while a Dis- 
trict of Massachusetts," which is included in volume vin of the 
Society's Collections. He also frequently accepted invitations to 
deliver addresses before educational societies, teachers' conven- 
tions, lyceums, etc. 

In 1872, at the annual ineeting of the Maine Baptist Educa- 
tion Society at Bath, it was voted, on motion of Dr. Champ lin, 
" That it is expedient that an effort be made to , endow Water- 
ville Classical Institute by starting a subscription to raise for it 
a fund of fifty thousand dollars." At the meeting of the same 
society, in 1873, a committee was appointed to confer with the 
trustees of Colby University in reference to this matter. One of 
the results of that conference was the passage of resolutions by 
the Board of Trustees recommending " That an effort be made 
to raise one hundred thousand dollars at the earliest day practi- 
cable for the endowment of three preparatory schools, one of 
which shall be located at Waterville, one at some place in the 
eastern section of the state, and one in the western section." At 
the meeting of the Education Society, in 1874, it was announced 



348 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

that ex- Governor Coburn had offered to give fifty thousand dol- 
lars for the endowment of Waterville Classical Institute, provided 
fifty thousand dollars additional should be raised for the endow- 
ment of the other proposed schools. Rev. A. R. Crane under- 
took the work of raising this fifty thousand dollars, and the money 
when secured was committed to the trustees of Colby Univer- 
sity for the benefit of Hebron Academy and Houlton Academy 
(now Ricker Classical Institute), as was Governor Coburn's gift 
for the benefit of Waterville Classical Institute (now Coburn 
Classical Institute, in memory of Hon. Stephen Coburn and his 
son, Charles M. Coburn). Dr. Champlin took a very deep inter- 
est in the endowment of these preparatory schools, and in. 1878, 
when the subscription had been completed, he prepared a plan 
for organizing the department of academies, which was adopted 
by the trustees of Colby University. 

One of his last efforts for the good of others was in behalf of 
the church in Portland of which he was once pastor. In the 
great fire in Portland, in 1866, the First Baptist Church lost its 
house of worship. More than ninety families connected with the 
church were made homeless by the destructive flames. In re- 
building, a debt was incurred larger than was anticipated. The 
burden thus assumed was heroically borne, but its weight was at 
length severely felt. Dr. Champlin, on returning to Portland, 
had united with the Free Street Church, which was nearer his 
residence. But he had lost none of his affection for the old 
church to which he had ministered at the beginning of his pub- 
lic career, and he desired to see a part at least of this burden of 
debt removed. He accordingly, in 1880, instituted a movement 
from which in a short time nearly ten thousand seven hundred 
dollars was secured; the remaining debt, about nine thousand 
dollars, was refunded at a lower rate of interest, and the First 
Church entered upon a new stage in its history encouraged and 
strengthened. Since that time the balance of this debt has been 
paid. 

Dr. Champlin was last in Waterville at the commencement in 
1879. The privilege of meeting with his old associates and pu- 
pils he greatly enjoyed. They received him with enthusiasm and 
he rejoiced with them in the evidences of the growing influence 
and 'prosperity of the college. 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 349 

In May, 1880, he spent a few days in Saratoga. But the 
weather was oppressively warm and being unfavorably affected 
by it, he hastened back to Portland. The hand of disease, he 
knew, was upon him. "I am confident that this is paralysis," he 
said, as feebly he came up the steps of his house in the early 
morning of his arrival. He remained in his study during the 
day, and at night, on retiring, he ascended the staircase unaided. 
"When he awoke the next morning his right side was paralyzed. 

From the alumni of the college, at the succeeding commencement 
at Waterville, there came words of affectionate sympathy for one 
who had so long been " the esteemed and venerated president of 
the University," accompanied "by a fervent prayer that God 
would bless the means employed for his restoration, and so ex- 
tend his useful life that he may continue to be a benefactor to 
this institution which he has so tenderly cherished and for which 
he has so zealously labored." 

Dr. Champlin slowly improved during the summer months, and 
several times he rode out a short distance, but the effort was too 
great, and he did not leave the house again during his illness. 
His mind remained unclouded until about a month before his 
death. He often expressed a fear that in the progress of his 
disease reason would at length fail him, and that he would then 
become a burden to his family. While he was thus laid aside, 
Dr. Shailer, pastor of the First Church, with whom he had long 
been associated in different relations, suddenly died, and when 
the tidings were borne to his sick chamber he said he counted Dr. 
Shailer happy in that so suddenly and so peacefully he had been 
transferred to the better land. Yet no murmur escaped his lips 
during those long and weary months. Quietly, trustfully he 
awaited the end. Talking to himself on his bed one day, he was 
asked what he was talking about. He replied, " Political science ; 
the importance of Christianity to the world ; and Tacitus how I 
should like to teach it again ! My Tacitus is the best book I have 
written, I think." During the last month of his life, after his mind 
became clouded, it was noti ceable that it remained clear in reference 
to matters pertaining to the college ; and most pathetic was his 
appeal one day, when in his delirium, imagining himself away 
from home, he asked to be taken back to Waterville where he 
had labored so long and so well. He did not wish to survive 



350 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

the loss of reason, and in this his desire was mercifully granted . 
On Tuesday night, March 14, 1882, he did not rest as well as 
usual. He said he was tired, and as the night wore away he 
asked if it was almost morning. About five o'clock Wednesday, 
March 15, the nurse noticed that his breathing was short and 
quick. His wife was at once summoned, but when she reached 
the bedside she found that he had ceased to breathe ; so suddenly 
and so easily, after long months of suffering and weariness, he 
had entered into rest. 

Beside Mrs. Champlin, three children survived him : James P. 
Champlin, Augustus Champlin and Frank A. Champlin, all of 
Portland. A daughter, Mrs. Caroline C. Burrage, died in Port- 
land, November 24, 1875. 

The funeral services occurred at the Free Street Church, on 
Saturday afternoon, March 18. Rev. Henry E. Robins, D.D., Dr. 
Champlin' s successor in the presidency at Waterville, on account 
of ill health was unable to be present. " I have a deep appreci- 
ation of Dr. Champlin's services to the college," he wrote. " He 
rendered possible whatever success I have been able to achieve." 
Nearly all the alumni and trustees of the University residing in 
Portland and vicinity were present. Rev. T. D. Anderson, jr., 
pastor of the First Baptist Church, read selections from the Scrip- 
tures. Then followed addresses by Rev. James McWhinnie, pas- 
tor of the Free Street Church, Professor Moses Lyford, repre- 
senting the faculty of Colby University and Gen. J. L. Charnberlin, 
president of Bowdoin College. The former spoke of Dr. Champ- 
lin in his private relations in his later years. Professor Lyford 
referred to his association with Dr. Champlin as a member of the 
faculty at Waterville. "Every remembrance of that sixteen 
years," he said, " is pleasant." President Chamberlain brought 
from the college which he represented a sincere and affectionate 
tribute " to the scholar, to the strong and strenuous man in the 
cause of education, to the maker of books, to the instructor of 
youth." He alluded to Dr. Champlin's remarkable industry and 
energy, and added : 

The work lie did for the college abides in more ways than one. It has 
been said that the institution is a monument to him. Those who know 
its history know how true that is. But beyond books, and beyond col- 
lege walls of brick and stone, and beyond even the words of instruction 
in the class-room, there is a mighty power which the true educator 



JAMES TIFT CHAMPLIN. 351 

wields, and it is that of influence. I think in a college, for example, it is 
more the influence of the man than the books he may have written, or 
the words of instruction he may have uttered, which works on the minds 
and character of his pupils. The strongest feature in education, it seems 
to me, is influence. Now our friend's true, strong, generous and noble 
character I am very sure must have impress those who met him from 
time to time, as it impressed me. I owe him a debt of that kind. The 
influence of his character, of the man he was, fell into my spirit, I know, 
like good seed. When I know how many there must be in the com- 
munity and all over the world in whom lives today the effect of the in- 
fluence of our friend's character, I say his work abides in a different 
sense from the monument of brick and stone which he has left behind. 
He lives in our hearts and his spirit abides with us. 

At the close of the addresses, and after a hymn by the choir, Rev. 
Asa Dalton, of St. Stephen's Church, offered prayer, and the bur- 
ial followed at Evergreen Cemetery. 

On Tuesday, June 27, 1882, Rev. A. K. P. Small, D.D., then pas- 
tor of the First Baptist Church, Fall River, Massachusetts, de- 
livered in the chapel at Waterville, an address before the alumni, 
commemorative of the services of ex-President Champlin. In this 
address he said : 

Coming up to our annual literary festival this year, we look in vain for 
the honored form of one who moved regularly through these walks dur- 
ing more than thirty years, becoming so identified with what is most 
substantial here as to seem an essential part of this classic retreat. 
We look in vain for him ? That is hardly true. How much of himself, 
of his best life, of his far reaching wisdom more than could be seen in a 
single human form is here before you ! These halls, consecrated to de- 
votion, to sacred memories, and to erudition, this grateful shade, these 
scholastic environments, all, all bear, and will continue to bear, what 
permanent impress of himself ! 

The pen of a competent and appreciative writer has already secured 
for history suitable record of his deeds. The president of another col- 
lege has beautifully uttered the enviable tribute of contemporary educa- 
tors. Pastor, associates, friends, have spoken of what he was as pillar 
of the church, citizen, husband, father, friend. The sacred requiem has 
been chanted over the silent form which, nearly four months ago, the im- 
mortal spirit fled. His name, his honor, are secure beyond the neces- 
sity of any words that can now be uttered. 

Yet you, sons and daughters of this institution, could not allow such 
violence to your own sense of gratitude and obligation as to pass through 
these anniversary days without claiming a few moments, not for 
empty pagentry, or formal eulogy, or the repetition of funeral rites, but 
for the privilege of offering a single, unobtrusive garland at this favor- 
ite shrine of his professional and executive honors. 



352 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

And no better utterance in your behalf ca n now be attempted than im 
perfect translation into words of the permanent lesson which his life so 
permanently fostered upon this very place, viz. : that the noblest monu- 
ment for one's self, is what he builds for those who follow him; putting 
himself into what is better than even the nearest perfect effigy of bronze 
or marble into the educated lives of those who shall better perpetuate 
his memory. 

What evidences are here that President .Champlin spent himself in 
building for others ; yet spent himself in exacting the best way to per- 
petuate himself; bequeathing appointments of a literary home, in the 
perpetual influence of which he shall live in the successive generations 
of uplifted, cultured lives. We refer not to these granite edifices alone, 
but to his accompanying and more special intellectual work. Those who 
have never written nor edited a single volume that becomes a permanent 
educating power has no conception of the amount and varied elements of 
life that must be given to it. But with the wearing responsibilities of 
the government of a college, and the peculiar financial. burdens of the 
chairman of the prudential committee, through a career most im- 
portant building enterprise, all the while constantly filling the chair of 
instruction in the department of intellectual and moral philosophy; and 
at the same time, so regularly and accurately, carrying through the press 
standard classical and metaphysical works, like Greek grammars, edi- 
tions of ^Eschines, Demosthenes, Butler; original text books upon in- 
tellectual philosophy, ethics and political economy, such achievements 
of laborious scholarship, President Chamberlain was pleased to call a 
mystery. To those who knew how much of almost superhuman phys- 
ical and mental life that requires, it is the mystery next to miracle. 

And now, garnered among the treasures most secure, for the archives 
of the University, and its tributary academies; for the honor of this 
town; for the church, and the interests of sound learning, is the untar- 
nished character and the continual influence of President James Tift 
Champlin. 

Like words of glowing eulogy were spoken in private as well 
as in public. They came as a conviction begotten in college 
days, and strengthened amid the struggles of later life in which 
Dr. Champlin's teachings and conduct proved suggestive and 
helpful. They may all be summed up in these words of Script- 
ure, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ? " 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 353 



THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE 
PEQUAKETS. 

ITS CAUSES AND ITS RESULTS. 
Read before the Maine Historical Society, May 21, 1890. ' 

BY JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. 

IT has been persistently asserted, and will be often re-asserted, ! 
that the frequent wars waged by the Indians upon the Maine 
colonists, were caused by cruel treatment on the part of the 
latter, and by their constant encroachments upon the hunting- 
grounds of the Indians, which threatened their subsistence ; and 
sentimentalists, who imagine that impartiality requires them to 
admit the most questionable evidence against their own race, have 
carefully sought for wrongs against a people, whose very misfor- 
tunes tend to blind the sympathetic inquirer to their faults. 

Doubtless individual acts of injustice were perpetrated, and 
doubtless more or less jealousy was cherished by the Indians on 
account of invasions by an alien people, of territory partly 
occupied by them ; but these were insufficient to cause the exten- 
sive and protracted wars, which were waged against the colonists 
during the close of the seventeenth and the first half of the eight- 
eenth century. 

It is a fact, that at this period encroachment upon their ter- 
ritory was too inconsiderable to cause the Indians great appre- 
hension. Nearly all the continent outside of a portion of Mas- 
sachusetts, north, east and west, was a vast wilderness, and 
though the English increased with considerable rapidity in a few 
localities, so vast was the territory to the Indian mind illimit- 
able that this increase could have caused but little apprehen- 
sion, though encroachment upon their land was one of their pre- 
texts for war. 

23 



354 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

A more active cause of war, which had germinated in religious 
and race antagonisms, and which had been transplanted from the 
soil of the Old World, where it had long flourished, to the more 
stimulating soil of the New, may be more profitably studied. 

There can be no doubt that the cruel wars which raged in 
Maine from an early period, especially during the two decades 
from 1688 to 1698 and from 1705 to 1713, and at various other 
times until 1759, and which inflicted terrible sufferings upon the 
colonists, were the result of French machinations. 

Through the influence of the Jesuit missions, the eastern In- 
dians had become close allies of the French, whose hostility to 
their English neighbors was ever active. At Pentagoet was the 
adventurous Castine, who exercised unlimited sway over his sav- 
age associates, and whose settlement so near them was regarded 
by the English as a constant menace to their peace. 

After two years of warfare, a partial peace with the Indians 
was secured by the capture, in 1690, of Port Royal by Phipps, 1 
but this was only of short duration, and with the advent of Vil- 
lebon to the governorship of Acadia, hostilities recommenced ; 
indeed, Villebon was instructed by the French government to 
make it his principal object to wage war without ceasing, against 
the English, and to apply himself to the congenial task of anima- 
ting the Indians il de c her cher fair du proffit sur les ennemis" '" 
and to make them feel that war against the English was more 
profitable than hunting. 

Villebon, apparently delighted with his instructions, supplied the 
savages, who were eager for blood, with suitable weapons, and 
dispatched them against the infant settlements of Maine. One 
hundred and fifty Penobscot Indians, converts of Thury, the Jes- 
uit priest, set out on this expedition, and were joined by a body 
of Indians from the Kennebec. Traveling on snow-shoes, the 
expedition reached York, which, in the early dawn, they attacked 
and destroyed ; Dummer, the venerable minister of York, was 
shot dead at his door, and his wife subjected to the hardships of 
a captivity which she did not survive. One of the savages it is 
said arrayed himself in the clerical garb of the dead minister, 
and delivered a mock sermon to his howling associates. 

i Vide Collection De Documents, relatifa a 1 ' Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Quebec, 
1884. Vol. II. pp. 6-8. Ibid, p. 83. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 355 

On their return from this expedition, the Indians were received 
by the French authorities with feasting and merry-making, and 
incited by stirring harangues to continue their warfare. Penta- 
goet, the headquarters of Castine, was made the base of another 
attack upon the English settlements, and here in the early sum- 
mer the French leaders with the principal Abnaki chiefs and 
their followers assembled. Encouraged by former success in 
ravaging the scattered hamlets of the English, which Frontenac 
admits was " impossible of description," they set forward with 
Ravage glee to attack Wells. 

But Wells, fortunately, had in Converse a hero, and though he 
had but thirty men with him, he defeated the most formidable force 
which had yet been sent over the French border. Villebon, as 
cruel as his savage allies, to raise their despondent spirits and 
stimulate their thirst for blood, gave them one of his English 
prisoners to burn, and does not seem to have been shocked at the in- 
human tortures inflicted upon him. Aroused by their danger, it 
was resolved by the English to rebuild the ruined fort at Pema- 
quid, and under Phipps a structure of stone of considerable 
strength was erected, which served to check the ardor of the 
savages, who were always easily disheartened, and whose bravery 
was most conspicuous, when safe in ambush and against an un- 
protected foe. 

A partial peace resulted, which Villebon, aided by Thury, 
strove zealously to rupture. Some of their chiefs, to impress 
them with the splendor and power of France were sent to the 
French court, where they were flattered, feasted and gaily ap- 
parelled, and were returned with pomp to their people to relate 
the wonders which they had beheld. The efforts of Villebon and 
Thury succeded in renewing the war, and under the leadership of 
Villebon another expedition against the English was organized. 
The savages were to strike a blow at the heart of New England 
and were instructed to give the English no quarter. Reaching 
the outskirts of Oyster River, now" Durham, New Hampshire, 
they made an attack upon it before daybreak, and slaughtered 
men, women and children, as they endeavored to escape half- 
naked from their beds. 

After the massacre, the savages bearing their bloody trophies, 
were assembled by Thury to celebrate mass, after which the chief 



856 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Taxous set out on another raid "to knock people in the head by 
surprise," says Villebon, " which cannot fail to have a good ef- 
fect ; " indeed, says this writer, " even infants in the cradle were 
not spared." x In this cruelty, the Jesuit Thury, we must believe 
was particeps criminis. In a letter to the Bishop of Quebec, the 
French minister, Ponchartrain, extolled his services in inciting 
the savages to war upon the English, and he urges, as a reward 
for his zeal, the bestowal upon him of a portion of the money 
which the government contributed to the support of the Acadian 
clergy: "une plus forte part sur les 1500 I. de gratification que 
sa Majeste accorde pour les ecdesiastiques de I 'Acadie." * 

But the English were not to be swept from the earth as their 
enemies desired. With a courage nerved by necessity, they met 
the murderous bands sent against them by their fanatical neigh- 
bors, and drove them back defeated and disheartened. 

There was a lull in the storm of war, but soon after the ar- 
rival of the English colonial Governor, Dudley, the French again 
began to incite the Indians to attack the English settlements. 
To prevent another war with its concomitant horrors, Dudley 
succeeded in assembling at Casco on the 20th of June, 1703, the 
principal Abnaki chiefs for the purpose of concluding a treaty 
with them. The Indians, however, instigated by the French, 
prepared a plot to surprise the governor and his assistants. In 
order to avoid suspicion they thought best not to appear at the 
council in too large numbers, but it was arranged that the chief 
of the Pequakets should arrive at the proper time with a large 
force, and at a given signal aid in consummating the plot. This 
treacherous design was frustrated by the non arrival of the Pe- 
quakets at the expected time, and by an occurrence, but for 
which it might, however, have been successful. It was the cus- 
tom for the Indians and the English to join in a salute at the 
conclusion of certain ceremonies, and during the progress of ne- 
gotiations, several salutes had accordingly been fired. The con- 
clusion of the treaty was to be celebrated by a feu de joie, and at 
the proper moment, the English, by arrangement fired first. 
When the Indians fired it was discovered that their guns were 
loaded with balls, and it afterward transpired, that they had in- 
tended to turn upon the English and slaughter them, but that 

ilbid. p. 158. 2 Ibid. p. 179. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 357 

owing to some misunderstanding many of their principal chiefs 
were mingled with the English, and their lives would have been 
jeoparded had this part of the plot been carried out. 

Dudley and his associates returned home in safety, but the 
Pequaket chief soon arrived with two hundred Indians and 
Frenchmen, and without regard to the treaty, which had just 
been concluded, they fell upon the scattered settlements and de- 
stroyed young and old without mercy. 

Thus began a war which raged with terrible fury for ten years, 
and which depopulated a large portion of Maine and filled New 
England with mourning. In the early part of the war, through 
the energy of Governor Dudley, who began an aggressive war- 
fare upon the Indians, the success of the English appeared 
marked, and in the flush of enthusiasm, the governor wrote home, 
on April 23, 1706, " I am in a very good posture with my French 
and Indian neighbors by continual marches in the mighty Des- 
erts. I have not left an Indian Habitation, nor a Planting Field 
undestroyed, so that the Indians are fled over to the French, and 
I have no damage ; but am at great Cost to keep the field and 
Frontiers, but the assembly are very easy at the Charge : and 
perfectly satisfied at the expence of their money." l He found ere ' 
long, however, that marches in the " mighty Deserts," and the 
destruction of Indian wigwams did not avail in bringing the war 
to a termination, and two years later he wrote in a different tone 
in which he said, speaking of the Indians : " Their Priests and x 
Jesuits have gotten the command of all the Inland Indians and 
have Debauched the Indians of the Province of Mayn and by 
their late Trade and Discovery of the Messasseppi River have, in 
a manner made a Circle round all the English Colonys, from New 
England to Virginia, and do every year give the Governm'ts of 
New England very great Trouble." 2 This was dated November 
10, 1708. It had been preceded on the 20th of October by a me- 
morial to the Queen, from the people, who were in great distress 
on account of the prolongation of the war, in which they advised 
the employment of the Mohawk Indians, as the only practical 
method of reaching their prowling enemy, and inflicting upon 
him a telling blow. " It's nothing," says this memorial, " Short 
of Twenty Years That your Majesties good subjects of this Prov- 

1 Vide Dudley's Letters in the office of the Public Records, London. Ibid. 



358 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ince have been wasting under the Calamities of a Destroying and 
Expensive War, taking the Commencement thereof from the Re- 
bellion and Eruption of the Eastern Indians in the year 1688." 
Advising the employment of the Mohawk and Western Indians 
against the Eastern tribes, the memorial continues : "We humbly 
Conceive with Submission That the most probable way of doing 
Execution upon them and Reducing them, is by men of their own 
Colour, way and manner of Living." l This suggestion, however 
did not bear fruit, and the war continued to rage with horrors 
too forbidding to contemplate, until peace between France and 
England was consummated at Utrecht, in 1713, which was followed 
immediately by a peace between the English and Indians at 
Portsmouth, on July 11, of the same year. 

Again the Maine colonists, who had survived the war, returned 
to rebuild the waste places, and ere long by thrift and industry 
with nature's kindly help, they replaced the scenes of desolation 
which war had left behind, with happy homes and fruitful fields. 
/ The French, however, were active in inciting the Indians to 
hostility, and occasional outbreaks occurred ; but in the summer 
of 1721 a considerable body of Indians accompanied by the Jes- 
uit priests, De la Chasse and Rasle, with other Frenchmen, one 
of whom was Castine, appeared at Arrowsic with a communica- 
tion directed to Governor Shute, to the effect that unless the 
English removed within three weeks their houses would be de- 
stroyed and they themselves killed. Hostilities soon began, caus- 
ing the frontier settlers great suffering. 

There is ample evidence that De la Chasse and Rasle followed 
the example of Thury and incited the Indians to war upon the 
English settlers. Yaudreuil and Begon wrote on the 26th of Oc- 
. tober, 1720, to the French minister, " La JPere Rdlle continue a 
exciter les Savages de la missions de NarantsouaJc a ne point 
sonffrir les Anglais de s^etendre sur leurs terres" 2 and the king 
communicated to the representatives of France at Quebec on the 
8th of June, 1721, his satisfaction of Rasle's course. " Sa Majeste 
est satisfaite des soins que le fere Rasle, Jesuit, continue de se 
donner pour exciter les Savages de sa mission de Narantsouak, 

1 Vide Dudley's letter in the office of the Public Records, London. 

2 Vide Collection De Documents, relatifs a PHistoire de la Nouvelle France. Quebec. 
1884, vol. 3, page 48. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 359 

et ne point sonffrir que les Anglais s 1 estciblissent sur leurs terres" l 
Of the action of Rasle, Governoror Shute particularly complained 
to V audreuil and requested that he should be recalled, a request 
which was not granted. 

Yaudreuil, however, by a duplicity almost unparalleled, main- 
tained outwardly a friendly attitude toward the English, while 
secretly he was using all the means in his power to incite the 
savages to destroy them. Governor Shute was for a while de- 
ceived, but ere long the proofs of the French governor's de- 
ception came into his hands, and his rightous indignation found 
vent in a letter to him under date of March 14, 1721, whigh 
must have caused even the mendacious Yaudreuil to blush with 
shame. 

Shute began by calling Yaudreuil's attention to an inclosed 
copy of a letter which he had some time before addressed to the 
latter, and which he had ascertained had not reached its destina- 
tion, and he then proceeds to say : 

You can see how much I was certain of your equity in the case of the 
Norridgewock savages, and how much I am mortified to perceive that I 
was deceived. You have convinced me by letters under your own hand, 
and make it certain that I shall be wrong in expecting any service from 
you in this regard, since all the hostility and violence which the savages 
of Arrowsic have committed the past summer, were not only with your 
approbation, but it was you even, who have pushed them on to commit 
them from the beginning, and have approved them after they were done. 
It is necessary to say Sir, that I would never have believed this of a man 
of distinction, a Christian and a Governor of a French colony, who 
moreover is bound to live in peace and concord with the English gov- 
ernors. But what say I : I have your letters and your instructions : and 
I have the originals of them. You can see this by some articles which 
I here insert. I shall send the originals to the king, my master. You 
intimate that you have orders to do what you have done. His Ma- 
jesty shall very soon discover the truth of this coloring and how much 
your conduct in this affair has been contrary to the spirit of the treaty 
of Utrecht, and above all against the 12th and 18th articles. Is it thus 
that we follow the example of our masters, who live in such strict 
harmony and friendship. 

I have no doubt that Father Ralle, who has been the principal mover 
in this business, has advised you of this little escapade. It will be well 
if it serves to make him return to his own country or Canada without 
more abuse of his character and profession. 2 



Collection De Documents, relatifs Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Quebec, 
1884, vol. 3, p. 54. 

2 For the French of this letter note, ibid. p. 70; the translation here is the author's. 
A copy of thia letter taken from the office of the Public Records is here appended. 



360 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

But this was of no avail. The French governor, and all who 
owed allegiance to the French government were but acting in 
accordance with the wishes of the French king, who was out- 
wardly living " in strict harmony and friendship," with his En- 
glish brother. Thus the war went on against the English set- 
tlements in Maine, and the barbarities perpetrated by the savages 
soon aroused the English to a sense of their danger. Governor 
Shute issued his proclamation against them on the 25th of July, 
1722, declaring them and their confederates to be " robbers, trai- 
tors and enemies " J to the king, but offering clemency to all who 
might report within forty days to the officers who commanded in 
the neighborhood, that they might be recognized as friendly to 
the English; and that friendly Indians might not suffer, they 
were ordered to remain at home within the English lines, and not 
to harbor those who were enemies of the English. All the In- 
dians, however, who could be reached by French influence, took 
the war-path against the English, and the old scenes of horror 
were re-enacted among the scattered hamlets of New England, 
with all the inhuman cruelty which had characterized them in 
former wars. 

Apologists have extolled the Indians for sparing many who 
fell into their hands ; overlooking the fact that a market for such 
captives existed in Canada, and that they were thus encouraged 
by the French to spare them. These captives were valuable as 
servants and were often purchased of the Indians by persons, 
who, it is but fair to say, were actuated by the purest spirit of 
philanthropy. Thus many lives were preserved which would 
otherwise have been ruthlessly destroyed. Yet, on the part 
of the Indians, it was a war of extermination, and this was real- 
ized by the settlers. Unless they could successfully reach and 
strike their elusive foe they would be finally rooted out. This 
would be an almost certain result if the French succeeded in in" 
citing the western Indians against them, and Governor Shute 
employed diplomacy to prevent such a union. Though he did 
not receive active assistance from the western tribes, he suc- 
ceeded in keeping them neutral, and in obtaining their influence 
to dissuade the eastern Indians from pursuing the war. He thus 
wrote home on October 29, 1722 : 

1 This Proclamation may be seen in the office of the Public Records. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 361 

Some Delegates from the Five Nations are gone to speak with our 
Eastern Indians to demand of them the reason why they have maltreated 
their Brethren the English. What Affect this Interview will produce I 
cannot say as yet, but so soon as it is over, I shall acquaint your Lord'ps 
with it by the first Opportunity. * 

This however proved of no avail, and it was resolved to adopt 
the sharpest measures to bring the war to a speedy end. The gov- 
ernment was in no condition to carry on an extensive war. The 
people were poor, most of them being barely able in time of 
peace to support by unremitting toil those dependent upon them. 
Even if it were possible to equip and maintain a large army in the 
field, it would be almost useless against the predatory bands of 
savages whose appearance in a place was usually unexpected ; 
hence, the formation of scouting parties was encouraged, their 
pay to be determined, not wholly by the length of time employed 
by them in the field, but also by the number of Indians slain by 
them ; in other words by the number of scalps which they could 
show in proof of their success. This method of paying for mili- 
tary service has been severely condemned and declared to be un- 
justifiable, yet cruel as it was, it undoubtedly hastened the close 
of the war, and saved much bloodshed. 

Among the men versed in Indian warfare, who gathered on the 
frontier to make offensive war upon the Indians, were Captains 
Harmon and Moulton, both noted Indian fighters, who resolved 
to march to Norridgewock and strike a blow where they believed 
it would be most telling. Accordingly, with two hundred and 
eleven men in seventeen whale boats they set out, on August 19, 
1724, on their expedition from Fort Richmond, opposite Swan 
Island, and on the following day landed at the present site of 
Winslow, and leaving a party to guard the boats, proceeded on the 
twenty-first toward Norridgewock. On their march they encount- 
ered the chief, Bomaseen, with his wife and daughter, who at- 
tempting to escape were fired upon, the chief and his daughter 
killed and the wife taken prisoner. 

On the afternoon of the twenty-second, Harmon came in sight 
of Norridgewock, and disposing his men in Indian fashion, 
a part of them in ambush, made an attack upon the village. 
Taken by surprise, the Indians, of whom there were about 

1 The original is in the office of the Public Records. 



362 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

fifty fighting men at home, the rest being on the war-path 
against the English, made but a poor defense. Many took to the 
river hoping to escape to the other shore, but were shot down 
by Harmon's men. It is stated that about eighty Indians, 
many being women and children, were killed. Among the slain 
was Rasle, concerning whose death the particulars are meager 
and unsatisfactory. This successful attack upon Norridgewock 
encouraged the English to undertake similar expeditions. Among 
those whose hearts were fired to emulate the example of Har- 
mon and Moulton was John Lovewell, of Dunstable, who with 
several of his neighbors, equally brave with himself, joined in 
the following memorial to the General Court J : 

The humble Memorial of John Lovel, Josiah Far well, Jonathan Rob- 
ins all of Dunstable, Skoweth that your petitioners with, forty or fifty 
others are inclinable to range and keep out in the woods, for several 
months together in order to kill and destroy their Indian Enemy, provi- 
ded they can meet with Incouragement suitable. And your petitioners are 
employed and desired by many others that each soldier may be allowed 
five shillings per day in case they kill any enemy Indians and produce 
their scalps, they will employ themselves in Indian hunting one whole 
year, and if your honors shall then see fit to encourage them, or take up 
with their proposals, they will readily proceed in ye said service in cas e 
they have proper officers appointed to lead them, and if they bring in 
any scalp they are willing and desirous to submit to what the Govern- 
ment shall see cause to give them (over and above their wages) as a re- 
ward for their service. 

Signed, John Lovewell 

Nov. 1724. Josiah Farwell 

Jonathan Bobbins . 

On the seventeenth of the same month the General Court took 
action upon this memorial in the following manner, and voted : a 

That his Honor the Lt. Governor be desired to commission proper 
and suitable officers for this service (the number of men not to exceed 
fifty) and that they keep exact Journals or accounts of the time they are 
out in the woods and where they go, as well as the time they may be at 
home or in any towns fitting to go out again. And that they be allowed 
two shillings and six pence per diem each, for the time they are actually 
out in the service and the time of fitting out as aforesaid, they subsist- 
ing themselves, Provided that the time of their being out in this service 
shall be until the session of this Court in May next And for their fur- 

1 Vide " The Expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell." By Frederick Kidder, Boston, 1865, 
p. 12. 2 Ibid. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 363 

ther encouragement they shall be entitled over and above the two shil- 
lings and six pence per diem, the sum of one hundred pounds for each 
male scalp and the other premiums established by law to Volunteers 
without pay or subsistance, And that the commission officers have the 
loan of a sufficient number of arms for the use of the Maquas and other 
Indians, who may be willing to enter and engage with them in service, 
the officers to be accountable for the arms they receive. 

Lovewell at once began to raise a company of men ; but owing 
to the fact that several expeditions against the Indians had been 
unsuccessful, and after severe hardships had returned home dis- 
heartened, he was able to gather but thirty men, and with these 
he set out from Dunstable a few days after the favorable action 
X)f the General Court upon his memorial. 

The country of the Pequakets was to be Love well's objective 
point. The principal seat of this tribe was upon the shores of 
the Saco, near the present village of Fryeburg. The Pequakets 
had in former wars been active against the English, and were 
considered especially dangerous to the settlements exposed to 
their attacks. Their premeditated treachery at the time the 
Casco treaty was made, and their subsequent cruelties had not 
been forgotten ; hence it was believed that nothing short of the 
most severe punishment would prevent them from inflicting ir- 
reparable injury upon the frontier settlements before the coming 
spring. Into the domain of this war-like people, Lovewell and 
his little band marched. 

A more dangerous service could not be undertaken. Exposed 
to all the hardships of a winter campaign in the wilderness, they 
would upon entering the Indian country be at all times liable to 
surprise by a foe who knew not what mercy wa to an enemy ; 
hence it was a service which demanded the most exalted courage. 
It was nearly a month before they met with any success ; but on 
the nineteenth of December, nearly fifty miles north of Lake Win- 
nipiseogee, they surprised two Indians in a camp, one of whom 
they killed, and the other, a youth of fifteen years of age, they 
captured. Lovewell now determined to return to Dunstable, 
doubtless foreseeing that his success would enable him to secure 
recruits. 

Upon reaching home Lovewell was welcomed with rejoicing, 
and taking advantage of the prevailing enthusiasm he succeeded 
in enlisting eighty-seven men, and on the twenty-ninth of January 



364 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

set out from Dunstable on another expedition. On the seventh of 
February he had reached Winnipiseogee where he camped, doubt- 
less foreseeing a storm which came and prevented him from con- 
tinuing his march until the ninth. Here one of his men while 
using his ax cut himself so severely that Lovewell was obliged to 
send him home with an escort of six men. He now proceeded 
cautiously, frequently sending out scouts to reconnoiter. On the 
thirteenth, finding that his store of provisions would not be suf- 
ficient to sustain his entire company, Lovewell sent home thirty 
men, which reduced the number of his command to fifty. On the 
fourteenth a moose was killed which was a grateful addition to 
their meager fare. Lovewell had now penetrated so far into the 
Indian country, that he thought it necessary to pursue his course 
with extreme caution, keeping at all times on the alert to avoid 
surprise. 

Discovering the tracks of Indians on the sixteenth, Lovewell left 
sixteen of his men to guard the supplies and baggage and cautiously 
pursued their trail until eight o'clock of the seventeenth, when 
being out of provisions, he returned to the place where he had left 
his supplies, and having refreshed his men with food, without stop- 
ping to rest over night, he set out with the entire party and pur- 
sued the trail, which he had previously followed, the rest of the 
day and ensuing night, making, however, a progress of but six 
miles. But the Indians were not so near as Lovewell supposed, 
and during the next two days he made a severe march of forty- 
two miles, and encamped at a pond in the present town of Wake- 
field, New Hampshire. 

The next day he came upon a camp, which the Indians had but a 
few hours before deserted, and pursuing the trail a short dis- 
tance the smoke of their encampment was discovered. Arrang- 
ing for a surprise, Lovewell waited until about two o'clock in the 
morning, when he made an attack upon the sleeping foe, who 
proved to be a party of ten men fully equipped for war, on their 
way it was supposed to attack the English settlements. So com- 
plete was the surprise of the Indians that not one escaped alive. 
Lovewell upon securing this victory immediately took up his 
homeward march, but in Indian fashion, after proceeding a few 
miles went into ambush and posted scouts on the track over 
which he had passed, anticipating pursuit. On March ninth, seven- 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 365 

teen days after his successful attack upon the Indian camp, Love- 
well marched at the head of his hardy band through the streets 
of Boston, bearing the trophies of his success and cheered by 
the plaudits of an admiring crowd. It would seem that in these 
two campaigns Lovewell had directed his efforts against straggling 
bands of the enemy, whom he hoped to surprise ; but encouraged 
by his success, he now conceived the bold idea of attacking the 
Pequakets in their stronghold. This plan had been adopted suc- 
cessfully against the Norridgewocks, and accorded with the En- 
glish policy first formulated by Sir John Hawkins in the Spanish 
wars, and popularized by Raleigh and other bold spirits, not to 
wait a blow from an enemy, but to strike first and in his own 
home, a policy possessing in this case difficulties of accomplish- 
ment almost insurmountable. Lovewell, however, was not a man 
to be' discouraged by any perils which might lie in his path, and 
to carry out his plan, he proceeded to raise recruits, and on the 
fifteenth of April had enrolled forty-six picked men. 

The following terse and soldierly letter he addressed to the 
governor before setting out on his perilous expedition : * 

DUNSTABLE, April ye 15, 1725. 

Sir This is to inform you that I march from Dustable with between 
forty or fifty men on the day above mentioned & I should have marched 
sooner if the weather had not prevented me. Nomore at present but I 
remain your humble servt. 

JOHN LOVEWELL. 

In Lovewell's command was an Indian supposed to be of the 
Mohawk tribe, who shortly after leaving Dunstable became lame 
and was obliged to return ; and when the expedition reached 
Contoocook, one of the Dustable men, owing to illness, was sent 
back with a kinsman to take care of him. Arriving at Ossipee, 
about forty miles from the Indian settlement at Pequaket, which 
was his objective point, Lovewell selected an elevated position 
on the west shore of Ossipee Lake and began the erection of a 
fortification as the base of operations, upon which he could fall 
back if future events rendered such a course necessary. 

The construction of this fortification as well as the admirable 
selection of its position, for it was built sufficiently strong to sus- 
tain a siege, being surrounded by a stockade and ditch, with ex- 

* Vide " The Expedition of Capt. John Lovewell." Boston, 1866, p. 20. 



366 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

cavations of considerable size and depth, and with a water sup- 
ply which could not be cut off, renders it evident that Lovewell 
in this campaign had a well defined plan of operations against the 
Indians which comprised more than he had yet attempted against 
them. Having completed his fortification, he left in it a portion 
of his supplies with a small garrison consisting of seven men, as 
well as his surgeon to take care of one of his men who had fallen 
sick, and with his command reduced to thirty-four men, pushed 
on through the wilderness to Pequaket 

On the sixth of May, three weeks after leaving Dunstable, Love- 
well was in. the vicinity of the pond which bears his name, and 
constantly apprehensive of discovery by the enemy ; but nothing 
particular transpired until early on the morning of the eighth, 
when, he and his men being at prayers, they were alarmed by the 
report of a gun, and shortly after discovered an Indian on a* point 
projecting into the pond. Supposing that their presence had be- 
some known to the enemy, and that the Indian had fired his gun 
to attract their attention to himself and to draw them into am- 
bush if they pursued him, a hasty council was held, and the ques- 
tion proposed, whether it would be better under the circumstances 
to hazard an engagement with the enemy or beat a hasty retreat. 

With a courage which might have been expected from men 
who had taken their lives in their hands under the pressure of a 
great emergency, to combat an enemy dangerous to the existence 
of their country, Lovewell's brave partisans made answer, " That 
having come out to meet the enemy, and continually prayed to 
God that they might do so, they would rather trust to Providence 
with their lives aye, would indeed rather die for their country 
than retreat and earn the title of cowards." Such was the heroic 
answer which Lovewell received to the question which he placed 
before his men, and though it was evidently consonant with his 
own desires, as he promptly engaged to lead them, like a prudent 
and conscientious captain, who felt responsible for the lives of 
those under his command, and wished them not to underrate the 
perils which they were to encounter, and so fail to put forth their 
best energies, he let them understand that he was not over confi- 
dent of success. This must have made every man feel a personal 
responsibility, and realize the importance of exercising all his 
efforts to achieve victory. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 367 

At the outset, an error quite natural, yet almost fatal, was made 
in locating the enemy, who, instead of being on Lovewell's front 
was on his rear. Not knowing this, Lovewell ordered his men to 
divest themselves of their packs and advance with caution. The 
Indians stealthily followed the advancing Englishmen, and coming 
upon their packs were enabled to calculate their exact force. 
Lovewell had advanced but a mile and a half when his ensign, 
Wyman, discovered an Indian, probably the one, who had been 
first discovered, advancing toward them, and making a sign to 
those behind, they all crouched low and silently awaited his ap- 
' proach. As he drew near, several guns were fired at him which 
he returned, mortally wounding with beaver shot the brave Love- 
well, who, however, made no complaint, but continued to go for- 
ward. The Indian also managed to wound Samuel Whiting, 
when Lieutenant Wyman fired and killed him. Not finding the 
Indians in their front, the English concluded to return to the spot 
where they had left their packs ; but as they approached the place, 
the Indians, who had concealed themselves in ambush near by, 
rightly calculating that they would return, suddenly arose upon 
their front and rear. 

Both parties rushed upon each other ; the Indians confident in 
the superiority of their numbers, and the English as confident in 
the superior skill of the European over the undisciplined savage. 
It was about ten o'clock in the morning when the initial volley 
was fired by both parties almost simultaneously. The first fire 
of the Indians, however, was wild and inflicted no serious damage 
upon the English ; but as the fight progressed the English found 
themselves suffering considerable loss, and in danger of being sur- 
rounded ; hence they deemed it prudent to retreat to the pond so 
as to bring it upon their rear, and baffle the intention of their 
foes to subject them to a double fire. This movement was safely 
accomplished, but there was left on the field of battle their brave 
captain and eight of their number who had fallen before the 
enemy's fire. 

Reaching the pond in good order, the English now reduced to 
twenty-five in number, prepared to meet the Indians, who came 
upon them like wild beasts eager for blood, " Roaring and Yel- 
ling and Howling like Wolves, Barking like Dogs and making 



368 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

all sorts of Hideous Noises," l to which the English responded 
with well directed shots, followed by those hearty cheers, which 
have contributed so much to English success on many well-fought 
battle-fields. 

All day the fight continued, the Indians suffering serious loss. 
At one time they appeared to have resorted, as was their custom, 
to certain magical ceremonies, which they supposed efficacious on 
such occasions, which being discovered, Wyman upon whom the 
command had now devolved, crept cautiously toward them, and 
with a skillful shot brought down the officiating powow, as he 
was denominated, and brought the ceremonies to a conclusion. 

Confident however of success, but hoping to escape further loss, 
the Indians proposed that the English should surrender, and held 
up ropes which they had ready for binding them. Every man, 
however, in that little band had resolved to die rather than sur- 
render to such a foe, and to the inquiry of the savages if they 
would accept quarter, the reply of the English was that they 
would accept nothing but at the muzzles of their guns. 

Among those severely wounded after the retreat to the pond 
was the chaplain of the party, Jonathan Frye, a young man of 
much promise, who had fought with the rest during the day. 
When he could no longer fight, the heroic young man prayed for 
the success of his friends. Shortly after sunset the Indians, who 
had been too severely punished to prolong the fight, withdrew, 
but the English did not relax their vigilance, anticipating a re- 
newal of hostilities, till about midnight, when they got together 
to take account of their condition, which was indeed desperate. 

On the shore of the pond they found one of their number, Far- 
rah, just expiring, and two others, Robbins and Usher, so severely 
wounded as to be unable to walk. Robbins desired them to load 
his gun and leave it with him, for he said " the Indians will come 
in the morning to scalp me, and I'll kill one more of 'em if I 
can." 2 Eleven more of the number were wounded but able to 
walk, and leaving Robbins and Usher to their terrible fate, the 
survivors of the Pequaket fight took up their weary march for 
their fort, forty miles distant, worn out with fatigue and faint 
with hunger, having eaten nothing during the day, and without 
provisions to sustain them on their long march through the wil- 

1 Vide (' The Expedition of Capt. John Lovewell," Boston, 1865, p. 33. * Ibid, p. 34. 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 369 

derness. By the time they had advanced a mile and a half, four 
of the wounded men, Farwell, Frye, Davis and Jones, were un- 
able to proceed farther, and with their consent, their companions 
left them to their fate. Through that terrible night the ex- 
hausted men picked their way through the wilderness in momen- 
tary anticipation of ambuscade and death, and when morning 
dawned they separated into three parties, fearing that they might 
be tracked by their vigilant enemy. 

They were several days in reaching the fort, which they found, 
to their great disappointment, abandoned, owing to false informa- 
tion carried to the garrison by a deserter at the beginning of the 
battle, to the effect that the Indians had achieved a victory. 
The men in the garrison feeling that they were not strong enough 
to resist a force sufficiently large, to overcome the force which 
had gone against them under the skillful leadership of Love well, 
resolved to abandon a post, which it was no longer necessary for 
them to hold, and to seek their way home. The four poor fel- 
lows who had been left behind, after waiting in vain for the re- 
turn of their companions, attempted to reach the fort in spite of 
weakness and wounds, and dragged themselves on for several 
miles. Frye, the wounded chaplain, was the first to give out and 
laid down to die, sending an affecting message to his father. 
Farwell succeeded in getting within a few miles of the fort when 
he too succumbed. Neither of the three was again heard from. 
Davis succeeded in reaching the fort, where he found provisions 
which renewed his strength, and finally reached D unstable ; 
while Jones by following the banks of the river, after severe 
hardships, succeeded in gaining Saco. Of the thirty-four men 
who set out from the fort at Ossipee to attack the Pequakets, but 
nineteen returned alive, fifteen having fallen in battle or perished 
by the way. The survivors were received upon their return with 
affectionate demonstrations of joy. Never were patriot heroes 
returning from victory more honored than were these brave 'men, 
and never was a hero more fervently eulogized than the dead 
Lovewell. 

" How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished " J 
was the text of his funeral sermon preached by the eloquent 
Symmes. Nor need we be surprised at this. The occasion 

1 Ibid, Symmes Discourse, p. 41. 

24 



370 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

which called Lovewell and his men to leave their homes to enter 
upon so desperate an enterprise as the expedition against Pequa- 
ket, was one of vital importance to the people of New England. 
Their welfare, if not their existence, depended upon the destruc- 
tion of the Indian power. Paugus, the Pequaket chief, had long 
been the terror of the frontier, and these patriotic and heroic men 
had overthrown him. The exploit was indeed a theme worthy 
not only of the people's gratitude, but of the best powers of the 
orator and poet. The patriotism of Lovewell and his men has 
been criticised by sentimentalists on account of the eagerness dis- 
played by them in securing the scalps of their foes ; but to sup- 
pose that these men were actuated by no higher motive than to 
derive gain from a traffic in scalp-locks, is to ignore abundant 
proofs to the contrary. They were not responsible for the meth- 
ods devised by the government to secure proof of effective ser- 
vice rendered it ; but even if they were, we should consider the 
character of the enemy with whom they had to deal. European 
methods of warfare could not avail against savages who prowled 
about the settlements in the darkness of night, surprising and kill- 
ing people in their beds. They could only be successfully reached 
by men adopting their own secret methods of attack, and to pre- 
vent them from destroying the growing settlements it was nec- 
essary to inflict upon them the sharpest punishment. No more 
lofty patriotism has been displayed by Englishmen than that ex- 
hibited by Lovewell and his hardy comrades. In a season of su- 
preme peril to their country, amid the fervent prayers of the best 
people of the land, with an unalterable resolution to conquer or 
perish in the attempt, they went forth to meet hardships and 
perils calculated to appal the stoutest hearts. Their reply when 
they found themselves in the vicinity of their pitiless enemies, 
without knowledge of the numbers they were to encounter, and 
knowing that defeat meant death, perhaps by the cruelest tor- 
ture, 'should render their names immortal. 

They had prayed to meet the enemy and would trust in Provi- 
dence, and, if necessary, die for their country, but would not turn 
back. What nobler spirit have heroes ever exhibited? Nor 
should we ignore the sentiments of the people for whose welfare 
they suffered. They realized better than we can realize the exi- 
gences of the occasion which prompted these men to go forth 



CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE PEQUAKETS. 371 

against their savage foes, and the sacrifices which they made, and 
we should give due weight to their opinions. They extolled them 
as heroes, and the pulpits of New England, occupied by some of 
the purest men whom any age can produce, indorsed the public 
testimony. 

The importance of a battle can neither be properly estimated 
by the numbers engaged in it, nor by the numbers left on the field. 
It can be correctly measured only by its results. Adopting this 
standard, in doing which we are support ed by no less an authority 
than Sir Edward Creasy, who has given the chief place in mili- 
tary history only to those battles which are acknowledged to have 
been decisive, and which he finds to be but fifteen in number ; the 
battle at Pequaket at once assumes important proportions. It 
was decisive. 

In this battle the Pequakets lost their great chief and many of 
their best warriors, and they realized for the first time that the 
English arm was long enough to reach them. An enemy who 
could send out men versed in their own methods of warfare, who 
could erect with impunity fortified camps in their country and 
attack and destroy their homes, filled them with dread and made 
them anxious for peace. So great was the terror inspired by 
Lovewell's attack upon them, that the savages abandoned their 
seat at Pequaket and took up their abode in Canada. In a short 
time overtures for peace were made. A treaty was agreed upon, 
and New England again enjoyed a season of prosperity, although 
the French still endeavored to foment trouble between them and 
the savages, over whom they exercised a malign influence, but 
with poor success, as the lesson taught them at Norridgewock and 
Pequaket convinced them that the English were dangerous ene- 
mies when aroused. 

To Lovewell, then, we may accord the honor of having ended a 
war, which might have been prolonged for years and caused much 
bloodshed and suffering, by his brave fight at Pequaket. 1 

1 Vide Documents from English Archives, appended to further illustrate this article. 



372 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

THE DEPOSITION OF JOHN MINOT LATE OP GEORGE TOWNE IN AROW- 
SICK BUT NOW BOSTON MERCHT. 

That lie being the last Spring sent by the Governmt. to Narantswalk 
on a Message to the Indians there, . did then heare Sebastian Rale the 
Popish Priest or Jessuit who resides with those Indians say 

That the King of France had given the Governr. of Canada orders to 
Assist the Indians against the English, if they proceeded to settle the 
Eastern parts of the County of York, And that the Governr. of Canada 
had promist to Assist the Indians Against the English 

And when the Regents health was Offerd to him the said Jessuit he 
refused to pledge it, saying the Regent was a Protestant, speaking re- 
fleckting words of him 

And the Indians of Narantswalk at the same time told him the said 
Miiiot, that the said Jessuit was Continually inciting the Indians Against 
the English, And that it was their best way, to beat and fight the En- 
glish And to disturb them in their Settlements 

And that the said Jessuit had wrote to the English Governr. in their 
names, Otherwayes than they intended, And things they did not Consent 
to 

And at other times, the said Indians being Instruckted by the said 
Jessuit had said to him the said Minot, that King George was not the 
right King that he came in at the back doar, and that there was Another 
who was the right heir to the Crown 

The Above Mentioned or words to the same purpose have bin spoken 

in my hearing 

JOHN MINOT. 

SUFFOLK ss; BOSTON 27th. November 1719. 

John Minot personally Appeared before us the subscribers two of his 
Majesties Justices of the peace in sd. County and made Oath to the 
truth of the above writen testimony. 

SAMUEL LYND ) Justice peace 
HABIAJH SAVAGE } Quoram unus. 

taken in perpetuam 
'Rei Memoriam. 

MASSACHUSETS-BAY. 

.Depositions of Lewis Bane, Esq. & John Minot, Mercht., taken at 
Boston, in Novr. & Deer. 1719, in relation to a French Fryar, Sebastian 
Raylees, stirring up the Kennebeck Indians to revolt from His Majesty, 
& disturb the Neighbouring English Settlements. 

Reed, with Mr. Dumer's Memorial. 

BEGON'S LETTER TO FATHER RALLC. 

I have received my Reverend Father, the Letter which you did me th e 
honour to write me the 18th. last month; Monsieur De Vaudreuil being 
at Montreal at the arrival of the Indians you sent here, I engaged four of 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 373 

them to go to him and carry the Letter you wrote him, which was ac- 
companied with one I wrote him to Communicate to him the sentiments 
of Father de la Chase and my own, upon what we think Convenient to 
be done till the Council of the Navy Explain themselves, if it be the 
King's Intention, That the French Joyn the Indians to support them 
Openly against the English or if we shall Content Our selves to furnish 
them with Amunition of War as the Council has Advised Monsr. De 
Vaudrieul, might do in Case the English makes any Enterprise against 
them; I send you the Copy of my Letter to the End you may furnish me 
with your thoughts, which appears to you to be best. 

Monsr. De Vandreiule is Come down here with the Indians & past 
thro St. Francis & Besancour to Invite the Indians of those Missions to 
send Deputies from their Villages to advise whats to be done He had a 
Design to Write to the English Governour, but since his return has 
changed his sentiment, and Contents himself to follow the principal 
Articles of the Memorial you sent him, which are to keep themselves on 
their Lands, and in the Keligion they have Embraced and to have no 
longer different sentiments amongst them, but to unite to speak to the 
English with Resolution he thought it likewise more Convenient that 
the Revd. F ather de la Chase should accompany the Indians of St. 
Francois de Besancourt than Monrs. de Croisil Lieutenant- whom he 
brought with him with a design to send him With those Indians because 
that the Journey of the R. F. de la Chase is of no Consequence in respect 
to the English, seeing the Treaty of Peace do's not forbid one Mission- 
ary to Visit another in his Mission ; Whereas if a French Officer were 
sent, they mi ghtf Complain we sent Frenchmen into the Countrey they 
pretend to b elong to them, to Excite the Indians to make War on them, 
on which we are of Opinion its Convenient t wait the Orders of the 
Court for them, to the End not to Exceed. 

Seeing you Cant abandon your Mission to come your self to Communi- 
cate your thoughts on this subject & that it's Difficult to Explain them 
Amply enough by a Letter, and Consquently to Instruct us in what you 
may know of the Rules we must limit our selves by: We thought the 
Journey of the Reverend Father de la Chase very Convenient at this 
present Conjuncture, That he may thoroughly acquaint you with Meth- 
ods that we think we are obliged to use towards the English, that we 
mayn't Exceed, and that he may Comunicate to us at his return All the 
reflections you make on the Dispositions of your Indians & those of the 
two other Missions. 

Monsr. De Vaudrieule has read to your Indians and to them that ac- 
companied them the Memorial he sends you Containing his speech, that 
they may no longer say that it is that of their Missionary, we believe 
you'l find it in the sense you proposed it. 

I Caused to be given a Blanket a shir-t a pair Mittons Tobacco powder 
& shot, to Each of the five Indians you sent, and I believe they return 
Contented & with good Intentions : As you are always too reserved in 
what Regards your self, I have desired the Reverend Father de la Chase 



374 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

to know of you in Amity what I can send you that will be most Agree- 
able ; I pray youl'd make use of it without Compliment ; nothing is 
better Approved of than what you said to the Indians upon the News of 
the English Governour, Your Great Enemy being burn'd out, I wish 
he that fills up his place proves more reasonable, and that he lets you 
and your Indians live in quiet ; This is to be wished for till we are well 
Instructed, if it be the Kings Intention That Openly we Joyn with the 
Indians against them, if they attack them wrongfully, Because in the 
Interim we Cant assist, but by Amunition, which we shall Give them 
and they may Depend that we wont let them want. 

In respect to Taxous I found that you had great Reason to use him as 
you did, & you Could not be less steady than you were, it being neces- 
sary to have no regard for those that appear more attacht to the English 
than to us. 

I am with all my heart & with all possible Attachment my Reverend 

Father, 

Your Humble & Obedient 

Sevt 

signed Begon. 

QUEBEC the 14th June,. 

1721. 

Since my Letters being wrote th e Indians of St. Francis & of Besen- 
court having Desired of Monsr. Vaudreuil That Monsr. de Croissit go 
with them to be Witness of their good Disposition, he Consented & is 
Joyned with the Reverend Father De la Chase. 

B. T. New Engld, Bun. T. vol. 17, 
Office Pub. Records, London. 

GOVB. SHTJTE TO THE CANADIAN GOVERNOR. 
LETTER TO THE GOVERNOUR OF CANADA FROM HIS EXCELLENCY GOV- 

ERNOUR SHUTE. 

SIR 

Being Informed That Your Excellency has Orders sent you Im- 
mediately to release the English Captives that are in your hands, I do 
my self the Honour to write to you on this affair; I need not Observe to 
you, how Agreeable it is to 'the Law of Nations and the Strict Allyance 
between the two Crowns (which God long Continue) That the Remnant 
of 'the Captivity of this Governmt. should at length be returned; And I 
perswade myself you will be glad of this Occasion of shewing Your Jus- 
tice and Humanity in this matter; I would acquaint you, That this Gov- 
ernment has lately been Insulted by our Eastern Indians without any 
Provocation and Contrary to their own repeated and Solemn stipulations 
and Treaties, a number of two hundred of them Entring in a Hostile 
manner into an English Town under French Colours, & Treating the 
English Inhabitants after a very Insolent manner. This is such a Breach 
upon His Majesties Government to which these Indians have subjected 
themselves, as we shall by no means Endure, & are Determined to have 



OKIGINAL LETTERS. 375 

Satisfaction for: I the rather Acquaint Your Excellency with this Af- 
fair because the Indians were Headed by two French Officers, one of 
them said to be from Canada (his name I have lost) and two Jesuits; 
This last Circumstance I look upon as an Infraction of the Treaty of 
Peace and Friendship between the two Crowns Concluded at Utrecht, 
unto which I assure my self, you will most Strictly Conform ; and there- 
fore I doe very Earnestly Desire you would Enquire after this Officer 
and proceed with him according to his Deserts; and also that you will 
do your part to recall Monsr. Halle & the other Jesuit from residing in 
any part of the Territory belonging to the Crown of Great Britain so 
Contrary to the Treaty aforesaid, His Majesties Laws at Home, and the 
Laws of this Province. 

And in Case any of our Eastern Indians should make their application 
to Your Excellency you will use your Influence and Advise them to be- 
have Loyally and peaceably towards His Majesties Government wherein 
they be, That so the English People on the Frontiers may live in Peace 
and not be troubled and abused by the Savages; and in Case the pres- 
ent rupture with the Eastern Indians should come to a Warr, I shall 
then Notify Your Excellency of it, & Expect Your Friendship and 
Assistance therein. 

Am. & W. I., vol. 5, I am 

Office Pub. Records, London. Your Excellencies 

BOSTON July 21. Humble servant 

1721. SAMLL SHUTE. 



TO THE RT. HONBLE THE LORDS OF TRADE & PLANTATIONS. 



GOVERNOUR VAUDREUIL TO FATHER RALLC. 

QUEBEC LE 25th. September 1721. 

I received n\y Reverend Father your Letters of the 4th August 10th. 
and 14th. this month. I have a great deal of Satisfaction in your having 
found means in Concert with the Reverend Father Superior to reunite 
all the Indians in the same Sentiments, & to Inspire them with that Reso- 
lution, with which they Treated the English in their Interview with 
them; I'm also very well Satisfied with the Message they sent the Gov- 
eriiour of Boston I'm perswaded it will Embarass him, and that he will 
Elude as much as he can an Answer; But it's for your Indians to see 
what they have to do, if after the Remonstrance they Gave him he do 
not Satisfy their Demands. 

I'm of the sentiment, if they have taken for me, a sincere Resolution 
not to suffer the English on their Land, that they ought not to suspend 
Chasing them out, as soon as possible, and by all sorts of means, seeing 
they don't prepare to retire on their own accord Your people ought not 
to fear the want of Ammunition, since I send them a sufficiency, as you 
may see pr the Memorandum Inclosed, and that 111 continue with other 
succours they shall want, having Orders not to lett them want, and even 



376 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

to sustain them if the English Attack them wrongfully I am charmed 
that Owrene has thus distinguished himself in this Treaty, and that he 
has laboured as he has done, that the speech of the Nation was such to 
the English, he'll receive for his son Marks of the Satisfaction I have 
for him, or his services, for I have sent all you Desired for Him. 

It is not the Malao wins that are a setting the Isle of St. Johns, that 
Island, and that of Majerlaine and others that are in the Gulph St. Law- 
rence having been Given by the King to Mr. Le Compte de st Pierre 
who causes it to be Inhabited for the Cod fishery, Scales & Sea Cows so 
that your Abenakis cant Expect any thing from that place. 

I will consult with the Reverend Father Superior after what manner 
I shall receive those of your Village that were attached to the English, 
They are on the way, and may be here about All Saints ; But you may 
depend I will make the Degraded l sensible how much I am Discontent 
with their Conduct. I am perfectly my Reverend Father your most 

Humble and Obedient servant 

signed 

VAUDRIETJL. 

You may promise a great Medal of the King reigning to him that shall 
be chosen for Chief in the place of him degraded. 



COLONEL SHUTE TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS FOR TRADE AND 

PLANTATIONS. 
My Lords, 

The last Letter I had the honour to receive from your Lordship 
bears date the 23d of August last ; And I could not Slip the first oppor- 
tunity to return the Rt. Honble Board my grateful acknowledgements 
for the kini Representation Tour Lordsps promise to make to His 
Majesty in relation to my Administration. 

I hope my last Letter to Your Lordsps which bore date Septembr. 
8th last is Arrived. 

The affairs of this Province remain in the same posture as when I last 
wrote to your Lordsps, In which Letter I acquainted You of the Rebel- 
lious behaviour of the Indians ; and find it was chiefly occasioned by 
Monsr. Yaudreuil, who is the Governour of Canada. Permitting (or I 
rather Fear Encouraging) Father le Chaise who is a Jesuit residing with 
him, And also Monsr. Croizeen a ffrench officer, to come down into His 
Majestys Government, and there joyn with Another ffrench Jesuit, 
whose name is Raillee, who constantly resides among the Indians, that' 
are in His Majestys Terretories, who all combined together as Incen- 
diarys to perswade the Indians to Commit this Insult. These Proceed- 
ings keep our Eastern Settlements constantly Alarmed and obliges me 
to keep Troops upon the ffroutiers to the great Expence of this Province 
which puts them under many Difficulties. I Earnestly beg of your 
Lordsps to take this Matter into Your wise Consideration and more Es- 

1 The " Degraded" were the Indians who wished to observe treaty stipulations and live 
on friendly terms with the English. 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 377 

pecially since these Proceedings of the French are directly Contrary to 
the Treaties that have been made between the Crown of Great Britain & 
France. 

I am with great regard 

B. T. My Lords 

New Engld Your Lordships 

Bun. x. vol. 16. Most humble Servant 

Office Pub. Records, London. Samuel Shute. 

Boston December 13th 1721. 

To the Rt. Honble the Lords of Trade, &c. 



COLO SHUTE TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONEKS FOR TRADE 
PLANTATIONS. 

BOSTON NEW ENGLAND, March 13th 1721. 
My Lords, 

In my Letter of the 13th of December last to the Rt. Honble 
Board I took the liberty to hint to your Lordships that I had good rea- 
son to Suspect that Monsr. Yaudreuil the Governor of Canada did Under- 
hand stir up my Neighbouring Indians to Maletreat His Majestys liege 
Subjects. 

The Inclosed Letters will give plain Demonstration that my Suspicions 
were well Grounded. I have only sent your Lordships well attested 
Copys, not daring to send the originals and run the risque of the Sea 
without direct Orders from home so to do. 

I shall take the liberty to remarke to Your Lordships, that these Let- 
ters were found in Monsr. Rales House a ffrench Jesuit who constantly 
resides among my Neighbouring Indians & is Useing his Utmost In- 
deavours to Engage them in a War against the English. 

Your Lordsps will Observe that the ffrench Government (in the In- 
closed Letters) advise the Indians to drive the English off from their 
Lands ; from which I must remarke to Your Lordships that those Lands 
which the ffrench Government call the Indians Land, are Lands which 
the English have long Since purchased of the Indians, And have good 
Deeds to produce for the Same, & have also Erected some fforts there- 
upon ; And that the said Lands have been at Several Genii Meetings of 
the Indians and English Confirmed to them, And once Since my being 
Governour of these Provinces, As will Appear by the Inclosed Treaty of 
the 19th. August 1717. 

I also take the Liberty to Acquaint Your Lordsps that full Credence 
ought to be given to Monsr. Vaudreuils Letters, I being well Acquainted 
with his hand, having received Several letters from him since my resid- 
ing in these Parts, And have compared the Originals I have by me, with 
those I had formerly received from him, And find them to Agree Exactly. 

As for Monsr. Begon the Intendants Letter I cannot Speak so plumply 
to it because I never had any Correspondence with him, but am well 
Informed the Original is of his writing, 



378 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

I further Judge it Necessary to Acquaint your Lordships that in a 
piece of a letter where the name and date were cutt out there is Mention 
made of one Charlevoix' who comes from the Court of ffrance in the qual- 
ity of an Inspector to make Memoirs on Acady & Missisipi & the other 
Countrys thereabouts. 

The Indians have lately killed some of our Cattle & threaten our 
Eastern Settlements, So that I am Under some Apprehension that a 
War will break out this Summer (which I will Indeavour if possible to pre- 
vent) Except Some Measures be taken to Oblige the ffrench Government 
at Canada to Act Strictly up to the Stipulations Agreed to, betwixt the 

Crowns of Great Brittain & France. 

I am 
B. T. My Lords 

New Engld, Bun. x. vol. 16, Your Lordships 

Office Pub. Records, London. most humble Servant ' 

Samll Shute. 

TO THE RT. HONBLE THE LORDS OF TRADE & PLANTATIONS. 



LETTER FROM His EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOUR TO THE MARQUESS 

DEVAUDREIL GOVERNOUR OF CANADA. 
Sir 

In the month of September last I did myself the Honor of writing to 
you a Letter by the way of Albany, which I hope came Safe to your 
hand ; however for fear of a Miscarriage I have now sent you a Copy of 
it. Therein you will observe the great Confidence I had at that time in 
your Justice and Friendship with respect to the Indians at Norridge- 
wock, but I am Sorry to find I was so much mistaken ; You have Con- 
vinced me by Letters under your own hand, That I was in the wrong to 
Expect the least Service from you upon that Occasion, For it appears 
over & over again, That the Hostile appearance and Insolent Behaviour 
of the Indians at Arowsick in the Summer last past, was not only with 
your Allowance but even of your projecting from the beginning ; And 
your Approbation of it afterwards, That you excited them to it, .Supplyed 
them in it, with Officers and Stores of War, and after all was done, 
mightily applauded & Rewarded them, And least .they should be at a loss 
what to say to the English, you even put Words into their Mouths, & pre- 
pared Instructions for their Conduct in that Affair ; I must needs Say, 
Sir, I should not Easily have been brought to Believe these things of a 
Gentleman, a Christian, and a Governor of a French Colony, and who as 
such is Obliged to live in Peace and Friendship with the English Govern- 
ment ; But what shall I say ? I have your Original Instructions, and 
Letters now before me, as you may See by the Copies of some of them, 
which I now Inclose ; The Originals I shall send home to His Majesty 
my Great Master ; You do indeed suggest, That you have Orders for 
what you have done or shall do further in this Affair ; His Majesty will 
soon Discover the Truth and Validity of that pretence, and how Agree- 
able Your Conduct has been both to the Letter and Spirit of the Treaty 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 379 

of Utecht, more especially to the twelfth and Sixteenth Articles : Is it 
thus, We are to Imitate the Examples of our Masters at Home, who live 
in such strict Allegance and Friendship ? Should I have offered to Stir 
up the Indian Tribes at St. Francois or Besaucourt, or any other within 
the Bounds of Your Government to commit such Affronts and Hostilities 
to the Government and People of Canada, would you not justly & greatly 
have Complained of it ; I do not Judge it necessary to Enter far into a 
an Argument upon this Head ; But I Gould Easily Convince you how 
very much you are in the wrong to Concern your self with an Indian 
Tribe that are settled upon one of the principal Eivers of New England, 
that live in the Neighborhood of Our English Towns & Garrisons, & until 
very lately have Constantly Conversed and traded with them, and pass by 
the English settlements every time they Come to the sea for their Fish- 
ery, And their Lands or place of Settlement must of necessity fall within 
the English Pale or Territory, inasmuch as the Crown of Great Britain 
have now the Right & Dominion of Nova Scotia, formery called L'Acca- 
die with all its Dependencies, But above all, and what I very much Insist 
on, This Tribe of the Indians, as well as that of Penobscot, have for a 
great number of years last past, by frequent and Solemn Treaties, will- 
ingly and Joyfully put themselves under the Protection of the Crown of 
Great Britain, & the Government of New England, and on these Occa- 
sions have had Tokens of His Majesties kindness & Friendship presented 
to them ; And you may Depend upon it His Majesty will never quit His 
right and Interest with respect to those Indian Tribes, but Insist upon 
it to the last, And while I have the Honour to be His Governour here, I 
shall Endeavor to do my Duty in Defending and Maintaining it, and 
shall take Just and proper Measures to prevent such Insults and Injuries 
to His Majesties good subjects for the future ; I suppose Mr. Halle, who 
has been the great Incendiary in all this Affair has acquainted you with 
his narrow Escape ; he will do well to take warning by it, & return to his 
own Countrey, or at least to Canada, and no longer abuse his profession 
by Stirring up the Indians of this Countrey to Acts of Hostility, which 
if Continued in, will finally End in their ruin. 

I shall be glad if upon this Remonstrance Your future Conduct 
towards this Government and the Indian Tribes Dependent thereon, 
Especially those of Norridgewock and Penobscot may be such as to give 
me Occasion to say, what I would willingly do, That I am, Sir 

B. T. Your very humble Servt. 

New Engld, Samll. Shute. 

Bun. x. vol. 16, 

Office Pub. Records, London. 
Boston March 14th, 1721. 

A LETTER FROM HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOUR TO THE MARQUESS 

DE VAUDREIL GOVERNOUR OF CANADA. 
Sir 

Since the finishing of my Letter of the 14th of March last past I 

have the honour to receive one of yours dated at Quebec the 22d day of 



380 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

December last, Consisting of several Articles to which I shall Endeavor 
to give a particular answer. and first, As to the Order of the Regent 
of France for the Return of the English Captives I have Inclosed you a 
Faithful Translation of the Original, by which you will Judge whether 
I have been under any Mistake in that matter. And notwithstanding 
what you are pleased to say of the Liberty that was given to the Pris- 
oners to return, yet I am well Informed there was such pains taken & 
also used to dissuade them that they could not be said to act at full liberty. 

In my other Letter, I have given you a large Account of the Insult of 
the Indians at Arowsick and, yet from some passages in your Letter I 
am obliged to act something further in thjs ; You are pleased to call 
Arowsick (where the Indians made their Hostile appearance) a place of 
the Indians own Land; I persuade myself, if you knew the Circum- 
stances of that part of this Province, you would not be of that opinion: 
Arowsick is a small Island at the Mouth of one of our Chief Rivers, pur- 
chased by good Deeds from the Natives near Seventy years agone, and 
settled with a good English Village about fifty years since ; Besides a 
Patent of Confirmation from the Crown of Great Britain to the Purchas- 
ers; since my arrival in this Government the Inhabitants of that place 
have sent a Burgess to represent them in the General Assembly of this 
Province, and yet you are pleased to call this Town a place of the In- 
dians own lands. 

That the Indians will deny their own Deeds tho never so Solemnly 
Ratified and justly obtained, I am very apt to Believe, but in the mean- 
time that does not destroy the Title to such Lands ; neither can I be of 
your opinion, as to their Treaties, That they are Null, because the Body 
of their Nation shall please afterwards to Disavow it; I am sure it is 
otherwise by the Laws of Nations and usage of all Civilized Govern- 
ments in the World ; all Treaties, Stipulations, and Transactions that are 
Managed and Concluded by Plenipotentiaries or Delegates being oblig- 
atory to the Nation or Government that Imploy them ; Now it is No- 
torious, that at all times when this Government accepted the submission 
of, or Treated with those eastern Indians, their Delegates, or some of 
their Chiefs were present, and produced their Powers or Credentials 
from the Tribe; and it is very wrong and unjust in them to Insinuate, 
that they were ever menaced or forced into any of their Deeds, Trea- 
ties, or Submissions. 

They have also misinformed you in Saying, that I had appointed to 
meet them the last year; for on the Contrary I sent them word by an 
Express, That some of the Principal Gentlemen of this Government 
would see and treat with them at Arowsick, who accordingly went 
thither, but finding no Indians returned. 

As to their Insolent Letter, I shall say no more of it [in this, having 
taken particular notice of it in my other. 

I am obliged to you for your Good Advice against a War with those 
Salvages, and am very sensible of the hazzards, mischiefs, and Expence 
of it, And I assure you, I have no design at present to Enter into a War 
with them, unless they force the Government upon it. 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 381 

All that I design at present, and 1 which I am firmly Resolved in it, to 
Defend and Protect the English Inhabitants of this Goverment in their 
Just rights, and Possessions from the Injuries and Insults of the Indians, 
and I hope for the Divine Assistance and Blessing in so doing, Having 
my Great Masters positive Orders to Maintain all the English Garrisons 
and Settlements in those parts of the province. 

You are pleased to say that the Abanakis Nation are under the Pro- 
tection of the Crown of France. If you Intend the Indians at Norridge- 
wock, It is the first time I have heard the French pretend to any such 
thing, much less can I conceive upon what Foundation it subsists. If 
they cliuse the allegance and Protection of the French, In Gods Name, let 
them move into the Confines of the Government of Canada; lam very sure 
the place of their residence at present Vizt. Norridgewock is within the 
Territory of Great Britain, And Accordingly they have actually by many 
Solemn Treaties upon Rec ord in this Government, Put themselves under 
His Majesty's Protection, and received Marks of his Royal Favour; As you 
may depend upon it, I shall never Concern myself with any of the In- 
dian Tribes that live within the bounds of Canada, or any French Gov- 
ernment; so I expect to be Treated on your part. 

You are very particular in your account of Monsr. Bellisle, who it 
seems was not with the Indians, But then you are very silent as to 
Monsr. Croissel, who was a French Officer and under your Command, 
and yet at the Head of the Indians at Arowsick. This even by your 
own Letter, was not agreeable to the Treaty of Peace & Friendship be- 
tween the Two Crowns. 

As to Monsr. Casteen, before the receiving of your Letter, I had by 
the Consent of the General Assembly of this Province, Given Orders for 
his Discharge and return; But then it was upon his humble submission 
& Parole of good Behaviour for the future towards this Government, 
as to himself personally, so also very much with respect to the Indian 
Tribe at Penobscot; and tho you seem to be of Opinion, That the send- 
ing for him was so very wrong and unjustifyable, yet he himself was 
sensible of the Contrary, and has acknowledged by a Memorial under 
his hand, That by his appearance with the Indians at Arowsick he had 
given Just Occasion to this Governmnt. to call him to an Account. 

As to Monsr. Ralles Mission among the Indians, I shall be Glad, if by 
his preaching he has brought those poor Salvages anything nearer to 
the Kingdom of Heaven, than they were before he went thither; But 
that which I have to say to him, and to you ypon this Account is, That 
Norridgewock the seat of his Mission, is within the Territory of His 
Majesty King George, and that it is Contrary to an act of Parliament of 
Great Britain, and a Law of this Province for a Jesuit or Romanish Priest 
to Preach or even reside in any part of the British Dominions. 

I have now, I think, given you a particular Answer to everything you 
were pleased to Observe to me; I should have been much better pleased 
our Correspondence might have been on a Subject more agreeable and 
Pleasant; I shall be very Glad, while I have the Honour to be in this 



382 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Government, to live with ' perfect Peace with our Eastern Indians and 
nothing shall be wanting on my part; At the same time, I must Intreat 
you to use all your Interest and influence (which I believe to be very Con- 
siderable) for the Same good purpose : This is what you have once and 
again, in your former Letters Given me an Assurance of. 

B. T. I am, 

New Engld, Your very Humble & Obedient 

Office Pub. Records, London. Servant 

SAM U SHUTE. 
BOSTON, April 23d 1722. 

FATHER RALLY'S ADDRESS FOR THE INDIANS. 
ENGLISHMEN. 

I that am of Norridgewack have had Thoughts that thou wilt Come 
and Burn our Church & Our Fathers House to Revenge thyself without 
Cause for the Houses that I have Burnt of thine. 

It was thou that didst force me to it, why didst thou build them upon 
my Land without my Consent 

I have not yet burnt any, but what was upon my own land ; Thou 
mayest burn it, because thou knowest that I am not there such is thy 
Generosity, for if I were there, Assuredly thou shouldst not burn it, 
altho thou shouldest Come with the number of many hundred Men. 

It is 111 built, because the English dont work well ; It is not finished, 
altho five or six English men have wrought there during the space of 
four years, and the Undertaker who is a great Cheat, hath been paid in 
advance for to finish it. 

I tell the nevertheless, That if thou dost burn it in Revenge, upon my 
Land thou mayest Depend upon it, That I will Revenge myself also and 
that upon thy Land in such a manner as will be more sensible and more 
Disadvantageous to the, for one of thy Meeting houses or Temples is of 
more value beyond Compare than our Church. And I shall not be Sat- 
isfied with Burning only one or two of thine, but many ; I know where 
they are, and the Effect shall make the know that I have been as good as 
my word. 

This shall certainly be done sooner or later for the War is but just be- 
ginning ; And if thou wouldest know where it will have an End I tell the 
it will not have an end but with the World. If thou Canst not be driven 
out before I Dye, Our Children and Nephews will Continue it till that 
time, without thy being abfe to enjoy it peaceably. 

This is what I say to the, who am of Norridgewack, in the Name of all 
the NATION. 

Translated The foregoing was found upon the Church Door 

from the at Norridgewock & in the hand Writing of 

French. Father Ralle the Jesuit. 

Copyes of Monsr. Vaudreil Governor of Canada's Letters, formerly 
sent to the Governor of New England and transmitted to the Right Hon- 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 383 

orable The Lord Carteret Secretary of State as also of a letter lately 
received from Canada, 1722. 



LOVEBJAT'S LETTER TO FATHER 

A Nasalkehunanjan 

( Juliet 1724. 
My Reverend ffather. 

P. C. Sixteen Englishmen were killed whilest Joseph was 

gon to you Two boats were burnt and forty Seven in all were killed and 
taken prisoners with Eleven Sloops as we Commonly say Sword in hand 
and that after an obstinate fight on Each side all which will contribute 
to our gallantry and will increase our Village if it be well preserved. 

In spite of all the Indians can say all the 
Glory is owing to Sagsarrab. 



FATHER RALLY'S LETTER TO 

+ Norridgwalk 23d. Augt. N. 

12 O. S. 
My Reverend Father 

My People are returned from their last Expedition, 
wherein one of their Bravest Champions was killed, Believing there 
were above two hundred English divided in three Parties or Bands to 
drive them out of their Camp. And expecting a further number to En- 
force them in order to ruin all the Corn in the fields without doubt. 
But I said to them, how Could that be, Seing we are daily Surrounding 
& making Inroads upon them everywhere in the midst of their Land, and 
they not coming out of their Fort, which they have upon your own Land 
Besides in all the War you have had with them, did you ever see them 
Come to Attack you in the Spring, Summer or in the fall ; when they 
knew you were in your habitations. You know it, you Say Your selves 
that they never did, but when they knew you was not, but when you 
were in the Woods. For if they knew there were but fifteen or twelve 
Men in your Dwellings they dare not approach you with One hundred. 
We told you after the fall fight of Ke Kepenagliesek that the English 
would come with the Nation of Iroquois to Revenge themselves. You 
Opposed it and said they should not, and yet they did, you see now 
whether You are in the right. I had Reason to Believe it Foundered on 
the Kings word ; who could ever think that he should forge such a false- 
hood & how should I then Answer or Right. And it was to make good 
their false Designs that they came here to shew themselves as Master of 
your Land (contrary to my Expectation) where they would not have a 
Romish Priest to dwell. And if they did not burn the Church, it is that 
I did send them Word in your behalf, That if they should bum it, you 
should burn all their Temples. Therefore there was an Order to the 
officer not to burn anything. They hearken to all my Reasons afore- 



384 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

going, but follow their own They Design to quit the Village for a fort- 
night, and to go five or Six Leagues up the River, they proposed it to 
me and I have Given my Consent. When I spoke to them on such an 
Occasion I Declared my thought, without Obliging them to follow the 
same : But Declared to them that I was ready to follow their own. It is 
but a few days since we came to the Village and the last are arrived this 
morning. 

The day before yesterday arrived a party of the Becaucourians being 
nine in number, but I nave no dependence on them. But my Depend- 
ence is upon KSnaSons, the former being favourers of the English Yes- 
terday 12 or 15 PannaSanskeins, four Hurones with One wounded 
arrived here almost Starved Therefore they must be Supplied tho the 
Corn is not Ripe. They must take it as it is, for we are almost reduced 
to a Famine Provisions being so Scarse. As for my self thro the Grace of 
God I have gathered in the most part of my Field and Husked the same, 
which is now a drying ; for I can Expect none or little from the 
Salvages. 

Three Hurones are this morning to depart, and go into the War with 
Becancouriens; The PanaSauskeians Desired the Hurones to carry 
away their wounded. Say they, you seek nothing [but Scalps, there is 
five which we give you. They have had some likewise in this Village, 
& are to depart to morrow Morning. My own People are also to de- 
part, and are now Deliberately Consulting whether they shall Joyn with 
the Becancouriens Ratio Dubitandi Est. That the Sarinakiens have 
not Acted against the English Save one of them, that the English should 
have no Occasion to Complain of them ; for KSnaSans who is of this Vil- 
lage has all along been with them. The Sarinakiens said when my 
People came to War that they Joyn with the Narridge walks who follow 
the English very close by frequent Discharge of their pieces when the 
others keep at a distance. And when they return they would take all 
the honour of War to themselves, which is very displeasing to my 
people, who are Deserving of the true Honour Therefore they Conclude 
to go by themselves in different Parties as I had advised them. 

It is therefore for the same Reason that they did let the Hurones go 
by themselves. At their arrival here, there was a Party ready to em- 
bark ; And I advised my People that two of them should go as a Guard 
to. the Hurones S saumSes and Mathirw are to Joyn them. But my 
People Come and tell me that the Hurones being in Company with 
them before used to say in Canada That the Narridgewalks were but 
Women in the War &c. I am sure said I that is a Calumny that the 
Hurones Cast upon them, they have no reason to say any such thing. 
They have seen you in the Action and you have Given them several 
scalps &c. But they know the way & tell us every Spot, however let 
them go by themselves. 

I just now received a Letter from Father Loverjat with four Codd 
fish out of Eight he sent me. The Bears have Eat four by the way, and 
said it was a Case of necessity being for want of Provisions. Tho the ir 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 385 

Village is full of Cod fish out of 15 or 16 Vessels they have taken; the 
Father sent me word that by a suitable Opportunity he shall send me 
more ; And hath sent me word that they have newly taken three Vessels 
& killed ten Men, some on the Spot and others by reason they revolted 
from those who had spared their lives &c. They have Attempted to 
burn the Fort of St. George by two fire Shipps or Vessels, but for want 
of Wind they miscarried. The fire began to take the Wood part of the 
Fort, whereupon they heard the English make a great Cry and Lamen- 
tation some of them coming out of the Fort to attempt to Extinguish the 
fire, which the Indians Could not kill by reason of their being posted on 
the Contrary-side, they not foreseeing that the English Could Come out 
of the ffort on that side. The fire of one of the Vessels went out soon of 
it self and the English had it. 

After that nine of the Indians went off in a Vessel, where they were 
Attacked by two English Vessels they Engaged for some time ; And the 
Indians having no more powder . Attempted to Board one of them, but 
they Shunned it. Wherefore the Indians were obliged to retire Eleven 
other Indians went in a Vessel and espied two English vessels in the 
Road, & went to plunder them, but seeing they were full of People and 
themselves not able to stand them, did save themselves by swimming a 
shoar & leaving their vessel, Says the Father I attribute the Bad Suc- 
cess to their Ungratefulness to God and their Disobedience to me. A 
Vessel said, he which comes from Mines for to bring us Provision said 
that an English Man Assured him that they had a very great Inclination 
for Peace at Boston ; And he doubted not but it would be Concluded 
next fall, which appears very Probable because a Vessel which went 
from here to Boston to bring a Ransom for the Prisoners that are here 
is not returned, notwithstanding the time is a great deal Expired, and I 
have answered them that that did not agree with the Council D' Orange 
that were Resolute to keep their Land I further said that I would never 
permit my People to receive a Ransom for those they take ; ffor there is 
not one but would Ransom himself, and if we should hearken to it, the 
English would never think to return the Land for the loss of their 
People, that they would easily buy &c. 

The Father Loyard wrote to him that his People with the Mickemacks 
have been in two Parties to make an attempt upon the English at Port 
Royal ; one of those Parties Attackt the Fort it self, where they did kill 
six men & burnt two Houses after they had plundered them, the other 
party is not yet returned back. 

My People are Absolutely willing to Return to those Forts where one 
of our Brave Champions was killed in the la.st Party. 

I am very glad that Mr. Lieutenant hath Accepted my present. They 
have brought me my Chocolate. The two Bills that James was to have 
brought with him are Cast away by over setting a Canno. I am well 
stock' d with Chocolate for a long time, which I came easily by, & it shall 
not be presently carried away for it is very weighty As for the Remain- 
ing part you keep for me it may be it troubles you as much, as it would 

25 



386 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

trouble me if I had it. The Father Dupy had a Warehouse where I put 
all the woolen linnen shot & powder as well as the Blanketting & gun 
you got for me since the Canno of the Hurones was here I added those 
things to his Merchandize for him to make the best profit. As for me 
I am Contented & I think well paid. The Wine shall be put into the 
Cellar to be mixt wth that of the House. If the Tobacco were here it 
should be put into the Magazine. 

I am very much Obliged to you my Revd. Father for the Care you take 
of me. You are willing I should live as a Chanoine till the Spring by 
the plentiful supply that you have sent me by Pauscawen. I have yet 
considerable for my self for the Winter. Since they sent me some Wine 
I take a glass after my Mass but I don't find it keeps me so well as a 
Dram of Brandy. I want nothing but Spanish Wine for the Mass. I 
have enough for myself for about 12 months. Therefore I pray for the 
3d time to send me no more Wine. I shall send for more when I want 
it. 

Not finished. 



LT. GOVBS. LETTER TO THE GOVT. OF CANADA. 
LT. GOVB. DUMMEB TO GovB. VAUDBEUIL. 

BOSTON N ENGLAND January 19th. 1724. 
SIB 

Your Letter dated Quebec October 29th pr Henry Edgar one of the 
English Captives came safe to me ; on perusal thereof I am greatly Sur- 
prized at the matters Contained therein, which are so unjustly repre- 
sented, that I cannot Satisfy my self to pass them by unanswered. In 
the first place As to what you say relating to the death of Monsr. Rall 
the Jesuit, which you set forth as so Inhumane & Barbarous ; I readily 
acknowledge that he was slain, amongst other of our Enemies at Nor- 
ridgewalk ; and if he had Confined himself unto the professed Duty of 
his ffunction viz to Instruct the Indians in the Christian Religion, had 
kept himself within the bounds of the French Dominions, and had not 
Instigated the Indians to War & Rapine there might then have been 
some ground of Complaint; But when instead of Preaching Peace, Love 
and Friendship Agreeable to the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, he 
has been a Constant and Notorious Fomenter & Incendiary to the In- 
dians to kill burn & Destroy, as flagrantly appears by many original 
Letters and manuscripts, I have of his by me, and when in open Vio- 
lation of an Act of Parliament of Great Britain, and the Laws of this 
Province strictly forbidding Jesuits to reside or teach within the Brit- 
ish Dominions, he has not only resided, but also once & again appeared 
at the head of great numbers of Indians, in an Hostile manner threatning 
and Insulting, as also publickly assaulting the subjects of His British 
Majesty; I say, If after all, such an Incendiary has happened to be slain 
in the heat of Action, among our open and Declared Enemies, surely 



ORIGINAL LETTERS. 387 

none can be blamed, therefor but himself, nor can any safeguard from 
you, or any other Justify him in such proceedings ; and I think I have 
much greater Cause to Complain, that Mr. Willard the minister of Rut 
land (who never had been guilty of the Facts charged upon Mr. Ralle" & 
applied himself solely to the preaching of the Gospel) was by the In- 
dians you sent to Attack that Town Assaulted, slain & scalpt, & his 
scalp Carried in Triumph to Quebec. 

As to the next article you mention, That St. Georges River was in the 
year 1700 by order of the two Crowns Marked as the bounds of the En- 
glish & French Lands whereby it appeared That Penobscot was given to 
you, and that one La ffevre had a right to the Land therebounts, & that 
all Vessels paid a Duty to him, and that Mr. Capon Envoy of England 
when King George came u pon the Throne, went to ask the Penobscot In 
dians to submit themselves to England, which they refused I have no 
difficulty to answer to each of the af oresd Points ; And as to the last 
relating to Mr. Capon you Labour under a very great Mistake to mention 
him as an Envoy of England, he being far below any such Character, and 
only an Inferiour Officer, Commissary or Victualler to the Garrison of 
Annapolis, & sometime after that was taken and yielded up to the En- 
glish, sent by the Lieutenant Govr. of that place to visit the French set- 
tlements within that District & to require an Oath of Allegiance and 
Fidelity from them to Queen Anne; but he had no Occasion to Come 
and Entice the Penobscot Indians to submit themselves to England, for 
they as well as the Norridgwalk Indians & many other Tribes had done 
that long before even in the year 1693 at a Treaty of Sr. William Phipps 
Governor of this Province, by which Treaty, I can make it appear, that 
they not only submitted themselves as subjects to the Crown of England, 
but also renounced the French Interest & Quitted Claim to the Lands 
bought and possessed by the English ; But since King Georg came to the 
Throne Mr. Capon has not been in those parts at all, as I am Informed 
by the People' of that Country. 

As to St. Georges River being the bounds and La ffevres pretended 
Right it seems very wonderful you should make any mention of those 
things or lay any weight upon them at this time, when if the Case were 
formerly as you now represent it, which I do not allow, all such Claim 
and pretension is wholly superceeded, and at an end ; whereof you may 
soon and easily satisfy your self by Consulting the Treaty of peace at 
Utrech Concluded bet the two Crowns in the year 1713 by the twelfth 
Article, whereof it is provided, "That all Nova Scotia or L'Accadie 
" with its Ancient Boundaries &c. together with the Dominion property 
" & possession of the 2d Islands Lands & places, and all right to which, 
the "Most Christian Kirg, the Crown of France, or any of the subjects 
"thereof have hitherto had to the Islands Lands & places, and the In- 
" habitants of the same are Yielded & made over to the Queen of Great 
"Britain & to her Crown forever Now, by the af oresd. Resignation, 
the French King Quitted all Right not only to the Lands, but also the 
Inhabitants whether ffrench or Indians, or whatsoever they were & trans- 



388 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

f erred the same to the Crown of Great Britain forever, whereby you are 
Entirely Cut off from any Claim to the subjection of the said Indians, 
from thence forward ; and we are not Ignorant how far the ffrench King 
understood the Countrey of L'Accadie to Extend Westward by his Pa- 
tent Granted to Monsr. D'Aleney tho you seem to be a stranger to it. 

As to the whole- Nation of the Indians Exclaiming against some of 
their Tribe, as pretending they were suborned to give Deeds for their 
Lands, if it be matter of Fact, that they do so, which is hard to be Con- 
ceived, it is a most unjust Imputation, & must Argue a wonderful De- 
ceitfulness & self Contradiction in them, since they have upon all 
Treatys when the whole Tribes were together Constantly acknowledged 
and submitted to the English Titles and possessions, which they had 
by honest and Lawful purchase Acquired. 

As to the Building of Forts any where within the British Dominions I 
suppose you will not scruple to acknowledge that the King of Great 
Britain has as good a right to Erect Fortresses or places of Defence 
within His Dominions, as the ffrench King has in his And therefore when 
you shall please to Give me Instances of the French Kings Applying 
himself to the Indians for leave to build a Fort or Forts for the De- 
fence of His subjects I shall then give you a further answer to that Ar- 
gument And in the mean time I must tell you we have always treated 
the Indians with sincerity, & never thought it proper to make Apol- 
ogies for Building Forts within our own Jurisdiction (as you Insinuate) 
but on the Contrary in all our Treatys with them have Ascerted our 
undoubted right so to do. 

You likewise signify that we must Blame no body but our selves for 
the Violence and Hostilities Committed against Our nation by the In- 
dians. But syr, If the blame must lye where it ought I must Impute 
their Outrages, falsness & 111 Conduct towards us, not so much, to their 
own Inclinations, as to the Instigations of the Jesuit Ralle & others 
Under your Government, whereof we have had sufficient Information 
from time to time, as also of your own forcing the Indians against their 
wills upon our Frontiers to destroy & Cutt off our People which Cannot 
be otherwise lookt upon as a direct & Notorious Violation of the 
Treaty of Peace at Utrecht. 

Nevertheless sir, After all, I have much greater Inclination to live in 
Amity & good Correspondence with you than otherwise, And therefore 
I have sent Collo. Samuel Thaxter one of His Majesties Council, and 
Collo. William Dudley one of the House of Representatives who are Com- 
missioned to Confer with you Pursuant to such Instructions as they 
have received from me; and I Desire that you will Give Credence to 

them accordingly. 

I am 

Sir 

Your Most Humble & 
Most Obedt. servant 
WM. DUMMEK. 



BRITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOBSCOT. 389 



THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOB- 
SCOT DURING THE REVOLUTION. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, December 21, 1883. 

BY JOSEPH WILLIAMSON. 

THE investment of Penobscot, now Castine, during the war of 
the Revolution ; the successful defense of the place during a pro- 
tracted siege against the strongest force which could be brought 
against it, and its uninterrupted retention by the enemy for over 
four years, and until after such retention had formed the subject of 
many vexed questions of diplomacy, and constituted the last ves- 
tige of British authority in the old thirteen colonies ; form one 
of the most interesting passages in our history. Whether this 
interest is due to the importance which had been attached to the 
locality for five generations, from associations with the Pilgrim 
fathers, with La Tour and D'Aulnay, with the representatives of 
Cromwell and of the Prince of Orange, with the pious followers 
of Loyola and Castine, or whether it is due merely for military 
reasons to the natural strength of the place', do not form the ob- 
ject of present inquiry. Nor is it intended to dwell upon the de- 
tails of the siege, but simply to trace the history of the place from 
August, 1776, when the Americans were dispersed, until its res- 
toration to them four years afterward. 

The commander of the armed vessels which warded off the at- 
tack was Captain Henry Mowat ; of the land forces, General 
Francis McLean. As the former was **t the head of the two 
most important events that took place in Maine during the revo- 
lution, and as little has been written concerning him, a brief ac- 
count of his life and service may not be inappropriate. 

HENKY MOWAT. 

Henry Mowat was born in Scotland, in 1734. He was son of 
Captain Patrick Mowat, of Her Majesty's ship " Dolphin." 
After an experience at sea of six years he was commissioned as 



390 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

lieutenant of the ship " Baltimore" in 1758. The certificate of 
his " passing " by the admiralty records sets forth that " He pro- 
duceth journals kept by himself in the Chesterfield & Ramilies 
(as midshipman), and certificates from Captains Ogle and Hobbs 
of his Diligence, etc. ; he can splice, knot, reef a sail, etc., and 
is qualified to do the duty of an able Seaman and Mid- 
shipman." In 1764, he was promoted to be a commander and 
served as such on the " Canceaux " for twelve years. At the time 
of the destruction of Falmouth he was forty-one years old. His 
next vessel, the sloop " Albany," was the flag-ship of the squad- 
ron at Penobscot. After a service of thirty years on our coast, 
he died of apoplexy, April 14, 1798, aged sixty-four, on board his 
ship, the " Assistance," near Cape Henry. His remains were in- 
terred at Hampton, Virginia. He had three brothers in the navy, 
of whom two were killed in action on the " London," off St. 
Domingo, and the other, Alexander, died in command of the 
" Rattlesnake," in the West Indies, in 1793. He left a son, John 
Alexander, who entered the navy in 1804, and who is probably 
the one placed under the educational charge of Rev.Jacob Bailey 
the Episcopal missionary at Pownalboro. 

Captain Mowat left no will, and no letters of administration on 
his estate appear on record in England. A short time before his 
death he wrote " A Relation of the Services in which I was En- 
gaged in America, from 1759, to the close of the American War 
in 1783." Probably it was never printed. An exhaustive search 
for it at the British Museum and in the principal libraries of the 
United Kingdom has been without success. Advertisements in 
the '* London Times," and in " Notes and Queries," offering a 
liberal reward for information of its existence have proved 
equally unavailing. The last trace of its title is found in "Rodd's 
Catalogue of Books and MSS.," published in London, in 1843, 
"where it is described as a folio, and placed at eighteen shillings. 
Its discovery would shed much light upon our revolutionary his- 
tory. We should learn from it the particulars of dismantling 
Fort Pownal soon after the battle of Bunker Hill, and should 
also be informed of the reasons which induced the occupation of 
Penobscot. We should also learn whether the author instigated 
the destruction of Falmouth, or acted under the strict orders of 
his superior officer ; and whether the denunciations which have 



BRITISH OCCUAATION OF PENOBSCOT. 391 

visited him for that act with as much warmth as if he merely 
gratified his private antipathies are or are not deserved. It is to 
be feared, however, that the lost manuscript has shared the fate of 
the Gorges papers, which Dr. Palfrey the historian, says, " It is 
not extravagant to suppose, may, undreamed of by their pos- 
sessor, be now feeding the moth in the garret of some manor- 
house in Somerset or Devon, or in some crypt of London, which 
vast city has always been the receptacle, often the final hiding- 
place of such treasures." 

Although little is known of Capt. Mowat's private character, 
several incidents concerning him which have been preserved place 
it in a favorable light. His kindness to many suffering families 
on the Penobscot is not forgotten ; while the letter that accom- 
panied the committal of his son to Mr. Bailey contains sentiments 
of affection, kindness, and respect, and, as the biographer of the 
latter suggests, is not the production of a brutal or ignorant man. 
In personal appearance Mowat was a little above middle size, 
of good form, and with a fresh countenance. One who saw him 
soon after the siege says he wore a blue coat with lighter blue 
facings, and had his hair powdered. 

Apprehensive of a second attack, Gen. McLean labored un- 
ceasingly after the siege was raised, to complete Fort George, 
which name had been given to the fortress in honor of King 
George in. Neighboring mechanics were employed and liber- 
ally paid. The soldiers were kept on fatigue duty every day in- 
cluding Sunday, and by December the works had reached a good 
state of defense. Bomb-proof apartments were probably con- 
structed in three of the bastions, and batteries erected at various 
assailable points. As the peninsula contained few houses, bar- 
racks were built for officers and men. Before winter set in the 
soldiers were well housed and always were well clothed and well 
fed. Their situation was in striking contrast to that of the Amer- 
ican army shivering in tents at Morristown. The officers seem 
to have been mindful of the comfort of their men. On one occa- 
sion, in a general order, the commandant regrets that " he is under 
the disagreeable necessity of restricting the garrison to two-thirds 
of their ordinary allowance of rum and butter " until an arrival 
from Halifax, " when they shall have credit for what will be then 
due them." It became necessary, however, to limit the sale of 



392 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

liquors, and another general order provides that " no inhabitant 
shall in future sell any spirituous liquors to any non-commissioned 
officer or soldier, under the penalty of forfeiting all the liquors in 
his possession. A duplicate copy of this order to be put on the 
fort gate that no one can plead ignorance." This was the first 
" Maine Law," and doubtless more practically enforced than its 
numerous successors have been. 

" Many of the officers were men of education and refinement. 
Gen. McLean was cool and determined, " a man of noble spirit." 
His generous conduct toward the distressed inhabitants caused 
him to be loved and respected by friend and foe. After a few 
months' service he was ordered to Halifax, where he died in 1781. 
Colonel Campbell his successor remained several years. He is 
said to have been a violent, impulsive man. General Wadsworth 
wrote in the highest terms of the polite attentions which he, 
while a prisoner, received from Colonel Campbell and his officers. 
Among the latter was Captain Craig, subsequently, as Governor 
of Canada, known as Sir James Craig. Lieutenant Moore, then 
but eighteen years old, afterward the distinguished Sir John 
Moore, whose name has been immortalized by the beautiful lines 
of Wolfe, was then attached to Colonel Campbell's staff. He also 
acted as paymaster in the 74th Foot, a regiment raised by the 
Duke of Hamilton and called the Argyle Highlanders. This 
regiment, and also the 82d, remained during the first winter. 
The men in the former wore kilts, that is, very wide trousers ex- 
tending to the knees, and then buckled to stockings above the calf 
of the leg. Detachments from the regiment remained at Penob- 
scot until the post was broken up. Lieutenant Moore, however, 
left during the first year. Dr. John Calf, formerly of Ipswich, 
Mass., was its surgeon, and a portion of the time acted as chap- 
lain, holding at the fort each Sabbath services, according to the 
forms of the English Church, which general orders recommended 
all persons to attend. 

The month of January, 1780, proved intensely cold. Penob- 
scot bay was frozen to its mouth, and persons passed to the op- 
posite shore on the ice. One can imagine the isolated condition 
of the garrison, which then saw their only communication with 
the outside world entirely cut off. Probably they resorted to the 
same expedients for keeping up their spirits, as did Lescarbot and 



BRITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOBSCOT. 393 

his companions at Port Royal, during the dreary winter of 1606. 
Hunting and other outdoor amusements beguiled the days ; and 
when night closed in, seated by generous fires and wide-mouthed 
chimneys, the song, the joke and the story inspired a comfort 
and a cheerfulness, which those bred to the profession of arms, 
always most readily find, and most keenly enjoy. 

Although life at Fort George was comparatively pleasant, the 
experience of almost every day indicated that the troops were by 
no means " carpet soldiers." Massachusetts, chagrined at the ig- 
noble defeat which her arms had sustained there, was constantly 
devising vindication, and her movements could not have been 
concealed. Hence the garrison was always prepared for an at- 
tack. Sentinels manned the walls of the fort night and day ; a 
complete line patrolled without the ditch after sunset ; while a 
picket guard environed the whole peninsula. 

As early as April, 1780, another expedition to repel the enemy 
was proposed by Massachusetts, and aid was asked from the com- 
mander-in-chief. But at that time our affairs were passing 
through a gloomy crisis. Our army was unpaid, and every de- 
partment was destitute of money and credit. Washington dem- 
onstrated how far the project exceeded our resources ; and in 
deference to his advice, it was abandoned. 

The naval force at Penobscot was constantly changing. Ves- 
sels of war, privateers and their prizes, made the harbor a busy 
scene ; while raids along the coast for plunder and to secure the 
persons of prominent patriots were of frequent occurrence. 

In July, 1780, General Charles Gushing, of Pownalboro, was 
brought a prisoner to the fort. A small force entered his cham- 
ber by night, and telling his wife that if she raised an alarm the 
Indians with the party would scalp her, marched him across the 
country through the woods. By vigilance in discharging his du- 
ties as sheriff and military officer, General Gushing had become 
especially obnoxious to the tories, which led to this method of 
revenge. After a short detention, as no specific charge against 
him could be proved, he was liberated. 

The capture of General Wadsworth at Thomaston during the 
following winter, his long imprisonment, and the interesting es- 
cape of Major Barton and himself, is too familiar for repetition. 

Daniel Sullivan, a brother of General John Sullivan, was the 



394 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

object of one of these expeditions. He resided in the town 
which bears the family name, near Castine. At the siege he com- 
manded a company, and after returning home, he kept them in 
readiness for action, inflicting many severe blows upon the enemy. 
The English and tories made several attempts to capture him, 
which from the constant vigilance of the patriots, were ineffect- 
ual. But one stormy night in February, 1781, a British war ves- 
sel, the " Allegiance," commanded by Mowat, anchored near his 
residence, and landed a large force. The house was silently entered, 
and Captain Sullivan aroused from slumber, only to find his bed 
surrounded by armed men. He was hurried to the boat, and his 
dwelling fired so suddenly that the children were with difficulty 
saved by their mother and the hired man. Carried before Colonel 
Campbell, his liberty and future protection from harm were ten- 
dered him, on condition he took the oath of allegiance. Reject- 
ing these proposals, he was conveyed to Halifax, and thence sent 
to New York, where he was confined for six months on the Jersey 
prison ship. When exchanged, he died on the passage home, 
probably the victim of British cruelty. 

These are only instances of the incursions made by the British 
and the tories. The latter were responsible for most of the das- 
tardly acts committed in Maine. It was a tory who as guide 
to the captors of General Wadsworth, and " Black Jones " an 
active partisan of the royal government, headed the raid against 
his old townsman, General Gushing. Such are the passions en- 
gendered by war and most of all by civil war that neighbors, 
friends and brothers are led by a sense of interest, duty or incli- 
nation, to opposite sides of the contest, and view each other not 
merely as foes, but traitors and parricides. 

So rigorous, however, was military discipline, that in October, 
1780, when, in the cause of science, Massachusetts asked per- 
mission for astronomers of Harvard College and the American 
Academy, to make observations of a total eclipse of the sun, the 
central point of which would be on Long Island, a few miles from 
Penobscot, landing for the purpose was permitted only upon con- 
dition of remaining but two days, and holding no communication 
whatever with the inhabitants. From Captain Mowat, their re- 
port says, every attention was received. 

During the same year an excitement was caused by the arrival 



BRITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOBSCOT. 395 

in the Bay of a French vessel of war, " His most Christian Maj- 
esty's frigate, the * Hermione,' Captain La Touche," as General 
Heath informed Washington. No shots were exchanged, al- 
though she came near enough to take a plan of the works, which 
was forwarded to the French minister at Philadelphia. Probably 
this plan induced Rochambeau, the commander of the French 
fleet, to conceive the idea of re-taking Penobscot, at a time when 
he was idle at Newport, and he solicited the consent of Wash- 
ington to do so. Washington gave General De Choise, the of- 
ficer who proposed conducting the expedition, a letter of intro- 
duction to the Massachusetts authorities ; but he did not approve 
of the plan, and it was abandoned. 

In 1783, the fort was much alarmed by a brilliant exploit made 
by Lieutenant, afterward Commodore, Preble. In the night that 
officer landed and captured a privateer brig of more than equal 
force, lying in the harbor. A furious cannonade took place, but 
in the darkness the shots did not take effect, and he carried off 
his prize without loss. 

NEW IRELAND. 

Immediately upon the firm establishment of a military post at 
Penobscot, it became the resort of loyalists from all parts of 
Massachusetts. One inducement for them to settle there was 
the probability that it would become the capital of a new prov- 
ince composed of the territory between the river Penobscot and 
the St. Croix, under the name of " New Ireland." The project 
was sanctioned by the king and his ministry, who saw in it an 
asylum for the proscribed citizens of the colony. A constitution 
was drawn, the marked feature of which, says Bancroft, " was 
the absolute power of the British parliament ; and to make this 
power secure for all coming time, every landlord on acquiring 
land, whether by grant from the crown, or by purchase, or by in- 
heritance, was bound to make a test declaration of allegiance to 
the king in his parliament, as the supreme legislature of the 
province." " To combat the prevailing disposition of the people 
to republicanism," there was to be by the side of the governor 
and council no elective assembly until the circumstances of the 
province should admit of it ; but a middle branch of the legis- 
lature, of which every one of the members was to be named by 
the crown, to be distinguished by titles or emoluments, or both ; 



396 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

and though otherwise appointed for life, to remain ever liable to 
be suspended or removed by royal authority. 

As a further security to aristocratic power, the lands were to 
be granted in large tracts, so that there might be great land- 
lords and a tenantry. The church of England was to be the es- 
tablished church ; the country to be divided into parishes, each 
with a glebe land ; and the governor, the highest judge in the 
ecclesiastical court, to present to all benefices. A vicar-general 
with power to ordain was to open the way for a bishop. No 
provision was made for the establishment of schools or the educa- 
tion of the people. TJiis constitution was approved by the cab- 
inet on the tenth of August, 1780, and on the next day by the 
king. The pYoject would undoubtedly have been carried into 
effect but for the adverse views of the attorney-general, who held 
that Massachusetts extended to the boundaries of Nova Scotia, 
and that the chartered rights of both provinces would not per- 
mit the interposition of a new one. His opinion prevailed, but 
the plan was not entirely abandoned until the close of the war. 

The proclamation of General McLean, upon taking possession 
of Penobscot, expressly states that to afford friends of the crown 
in Maine a place of refuge and protection was the principal ob- 
ject in establishing a military post. The subject of restitution 
and compensation to the loyalists proved a great obstacle in nego- 
tiations for peace. England revived the old idea that the bound- 
aries of Massachusetts went no further than Penobscot bay and 
river, hoping to save the eastern territory for her loyal subjects. 
But John Adams was decided upon the point and refused to yield 
a single inch of land as the following extracts from his diary 
show : 

Nov. 10, 1782. [Mr. Adams waited on Count Yergennes. [He was 
then in Paris, negotiating with Mr. Oswald, the English commissioner.] 
The Count asked me how we went on with the English. I told him we 
divided upon two points, the Tories and the Penobscot; as it was im- 
possible to believe that my Lord Shelburne, or the nation cared much 
about such points. The count remarked that the English wanted the 
country there "for masts." I told him that I thought there were but 
few masts there; but that I fancied it was not masts, but Tories, that 
again made the difficulty. Some of them claimed lands in that territory, 
and others hoped for grants there. I took out of my pocket and showed 
him the record of Governor Pownall's solemn act of burying a leaden 
plate with this inscription: 



BKITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOBSCOT. 397 

"May 23, 1759. Province of Massachusetts Bay, Penobscot, Domin- 
ions of Great Britain. Possession confirmed by Thomas Pownall, Gov- 
ernor." 

This was planted on the east side of the river Penobscot, three miles 
above marine navigation. I showed him, also, all the other records, 
the laying out of Mount Desert, Machias, and all the other towns to the 
east of the river Penobscot; and told him that the grant of Nova Scotia 
by James i to Sir William Alexander, bounded it on the St. Croix. 

Nov. 18. Returned Mr. Oswald's visit. We went over the x old ground 
concerning the Tories. He began to use arguments with me to relax. 
I told him that he must not think of that, but must lend all his thoughts 
to convince and pursuade his court to give it up ; that if the terms now 
before the court were not accepted, the whole negotiations would be 
broken off. 

It is evident that the firmness of Mr. Adams saved the whole 
of eastern Maine to the United States. " I had but the alter- 
native either to accept the terms proposed," said Shelburne, in 
the House of Lords, " or to continue the war." 

PENOBSCOT AFTER PEACE. 

Although on the thirtieth of November, 1782, provisional arti- 
cles of peace were agreed upon with Great Britain, by which that 
power acknowledged the independence of the United States ; yet 
the definitive treaty was not signed till the following September. 
During that intervening period the people of Massachusetts al- 
most clamorously insisted that "the viperine nest at Penobscot" 
as one writer termed it, should be broken up. Pamphlets, which 
then, in many respects, took the place of newspapers, demanded 
an immediate withdrawal of the British troops, or if that was not 
done, their forcible expulsion. " I should be glad to see the bet- 
ter class of pamphlets you mention," wrote John Adams from 
Paris, early in 1783, to Benjamin Vaughan, then already an ardent 
friend of America, and particularly some to show the policy and 
necessity of an immediate evacuation of Penobscot." And to 
Henry Laurens, one of the peace commissioners, he writes, in 
March of the same year : "I wish I could see more serious prep- 
arations for vacating Penobscot. Our people will not feel like 
freemen in friendship with Great Britain until this is done." 

WASHINGTON DECLINES TO RETAKE PENOBSCOT. 

The popular feeling culminated in the winter of 1783, by an 
address to Washington from the Massachusetts Legislature, ask- 



398 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

ing the co-operation of the American army in a proposed attempt 
to dislodge the enemy. His dignified and firm reply, dated on his 
fifty-first birthday, February 22, was to the following purpose : 
That in the present equivocal state of affairs it was impossible to 
give a decisive answer to the proposition ; that peace on the one 
hand, or an attempt against New York on the other, might ren- 
der any proceedings unnecessary or inexpedient ; that the subject 
of future military operations was before Congress ; that (if the 
war should be prolonged) aggressive or defensive measures would 
depend on their decision; that in the former case he should be 
happy to afford every aid in his power to gratify the wishes of 
the State, so far as could be done consistently with a due atten 
tion to the comparative magnitude of the several objects that 
might be in view, although he could not conceive an enterprise 
ought to be undertaken in that quarter without a naval force 
superior to the enemy's ; and that in the latter case, viz., if de- 
fensive measures only should be adopted, the protection of the 
eastern frontier of the state would engage his particular attention. 
This answer terminated any further movement, and although 
some of the British proposed a voluntary abandonment as early 
as the following July, no change in the garrison or its surround- 
ings took place until six months later. 

THE EVACUATION. 

As the commencement of our Revolutionary struggle at Lex- 
ington, where only a few embattled farmers stood, has a peculiar 
significance, so also has its termination after an eight years' con- 
test, by the abandonment of the last mark of British authority 
and of British arms from our soil, a more than local importance. 
It is national and historical. And as the event belongs to our 
own state it is well that this Society should not allow the cente- 
nary of its occurrence to pass away unnoticed. 

The precise day on which Castine was abandoned may never be 
ascertained. But that it was in January, 1784, there is no doubt. 
"The London Chronicle " of May 8, 1784, contains an "Abstract of 
a Letter dated Penobscot, Jan. 1, 1784," in which the writer says : 

I wrote you in my last I had built me a house here, and I expect in four 
or five days to leave it for some of the Rebels to take possession of, as 
this place will be evacuated in the course of a fortnight. I shall move to 
a place called St. Andrews, Passamaquoddy, in Nova Scotia, on the 



BRITISH OCCUPATION OF PENOBSCOT. 399 

western side of the bay of Fundy, on the mouth of the Schoodick River, 
which river we expect will be the boundary line between the American 
States and the Province of Nova Scotia. The inhabitants of this place 
all intend settling there, many having been there three months and have 
got houses erected to the number of sixty or seventy. . . . Capt. Pete, 
Mr. Robert Fagan and myself are agents for all the people who intend 
settling there. 

" Pete " and " Fagan " are evident misprints for Pote and Pa- 
gan. Capt. Jeremiah Pote and Robert Pagan, his son-in-law, 
were for many years prominent merchants at Falmouth. Becom- 
ing obnoxions during the troubles with Mowat, in 1775, they 
were proscribed, and subsequently resided at Penobscot. 

The statement that January was the month, is corroborated by 
Dr. William Ballard, in his " Historical and Topographical 
Sketch of Castine," written in 1815, as follows : "On evacuating 
this fort in January, 1784, the commanding officer of the British 
garrison waited several days for the arrival of the American 
force to take possession of the same ; this not arriving, he suf- 
fered the privates on his embarking, to set fire to the barracks, 
and destroy everything within their power." Dr. Ballard, a 
graduate of Harvard College and an intelligent, reliable man, 
was stationed at Castine after the war of 1812 closed as a sur- 
geon in the regular United States army. His information was 
probably obtained from the inhabitants, many of whom must 
have remembered the event and the time with accuracy. 

Mr. Hildreth in his history, remarks, under date of September, 
1783, that u the necessity of finding transports for the numer- 
ous royalists assembled there protracted the evacuation of New 
York." The same excuse is not applicable to Penobscot, for by the 
manuscripts of Sir Guy Carleton, it appears that transports were 
sent there in October, 1783, " to carry away troops and people." 
The delay is unaccounted for. It may have been occasioned by 
a forlorn hope that through some construction of the treaty, the 
Penobscot would still be the western boundary of Nova Scotia. 
One writer says that the British officers had become much at- 
tached to the place, and quitted it with reluctance. Certain it is 
that the Massachusetts authorities took no active measures in 
repossessing it. A request by the council to Governor Hancock, 
in July, 1783, that General Carleton be written to " urging the 
immediate evacuation of Penobscot," and that a military force 



400 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

be retained until it is done, appears to have been unheeded. On 
the seventeenth of the following October, a message of the gov- 
ernor to the legislature, transmitting letters from Washington 
and from Sir Guy Carleton " in regard to taking possession of 
Penobscot fort after the British left it," induced the passage of 
a resolve authorizing the governor to take all necessary meas- 
ures for the purpose. This resolve was not approved, and the 
letters referred to are not preserved. The next spring, a tardy 
movement was made by appointing General McCobb, of George- 
town, an agent to look after what remained of the abandoned 
post. His report is as follows : 

GEORGETOWN, May 24, 1784. 

SIB : Agreeable to your Excellency's orders to me, I repaired to Pen- 
obscot, and took an Inventory of all the Public Stores and buildings that 
I could find at that Place, which I have the Honor of transmitting to your 
Excellency, after which I took a Tour up the River, and made the Strict- 
est Inquiry of the Inhabitants for the names of those which still re- 
mained among them which had taken an active part with the British 
Army and Fleet, a list of which names I have sent to the Hon. James 
Sullivan, Esq., with a Complaint against them, in order that it may be 
laid before your Excellency and the Hon. Council. I have the Honor to 
be with Respect, your Excellency's most Obed. Serv't. 

SAMUEL McCoBB. 

His Excellency, John Hancock, Esq. 

An account of the Public Stores, Buildings, etc., found on the 
Peninsular of Maja-bigwaduce. 

3 houses, 2 stories high. 32 houses, 1 stories high. Wharves, 2. Stores 
and wharves, 2. The whole of the Building is said to be built by British 
Subjects and Refugees. 1 9 p'd Cannon without Carriage. 

The whole of the Barracks and King's Store-Houses were burnt. 

The list of inhabitants reported as hostile to American in- 
terests is missing. Perhaps Sullivan who always favored am- 
nesty and oblivion toward conscientious loyalists, did not com- 
municate it. Probably the most prominent loyalists accompanied 

the troops. The Carleton manuscripts, before cited, state that 
about six hundred went from Penobscot to Passamaquod'dy. 
Mr. Sabine gives biographical sketches of many of them in his 
work. " The descendants of loyalists," he says, "who found 
shelter in the garrison at Castine, report that it was thronged 
with adherents to the crown and their families ; and after the 
discomfiture of Salstonstall, they were left in undisturbed quiet 
during the remainder of the war." 



MADAM WOOD. 401 



MADAM WOOD, THE FIRST MAINE 
WRITER OF FICTION. 

HER RESIDENCE IN PORTLAND IN THE EARLY PART OF 
THE CENTURY. 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, February 22, 1889. 

BY WILLIAM GOOLD. 

THE topmost ornament of this fine building, where the sessions 
of the Maine Historical Society are held, and for which it is in- 
debted to the munificence of its president, is an emblematical 
statue of Literature. It therefore becomes us to make known 
the achievements of the earliest votaries of Literature in the 
state ; not only in the department of history, but those of " most 
excellent fancy" writers of entertaining fiction. I think the 
first who attempted this walk in literature in our state was 
Madam Wood. I will therefore trace her family, which has 
been one of the most noted in the old county of York, which 
when she was born comprised the then entire District of Maine. 

The grandfather of Madam Wood was Jonathan Sayward. 
His grandfather came from England and settled in York. In an 
Indian attack, while he was absent at Cape Neddick, his wife and 
several children were murdered, and a little daughter was car- 
ried to Quebec. This was probably the attack of 1692 when the 
Rev. Shubael Dummer and seventy-five others were killed, and 
eighty-five of the inhabitants of York were taken captive. 
Forty years afterward Mr. Manuel Beal of York, a relative of 
the Saywards, visited Quebec on business, and being anxious to 
see the interior o a nunnery, he asked to visit, and was admitted 
to one. The lady abbess inquired of him where he was from, to 
which he answered, York. She told him that was her own birth- 
place that she was Hannah Sayward; captured in her child- 
hood, carried to Quebec and ransomed by a French lady. The 
lady educated her in a nunnery. Hannah continued in the insti- 
26 



402 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

tution and became a nun. Before her death the lady who res- 
cued her from the Indians gave half her property to the nunnery, 
and the other half to Hannah, who in time became the lady abbess. 
To Mr. Beal she was very friendly. When he left for home, she 
sent sixteen small silver porringers by him, one for each of her 
nephews and nieces. Before his death, Judge Sayward purchased 
all of them and had them made into six larger ones. One of the 
porringers is still owned in York by a descendant. 

The father of the murdered children married a second wife 
and had two more sons, Jeremiah and Jonathan. This Jonathan 
was the father of Judge Sayward, who in his time was one of the 
most noted men of the province. He was born in York, Novem- 
ber 9, 1713, and died there in 1797. His wife was Sarah 
Mitchell, who died in 1775. 

Jonathan Sayward at one time before the war of the Revolu- 
tion, was, next to Sir William Pepperell, the richest man in 
Maine. He was an active merchant and man of all business. He 
had the confidence of his townsmen and was for seventeen years 
elected to the office of representative to the general court. He 
was judge of the court of common pleas and judge of probate for 
York county. These offices he held at the beginning of the revo- 
lutionary troubles. Judge Sayward refused to sign papers censur- 
ing the home government, which he had repeatedly taken an oath 
to support, and became unpopular among the people, but they 
had too much respect for him to drive him from his home. In 
his diary he wrote as follows : 

December 31, 1775. 

I am now arrived at the close of the year, through the forbearance of 
God. It hath been a year of extraordinary trials. Aside from the death 
of my wife (the greatest of all), I have lost a new sloop cast away this 
month, and suffered the loss of one or more cargoes in the West Indies, 
and largely by the death of one and another. But this is small compared 
with the hazards I have had, and am still in, on account of my political 
sentiments and conduct. I have been confined upon honor not to absent 
myself from the town, and a bondsman, Jotham Moulton, Esq., often 
threatened ; afraid to go abroad ; have not been out of town for nine 
months through fear, though my business greatly required it. The loss 
of trade, the scorn of the abjects, slight of friends, contin ually on my 
guard ; all of my offices, judge of probate, judge of the common pleas, 
justice of the quorum, justice of the peace, taken from me. In constant 
danger of being driven from my habitation; so much that I have con- 



MADAM WOOD. 403 

stantly kept 200 lawful in gold and paper currency in my pocket for 
fear of being suddenly removed from my abode. I have been examined 
before committees and obliged to lay open my letters from Governor 
Hutchinson, to swear fco my private correspondence. All the above I 
have suffered from principle. 

The same house where the judge was imprisoned is still stand- 
ing, unaltered, with the same furnishings, and owned and occu- 
pied by one of his descendants. It would give one a better 
opinion of the sturdy old Loyalist to visit that house and see the 
expression of his countenance in his full length portrait, hanging 
on the wall. There are also portraits of his wife and daughter 
by Blackburn. These portraits were painted between 1750 and 
1765, as Blackburn left Boston for England in the latter year. 
Judge Say ward was master of an armed transport sloop in the 
Louisburg expedition of 1745, and brought home many rich house 
furnishings from that city, including porcelain table ware of odd 
design, and fire sets of brass, that still occupy their position where 
they were placed in 1746. 

The reason of my writing so much of Judge Sayward and his 
home is that in her grandfather's house Madam Wood was born, 
and here was her own home until her marriage. 

Nathaniel Barrell, son of John Barrell, a prominent shipping 
merchant of Boston, was first a clerk in charge of Judge Sayward's 
store, and married his only child, Sally Sayward. During the 
excitement for volunteers to capture Quebec, Mr. Barrell ac- 
cepted an ensign's commission, and was in the assault and capture 
of the city and was promoted to be captain for gallantry. After 
the fall of Quebec Mr. Barrell went to England, and was at the 
coronation of George III, in 1760. By this monarch he was ap- 
pointed councilor for New Hampshire, and served at the coun- 
cil board at Portsmouth with both Governors Wentworth. He, 
too, adhered to his oath and became a Tory. 

The subject of this memoir, Sally Sayward Barrell, was the 
daughter of Captain Nathaniel Barrell, and his wife Sally Say- 
ward. She was born at the house of her grandfather Sayward in 
York, October 1, 1759, in the midst of the colonial rejoicings 
over the fall of Quebec, where her father was doing gallant duty. 
In time her parents had a family of eight children. Sally Bar- 
rell remained with her grandfather until she was eighteen years 
old. Judge Sayward had a clerk six months only older than the 



404 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

grand-daughter, named Richard Keating, who had been a school- 
mate with Sally Barrell. It was the most natural occurrence in 
the world that these young people should form a mutual attach- 
ment. They were married November 23, 1778, during the Loy- 
alist persecutions of which Judge Sayward so bitterly complains. 
Notwithstanding his losses, he felt able to build for his grand- 
daughter a fine house near his own for a wedding present, and 
adopted the new married pair as his own children. 

The married life of the Keatings was a brief but very happy 
one. Both were young and of happy dispositions. Of their in- 
tellectual powers we only know of those of the wife. They were 
surrounded with friends and influential relatives, and enjoyed in- 
tercourse with the best families of York, Kittery and Portsmouth. 

At that time the mansion of Sir William Pepperell at Kittery 
contained all the original portraits, furnishings and silver plate ; 
just as the first baronet had left it at his death a few years before. 
In a manuscript of reminiscences written by Madam Wood, she 
describes the service of silver and the silver table on which it was 
displayed, which was presented to Sir William Pepperell by the 
city of London. She says, " I have seen it." This manuscript 
was sent to me from Baltimore by Father Waldron the same 
who gave to our society the " Jesuit's strong box." 

In the confiscation act of 1777, the Pepperell plate was allowed 
to be taken from the Kittery mansion, and transported by land 
under military guard to Boston, where an armed ship was wait- 
ing its arrival to take it to its owner, the second baronet, who was 
a refugee. Madam Wood describes the departure of Colonel 
Moulton, sheriff of York, with his squad of troopers for Boston 
with the plate. This was when she was seventeen years old. 
Her relatives were Loyalists, and of course she sympathized with 
the refugees. 

I have described the state of society at York and Kittery during 
the war of the Revolution. These towns joined, and were the 
most populous of any in the State. The Sparhawk house at Kit- 
tery Point was a rendezvous of the Portsmouth and Kittery 
Tories. In the attic are still shown several small rooms which 
were the refuge of fugitive Loyalists. My own ancestors lived in 
the same town, and the description of the Tory gatherings at the 
Sparhawk house has been a tradition in our family. 



MADAM WOOD. 405 

Thus was life in York and Kittery during the first four years 
of Mrs. Keating's married life. Mrs. Keating's first child, a 
daughter, was born November 7, 1779 ; then another daughter. 
The husband, Mr. Keating, was robust and had every assurance 
of a long life, but after a short sickness he died of a fever in July, 
1783, the year of the closing of the war, when he was hoping to 
retrieve his lost fortunes. Mr. Keating's death was a terrible 
blow to his wife. Their affection had been almost from child- 
hood. Their only son, Richard Keating, was born four months 
after the death of his father. Fortunately for Mrs. Keating, God 
had endowed her with a cheerful spirit, ever looking on the bright 
side of life. She with her little family of two daughters and a 
son continued to live in her own house at York, over twenty-one 
years. It was these long years of widowhood which brought out 
our heroine's talent for authorship, and the incidents of the war, 
the traditions of her family, and occurrences under her own ob- 
servation furnished subjects for her pen. 

Her first work which has come to my knowledge is entitled 
"Ferdinand and Elmira : a Russian Story, by a lady of Massa- 
chusetts ; author of Julia, the Speculator and Cornelia. Balti- 
more, Samuel Butler, 1804" (311 pages). It seems by this title 
page that our author had written at least three books which had 
been published previously to this. 

' The year of the publication of " Ferdinand and Elmira," 1804, ' 
Mrs. Keating was married to General Abiel Wood of Wiscasset, 
a gentleman of wealth and a prominent citizen of the then Dis- 
trict of Maine. 

At the beginning of this century the only place of commercial 
importance east of Portland was Wiscasset. It was in fact 
the seaport of the Kennebec, and the market town of all that sec- 
tion of country now comprising the counties of Lincoln, Kenne- 
bec, Somerset, Franklin, Androscoggin and Sagadahoc. A coast- 
ing trade in small vessels was maintained, sailing between the 
Kennebec and Massachusetts towns, but all the exports to foreign 
countries entered the cross river at Bath and passed through a 
section of Sheepscot to Wiscasset. This with the other legiti- 
mate trade centering there, made Wiscasset the seat of a large 
export trade, carried on by enterprising merchants, who had a 
world wide reputation. Here Mrs. Wood enjoyed every comfort 



406 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

that wealth and the best society could give ; and, in the compan 
ionship of friends of refined manners and tastes similar to her 
own, continued her literary work more for amusement than 
profit. 

In 1811 General Wood died, and a few years after Madam 
Wood removed to Portland; probably on account. of her son, 
who had become a ship captain and was sailing out of this port. 
He married a Miss Emerson of York, a sister to the first mayor 
of Portland. She also had grand-children here. William T. 
Yaughan, the first clerk of the courts of Cumberland county 
after the separation from Massachusetts, married Madam Wood's 
eecorid daughter, Miss Keating. She died, leaving two children. 
Mr. Vaughan's second wife also came from York. 

While living in Portland, Madam Wood and her family occu- 
pied the western half of what is known as the Anderson house 
on the south side of Free street. She was always spoken of here 
as "Madam Wood," and was accorded the place of honor in all 
gatherings of the best society. She was always, owing to her 
peculiar style of dress, a conspicuous figure in public places. She 
was accustomed to wear the high turban or cap seen in the picture, 
and when she went out she wore a plain black bonnet so far for- 
ward as to nearly hide her features. Although Madam Wood 
was a communicant in the First Parish church under Doctor 
Nichols, she often attended the old brick church of St. Paul's, sit- 
ting in the Vaughan pew with her grand- children. My own seat 
was in one of the cross pews, facing Mr. Vaughan's, so that I can 
testify to the correctness of the portrait. Boys went to church in 
those days. This portrait is from a daguerreotype, which was 
taken probably in 1840, as the invention of sun-painting had then 
first come into use. The lady was then eighty-one years old. 
The small original picture was photographed and enlarged by Mr. 
King, within the last month. 1 

While Madam Wood was living in Portland, she continued 
her literary work. O ne at least of her books was published here. 
This is a copy of the title page : 

Tales of the Night. By a lady of Maine. Author of Julia; the Spec- 
ulator ; the Old Man's Story, EC. Portland, printed and published by 
Thomas Todd; 1827. 

1 This photographic painting may be seen by any visitor among the collections of the 
Maine Historical Society in ita rooms in Portland.' 



MADAM WOOD. 407 

I recollect the issue of this book it attracted much attention 
and had a ready sale. Madam Wood left some manuscript 
works which were never printed. She had now somewhat re- 
covered confidence in her own ability. It is said that when the 
Waverly novels appeared, and she had read some of them, she 
was so dissatisfied with her own works that she gathered what 
she could of them and destroyed them. 

Captain Keating, her son, was sailing a ship from the port of 
New York, and to be near his family, his mother concluded to go 
there with all her family. This was in 1829 or 1830. 

In January, 1833, Captain Keating arrived in New York har- 
bor and anchored in the stream, remaining on board. In the 
night, the current set the running ice against the ship with such 
force as to cut her through, and she sank at her anchor at once, 
carrying down all on board, including the captain ; not one es- 
caped. Madam Wood was now seventy-five years old. Although 
hers had been a life of vicissitudes, the loss of her last remaining 
child, an enterprising son, the stay and support of her declining 
years, was a severe shock to her. The following summer she had 
somewhat recovered from the blow. She concluded to return 
to Maine and spend her remaining years among her kindred. 
With a widowed grand- daughter, and a great-grandson, she 
came to Kennebunk. This great-grandson is now a leading phy- 
sician of that town, Dr. Edward W. Morton. He is also grand- 
son of the late Reuben Morton, an eminent shipping merchant of 
Portland, whose residence is now the Catholic school on Free 
street. Its grounds adjoin those of the house occupied by 
Madam Wood while in Portland. 

In her last years Madam Wood continued to write at the re- 
quest of her friends, papers of reminiscences, which from her 
great age and wonderful memory, were very valuable. The one 
already mentioned which I obtained from Baltimore was written 
for Mrs. Charles Gushing, who for many years occupied the 
Governor Wentworth mansion at Little Harbor near Portsmouth. 
At her death it went into the possession of Father Waldron, her 
relative, from whom I obtained it. The following is Madam 
Wood's reply to the request of Mrs. Gushing : 

It is so long since I have even thought of the persons and places you 
desire to be made acquainted with, my dear friend, that I had almost 



408 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

forgotten their existence. It is true I have an old and rather a large 
volume that contains a variety of recollections, but it is very much de- 
faced by time, many leaves torn out, many sentences obliterated, and 
others in as cramped a hand as I am now writing. But to gratify you, 
my dear friend, I will try to render a page of it legible ; and if it will 
give you any pleasure I shall be amply repaid, and will ransack my 
memory to say something about Sir William Pepperell, too great a name 
to be forgotten by one unused to titles, unacquainted with wealth or 
grandeur. 

At the end of her sketch, of Sir William and his house, she 
thus closes : 

Thus, my dear friend, at last, as far as was in my power, I have com- 
plied with your request. Had the wish been expressed a few years ago 
I could have made out a tolerable narrative of my reminiscences. I 
could have taken Portsmouth, Kittery Point, and old York as the scenes 
of my early associations. 

The most interesting of the reminiscences is that of a visit to 
" Long Lane." with her mother, when she was twelve years old 
[1770]. This was the home of Madam Ursula Cutts, the widow 
of John Cutts, the first president of New Hampshire. It is on the 
left bank of the Piscataqua, three or four miles above Portsmouth. 
" Madam Ursula " as she was called, was murdered in her own 
meadow where she had gone with a maid servant to carry re- 
freshments to her men in the hay fields, when she and her hay- 
,makers were shot down and scalped. This was in 1694. At the 
time of Madam Wood's visit the place was owned by an old lady, 
a relative of her mother, who kept the place up in the original 
style. It is described as seen by her childish eyes in 1770. It is 
pleasant reading for an antiquarian. 

Dr. Morton, in whose family Madam Wood spent her last 
years, says : " At the age of ninety-four she could be a de- 
lightful companion to her great great grandchildren, or to her 
nephews, George B. Emerson, or George B. Cheever, versed as 
they were in much of the science of the day." She died Janu- 
ary 6, 1825, at the uncommon age of ninety-five years and three 
months. 



ASHUR WARE. 409 



ASHUR WARE. 

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, May 20, 1887. 

BY GEORGE F. TALBOT. 

AMONG the persons named as corporators in the act incorpo- 
rating the Maine Historical Society is the name of Ashur Ware, 
who resided in Portland from the year 1817 to the year 1873-, the 
time of his death. He was the first secretary of state of the new 
state of Maine. He was a tutor and afterward a professor in 
Harvard College. He edited a political paper in Boston, and 
afterward the " Eastern Argus " in Portland. lie is Infest known as 
the judge of the United States District Court, having by his emi- 
nent talents, learning and integrity adorned that high position for 
the unusually long term of forty-four years, or from 1822 till 1866. 
He was an easy and graceful writer, equipped with accurate and 
comprehensive erudition, and possessing warm, benevolent and 
popular sympathies ; and his felicitous style gives grace and dig- 
nity to some of the earlier publications of this Society to which 
he contributed. The " Introductory Remarks " t at the beginning 
of the first volume of the Society's collections are from his pen, 
and are an exhibition of his powers of literary expression. 

Judge Ware was born in Sherburne, Massachusetts, February 
10, 1782, and was the third child of Joseph Ware and his wife 
Grace Cooledge. 

His grandfather was John Ware, a descendant in the sixth de- 
gree from Robert Ware, who in 1640 emigrated from the eastern 
part of England, near Boston, to Dedham, Massachusetts, the 
first home in this country of the family. 

Robert had espoused the Puritan cause with so much zeal as to 
make his emigration a matter of prudence, at a time when the 
fortunes of his party had suggested the same course to such lead- 
ers as Hampden and Cromwell. Of John Ware, who moved to 
Sherburne, Joseph, father of the judge, was the eldest, and Henry, 



410 MAINE HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. 

the eminent professor of divinity at Harvard, was the youngest 
son. 

Joseph Ware was a conspicuous personage in his town, filling 
several municipal offices, and having the honor of having served 
as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and of losing an arm in 
the battle of White Plains. 

The personal traits of Judge Ware seem largely due to hered- 
itary influence, and furnish a striking confirmation of the law of 
intellectual and moral descent ; for in his early years his father 
Joseph Ware, the farmer of Sherburne, had a taste for literature 
and particularly for scientific culture. He had partially fitted 
himself for college, but for lack of means was compelled to forego 
his ambition for the career of a scholar. He never however lost 
his interest in mathematics, astronomy and philosophical studies, 
which he pursued from a genuine enthusiasm during such leisure 
as a working-man's life afforded. His mainly self-acquired edu- 
cation and his well-known probity gave him just consideration 
among his neighbors, and fitted him well for the many municipal 
offices he was called to fill. Sometimes he was employed as a 
teacher of the public schools, and in that employment he ac- 
quired a wide reputation for the thoroughness of his discipline 
and the excellence of his methods. 

In the religious controversy that agitated New England in his 
day, and broke the unity of its faith, he took the liberal and 
more rationalistic side, cherishing, somewhat in advance, the re- 
formatory and innovating ideas begotten of a more modern spirit. 

Fathers are very apt to pass to their children their own un- 
fulfilled ambitions ; and Joseph Ware, though a poor farmer, was 
willing to make sacrifices to give his son the educational advan- 
tages that he had desired himself. He not only did this but he 
aided his own brother John in paying the collegiate expenses of 
their younger brother, Henry, and so in giving to the country 
that brilliant line of teachers, preachers, scholars and writers of 
which he was the ancestor. 

It did not greatly grieve Joseph Ware to find that his third child 
showed little skill and less interest in the manual labor of the 
farm, and devoted to a greedy and appreciative reading of every 
book that came within his reach the nights and days that farm- 
ers' sons are usually called upon to give to the care of crops and 



ASHUR WARE. 411 

cattle. The judicious father recognized the better way his son 
had chosen, and was glad to see revived in him his own scholarly 
tastes and enthusiasm. 

When this young son was fourteen years old, his inaptitude for 
a farmer's life, and his dominant taste for science had become BO 
apparent to his father, that he gave him notice he should do 
what he could to send him to college. Many times in his after 
life in telling of the hardships and hopes of his youth, Judge 
Ware spoke of that day, when his father opened before him this 
door to his ambition, as the happiest of his life. 

Ashur was fitted for college by private tuition partly by his 
father and partly by the minister of the town, Rev. Mr. Brown, 
and was entered at Harvard in the year 1800 in the same class 
with Doctor Chapin, president of Waterville College, Andrews 
Norton, the biblical critic, and other men of nearly equal celeb- 
rity. After graduating he was for a time an assistant to Doctor 
Abbot in his famous Exeter Academy. After that he was for a 
year a private tutor in the family of his uncle Henry in Cam- 
bridge. In 1807 he was appointed tutor in Greek, and from 1811 
to 1815 he was a professor in the same department of study in 
Harvard College. Among the four or five hundred youths, who 
received instruction from him during this period, were Edward 
Everett, Peleg Sprague, the historians William H. Prescott, John 
G. Palfrey and George Bancroft, Presidents Sparks and Walker 
and Caleb Gushing. 

Judge Ware resigned his professorship in 1815, and after hav, 
ing entertained the purpose of preparing himself for the pulpit 
abandoned it, and betook himself to the study of law, first in the 
office of Loammi Baldwin in Cambridge, and afterward with his 
classmate, Joseph E. Smith of Boston. He seemed, however, to have 
been better known in Boston as a politician and writer than as 
a practitioner absorbed in the interests of litigating clients, for, in 
company with Henry Orne, he edited there a democratic paper 
called the " Boston Yankee," and became the orator of his party 
for the Fourth of July, giving to his oration, according to the cus- 
toms of the time, all the effective range and force, that a keen 
satire of the opposition, propelled by strong feeling and winged 
with brilliant rhetoric, could impart. 

But he did not seem to have found in the chief city of his na- 



412 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

tive state, and near the home of his distinguished family, a lucra- 
tive opening for his legal learning or for his editorial or forensic 
talents ; for the very next year he moved to Portland, and entered 
with warmth into its more congenial politics the chief doctrine 
of which then was the doctrine of home rule. He bought to 
Maine considerable reputation as a scholar, writer and orator, and 
was not long in finding ample scope for the exercise of his versa- 
tile abilities. He was at once placed in charge of the old demo- 
ocratic weekly, the "Argus," and as Mr. Willis says, "by his vigor- 
ous pen gave it a character which it had never attained before 
nor kept up after he left it." His abilities were recognized in his 
selection as orator for the due celebration of the Fourth of July, 
and his auditors must have noted that a higher than the customary 
standard of eloquence had been offered them in his graceful 
periods and in the wealth of his historic and classical allusions. 

He plunged heartily into the pending controversy about sepa- 
ration for which the Portland people had been for years stoutly 
battling, and when at last, after many years, the boon of state 
independence was reluctantly conceded by the parent Common- 
wealth, the office of Secretary of State was fitly assigned to him. 
In the comparative rarity of highly educated men, and from the 
fact that the able first governor, King, had more reputation as a 
man of affairs and a natural ruler of men than of literary expert- 
ness, it has become manifest from some preserved correspondence 
that the first secretary, besides recording the statutes and engross- 
ing the commissions, was called upon to put in decorous and de- 
vout language, fit to be read on Sunday from the pulpit, the Fast 
and Thanksgiving proclamations, by which the state continued to 
maintain some loose connection with the church. 

For the second governor, Judge Parris, then judge of the 
United States District Court, was in 1822 elected; and to the 
bench made vacant by his resignation, Mr. Ware was appointed. 
The selection, though made, as in several instances in our state 
history, of a man without any judicial and very little professional 
experience, and of one whose reputation had been acquired in 
politics and partisan controversy wherein those dispassionate 
and candid mental processes which a judge must exercise are 
scarcely brought into requisition, proved to be an entirely fitting 
one. 



ASHUR WARE. 413 

Judge Ware presided over the court to which he had been ap- 
pointed during a term exceptionally long in our judicial annals, 
steadily gaining from year to year the confidence and respect of 
practitioners and clients and of the public at large by his sound 
and comprehensive learning, by his absolute impartiality, and by 
the integrity and high rectitude of his personal sentiments. 

It fell to the duty of the writer of this memoir, soon after the 
death of Judge Ware on the tenth of September, 1873, to an- 
nounce that event to the court over which he had so long pre- 
sided. I cannot in more fitting terms summarize the services and 
character of the eminent deceased than by quoting here some of 
the remarks that accompanied that announcement : 

A life like Judge Ware's, so happily and nobly lived, so rich in sub- 
stantial if not conspicuous benefits conferred upon society, a mind so 
well endowed with intellectual and moral culture, is of historic value, 
and deserves commemoration in a fitting biography. I know the fact, 
that he had been often urged to lay the proper foundation for such a 
work, by furnishing personal memoranda of the leading incidents of his 
life. Late in his old age, he seems partially to have complied with such 
a request; but his life was a contemplative, rather than an active one, 
and having few changes or events personal to himself to record, his 
unique and characteristic history, as told by himself, gives us only the 
processes by which his mind was trained, the relation which he recog- 
nized as connecting himself with God and the universe, and the growth of 
opinions, mainly theological, which his contemplation and study had 
compelled him to adopt. The proprieties of this occasion will allow me 
only to speak briefly of the work he has done in the world, and the traits 
of mental and moral excellence developed in doing it. 

He has given this description of his dominant mental passions: "I had 
always a love of knowledge. This I believe was innate and instinctive. 
It had its origin in a natural curiosity, and was wholly independent of 
the consequences that flowed from it." He had a quiet contempt for 
the prevalent taste among his competitors in scholarship, whose efforts 
seemed to be stimulated by the desire to obtain honors, and who had 
more thirst for the reputation and rewards of learning than they had for 
learning itself. He says, moreover : 

" My taste and inclination led me more to grave and solid studies, that 
improved the understanding, than to the lighter graces of polite letters. 
An important fact, or a principle which is a mere generalization of facts, 
had always more charms for me than a mere expression of happy 
elegance." 

To the shaping and strengthening of his mind, metaphysical studies 
largely contributed; in relation to this he observes: 



414 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

"Nothing contributes so much to sharpen the mind, and nothing to 
discover the weakness of an adverse argument on any subject, nothing 
to make nice distinctions and just discriminations, nothing to detect as 
well as practice sophistry; to comprise the whole in one word, nothing 
so well teaches us the use of language, whether employed to express, or 
as it sometimes is, to conceal our meaning, as the study of metaphysics." 

But although he recognized the value of these studies as discipline, 
he complained that the knowledge they furnished was uncertain, and 
that the modern mind, after all its efforts, had been baffled by the same 
uncertainties and the same limitations, that had arrested {the researches 
of the ancient philosophers two thousand years ago. So he turned to 
mathematics as more attractive and solid ground, and in touching their 
fixed and certain data, laid his hand upon the laws and methods of the 
creation. To quote his own language: 

" If there be any merit in the essays I have written, either miscella- 
neous or professional, or in judicial opinions, in the selection and ar- 
rangement of the thought and matter, I have been more indebted to 
geometry than all other studies. I think I may safely say this, when 
one of the greatest men ever bred in America, great at the bar, great on 
the bench and great in political movements (though this was the less 
seen by the public), a man who would be, rather than seem great, said 
that whatever merits his arguments at the bar might have had, they 
were all derived from Euclid; and juries, to whom these arguments 
were addressed, familiarly said of him that other advocates were plaus- 
ible, but Parsons made a case plain and intelligible. I never studied a 
subject so well, or understood a science so thoroughly, as the elemen- 
tary principles of geometery, and none of my juvenile studies had so 
deep and permanent an influence on my habits of mind." 

For a mind, whose leading characteristic is a love of knowledge, free 
of the ambition of distinction, and the meaner ambition of reward, 
strengthened by the severe and abstract processes of metaphysical and 
mathematical studies, one career naturally opens itself. It will seek 
truth not in the department of man's material and animal life, but 
in those higher relations, which subsist between man as a spirit, and the 
source from which he sprang, and the destiny to which he is to attain. 
So we are not surprised to hear Judge Ware confess, that favoring influ- 
ences aided the natural bent of his genius, to invite him to enter upon 
the study of theology, and devote his life to the office of preaching. 
From this project, however, he was deterred by the perhaps unexpected 
results to which he arrived, in turning his scientific and severe methods 
of investigation, to the prevalent religious .beliefs of his time. These 
results he perhaps wisely concluded would be a too great innovation 
upon the cherished convictions of the religious mind of New England, to 
justify him in publicly proclaiming them. He had no taste for contro- 
versy. Notoriety only annoyed him. A wise skepticism, rather than a 
dogmatic and arrogant assurance, and a thorough respect for the gen- 



ASHUR WARE. 415 

uine convictions of thinkers, who honestly differed from him, compelled 
him to turn away from his favorite studies, and to use them ever after- 
ward as the recreations and solace of a life devoted to adjusting upon 
far lower grounds, the controversies of men as to their natural rights 
and obligations. While these opinions of his may have well seemed 
heretical in the narrow prejudice which held New England sixty years 
ago, the expanded thought of later times has comprehended and em- 
braced them within the limits of a Christian charity and sympathy. For, 
after his severe and candid inquiry into the grounds of religious faith, 
his written confessions show that he held firmly to these conclusions: 
that the Universe proceeded from the hand of an intelligent Creator, 
who holds and governs it in the interests of justice and goodness; that 
man is amenable to the law of right, which is equivalent to the will of 
God, and is destined to an existence beyond his earthly life, where his 
condition will depend upon the fruits of virtue he has been able to 
gather fromjthe good and evil influences, in the midst of which he had 
lived ; and that Christianity, whose essence is the doctrine of the Father- 
hood of God and the equality of men, and whose highest sanction of 
virtue is furnished in its most clearly stated doctrine of a future life, if 
not a supernatural and miraculous revelation, is a historical and provi- 
dential development of the progressive religious attainment of man, the 
best, as it is the last fruit of his religious aspirations. 

Turning regretfully away from these high subjects, literature seemed 
naturally open to him ; but sixty years ago literature was not recognized 
in our country as a profession. His mind had been trained to dwell 
only in realities, to seek for truth more than for beauty, and to grasp 
substance rather than form. He disclaimed for himself ideality and a 
strong poetic fancy, and so what he called the "lighter and more orna- 
mental graces of polite letters," had no attractions for him. In this too 
he must be considered to have judged himself too severely, for that very 
fondness for precise and unequivocal statement, that orderly and log- 
ical method, that candid appreciation of all adverse argument, supplied 
by his metaphysical and mathematical studies, aided as they were by 
familiar converse with the models of classic oratory and poetry, laid the 
foundation for a style of expression eloquent in its simplicity and per- 
spicuity. The vividness of his personal and historical sketches, the 
clearness and picturesqueness of statement in his judicial reports of the 
facts and incidents upon which he bases his judgment, and the charm of 
language which, in his private conversation, often arrested the attention 
even of uneducated persons, showed that he had mental qualities that 
would have rendered him conspicuous in literature. 

So, steadily and without regret or misgiving, he turned his well fur- 
nished mind to the study of law. An appointment, never more fittingly 
made, placed him upon the bench of this Court, in a position that ex- 
empted him permanently from the cares of getting a livelihood, and pre- 
served his pure and unsophisticated character, from those intrigues and 



416 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

ambitions, which work among our ablest public men such deplorable 
demoralization and deterioration. The field itself was sufficiently un- 
promising of anything but ease and obscurity. It was just the place for 
an indolent and superficial man to subside into routine and self-assump- 
tion. What Judge Ware has done in this field byjputting genius and 
high intellect into his work, may now be seen in the published reports 
of his judgments, important contributions to the splendid system of 
maritime jurisprudence, that regulates the commercial intercourse of 
civilized nations, and ever to be remembered as the best monuments of 
his fame. 

The law of the sea he was called upon to pronounce, must be as liberal 
and comprehensive as its own compass and extent. The common law, 
whose maxims had been derived from the feudal system, a highly arti- 
ficial and aristocratic form of society, would never serve to regulate and 
restrict a commerce, inviting the freest competition among the most 
daring and adventurous, nor could the codes or legal principles derived 
from the consent or custom of a single people, accommodate themselves 
to the notions of rectitude and fair-dealing, recognized by an inter- 
national comity. It was left to the enlightened sense of justice, to de- 
termine the natural principles of law applicable to each case as it arose. 
Each court was put upon its conscience to pronounce a decree that 
should accord with the universally accredited sense of justice, or else it 
would nowhere be respected as the sentence of law. If local prejudice 
or patriotic feeling blinded its candor, it rightfully lost its authority. 

At the time Judge Ware took his place upon the bench, the English 
precedents in admiralty were rare, and only partially applicable to 
this country, where we had given our admiralty courts a very liberal 
jurisdiction; and as to the precedents of other countries and treatises 
though the work of men of great genius and learning, it must be remem- 
bered how soon they would become obsolete, by the expansion and 
transformation of commerce, through the discovery of new countries, 
the production of new materials, the invention of more powerful forces 
of propulsion, and the new commercial usages, which would grow out 
of more frequent and rapid commercial intercommunication. 

A capacious and well-poised mind to define, for new situations and 
new relations, the law of natural right, which should not only decide the 
case in controversy, but be an authority for like cases at home, and re- 
ceive the respect and acquiescence of the courts of foreign nations, was 
what was required. For such an office, with such opportunities, the 
natural and acquired qualifications of Judge Ware were peculiarly 
adapted. The very taste that had inclined him to theological studies, 
made him a just and upright judge. The pure and ethical ideas, by 
which he had regulated his own life, the keen moral sense that de- 
fined in his soul so sharply the boundary between right and wrong, gave 
him a power of moral perception, able to detect under most plausible 
disguises, every form of oppression and fraud. His metaphysical disci- 



ASHUR WARE. 417 

pline enabled him to see the weakness of an adverse argument on any 
subject, to make nice distinctions and just discriminations, and to de- 
tect sophistry, and he had learned from geometry how to "select and 
arrange," in his judicial opinions, u the thought and the matter." When 
to this was added an elegance of style, derived from his classical and 
general reading, we can understand why the reports, which, when com- 
pleted, will contain the judicial labors of his life, are everywhere held 
in such high estimation as authority by the courts, and as attractive to 
the professional and general scholar. 

There was another mental trait which peculiarly fitted him to be the 
vindicator of the wrongs and oppressions of seamen. Few men have 
more heartily believed in the idea of the natural equality of men. He 
refused to assume any artificial dignity. It was with difficulty that he 
conformed to the prescribed etiquette and decorum of his own court 
It offended his simple tastes to assume any badge or drapery, or to take 
a place in any procession. He liked to come quietly and unheralded, and 
take his seat in court, clothed only in the natural dignity of his own 
character and intellect; and if his seat was raised above the level of his 
friends, the officers of the court and members of the bar, the exclusion 
and elevation seemed a constant annoyance to him. This democratic 
feeling crops out everywhere in what he has written. His comments 
upon history, though mainly dispassionate and critical, grow fervid 
with indignation at the oppressions and exactions which tyrants and 
rulers practiced upon the people; and his hearty attachment to Chris- 
tianity seems largely due to its recognition of thejbrotherhood of man, 
and to the solace its high hopes offer to the sufferings and sorrows of the 
poor and down-trodden. 

Assuming no artificial dignities for himself, he could not defer to any 
assumptions of rank among those to whom he dealt out justice. Differ- 
ent positions determined different scales of responsibility and duty, but 
these fairly considered, a man was a man, and below the rank and rights 
of a man he would never allow a human being to be placed, whatever 
might be his race or color, or however limited his intellect or education. 

When at the end of a term of judicial service rare in the annals of any 
people, and unprecedented in ours, he resigned his high office, this bar 
assembled in this court to express a just appreciation of the long official 
service he had so ably performed. We are now assembled when the 
long life itself, so successful and happy beyond the common lot, is 
rounded to a measure of years seldom allotted to man, to do honor to 
his character and to give our testimony of his high worth, and to com- 
mend him as an example of rare excellence to the emulation of the gen- 
eration of young men who are to succeed us. We may point to his, on 
the whole, happy old age, as a fit illustration of the noble language of 
Cicero : 

" Aptissima omnino sunt arma senectutis artes exercitationes que 
virtutum, quw in omni estate cultce, quum diu multumque mxeris mirjicos- 

27 



418 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

efferunt fructus, non solum quia nunquam deserunt, ne extremo quldem 
tempore cetatis quamquam id quidem maximum est verum etiam quia 
conscientia bene actce vitce multorumque bene factorum recordatio ju- 
cundissima esi." 

Moses M. Butler, Esq., in offering on the same occasion the 
resolutions of the Cumberland bar spoke thus : 

The estimate which Judge Story put upon his judicial labors, when he 
said that he regarded Judge Ware as one of the ablest and most learned, 
if not the ablest and most learned, of the then living Admiralty lawyers, 
was concurred in by the voice of contemporary assent, and has been con- 
firmed by the later judgment of the bar of this generation. Among the 
great lights, by which the paths of admiralty and maritime law have 
been illumined, his name will shine serene, a star of the first magni- 
tude. His recorded decisions, beautiful in structure, adorned with 
grace and resting on the solid foundations of principle, have raised an 
enduring monument to his fame. His service in the cause of enlightened 
jurisprudence has already conferred, and will continue to confer, so long 
as justice shall be dispensed, lasting benefits on mankind. 

It was certainly not alone in professional learning that his attainments 
were remarkable. He cultivated almost the whole boundless field of 
human knowledge, metaphysics, theology, polite literature, the clas- 
sics, modern languages, the sciences, mathematics. He was scholarly 
in all his tastes and habits. He was one of those deep, quiet, unobtru- 
sive students, of which our country has more in number, I believe, 
than we get credit for across the Atlantic. 

Any review of the life of Judge Ware would be incomplete without 
reference to him as a citizen and member of society. His participation 
so far as was befitting his position in the business enterpris.es of 
our city, his connection with our educational interests, his selection, 
at different periods of his life, as president of two different banking 
institutions, and as director in another, his identification with the 
growth of the public improvements of the state, as early president of 
one of our leading railroad companies, these attest at once that Judge 
Ware was no recluse, and the confidence which was reposed in him by 
the community. 

-He ever took a lively interest in public affairs. In early life, before 
his elevation to the bench, he wielded a most trenchant pen in the dis- 
cussion of the important political questions of the day, and afterward 
throughout his judicial life, he never ceased to feel and manifest on 
proper occasions, his deep interest in all that pertained to the welfare of 
his beloved country, the state of his adoption and the city of his home. 
He was a good citizen, a pure patriot, a genuine lover of liberty, a true 
democrat, in the higher and nobler sense of the word. 

Judge Webb, then United States District Attorney, said, among 
other things, in seconding the resolutions : 



ASHUR WARE. 419 

I cannot but feel regret that I never enjoyed to any considerable 
extent his personal acquaintance, and am consequently unable, out of 
my own experience, to add anything to the tribute of affection for the 
man, contained in this expression of the bar. On every side are met 
those, who for many years associated with him on terms of friendly in- 
timacy. All unite in their testimony to the kindness of his nature, his 
purity and simplicity of character, his accurate scholarship and exten- 
sive and varied attainments. Companionship with him they esteem 
among their most valued opportunities. 

Those of us, who knew him only in his judicial relations, recognize 
the fruits of those traits of character, and of his thorough and various 
culture, in his official life and service. 

Whoever studies the published opinions of Judge Ware will not fail to 
be impressed with the clearness of his intellectual perceptions, the pre- 
cision and order of his statements, the rigor of his logic, the fullness of 
his research, the grace of his style, and his conscientious zeal to discern 
and to uphold truth and justice. These opinions are widely known and 
valued; they have been known and valued, and held in ever increasing 
honor since they were promulgated. 

It is not easy for us, who have pursued our researches in those 
branches of law in which he was so illustrious, to measure the sum of 
our obligation to his labors under the guidance of which we walk. 
Neither is the toil of those, who have come after him, and walk in the 
paths he has cleared, to be compared with his task in making those 
paths plain and easy. 

While he diligently devoted his powers to those pursuits appropriate 
to his position as a judge, he never lost his relish for the studies of his 
earlier years, but throughout his long life, found leisure to gratify his 
love of literature and science. He ever turned with delight to the clas- 
sics, of which, in his prime, he had been a critical student and an ardent 
lover. He did not therefore become indifferent to the interests of his 
own days, but was a constant and thoughtful observer of men and 
events, often with his pen giving important counsel and assistance in 
securing a wise direction to affairs. 

The venerable John Mussey his contemporary, and for many 
years the Clerk in the courts over which the Judge had presided, 
gave this tribute to the value and importance of his judicial 
work : 

When he took the bench of the United States district court of Maine, 
in 1822, the rights and duties of seamen, the authority and responsibility 
of officers and owners of our merchant marine, were alike in great meas- 
ure unknown and unrecognized by both the employers and employes. 
The clear head of the Judge soon evinced the determination and ability 
to bring order out of confusion and misconception. At first, many of 
his rulings clashed with the prejudices of owners and masters, but as 



420 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

case after case came before him, the mists of prejudice and shortsight- 
edness lifted and dispersed. Soon those of the community interested 
looked up to him in confidence, that good common sense a just appre- 
ciation of their needs, would be furnished by Judge Ware as opportunity 
offered; and they were not disappointed. The most violent opponents 
to his teachings gave way, and all felt, if they did not acknowledge the 
fact, that he was truly a public benefactor; that law as delivered by him 
was sound, reasonable, well-grounded, and would stand the severest 
scrutiny; .and so it proved to be, by the voluntary acknowledgment of 
many eminent jurists in the Union. 

Judge Fox in responding to the resolutions said among other 
things : 

Judge Ware's literary acquirements were second to no man's in this 
district. He was conversant with the Greek and Latin, as well as with 
the French languages, and could thus investigate and examine for him- 
self their autho rities without depending on the assistance of others. 
His extensive acquaintance with the Roman law and the various French 
writers on commercial and admiralty law, is manifest in almost every 
one of his opinions, which we now possess. He most thoroughly en- 
joyed the investigation of questions of admiralty and maritime law, 
making the most diligent search and examination among the rules and 
sea laws of the ancient marts of commerce, and he pursued his studies 
and explorations until he was complete master of the subject, so that 
nothing remained for him but to. present his conclusions in that clear 
and beautiful manner which is so distinguishing a characteristic of all 
his opinions, and in which he has never been surpassed, either at home 
or abroad. Quite often his opinion was not restricted to a mere deter- 
mination of the rights of the parties in the cause, but, conscious of the 
importance of his labors, and of the benefit to be derived from the 
knowledge he would thus impart, he made his opinion a most elaborate 
and finished exposition of the great principles of admiralty and mari- 
time law involved in the matter in controversy, in relation to which, at 
that time, the entire profession was almost universally ignorant. So 
complete and thorough were his examinations, so convincing his judg- 
ments, that in many cases since his time, the most learned and eminent 
jurists have referred to them as conclusive authority on the questions he 
so well investigated, being convinced that their own researches would 
shed no new light upon a matter which had received the careful and dil- 
igent investigation of Judge Ware. His written opinions were deemed 
so valuable, both to the public and the profession, that they were gen- 
erally made public through the press immediately on their announce- 
ment, and they at once were accorded by the entire profession, the very 
front rank in admirality and maritime jurisprudence. In the year 1839, 
the first volume of his reports was published, followed by a second in 
1849, and the demand for these works has been so great as to require a 
second edition of each of them. 



ASHTJK WAKE. 421 

To his personal character Judge Fox paid this merited tribute : 

Judge Ware was of marked simplicity of character, and was always 
actuated by entire singleness of heart and purpose. The kindest and 
most friendly relations ever existed between him and the members of 
this bar. His intercourse with us was ever free and informal, never in 
the least pretentious; and it always was a pleasure to him, to assist us 
by his advice in relation to his own decisions, as well as to principles of 
law upon which we desired information; and I have very frequently in 
this manner received from him most valuable assistance which it would 
have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to have procured from 
any other source. He had no favorites. Every one who appeared in his 
court, whether young or old, was certain that all stood on an equality 
in his presence. With courtesy and the greatest patience he listened to 
the views which counsel saw fit to present, the manifest purpose of the 
judge being to obtain light, to aid him in his determination of the 
cause without regard to the source whence it was derived. ISTo one ever 
took part in a trial before the judge, without becoming attracted to him, 
and feeling the highest respect for him, as well for the kindness of 
heart ever exhibited to whatever counsel a party might select to advo- 
cate his rights, as for his diligent attention, for his acute wisdom and 
judgment, and the learning and research manifested in his elaborate 
opinions. 

Besides his published judicial opinions, models at once of learn- 
ing and style, were many fugitive contributions to political jour- 
nals. Judge Ware also furnished several articles to " Bouveir's 
Law Dictionary" upon legal subjects. He delivered the Phi 
Beta Kappa oration at Brunswick, in 1827, which was published 
and greatly admired. 

He married in 1831, Sarah Morgridge, whom, though much 
younger than himself, he survived. He left three children,. 
Joseph, a lawyer, residing last in Washington, D. C., now de- 
ceased, and two daughters, Emma, and Sarah, now Mrs. Mackay, 
residing in Europe with her husband. 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBEE MEETING, 1882. 423 



PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



EVENING SESSION, DECEMBER 23, 1882. 

IN the evening the hall of the Society was well filled by the 
friends and admirers of Professor Alpheus Spring Packard, who 
had assembled to do him honor on his eighty-fourth birthday, 
and a little later he entered, accompanied by Hon. J. W. Brad- 
bury and E. H. Elwell, Esq., and was enthusiastically received. 
All present gladly noted his vigorous walk, erect carriage and 
wonderful freedom from decrepitude. 

The meeting was called to order by Hon. J. W. Bradbury, 
President of the Society, who spoke as follows : 



Members of the Historical Society : 

We have assembled this evening to testify our regard for, and tender 
our congratulations to, a revered associate, the oldest living member of 
our Society, for many years its secretary and librarian, and always de- 
voted to its interests, who has by the favor of a kind Providence reached 
in almost unabated vigor his fourscore and four years, sixty-four of 
which have been given, without interruption, to the noble occupation of 
teacher in the oldest and most distinguished college in our State. 

The great Roman orator, after filling the highest positions at the bar, 
in the forum and in the coujicils of the nation, and enjoying a life-long 
experience in these exalted stations, took occasion to leave on record, in 
one of the most carefully considered productions of his pen, his esti- 
mate of the services of the teacher. 

"It is certain," he says, "there cannot be a more important or a 
more honorable occupation than to train the rising generation, and 
instruct them in the duties to which they may be hereafter called." 

The most illustrious philosophers whose names have come down to us 
from antiquity spent much of their time in instructing the young in 
reasoning, knowledge and virtue. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were 
teachers. Nearly five centuries before the Christian era, Socrates had 
his pupils who attended daily upon his instruction, and he deemed it 
the most solid reward to form a virtuous character, and make his pupils 
his affectionate friends. Plato, one of his disciples, attained to such 
excellence that it was said of him by Cicero, that were Jupiter to con- 
verse in the language of men he would express himself in Plato's 



424 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

phrase. Aristotle, Plato's most illustrious pupil, who ruled the intellect- 
ual world for centuries, was a teacher for many years in the Lyceum, 
and Alexander the Great owed his education to him. 

Our respected and revered associate has made his life a grand success 
in devoting it to this noble calling. Dr. Packard has been so long iden- 
tified with Bowdoin College that his history is largely that of the college 
itself. He entered it as a student in 1812, was graduated in 1816, elected 
tutor in 1819, a professor in 1825, and has continued uninterruptedly a 
member of the faculty of instruction to the present time. The first 
class was graduated in 1806, only six years prior to his entry, and of 
nineteen hundred and ninety-four graduates from this institution, whose 
names are upon the catalogue (not including our twelve hundred and 
fifty medical students, many of whom have done honor to the State), to 
which are to be added those who did not complete their college course, 
all save one hundred and twelve, making more than nineteen hundred 
young men, have gone forth from these classic halls, after sharing his 
instruction. How many have been aided and strengthened in their prep- 
aration for the great battle of life by his teaching, counsels and example. 
I am aware of the instinctive delicacy that shrinks from any personal 
allusion, but our respected friend must permit me to say, as one of the 
number, in behalf of the rest as well as of myself, that we always found 
in him the faithful teacher, the kind friend, the Christian gentleman, 
who pointed out^he path of duty and showed us how to walk therein, 
and that on leaving our Alma Mater we carried with us and have ever 
cherished for him sentiments of affection and regard. Teacher of 
teachers, long may he be spared, by his words and his life to instruct 
and to guide, realizing that the work he has begun is going forward, 
that his influence will continue to extend in an increasing circle after 
all who have listened to his voice shall have passed away. 

I will no longer delay you, as it is to others you will have the pleasure 
of listening. It is enough to have deserved the encomium of our own 
illustrious poet, 

Honor and reverence, and good repute 

That follows faithful service as its fruit, 

Be unto him, whom living we salute. 

At the conclusion of Mr. Bradbury's remarks, James Phinney 
Baxter, Esq., read a poem, written by him for the occasion, 
as follows : ' 

GREETING TO THE MENTOR. 

Hail, Sage revered ! all hail ! We, poor of speech, 
Greet thee, O Mentor of our laureate ! 
Though hardly may our voices overreach 
A day's brief space, our love for thee is great; 
For, in the way which led to Fame's fair gate, 
Thou wert the first to set his feet untried ; 
The first his youthful steps to guard and guide. 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 425 

It was but yesterday we crowned him here 

With leaves he cherished more than leaves of bay; 

Since they had grown within the woods so dear 

To his lost youth, when all the future lay 

In blade and bud, fair as a field in May; 

Not hinting of the sheaves so dry and sere, 

Experience soon must reap with many a tear. 

We greet thee from our hearts : yet, well we know 
Not as the Master skilled in speech would greet 
His well- loved Mentor, were he here, but now, 
To look upon thy face, and voice each beat 
Of our full hearts ; for on our lips no heat 
Hath any coal from Song's high altar shed, 
Nor through our veins the inspiring ichor sped. 

But, gentle teacher, though we may not bring 

To thee the tribute of inspired song; 

We fain would cheer thee with such words as spring 

To verbal life and dissonantly throng 

On our rude lips; so, as we halt along, 

An antique story we to thee will tell 

Of one who in great Athens once might dwell. 

Upon a golden Summer's afternoon, 

When birds trilled in the hedges, and the bees 

Hummed to the drowsy flowers one changeless tune, 

A man of aspect grave, like one who sees, 

Or strives to see, things men call mysteries, 

Walked toward the Agora with troubled face, 

As he would solve a riddle hard to trace. 

Into the Agora, this moody wight 

Wandered like one distraught, what time the crowd 

Thronged toward the Pnyx, to catch, if so they might, 

Some drops of wisdom from the surcharged cloud 

Of eloquence, which soon would burst aloud 

From the impassioned lips of Pericles, 

Pride of a day, he swayed with Jovean ease. 

He heard the plaudits of the throng, and saw 
Their idol stalk along with helmed head ; 
As was his wont in time of peace or war; 
Yet went not with them ; but in silence fed 
Upon his thoughts, until his feet were led 
Where the grand Stoa of Basileius frowned, 
With statues of immortal heroes crowned. 



426 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

He passed the Eleutherius, where the art 

Of that bright age had limned for all to see 

Such things as stir within the human heart 

Heroic chords, yet cried he bitterly, 

These, who so grandly wrought, were but like me, 

Yet, now, they are as gods in all men's eyes, 

Like that man in the Pnyx who thunders lies. 

The temple of Apollo passed he by, 
The Tholus, Aphrodite's temple fair, 
And drew the altar of the gods anigh, 
Where heroes, glorious beyond compare, 
In marble seemed to breathe the common air. 
On these he fixed awhile his eager gaze, 
Muttering his thoughts like one in sore amaze. 

" These men once walked like me the sluggish Earth, 
Felt, thought, loved, hated, laughed and wept like me, 
Yet reign now as the gods above the dearth 
Of dread oblivion, whilst I, seeming free, 
Go with the human flock, which stupidly 
Trots to the shambles of forgetfulness, 
Without a luring bait or smooth caress. 

14 It shall not be ! I, too, will climb the height 
Where Fame's high house forever brightly beams, 
And stand amidst the great ones, though I blight 
The hopes of lesser men. No more of dreams ! 
No more of struggling with what only seems ! 
For I will carve a way to Fame's high seat, 
Through weal and woe; through triumph and defeat." 

So, casting off his troubled look, he strode, 

Like one who hath awaked from some strange spell, 

Toward the Acropolis, while past him flowed 

The reflux tide of men with mighty swell 

Into the market place, and, when night fell, 

Crouching a statue's creeping shade within, 

He planned the course to-morrow should begin. 

About the Virgin's chamber, Artemis 

From her white crescent shed a chilling light ; 

And one by one the listening eaj would miss 

A wonted sound, until the waning night 

Lapsed into such deep silence, that a flight 

Of heavenly wings had not seemed strange to hear, 

Nor sight of ghostly face awakened fear. 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 427 

When, suddenly before the musing wight 

All intervening things dissolved in air ; 

And beamed in splendor to his dazzled sight 

The statue of Athena passing fair, 

A stylus blazing like a star she bare, 

And on a tablet was about to write 

The names which Fame had bruited left and right. 

Then came a wondrous vision of the kings, 
Who once had swayed the world, in rich array, 
Purple and scarlet; gems and golden rings; 
They glittered past Jiim in a pageant gay 
Glorious to look upon with eyes of clay. 
" Surely these mighty ones must at the head 
Of great Athena's list be placed," he said. 

But, looking on them with sad, searching eye , 

She shook her head and murmured, "Ah! not these, 

Whom the gods set o'er men, that they through wise 

And godlike acts, might lift them through degrees 

Of growth to nobler living; for to please 

Their baser selves, they scorned the common weal 

And crushed men with Oppression's cruel heel." 

So passed Earth's rulers; and each august name 
She wrote far down upon the eternal page ; 
When lo ! another splendid vision came 
In warlike guise, great heroes, who the gage 
Oft at Death's feet had cast in noble rage. 
All who through strife Fame had exalted high, 
Swept, even like the gods, triumphant by. 

"Ah!" cried the dreamer, " Here my lot I cast 
With these triumphant ones, whose deeds of might 
Dazzled the world:" but, as they proudly passed, 
He saw the wise Athena sadly write 
Their names low down the page in lines of light, 
And, writing, said, " Great opportunities 
To serve their fellows the gods gave to these. 

" ' Twas theirs the rights of weaker men to guard, 
And, by preserving peace, promote their weal, 
But the gods' purposes they proudly marred 
And, fostering strife, bound nations to the wheel 
Of wasting war, with chains more strong than steel, 
That they might feast upon that joy unknown 
To men whom noisy Fame forgets to own." 



428 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

So passed the proud host by and then there came 

Another throng, in garb of somber hue ; 

Great orators and others who might frame 

The nations' laws, and others still, who knew 

The art of politics, and what best drew 

The popular applause, Men who with words 

Had ruled the State even more than kings with swords. 

Sadly Athena looked on them and said, 
" Surely these might have sought the people's good, 
Seeing their walks near Wisdom's highway led 
Where Justice ever in the vista stood; 
But with eyes closed to human brotherhood, 
They forged more fatal fetters for their kind, 
Than ever cunning smiths for kings designed." 

And these went by when suddenly appeared 

Another band of folk in motley guise ; 

Priests of all faiths which human hopes had reared, 

With minds in fixed molds cast of men most wise 

In self conceit, who seemed with owlish eyes 

Ever to see best in obscurity 

Things which forsooth in dreams might only be. 

On- these the goddess sternly looked and cried, 
"Ah! wretched ones, who held the charmed keys 
To human hearts, where joy and grief may bide; 
To you were godlike opportunities, 
For ye had lifted, had ye willed, with ease 
From many men bent low with grief and care 
The burdens which they found o'er hard to bear. , . 

" And, yet, ye would not lift a feather's weight, 
But to confirm your rule, shut out the light 
Which would have glorified their drear estate ; 
Ye bore yourselves as gods in their poor sight, 
Taking their reverence as a thing but slight, 
Yet feasting on it with a secret joy, 
As on a thing whose sweetness could not cloy. 

Hardly had passed from view the stately train, 
When came of folk a busy, buzzing crew ; 
The merchants of the world princes of gain 
Who even from tyrants oft a tribute drew; 
Their flags on many waters proudly flew, 
And their rich caravans strange lands had crossed, 
Or scourged by tropic heat or arctic frost. 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 429 

Then cried the dreamer, " These all men must hold 
As benefactors." " Nay," Athena cried, 
" They might have been, had not the glare of gold 
Blinded their sight and turned them quite aside, 
So that the rights of men, in their blind pride 
They trampled under feet, and held it right 
To measure virtue even by rule of might." 

Now, hardly had she finished, when appeared 
Another throng All who might teach mankind 
Through any art or craft : teachers revered 
Of every school wherin the immortal mind 
Might be led forth from crooked paths and blind, 
To broader fields of thought, where clear and bright 
Truth could shine forth with unobstructed light. 

Then cried Athena, " Lo! the world's great souls, 

Who through self abnegation ever strove 

To reach the altars where the quenchless coals 

Of truth burn bright beneath the eye of Jove ; 

They toiled to break the bonds which ignorance wove 

Round human souls, that they like us might be 

As the Supreme designed, forever free." 

And so the names of these did she impress 
Above all others on the tablets bright, 
Which in the treasure-house of changelessness 
Should be laid up before the Immortals' sight, 
So long as stars should sing on paths of light, 
Ending her task just as a line of gray 
Along the horizon marked the coming day. 

The dreamer saw the heavens begin to glow, 
And heard the wakening birds begin to trill, 
And felt the cool breath of the morning blow 
From the blue bay beneath, serene and still, 
He saw the empty streets begin to fill 
With men who lived to taste the bliss which lay 
Within the sweet clasp of another day. 

Then he arose, and to his house must go 

With downcast eyes ; but they remembered long 

Who passed him, how his face was all aglow, 

And, ever after, with the humble throng 

Of teachers walked he wisely, hating wrong: 

Counting all sacrifice of self but gain, 

If men thereby might some small good attain. 



430 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The statues of Fame's idols are no more, 
Athens hath perished ; but men still hold dear 
Great Plato's patient teacher him who bore 
The name of Socrates. And they shall hear 
With reverence his name, when men once near 
The gods in grandeur kings of glorious strain 
The memory of man shall not retain. 

So ends the tale, O faithful Teacher! thou 
Who art of these august ones ! and, though Fame 
May twine no transient laurel for thy brow, 
Still, Heaven's eternal page shall bear thy name 
In changeless characters beyond the flame 
Of Time's devouring torch; for thou art one 
Whose work the world must say hath been well done. 

' Twas said of Socrates, and still is said 
Of that great teacher, more revered than when 
The streets of Athens bare-foot he would tread, 

** He taught the greatest souls of widest ken 
A Xenophon and Plato;" but of men 
He led none wisdomward more truly great, 
Than thou hast led through Learning's golden gate. 

After the poem had been read, Gen. J. L. Chamberlain was 
introduced by the President, and, despite a severe cold, from 
which he was evidently suffering, spoke as follows: 



We have gathered here tonight as for a coronation. We come to 
mingle our tributes with the honors which life has laid upon the head 
of this chosen man, the scholar of eighty years, since the laws of the 
land have declared h im such, the citizen who has completed four major- 
ities, the teacher of three generations, the senior member of this Society 
by nearly a score of years, and for more than half a century an efficient 
member of it, and still a man among us, erect and firm, his eye not 
dim, nor his natural force abated. 

We have come to mingle our thankfulness with his ; to congratulate 
him on the long life which from ancient times has been held a meed of 
honor, and a career singularly happy in the continued ability of useful 
service, a blessing which even Moses, the man who had talked with God, 
dared not vouchsafe to fourscore years ; to congratulate ourselves that 
he has so long stood before us, bearing with him the treasures of. the 
departed years, and that he stands with us still ready to step with us 
into the new year, and lead onward and upward as ever. We come to 
recognize how graciously on yester eve God set upon his brow that 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 431 

many- wreathed, rare crown, wrought by the golden circuit of the sun, 
and to renew our pledges of loyal love to one we acknowledge as teacher 
and master still. 

I almost fear that our venerated friend dreads the ordeal of this even- 
ing. There are some fates befalling this mortal lot, from which he 
might well have deemed himself exempt. 

Never having aspired to what is called the " public service," he might 
reasonably hope to escape biography by vivisection. It is reserved for 
the political candidate to see his history spread out before him, with an 
amplification of fact and inference, and an imputation of motive, not 
calculated for the sanctification or edification of any but the genius of 
journalism, and it is sometimes among the deaths the soldier has to die, 
to have occasionally thrust in his face his obituary of humiliating 
brevity.. 

My service must be no task. And yet I approach it with some mis- 
giving. Mere congratulation would seem to you too little; simple jus- 
tice would seem to him too much. 

Far distant be the day when any one standing here shall be able with- 
out restraint, to portray this character and service. And may this pres- 
ence which inspires, long check our eulogies. 

The thoughts of many here, perhaps, go with our friend over wider 
years than mine. You, Mr. President, must have known him years be- 
fore my little star woke hitherward from the unknown. But none here, 
or alas, elsewhere now, on earth, have been longer associated with him 
in the work of life. 

He was early called into that circle of men who made Bowdoin Col- 
lege a power from the very beginning; so that she seemed to have sprung, 
Athena-like, full panoplied from the brain of Jove; armor and shield; 
be tokening not simply strength and skill, but courage, prudence, per- 
severance, "presage of victory;" men who not only were themselves 
distinguished for what is excellent in character and achievement, but 
also, through this and something more than this, a certain unselfish 
loyalty and heroic devotion, gave the college from the outset a singular 
and unexampled prestige. What those men were, and what they did, 
and what they sent forth, the world knows and honors. The fountains 
were few, but they were high up on Helicon. 

In science, philosophy, language, literature, eloquence, poetry, how 
readily can you supply the names that stand doubly stelligerent, dead 
but immortal, on Bowdoin' s page! They were great men, and they 
made the college great. And their greatness was not limited to ability 
and learning, worthy as these were ; it filled a larger, the moral mold ; 
it shone out of the man himself; it was greatness in motive, purpose, 
character. 

The influence of great men, I think, has not been duly recognized. 
The prevailing notion of evolution, heredity and natural selection, 
have turned our thoughts aside from what a scientific observation ought 



432 MAINE HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. 

to have made clear, the large extent to which the world's advance has 
been due, to its rare and choice souls; those who from their lofty and lone- 
ly heights, survey with wider vision the horizon of nature and of truth 
and communicate to man the secrets of the universe; those who placing 
the center of their thought outside of self, have enlarged the conscious- 
ness of human worth by their high example of the possibilities of 
human virtue ; and with the spirit of self-renunciation, almost divinely 
beautiful, have uplifted life and broadened brotherhood, by showing 
the use of sacrifice; and the good of doing for men by even dying 
for them. 

There are those who teach us that great men are but the creatures of 
the society within which they live and move; or, that were these men 
never born, society would evolve some other exponents, some other 
leaders, to carry it forward to its goals; but the truth only is that 
society furnishes the material, the conditions, the occasion and the 
stimulus, which summon the master spirit to his work. 

The need of society calls such spirits ; they answer from far off depths 
and heights. The universal consciousness of men has felt this; and 
ancient myth and legend do not derive from evolution and circumstance 
the birth of heroes, but they ascribe even a divine origin to the leaders 
and saviors of men. 

Now here in this little college there were great men. I call them so 
with well-grounded reasons great in word and work, great in humil- 
ity and self-sacrifice, large-hearted, noble-minded; they were not the 
creatures, but the creators of Bowdoin's early renown. Their character, 
their teachings, their example, were an inspiration to the young men 
who gathered around them. No doubt their habit of resisting all 
other calls, and standing fast at their appointed posts, gave them an 
added strength, both of character and of influence. 

I think it not so strange a thing that so many men of shining mark 
graduated at this college during its first half-century. It was not by 
chance. Rare spirits were quickened by such intercourse to know them- 
selves, and they grew amidst such nutriment, to their own true measure ; 
not to be like their masters, but to be masters of themselves. 

I do not wonder that the graduates of these early days cling to the 
college as it was. Those fountains of influence seem to nourish the 
very roots of their being still. 

t Influence is not government," said Washington, when some one 
advised the effort to win the strong men of the country to supply by 
good-will the lack of a vigorous executive in carrying forward the reso. 
lutions of a loosely organized Congress. He uttered a lesson dearly 
learned in war. Influence is not government; but influence is edu- 
cation. 

Daily and close contact with men of large thought and generous im- 
pulse, loyal to truth and faithful to trusts, patient, humble, constant 
and sincere, must shed sunshine and all sweet nourishments into the 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 433 

youthful spirit. The great and good example cannot fail to inform and 
inspire the generous germs of noble endeavor. 

It is claimed to be one advantage of small colleges over great ones, 
that in them the young men are brought more into contact with men of 
mature mind and experience of life. If at the same time they have 
kept the youthful heart alive in them, we can readily see how great an 
educating influence they can exert over the forming mind. 

Such have been, especially in the earlier years, the advantages of 
Bowdoin. Such have been the characteristics of the traditional and 
distinctive Bowdoin Faculties. Such certainly were the men of whom 
our venerated friend was early thought worthy to be made the com- 
peer. I make no hesitation in saying it was, as it still is, an honor to 
be called into that Faculty. The ablest men in the state and in the old 
mother state of Massachusetts have not thought it beneath ^heir dignity 
to serve on the boards of trust and oversight, and to give earnest and 
thorough attention to all the interests of the college. To have passed 
favorably their scrutiny cannot be held as less than election to office of 
high trust and honor. To be a member of that Faculty certainly affords 
the means and stimulus to the" best personal growth, and to a useful and 
faithful life. All this our friend has found it and has made it. 

It is now twenty-seven years since, scarcely more than a boy, I was 
brought into that great companionship, as a member of that grand old 
faculty. Woods, Cleaveland, Packard, Smyth, Upham ! do these names 
need to be set in any other light than that they themselves have shed? 

At about the same time came in two others, older in college standing, 
if not in years, than I; worthy guides to lead the neophyte to that 
august presence; men who have since then, if they had not indeed 
already then, vindicated the judgment that had called them to this 
honored station, Egbert Smyth and Carroll Everett. Were they not 
also of the fore-ordained ? 

I see them now, in that little study of Prof. Cleaveland, which our 
friend, Mr. Chandler, with filial reverence, has kept in its quaint old 
fashion. There sat the old faculty, each in his accustomed place. 
Cleaveland by his long desk, with his back to the room, recorder and 
regulator, class-lists and pencil in hand, waiting the hour, and minute 
and second, when business ought to begin; Upham, on his right and 
rear, a late comer, and loving a shady corner, his eyes often screened, 
unseen, but seeing all; at the round table in the center, Woods, and 
Symth, and Packard, the three angles of a triangle, not unlikely to 
resolve themselves into two right angles at short notice : not thinking 
of self, but of duty, taking the front simply and naturally, without fear; 
champions, defenders of the faith, both by nature and by grace. Far- 
ther off, near the door, we, the younger, silent, unspurred squires, awed 
lookers-on. 

All of these we looked up to were famous men ; each of them had 
written a book; each of them had his own clear, if not sharp character- 
28 



434 MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

istics, his well-settled and well-rounded individuality, and the strength 
of strong convictions. 

I see I have been drawn to words that savor somewhat of military 
suggestion. That cast of phrase was inevitable, irresistible. Anything 
else would have missed something of truth. They were born soldiers, 
these men, and would have been corps commanders in the field. Others 
have portrayed these characters in other lines; pardon me for viewing 
them as they struck my youthful imagination, not changed by mature 
experience. 

If for the sake of illustrating by the familiar example, I may compare 
them with strong characters in our history, I should say the President 
was the McClellan of my field of vision, cultured, chivalrous, master 
of strategy, skillful in organization; of wonderful fascination, so that 
the sight or name of him would rouse enthusiasm; not liking the tac- 
tics of the straight delivered blow that hurts, and the ruthless, onward 
charge that follows sharp; working with brain rather than brute force; 
by masterly disposition, delicate and swift flank movements; rather 
relying on the moral effect of movement that overawes the mind, than 
on the ordeal of battle to the bloody and bitter end. 

Smyth, the Phil Sheridan, seeing one thing at a time, the point straight 
ahead, and making for it with a physical force that seems to transcend 
even the moral, and with a defiance of the rules of war and a reckless- 
ness of the laws of probabilities, which astonish the enemy into sur- 
render before they can come to their senses. 

Packard he can scarcely pardon me the Stonewall Jackson 
(not of history, let me comfort him by the saving clause, but 
only of my airy vision) ; what he would have been had he taken the 
field in a great cause. First, praying earnestly to know the right, and 
when he saw it, or believed he did, in, once in, and once for all; no after 
questionings, no misgivings, no half disarming concessions of ill-timed 
candor, no futile acknowledgments of possible failings in his friends, or 
virtue in his foes; faithful, watchful, tireless, and, in the decisive mo- 
ment, sharp as a two-edged sword of flame. 

Upham ; to whom can I compare him ? Commandant of the corps of 
observation; general officer of outposts; skirting the enemy's rear, 
destroying the enemy ''in detail;" doing unheard of things on the 
skirmish line, and appearing suddenly, to the astonishment of friend 
and foe alike, in times and places least expected. 

Cleaveland, the Grant of the campaign; silent, intent, dogged; mind- 
ing his own business and making other people mind theirs; keeping out 
of a fight until it is time to go in; tenacious of his purpose without 
being over-concerned about the cost; lavish of his means, but sure of 
his ends. I make this only as a fancy picture; potential history. 
Yet in truth it is something more than fancy. There were stirring 
questions up in those days, questions of interior discipline, ques- 
tions, too, of the general policy of the college, and even of its funda- 



PROCEEDINGS AT DECEMBER MEETING, 1882. 435 

mental character in a religious or denominational point of view. 
Where wise measures of government were vital to the well-being of the 
college, and especially where principles held sacred were at stake, with 
men so earnest and so able, there were sure to be field days of no com- 
mon order. But the flag of chivalry was in the front : " Gentlemen of 
the English Guard, we have the honor to offer you the first fire," said 
the French marshal, hat in hand, and with profound salutation. Noth- 
ing less here; one may be sure of that. The question is opened. Then 
begins that marvelous sword-play: That Saladin scimetar, soft seem- 
ing as a thing of air, that drew so keenly through the finest woven web 
of argument, that only the two ends of it floating apart and away, told 
that it had been cut asunder. Then the massive two-handed blade of 
Coaur de Lion, the honest uplifted arms reckless however much they 
might expose to side assault, but where the front blow fell, no mace of 
steel could hold together, nor mortal man need another stroke. Yet if 
it was a school of arms, it was a school of honor. No treacheries, no 
underminings, no back-bi tings. Differ as those men might in premise 
and argument, in the conclusion they stood together. Seen, perhaps, in 
a faculty meeting, by an outsider, through Professor Cleaveland's gim- 
let-hole and prism in the window shutter, those seven men might 
exhibit all the colors of the spectrum; but out under the open sky they 
were the clear and solid beam. 

I think the life of a professor in Bowdoin College is a very pleasant 
one. It is honorable: it is useful: and what does not by any means 
always follow from these considerations, it is a happy life, or should 
be so. Removed