COLLECTIONS
OF THE
MAIM. HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
VOL. VI.
PORTLAND:
PUBLISHED FOR THE SOCIETY
1859.
PRINTED BY BROWN THURSTON, PORTLAND, ME.
\<c
*b
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI.
CONTENTS.
I'AGE.
By-Laws of the Society, - - ix.
Officers for the year 185960, and Past Officers, - xix.
Resident Members 1859, - - - xxi.
Persons Chosen Resident Members who have left the State, - xxii.
Resident Members Deceased, - - xxiii.
Corresponding Members, .... xxiv.
ARTICLE. f PAGE.
I. Scotch-Irish Immigrations to Maine, and a Summary His-
tory of Presbyterianism. An Address before the Soci-
ety, Jan. 27, 1858. By William Willis. - 1
II. The Early Lawyers of Lincoln and Kennebec Counties.
By Frederic Allen. 38
William Gushing, Charles Gushing, Roland Gushing,
James Sullivan, John Gardiner, William Lithgow, Jr.,
Silas Lee, Benjamin Hasey, Jeremiah Bailey, Josiah
Stebbins, Benjamin Orr, James Bridge, Samuel S.
Wilde, Thomas Rice, Nathaniel Perley, Solomon Vose,
Thomas Bond, Ebenezer T. Warren, Eleazer W. Rip-
ley, Benjamin Whitwell, Nathan Bridge, Sanford
Kingsbury, Timothy Boutelle, Lemuel Paine, Henry
W. Fuller, Erastus Foote, John Otis, Hiram Belcher,
Edward Kavanagh, Ebenezer Clapp, Isaac G. Reed,
Joseph Sewall, William J. Farley, Jonathan Cilley.
HI. Memoir of Benjamin Vaughan, M. D., LL. D. By
Robert H. Gardiner. - - - - 82
VI.
IV. Albert Gallatin Autobiography 1798. - 93
V. Castine and the Old Coins found there. By Joseph Wil-
liamson. - - - 105
Origin of the name Baron de St. Castin, 110 Dis-
covery of the Coins, 114 Description, 117.
VI. Remarks on old Coins found at Portland in 1849, and at
Richmond's Island in 1855, with a general notice of
Cobs and Coinage. By William Willis. - 127
VII. Memoir of the Rev. John Murray, First Minister of the
Church in Boothbay. By Rev. A. G. Vermilye, of
Newburyport, Mass. - - - 153
VIII. The early history of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
in the Diocese of Maine. By Edward Ballard, A. M.,
Rector of St. Paul's Church, Brunswick, Me. 171
IX. The Abnaki Indians. By Eugene Vetromile, S. J., Pro-
fessor in the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester,
Mass. With a brief Memoir of Prof. Vetromile. By
Rev. Edward Ballard. - - 203
X. ' The Abenaki Indians. Their Treaties of 1713 and 17 17,
and a Vocabulary; with a Historical Introduction.
By Frederic Kidder, of Boston. 229
Vocabulary, 245 Treaty of 1713 at Portsmouth, 250
Signatures and Totems, 253 Treaty of 1717, at
Georgetown, Me., 260.
XL The Indians of Hudson's Bay, and their language. Se-
lected from Umfreville's " Present State of Hudson's
Bay." By William Willis. - 265
XII. Extracts from a Memoir of M. de la Mothe Cadillac,
1692, concerning Acadia and New England; from
the Archives of Paris. Translated and communicated
to the Society by James Robb, M. D., Professor of
Chemistry, &c., in King's College, New Brunswick. - 273
XIII. The voyage of Capt. George Weymouth to the coast of
Maine in 1605. An attempt to show that the Islands
and River, now called St. George, were those visited
by Weymouth. By George Prince, of Bath, Me. - 291
VII.
XIV. Weymouth's Voyage. Extracts from a paper read be-
fore a meeting of the Society in Portland, June 29,
1859. By David Cushman, of Warren. - 307
XV. General Waldo's Circular, in Germany, 1753 : with an
introduction. By John L. Locke, of Belfast. - - 319
XVI. The Certificate of Gov. Pownall, on taking possession of
the Penobscot Country in 1759 : with an introductory
note. By Joseph Williamson. - 333
XVII. French Neutrals hi Maine ; with a preliminary note by v
Joseph Williamson. - 339
XVIII. Oyster Shell Deposit on Damariscotta River. By Prof.
P. A. Chadbourne, of Bowdoin College. - 345
XIX. Proceedings of th<? Society for the year 1859 : with obit-
uary notices of deceased members. By William
Willis. - . 353
Meeting at Augusta, January. 19, 355 Deceased Mem-
bers, 356 Meeting at Portland, June 29, 357 No-
tice of Stephen Thatcher, 358 Meeting at Brunswick
Aug. 4, 362 Notice of the Hon. Joseph Dane, 364
Notice of the Hon. Nathaniel Groton, 367 No-
tice of the Rev. Dr. Nichols, 373.
XX. Eulogy on Parker Cleaveland, LL. D., late Professor of
Chemistry, Mineralogy and Natural Philosophy, at
Bowdoin College ; and Corresponding Secretary of the
Maine Historical Society. By Leonard Woods, D. D.,
President of Bowdoin College. With an Appendix. 375
B Y-L A.WS
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BY-LAWS OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ADOPTED AUG. 4, 1859.
CHAPTER I. Of Members.
ART. I. Those members of the Society who shall reside in the State of
Maine, shall be denominated Resident Members ; all others Corresponding
Members Resident Members alone shall be required to contribute to the
funds of the Society.
ART. II. Each Resident Member shall pay to the Treasurer an admis-
sion fee of ten dollars, for the general purposes of the Society. If he shall
neglect to pay his admission fee for one year after being notified of his elec-
tion, his election shall be void.
The person so chosen shall be notified immediately by the Corresponding
Secretary of his election, and be furnished with an attested copy of this
article ; and the Treasurer shall, as cases may occur, report to the Society
the names of those persons who have neglected to pay their admission fee.
ART. III. Resident Members shall be citizens of Maine, and their num-
ber shall not exceed one hundred. Corresponding members shall be elected
from among persons who are not citizens of the Stafe. When a resident
member ceases to be a citizen of the State, his membership shall cease, and
if a corresponding member shall move into the State, his membership shall
cease.
ART. IV. A book shall be kept by the Recording Secretary, in which
any resident member of the Society may enter the name of any person,
whom he may regard as suitable to be nominated as a resident or corres-
ponding member ; which nomination is not to be made known abroad, but
no nomination shall be made to the Society except by report of the Stand-
ing Committee. Persons may be nominated at any regular meeting of the
Society, but no action shall be taken thereon except at the annual meeting.
XII.
ART. V. All members shall be elected by ballot, but no election shall be
valid, unless there be fifteen members present, nor unless three-fourths of
all the members present shall have voted affirmatively. Not more than
three members shall be elected at any meeting where a majority of the
members are not present.
ART. VL Any resident member who shall fail to attend at any two suc-
cessive annual meetings, or shall fail to attend within that period one or
more of the other meetings of the Society, shall thereby forfeit his member-
ship, unless he shall send to the President within the period embraced by
said annual meetings, such excuse as shall be satisfactory to the Society.
Provided that the Society at the annual meeting may in proper cases sus-
pend the action of this rule.
CHAPTER II. Of Meetings.
The meetings of the Society shall be as follows :
ART. I. The annual meeting of the Society shall be held in Brunswick
on the Thursday following the first Wednesday in August, at eight o'clock
in the forenoon. At this meeting the officers of the Society, for the ensu-
ing year, shall be chosen, and all business of the Society transacted. This
meeting may be adjourned from day to day, but not for a longer period.
ART. II. For the purpose of receiving and reading papers and historical
documents, and the hearing of such addresses as come within the purview
of the Society, meetings may be held, in such places and at such times as
the Standing Committee may direct.
ART. III. At all meetings as soon as the President has taken the chair,
the record of the preeding meeting shall be read, after which, at special
meetings, the business for which the meeting was called shall be transacted >'
and at the regular meetings the order of business shall be as follows, viz :
1st. The Librarian and Cabinet Keeper shall make a detailed report of
whatever has been received by them since the last meeting.
2d. The Corresponding Secretary shall read any communications he may
have received.
3d. The unfinished business and assignments of the last meeting shal 1
be announced to the President, and taken up in their order.
4th. The Standing Committee shall be called upon to report its doings
since the last meeting.
xni.
5th. Reports from other committees shall be called for, after which mem-
bers shall be called on to submit any propositions or communications on the
objects of the Society ; and discuss any subjects proposed.
ART. IV. Nine members shall be a quorum for all purposes, except the
election of members, as herein before provided, and excepting also altera-
tions of the By-Laws, which shall not be made unless fifteen persons are
present, nor unless the subject has been discussed, or reported on, at a pre-
vious meeting, by a committee appointed for the purpose.
ART. V. All committees shall be nominated by the chair, unless other-
wise provided for.
ART. VI. It shall be the duty of the President, and in his absence, of
the Vice President, to call occasional meetings of the Society, on the appli-
cation in writing of the Standing Committee or any five members, and the
object of the call shall be stated in the notice.
ART. VII. The time and place of every meeting shall be published in at
least two of the newspapers of the S^ate.
CHAPTER III. Of Officers.
ART. I. There shall be chosen by ballot at the annual meeting, a Presi-
dent, a Vice President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, a
Treasurer, a Librarian, a Cabinet Keeper, a Standing Committee of five, and
whenever it shall be thought proper, a Publishing Committee, and they shall
hold their respective offices for one year, and until others are chosen in their
stead.
ART. II. The President shall preside in all meetings of the Society when
present, and when absent, the Vice President. In absence of both, a tem-
porary President shall be chosen by hand vote.
The President shall be, ex officio chairman of the Standing Committee,
and the Recording Secretary be, ex ojficio a member.
THE RECORDING SECRETARY.
ART. I. The Recording Secretary, and in his absence, or in case of a
vacancy or inability, the Corresponding Secretary, shall notify all meetings
by publication in the newspapers as aforesaid, at least seven days before the
day of meeting.
He shall keep an exact record of all the meetings of the Society with the
names of the members present, and enter in full all Reports of committees
XIV.
that may be accepted by the Society, unless otherwise directed. He shall
be, ex ojficio, a member of the Standing Committee.
THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
ART. I. The Corresponding Secretary shall carry on the correspond-
ence of the Society not otherwise provided for, and deposit copies of the
letters sent and the original letters received in regular files in the library.
He shall inform all persons of their election as members of the Society,
sending to Resident Members the terms of their election.
THE TREASURER,
ART. I. The Treasurer shall receive all monies belonging to the Society,
and shall make and keep fair entries in a book to be kept for that purpose,
of all monies and funds of the Society that may come to his hands, and of
all receipts and expenditures connected with the same ; which accounts shall
Jbe open to the inspection of the members ; and at every annual meeting
shall exhibit in writing to the Society, * statement of his accounts, and of
the funds of the Society, and the condition of all the property entrusted to
him.
He shall pay no monies except on vote of the Society or upon the order
of the Standing Committee. He shall give bond with sufficient sureties in
the sum of eight thousand dollars.
A committee of two persons to be nominated by the Chair, shall be ap-
pointed at the annual meeting to examine the Treasurer's accounts for the
year, and report thereon at the succeeding annual meeting.
STANDING COMMITTEE.
ART. I. The Standing Committee, of which the President shall be, ex
officio, chairman, shall regulate all the common expenses of the Society,
and make the necessary purchases of such articles as may be wanted, and
shall have power to draw on the Treasurer to defray the expense.
ART. II. They shall assist the Librarian and Cabinet Keeper when it
shall be necessary, in arranging and preserving the books, manuscripts, &c.,
belonging to the Society.
ART. III. They shall frequently inspect the Records and inquire whether
all the orders of the Society are carried into effect with promptitude and
fidelity.
ART. IV. It shall be a part of their duty to inquire for, and take judi-
cious measures, within the means of the Society, to procure books, manu-
scripts, and articles of curiosity for the benefit of the institution.
XV.
ART. V. They shall prepare such business as may deserve the attention
of the Society.
ART. VI. They shall report all nominations of persons for admission as
members, and shall, nt their discretion, as vacancies occur in the Society,
report nominations for resident members to fill the same.
ART. VII. All investments and changes of funds shall be under their
direction.
THE LIBRARY AND MUSEUM.
ART. I. At every annual meeting of the Society a catalogue of the
books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and maps shall be laid before the Society by
the Librarian, and a catalogue of the curiosities by the Cabinet Keeper.
ART. II. Once every year the Standing Committee shall report to the
Society respecting the sjate of the Library and Museum.
ART. III. No book shall be taken from the Library but with the knowl-
edge of the Librarian, who shall make a record of the same.
A member shall not have more than three books at a time without per-
mission from the Standing Committee. No member shall retain a book
more than eight weeks without leave of the Standing Committee, nor, with-
out the same leave, be permitted, after having it for that period, to return
and receive it again, till after an interval of three months.
ART. IV. The Publishing Committee may make use of the Library with-
out restriction.
ART. V. Newspapers and maps may be taken from the Library only by
the Publishing Committee.
ART. VI. Fines for not returning books according to the third article,
shall be ten cents per week for every book less than an octavo ; twenty
cents for an octavo, thirty cents for a quarto, and forty cents for a folio.
ART. VII. All persons who take books from the Library shall be answer-
able for any injury or loss of the same, which shall be estimated by the
Standing Committee.
ART. VIII. The privilege of usin? the Library shall be denied to those
who are indebted to the Society for fines or assessments, and which are of
longer standing than one month, provided they have received due notice of
them from the Librarian, or Standing Committee.
ART. IX. All pamphlets shall be bound, and such a catalogue be kept
by the Librarian as will render it easy for any member to find any pamphlet
or manuscript in the Library he may wish to see.
XVI.
ART. X. He shall acknowledge each donation that may be made to the
Library or Cabinet, by a certificate addressed to the person making it.
ART. XL A printed ticket shall be pasted on the inside of the cover of
each volume, signifying that it is the property of the Society, and, if a pres-
ent, the name of the donor.
ART. XII. He shall at every meeting report in writing all additions
made to the Library or Cabinet since the preceding meeting, and at the an-
nual meeting submit a detailed statement of their condition and the number
of additions made to them during the year, with the whole number of vol-
umes, pamphlets, and manuscripts in the Library.
ART. XIII. No maps, newspapers, or books of great rarity or constant
reference shall be taken from the Library except by vote of the Standing
Committee.
PUBLICATIONS.
ART. I. Each resident member shall take and pay for, the publications
of the Society at their cost
ART. II. The Librarian is authorized and required to transmit to other
societies, the publications of this Society in exchange for publications re-
ceived from them, and also to such public Institutions and Libraries as the
Standing Committee may designate.
OFFICERS AND MEMBERS
MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.
ELECTED AUG. 4, 1859.
WILLIAM WILLIS, OF PORTLAND, President.
GEORGE BURGESS, D. D., OF GARDINER, Vice President.
JAMES W. BRADBURY, OF AUGUSTA, Corresponding Secretary.
JOSEPH WILLIAMSON, OF BELFAST, Recording Secretary.
ALPHEUS S. PACKARD, OF BRUNSWICK, Librarian Cabinet Keeper
AUGUSTUS C. ROBBINS, OF BRUNSWICK, Treasurer.
Publishing Committee.
WILLIAM WILLIS, LEONARD WOODS, JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
ROBERT H. GARDINER, JOHN MCKEEN, PHINEHAS BARNES.
WM. WILLIS, Editor of the Sixth Volume.
Standing Committee.
LEONARD WOODS, *ROBERT P. DUNLAP, ROBERT H. GARDINER,
JOHN MCK.EEN, JAMES W. BRADBURY,
And the President and Corresponding Secretary, ex officio.
XX.
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FROM THE BEGINNING.
Albion K. Parris,
William Allen,
Ichabod Nichols,
Stephen Longfellow,
Presidents.
1822
18231828
18281834
1834
Prentiss Mellen,
Robert H. Gardiner,
William Willis,
18351846
18461856
1856
Edward Russell,
Ichabod Nichols,
Samuel P. Newman,
Corresponding Secretaries.
1822 Parker Cleaveland,
18231828 James W. Bradbury,
1828
18291858
1859
Benjamin Hasey,
Benjamin Tappan,
Stephen Longfellow,
William Willis,
Asa Cummings,
Recording Secretaries.
1822
18231828
18281831
18311835
1835
Joseph McKeen,
William Willis,
Phinehas Barnes,
Joseph Williamson,
18361846
18461856
1856
1857
Treasurers.
Prentiss Mellen, 18221831 William B. Sewall, 1835
Albion K. Parris, 18311833 John McKeen, 18361858
William Willis, 18331835 Augustus C. Robbins, 1858
Librarians and Cabinet Keepers. l
Edward Payson, 1822 Henry W. Longfellow, 1834
Parker Cleaveland, 18231829 Alpheus S. Packard, 1835
Samuel P. Newman, 18291834
1 The library and cabinet are kept at Brunswick, where the annual meeting is
held, on the first Thursday in August, being the day after the College Commence-
ment.
XXI.
RESIDENT MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY, JUNE, 1859,
When
Chosen.
Allen Frederic, Gardiner, 1822
Abbott John S. C., Brunswick, 1851
Ballard Edward, Brunswick, 1859
Barnes Phinehas, Portland, 1856
Bourne Edward E., Kennebunk, 1834
Bradbury James VV., Augusta, 1846
Brown Theodore S., Bangor, 1828
Burgess George, Gardiner, 1841
Champlin J. T., Waterville, 1849
Child James L., Augusta, 1859
Crosby William G., Belfast, 1856
Cushman David, Warren, 1859
Davies Charles S., Portland, 1828
Deblois Thomas A., Portland, 1859
Downes George, Calais, 1846
Eastman Philip, Saco, 1846
Eaton Cyrus, Warren, 1859
Ellingwood John W., Bath, 1846
Evans George, Portland. 1828
Everett Ebenezer, Brunswick, 1822
Farley E. Wilder, Newcastle, 1846
Fessenden Samuel, Portland, 1828
Fiske John O., Bath, 1859
Gardiner Robert H., Gardiner, 1822
Gardiner Frederic, Gardiner, 184>9
Oilman John T., Portland, 1846
Goodenow Daniel, Alfred, 1846
Goodenow William, Portland, 1846
Haines William P., Biddeford, 1849
Hamlin Elijah L., Bangor, 1859
Hathaway Joshua W., Bangor, 1828
Howard Joseph, Portland, 1846
Kent Edward, Bangor, 1831
Keeley George W., Waterville, 1849
When
Chosen.
Lincoln Isaac, Brunswick, 1822
Little Josiah S., Portland, 1846
Locke John L., Belfast, 1859
McGaw Jacob, Bangor, 1822
Mclntyre Rufus, Parsonsfield, 1828
McKeen James, Topsham, 1828
McKeen John, Brunswick, 1828
McKeen Joseph, Brunswick, 1822
Merrick John. Hallowell, 1822
Morrill Lot M., Augusta, 1856
Packard Alpheus S., Bruns'k, 1828
Pierce Josiah, Gorham, 1846
Poor John A., Portland, 1846
Potter Barrett, Portland, 1834
Redington Asa, Augusta, 1828
Rice Richard D., Augusta, 1859
Robbins Augustus C , Bruns'k, 1851
Selden Calvin. Norridgewock, 1828
Sewall Rufus K., Wiscasset, 1859
Sewall Win. B., Kennebunk, 1828
Shepley David, Winslow, 1834
Shepley Ether, Portland, 1822
Shepley George F., Portland, 1851
Sheldon David N., Bath, 1849
Simonton Putnam, Searsport, 1849
Smith Samuel E., Wiscasset, 1822
Smyth William, Brunswick, 1830
Tappan Benjamin, Augusta,. 1822
Thacher Peter, Rockland, 1846
Tenney John S., Norridgewock, 1846
Thurston David, Winthrop, 1846
Upham Thomas C., Brunswick, 1828
Vose Richard H., Augusta, 1846
Ware Ashur, Portland, 1822
xxn.
Western Nathan, Augusta, 1822
Wheeler Amos D., Topsham, 1846
Whitman Levi, Norway, 1828
Williams Daniel, Augusta, 1831
Williamson Joseph, Belfast, 1850
Willis William, Portland, 1828
Woodhull Richard, Bangor, 1846
Woodman Jabez C., Portland, 1846
Williams, Ruel, Augusta, 1822 Woods Leonard, Brunswick, 1893
MEMBERS CHOSEN AS RESIDENT & SINCE REMOVED FROM THE STATE.
Allen William, Northampton, Mass.
Cogswell Jonathan, New York.
Cole Jonathan, Exeter, N. H.
Cutter William, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Fales Thomas F., Waltham, Mass.
Farrar Samuel.
Folsom George, New York.
Greenleaf Jonathan, New York.
*Greenleaf Simon, Cambridge, Mass.,
1853.
Goodwin Daniel R., Hartford, Conn.
Hodgdon John, Dubuque, Iowa.
Hitchcock Roswell D., New York.
Kellogg, Elijah, Boston, Mass.
Longfellow Henry W., Cambridge,
Mass.
*Nichols Ichabod, Cambridge, Mass.,
1859.
Sabine Lorenzo, Boston, Mass.
Shepley Samuel H.
Sprague Peleg, Boston, Mass.
Southgate Wm S, Burlington, Vt.
Swallow George C.
* Warren Eben T., Quincy, 111., 1829.
XXIII.
RESIDENT MEMBERS DECEASED.
Time of
Death.
1840 Abbott John, Brunswick.
1849 Abbott William, Bangor.
1850 Adams Joseph, Portland.
1846 Ames Benjamin, Bath.
1853 Bailey Jeremiah, Wiscasset.
Balch Horatio G., Lubec.
1827 Bond Thomas, Hallowell.
1844 Bradley Sam. A., Fryeburg.
1849 Bradley Samuel, Saco.
1834 Bridge James, Augusta.
1844 Chapin Stephen, Waterville.
1855 Clark William, Hallowell.
1858 Cleaveland Parker, Brunsw'k.
1851 Cole Joseph G., Paris.
1835 Cony Daniel, Augusta.
1856 Cummings Asa, Portland.
1843 Dana Judah, Fryeburg.
1858 Dane Joseph, Kennebunk.
1843 Deane John G., Portland.
1859 Dunlap Rob't P., Brunswick.
1851 Emerson Sam'l, Kennebunk.
1847 Fairfield John, Saco.
1847 Fisher Jonathan, Bluehill.
1850 Freeman Charles, Limerick.
1852 Frothingham Wm., Belfast.
1844 Fuller Henry Weld, Augusta.
1854 Granger Daniel T., Eastport.
Greenleaf Moses, Williamsb'g.
1850 Gillett Eliphalet, Hallowell.
1858 Groton Nathaniel, Bath.
1850 Hasey Benjamin, Topsham.
1851 Hayes Wm. A, S. Berwick.
1843 Holmes John, Portland.
1856 Hyde Zina, Bath.
1853 Ilsley Isaac, Portland.
1857 Ingalls Theodore, Portland.
1851 Johnson Alfred, Belfast.
Time of
Death
1 844 Kavanagh Edward, Newcastle.
1842 Kellogg Elijah, Portland.
1852 King William, Bath.
1830 Lincoln Enoch, Paris.
1 849 Longfellow Stephen, Portland.
1825 Loomis Harvey, Bangor.
Mann Ariel, Hallowell.
1840 Mellen Prentiss, Portland.
1842 Newman Sam. P., Brunsw'k.
1840 Nourse Peter, Ellsworth.
1828 Orr Benjamin, Brunswick.
1856 Otis John, Hallowell.
1 849 Packard Hezekiah, Wiscasset.
1857 Parris Albion K., Portland.
1827 Payson Edward, Portland.
1835 Pierce George W., Portland.
Pond Samuel M., Bucksport.
1855 Porter Rufus King, Machias.
1857 Preble Wm. Pitt, Portland.
1857 Quimby Moses, Westbrook.
1857 Randall Benjamin, Bath.
Rose Daniel, Thomaston.
1835 Russell Edward, Portland.
Seaver Josiah, So. Berwick.
1855 Severance Luther, Augusta.
1825 Sewall David, York.
1852 Sewall Joseph, Bath.
1829 Stebbins Josiah, Ahm.
1847 Tappan Enoch S., Augusta.
1859 Thatcher Stephen, Lubec.
1858 Thayer Solomon, Portland.
1835 Vaughan Benj., Hallowell.
1843 Wells Geo. W., Kennebunk.
1834 Weston Jona. D., Eastport.
1846 Williamson Wm. D, Bangor.
1843 Wingate Joshua, Portland.
XXIV.
CORRESPONDING MEMBERS.
Bache Alex'r H., Washington, D. C.
Bartlett, Wm. S., Chelsea, Mass.
*Bowdoin Jas., Boston, Mass., 1834.
Chandler Peleg W., Boston, Mass.
*Crabtree William, Savannah, Ga.,
1859.
Cleaveland John P., New York.
Cleaveland Nehemiah, New York.
Cooley Horace S., Springfield, Mass.
*Dearborn H. A. S., Roxbury, Mass.,
1851.
Dewhurst Henry W., London.
*Farmer John, Concord, N. H.
Felch Alpheus, Detroit, Mich.
Frothingham John, Montreal.
*Gallatin Albert, New York, 1849.
Graham J D., U. S. A.
Greenleaf Patrick H., Indiana.
Hale Samuel, So mers worth, N. H.
*Harris Thaddeus M., Dorchester,
Mass., 1842.
Jenks William, Boston, Mass.
Jones George, Savannah, Ga.
Jones Lot, New York.
Johnston John, Middletown, Conn.
Kip William, California.
Lawrence Wm. B., New York.
Little Josiah, Newburyport.
Logan William E., Montreal.
Menou Count Jules (D'Aulnay), Par-
is, France.
Parsons Usher, Providence, R. I.
Pierce Josiah, Jr., St. Petersburg,
Russia.
Pike John, Rowley, Mass.
*Ripley Eleazer W., New Orleans,
1840.
Robb James, King's College, Fred-
ericton, N. B.
Savage James, Boston, Mass.
Sibley John L., Cambridge, Mass.
Teft J. K., Savannah, Ga.
Thornton J. Wingate, Boston, Mass.
Tuston Septimus, Washington, D. C.
Vattemare Alexandre, Paris, France.
Vermilye A. G., Newburyport, Mass.
Vetromile Eugene, S. J., Worcester,
Mass.
Waldron Nathaniel G., Portsmouth,
N. H.
Washburn Emory, Cambridge, Mass .
*Winthrop Thomas L, Boston, Ms.,
1841.
Winthrop Robert C., Boston, Mass.
Wright Nathaniel, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Woodman Cyrus, Mineral Pt, Wis.
COLLECTIONS.
ARTICLE I.
~
THE
SCOTCH-IEISfi IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
AND
PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND :
AN
ADDRESS BEFORE THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
JANUARY 27TH, 1858;
BY M, WILLIS,
SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION.
FEW States in our confederacy can claim so great a variety
of sources for they* population as Maine.
The French, during the first century of colonization, held,
with the Indians, exclusive possession of that part of our
territory which was situated east of the Penobscot river ;
and they claimed title and had a divided occupation, by
virtue of discovery and patents, as far west as the Kenne-
bec. l They never gained indisputable foothold for Acadia,
west of the Penobscot. Settlements of the French were
scattered at intervals over the territory, the principal and
most enduring of which was at Castine ; other points occu-
pied by them were Mt. Desert, Frenchman's Bay, Machias,
and St. Croix. Between the Penobscot and the Kennebec,
Dutch, German, Scotch, English, and Irish were intermin-
gled, and their descendants, many of them containing blood
of each race, in still increasing numbers, are blending their
joint exertions, their distinct origin almost lost, in giving
1 In 1711 or 1712, the French proposed to settle the dispute by establish-
ing this western boundary at the river St. George, in Lincoln county, to which
the British would not consent But the English, forgetting their former
argument, in negotiating the peace of '83, contended that the Kennebec was
the western boundary of Acadia or Nova Scotia. Driven from that point*
they insisted on the Penobscot This also they were obliged to abandon for
the St Croix.
4 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
prosperity to the country, which their ancestors first opened
to the light of civilization.
The Germans, however, brought over by General Waldo
a century ago, and planted at Waldoboro' and its vicinity,
but replenished by subsequent immigrations, have retained,
more than either of the other races, their primitive manners
and language. It is but a few years since, that their ministers
adopted the English language in their pulpit ministrations,
having previously preached in German. On the Kennebec
river, near its mouth, the Scotch from the north of Ireland
made early attempts to plant a colony, and were only pre-
vented from making a large and permanent settlement there
by the disturbed state of the country.
The pure English race, principally west of England men,
took possession of the western portion of the State, and
replenished from the same stock in Massachusetts, have
transmitted their line in great purity, without much mixture
with the other races, to the present day. The importation
in the first instance was made by the English proprietors,
who sent the farmers, mechanics, and adventurers, who lived
in and about Devonshire, to cultivate and improve their
large and vacant grants. Of these proprietors Gorges was
the honored chief.
After the peace of Utrecht, in Queen Anne's reign, it was
hoped that the eastern country would enjoy repose from
Indian hostilities. The current of emigration then set
strongly toward our shores. Many who had been employed
by the wars, in our territory, were inclined to remain, after
their term of service had expired. Others were attracted
by the low price of land, and the favorable opportunities for
lumbering and fishing. Large landed proprietors and specu-
lators were busy at work to improve their possessions, or to
secure new fields of enterprise. Falmouth, North Yarmouth,
and Brunswick, among the older towns, and the banks of
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND.
the Kennebec with a rich virgin soil, invited cultivators
and adventurers ; and the wilderness eastward began to be
sought and occupied, by emigrants from Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. At the same period, there were exciting
causes in Europe, which turned the attention of its people
to seek new homes on this side of the ocean. It is in re-
gard to one of these races, the Scotch-Irish, that I propose
to give particular attention at this time.
During the Irish rebellions in the reign of Elizabeth, the
province of Ulster, embracing the northern counties of Ire-
land, was depopulated. And it became a favorite project
of her successor* James I. to repeople these counties
with a Protestant population, the "better to preserve order,
and to introduce a higher state of cultivation in that part
of his dominions. To promote this object, liberal offers of
land and other inducements were proposed throughout Eng-
land and Scotland, for persons to occupy this wide and
vacant territory. The project was eagerly embraced, and
companies and colonies were formed, and individuals, without
organization, were tempted to partake of the advantageous
offers of government. A London company, among the first
to enter upon this new acquisition, established themselves
at Deny, and gave such a tone and character to the place
as that it afterwards took the name of the company, and
became the renowned city of Londonderry. The coast of
Scotland was within twenty miles of the county of Antrim
in Ireland, and across this frith or strait flowed from the
northeast a population distinguished for thrift, industry, and
endurance, which has given a peculiar and elevated charac-
ter to that portion of the Emerald island. It is said that
the clan McDonald contributed largely to this colonization,
and were the first of the Scottish nation to plant on its
shores. They scattered themselves chiefly in the counties
of Down, Londonderry, and Antrim, and greatly assisted to
6 THE SCOTCH-IEISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
build up Newry, Bangor ; Deny, and Belfast, the principal
cities of those counties.
This was the first Protestant population that was intro-
duced into Ireland, the Presbyterians of Scotland furnishing
the principal element; and they have maintained their as-
cendency to the present day, against the persevering efforts
of the Episcopalians, on the one hand, and the Catholics,
bigoted and numerous, by whom they were surrounded, on
the other. It was in Bally carry, in Antrim, and 1613, that
the first Presbyterian church in Ireland was established.
The first emigration from Scotland was chiefly from the
highlands, where the agricultural resources were scanty,
and often wholly cut off, and where the fruits of labor were
gathered from a stern soil. The quality of this emigration
was not so good, generally, as that which in subsequent
years was forced over by persecution, and went principally
from the lowlands. Sir Hugh Montgomery, the sixth laird
of Braidstonc, a friend and follower of King James, was
among the earliest to obtain possession of forfeited land in
the county of Down, and laid his rough hand on many broad
acres.
The clan Alpine, or the McGregors, in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, had made themselves very obnox-
ious to government and their neighbors, by a wild and
reckless course of life ; and Argyle, the chief of the Camp-
bells, their inveterate foe, having a high influence at court,
procured a decree of extermination against them. Their
very name and place of residence were to be obliterated.
Heavy penalties were proclaimed against all who bore the
badge of the clan. Many of them sought refuge from this
overwhelming storm in the neighboring island ; those who
remained, changed their names to those of the families with
which they mingled. Descendants from this clan are now
found in this country and elsewhere, under the names of
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 7
Grier, Greer, Gregor, Gregory, &c., the Mac being dropped.
Thus we find that a distinguished judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States, in Pennsylvania, Judge Grier
derives his origin from the same wild tribe which, under
the guidance of Rob Roy McGregor, were the terror of the
high and lowlands of their native soil. Nor was this change
of name confined to that clan, for we are assured that
the McKinnons from the Isle of Skye are now McKenna,
McKean, Me Cannon; McNish is McNice, Menees, Munnies,
and Monies; Graham has become Graeme, Grimes, Graam,
&c. The same occurred in regard to the Welsh settlers in
Ireland : Ap Rice became Price, Ap Hughes, Hughes, <fec.,
and as such are known among us.
Although the rebellions of 1715 and 1745 against the
house of. Hanover, made large additions to the Scotch pop-
ulation in the north of Ireland, yet by far the largest acces-
sions to their colonization, were occasioned by religious
persecutions in the time of the Stuarts. That fated race,
blind to the dictates of justice and humanity, and devoted
with sullen bigotry to their peculiar notions in religion and
politics, pursued a system of measures best calculated to
wean from their support, subjects the most devoted to their
cause. It was said of Charles II., that he never said a fool-
ish thing, and never did a wise one.
The Scottish race were bound to the Stuarts by a national
prejudice and a sincere affection. But they were imbued
with a religious enthusiasm, inspired by Knox, their great
apostle, which ruled their consciences and rendered the
sanctions of a higher law superior to their patriotism and
their attachment to their native sovereigns. Rather, they
believed that true patriotism consisted in the maintenance of
the religion as established and transmitted by'their fathers.
When, therefore, the two Charles's and James II. endeavour-
ed to introduce prelacy among them, and to force it upon
8 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
their consciences by arbitrary laws, and the iron hoofs of the
dragoons of Claverhouse, these hardy, persistent, and en-
during Presbyterians, having suffered 'to the bitter end of
cruelty and oppression, abandoned the land of their birth,
the home of their affections, and sought an asylum among
their countrymen in the secure retreats of Ulster. They
carried their household gods with them, and their religious
peculiarities became more dear in their land of exile, for the
dangers and sorrows through which they had borne them.
This is the race, composed of various tribes flowing from
different parts of Scotland, which furnishes the materials of
the Scotch-Irish immigrations to this country. By their indus-
try, frugality, and skill, they had made the deserted region into
which they had moved a comparatively rich and flourishing
country. They had improved agriculture, and introduced
manufactures ; and by the excellence and high reputation of
their productions had attracted trade and commerce to their
markets, so as to excite the jealousy of government in the
reigns of Anne and the first George ; notwithstanding that by
their efforts and example, the prosperity of the whole island
had been promoted, the patronizing government began to
recognize them in the shape of taxes, and embarrassing reg :
ulations upon their industry and trade. By the 6th of
George I. (1719) the Irish nation was placed in legislative
dependence on England. By the Statutes about that time
enacted, they were excluded from foreign and colonial com-
merce, from the free export gf their own productions, from
the right of dealing in their own manufactures, from the
benefit of the .navigation act, and from the privilege of pur-
chasing in her natural markets. (Edinb. Rev., Oct., 1858.)
The same jealousy afterwards governed England, in regard
to the American colonies, by which the commerce and enter-
prise of her subjects on this side of the ocean, were, in like
manner, hampered and restricted, so that they were hardly
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND.
peimitted to manufacture articles of the most common
necessity, but were driven to import them from the mother
country, as glass, nails, hats, cloths, &c.
These restrictions occasioned general distress not only in
the north of Ireland, but throughout the whole island. To
which was added an extravagant advance in rents by land-
lords, whose long leases were now expired. (1 Doug. 368.)
The energetic and self-willed population of the north, anima-
ted by the same spirit which subsequently moved the Amer-
ican mind, determined no longer to endure these oppressive
measures. And they sought by another change, to find a
free verge for the exercise of their industry and skill, and
for the enjoyment of their religion.
One of their spiritual leaders, the Rev. Mr. McGregor, in
a sermon which he preached on the eve of the departure
from Ireland, assigned the following reasons for their remov-
al to America: 1. To avoid oppressive and cruel bondage ;
2. To shun persecution; 3. To withdraw from the com-
munion of idolaters ; 4. To have an opportunity of wor-
shipping God according to the dictates of conscience and
his inspired word. He looked at it chiefly from a religious
point of view, others from a material and commercial stand-
point. And it was undoubtedly suggested and promoted by
a variety of motives gradually operating upon the mass of
the population, which brought them to the determination,
solemn and painful, to sunder the ties which had bound them
firmly to their adopted country, and impelled them to seek
new and doubtful homes, in a wild, unexplored, and far-dis-
tant land.
The first immigration of these people to this country was
to the middle and southern colonies. As early as 1684, a
settlement was formed in New Jersey, and in 1690, small
groups were found in the Carolinas, Maryland, and Pennsyl-
vania. But it was not until the reigns of Anne and George
10 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
I., that large numbers, driven by the oppressive measures
of government and disastrous seasons, were induced to
seek, even in the wilderness, a better home than their old
settled region could give them. Gordon says : " Scarcity
of corn, generally preralent, from the discouragement of
industry, amounted in 1728 and the following year almost
to a famine, especially in Ulster. Emigrations to America,
which have since increased, drew above three thousand peo-
ple annually from Ulster alone." Dr. Boulter, afterwards
archbishop of Armagh, who labored strenuously in 1728, to
divert the horrors of famine in Ireland, wrote to the Eng-
lish ministry, March 7th, 1728, that there were seven ships
then lying at Belfast, that " are carrying off about one thou-
sand passengers ; most of them can neither get victuals nor
work at home." He also says : " 3100 men, women, and
children went from Ireland to America in 1727, and 4200
in three years, all Protestants." The principal seats of
these emigrations were Pennsylvania and the Middle States.
New England was not found so favorable to their farming
and other interests. Douglas, who wrote at Boston in
1750, says: " at first they chose New England, but being
brought up to husbandry, &c., New England did not answer
so well as the colonies southward ; at present, they gener-
ally resort to Pennsylvania." By Proud's history of Penn-
sylvania, we find that in 1729, near six thousand arrived in
that colony ; and before the middle of the century, nearly
twelve thousand arrived annually for several years. These
were Protestants, and generally Presbyterians ; few or no
Catholics came, until some time after the Revolution.
The portion of this people who were thinking of New
England, before embarking on this hazardous enterprise,
sent over a messenger to examine the country, and to report
upon its advantages and prospects. He presented to Gov.
Shute, of Massachusetts, an address signed by two hundred
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 11
and seventeen of his countrymen, dated March 26, 1718,
asking for land and privileges of settlement. The communi-
cation of the Rev. Wm. Boyd, their agent, was so favorable,
that a respectable body of the people resolved at once to
seek in the new world, what the old had failed to give,
security for their labor, freedom of religious worship, and
repose from persecution. In the summer of 1718, the first
organized company of this class of immigrants, of which
we have any knowledge, left the shores of Ireland in five
vessels, containing one hundred and twenty families, for the
new world, and arrived safely in Boston, August 4th, 1718.
Here all was new, the wilderness and the world before them.
Picture to yourselves this little colony, strangers in a strange
land, seeking new homes and .not knowing whither to turn ;
there they lie, at the little ^wharf near the foot of State
street, in the town of Boston, which then contained about
twelve thousand inhabitants, taking counsel where to go,
and how to dispose of themselves and their little ones, to
begin the world anew. With their wonted energy, they were
soon astir ; one company went to Worcester county, another
to Andover and that neighborhood, with Mr. McGregor at
their head. Another, with Rev. Mr. Moorhead, established
themselves in Boston; and another, composed of twenty
families, among whom were the Armstrongs, Means, McKean,
and Gregg, set out in their brigantine to explore the eastern
country for a place of settlement. After visiting, prob-
ably, places farther east, late in autumn, they sought refuge
in the harbor of Falmouth, now Portland, where they con-
cluded to winter. This was the first company of that people
which came to Maine. The winter was very severe, and
they poorly provided for it. There were but few fam-
ilies in the town, all new comers, quite poor, and scantily
furnished with shelter and food for themselves, having re-
cently commenced the restoration of that deserted village.
12 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
The distress was so great in the town, by this large ac-
cession to its numbers, that the inhabitants were compelled
to apply to the General Court for relief, stating their griefs
and wants in piteous tones. Relief was furnished for " the
poor immigrants." This experience was sufficiently dis-
couraging to those sea-worn and weather-beaten voyagers,
and Maine seemed to offer no genial home for them. When
spring came, they determined to seek a milder climate and
more favorable circumstances, and Mr. McKeen, the grand-
father of the first president of Bowdoin College, was sent
out to explore for a better place. They finally reiinited
with another portion of their company, in establishing them-
selves at Nutfield, now Londonderry, in New Hampshire,
under the pastoral care of Mr. McGregor. Here they built
up a town which they named^in honor of their renowned
ancestral city, and founded a colony, which has been contin-
ually sending forth men and women from their hardy, unex-
hausted stock, to instruct and adorn society.
A portion of the company which wintered in Falmouth,
concluded to remain there j these were John Armstrong,
"Robert Means, who married his daughter, the posterity of
both still remaining here, Wm, Jameson, Win. Gyles and
McDonald. James Armstrong, an infant son of John, born
in Ireland, 1717, was with his parents, and they had a son
Thomas, born in Falmouth, 1719.
The party which remained in Boston established there,
under their pastor John Moorhead, familiarly called Johnny
Moorhead, the first Presbyterian society in that place, and
occupied the site in Federal street, then called Long Lane,
now improved by the Unitarian society under the pastoral
care of Dr. Gannett j l he was succeeded by the Rev. Rob-
1 This society, in 1859, sold their meeting house and lot, and purchased a
lot at the south end of the city, on which to erect a new church.
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 13
ert Annan, a Scotch presbyter, who occupied the pulpit until
1786, when it abandoned the Presbyterian form of worship,
settled the distinguished Dr. Belknap, a Congregationalist,
in 1787, and became avowedly Unitarian under his successor
Dr. Channing. In 1729, that society united with other of
their scattered brethren, and established the first presbytery
in New England, called the presbytery of Boston.
The company which went to Worcester was persecuted
and scattered. They attempted to erect a meeting house
in that town, but the people assembled at night and des-
troyed the frame. The prejudice against them was so
violent, that many of thm abandoned the town, some going
to Pelham in the county of Hampshire, where one of their
clergymen, the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, had collected a soci-
ety ; others followed their pastor, the Rev. John McKinstry,
who was settled in Sutton, in Worcester county, in 1720.
The prejudice was both national and religious ; they were
abused as Irish by the descendants of Englishmen, a re-
proach which they greatly resented and could not endure ;
Mr. McGregor wrote, "We are surprised to hear ourselves
termed Irish people ;" and on the score of religious govern-
ment, the Congregationalist s had a sharp quarrel with the
Presbyterians.
Those who remained in Worcester struggled awhile
against a bitter opposition, when most of them abandoned
the place, some for their friends in other quarters, and some
to plant themselves at Unadilla, on the east bank of the
Susquehanna river, in New York. Among the names of the
Worcester colony were McGregor, Clark, McKinstry, Gray,
Ferguson, Crawford, Graham, Barbour, Blair, and Matthew
Thornton, who was then a child, but afterwards distinguished
as a prominent statesman in New Hampshire, and signer of
the declaration of American Independence.
It is not my intention, in this paper, to follow the fortunes
14 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
of this first company of Scotch immigrants into their va-
rious removals and trials. This little band of one hundred
and twenty families contained the elements of a mighty
growth and progress. Besides those we have mentioned;
were Duncan, McClintock, Stark, Reid, Bell, Orr, Morrison,
and Anderson, who have given vigor to our institutions, and
adorned various departments in our civil, military, and ec-
clesiastical affairs.
This company of immigrants, among other important ser-
vices rendered to the land of their adoption, introduced the
potato plant, which had not before been cultivated in the
country; also the linen spinning wheel, and the manufacture
of linen. The spinning svheel had not appeared upon our
shores until the advent of these strange people, and it pro-
duced quite a sensation in Boston. Societies were formed
and schools established to teach the art of spinning flax,
and the manufacture of its thread. .At the first anniversary
of its introduction, ladies with their wheels paraded on the
common for a trial of skill in spinning, and prizes were
awarded. During four years this novelty held its attrac-
tion, and then gave way to some new excitement. (Drakes
Boston, 560.)
The next attempt to introduce this class of emigrants into
the country, seems to have been from a source entirely inde-
pendent of the previous one, although nearly contemporane-
ous with it. Robert Temple, who had been an officer in the
English army and a gentleman of family, was the leader in
this enterprise. He was the eldest son of Thomas Temple,
who was the eldest son of Sir Purbeck Temple. His great
grandfather was Sir Jojin Temple of Stanton Bury, who
died in 1632. He conceived the design of establishing him-
self as a landed proprietor in this country. He says in a
letter to the Plymouth proprietors, "In Sept., 1717, I con-
tracted with Capt. James Luzmore of Topsham. to bring
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 15
me ; my servants and what little effects I had to Boston."
He was introduced by letters from his uncle Nathaniel White,
a merchant in Plymouth, to some of the leading men in New
England, such as Belcher, Hutchinson, Oliver and Pepperell,
who might be of service to him in " taking up a tract of
land." He says, " I was received with great friendship by
every one of these gentlemen and was often invited to their
houses." But, he continues, " my eye was always toward a
good tract of land as well as a convenient place for naviga-
tion." He went first to Connecticut to examine that country.
On his return, he says, " I was resolved to see the eastern
country also, before ? should determine where to begin my
settlement." He was recommended to the Pejepscot pro-
prietors, Col. Winthrop, Dr. Noyes, and Col. Hinot, who
took him down to the Kennebec, to see their land. But he
gave the preference to land on the east side of the river,
which belonged to Col. Hutchinson and the Plymouth Co.
He became a partner in that concern, and engaged to bring
a colony to it. The same year 1718, he chartered two large
ships, and the next year three more to bring families from
Ireland to carry on the settlement. In consequence of these
arrangements, there were landed several hundred families
on the shores of the Kennebec river, in various locations,
from the mouth to Merrymeeting bay, in the years 1719 and
1720. Some of the families settled on the Topsham shore,
which received its name probably from Temple's place of
departure, on his first voyage, a town which stands near the
mouth of the river Ex, and is the port of Exeter ; another
portion settled in the northerly part of Bath on a beautiful
tract of land stretching along on Merrymeeting bay to the
Androscoggin and was called Cork and sometimes Ireland,
from the country of the settlers, which name it still retains ;
others straggled along on the eastern side of the bay and
river, and descendants from them still occupy and improve
16 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
portions of the country. Col. "Winthrop, in compliment to
Temple, named the Chops, where the bay discharges its accu-
mulated waters into the estuary, Temple Bar. The familiar
Scotch names McFadden, McGowen, McGoun, Thorn, Yin-
cent, Hamilton, Johnston, Malcom, McLellan, Crawford,
Graves, Ward, Given, Dunning, Simpson, still live to remind
the present generation of the land from which their ances-
tors derived their origin.
But unhappily, for the growth and prosperity of these
industrious and frugal people, the Indian troubles, which
resulted in Dummer's or Lovell's war as it was often called,
soon after commenced, broke up the settlements which had
begun to assume a flourishing aspect, and scattered the col-
onists from their new abodes ; some sought a refuge with
their countrymen at Londonderry, " but the greatest part re-
moved to Pennsylvania."
Although some of these immigrants remained, still we
cannot but perceive the great loss our State must have sus-
tained in the flight of much the largest portion of the several
hundred families which Temple planted on our shores. In
the summer of 1722, nine families were captured in Merry-
meeting Bay by the Indians ; Brunswick and Georgetown
were destroyed and deserted ; at the latter place fifty head
of cattle were killed and twenty-six houses were burnt by
the enemy. Temple himself remained, having received a
commission from Gov. Shute, and rendered good service in
defense of the country. But all of no avail.
Temple was a young man when he undertook this respon-
sible enterprise; and notwithstanding his. misfortunes he
remained in the country, and by his personal efforts rendered
to our country honorable and useful service. His posterity
are still doing it honor. He married in 1727 Mehitable,
the daughter of John Nelson of Gray's Inn, London, whose
wife was a daughter of Sir John Temple, the great grand-
AND PRESBTTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 17
father of Robert, so that two branches of this honorable
family were reunited. By her he had six children^ the eld-
est, Robert, married a daughter of Gov. Shirley, the second,
John, became a baronet, and married a daughter of Gov.
Bowdoin of Massachusetts. Their daughter Elizabeth mar-
ried Thomas L. Winthrop of Massachusetts, and they were
the parents of Mrs. Benjamin Tappan of Augusta, Robert C.
Winthrop of Boston, and twelve other children. So that,
if this adventurer Robert, who in 1717 was seeking a farm
in New England, had brought only himself, he would have
conferred a great benefit on the country in the numerous,
useful, and illustrious descendants, who, springing from him,
have adorned our annals.
Temple was living on Noddle's Island, now East Boston, in
1742 ; and in 1753 he occupied the .celebrated Ten Hill farm
in Charlestown, which had been owned and occupied by the
first Gov. Winthrop, with whose family he became connect-
by the marriage, in 1787, of his granddaughter, Elizabeth
Bowdoin Temple, with a descendant of the Governor, the
Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop. Thus were united the Hugue-
not Bowdoin family, the first comers of which to this country
settled in that part of Falmouth in our State, which is now
Portland, in 1686 ; the Winthrop family, descendants of the
first Governor and founder of Massachusetts, and the old
and honored Irish Temple family, of which the present
Prime Minister of England, Lord Palmerston, is a mem-
ber.
After the restoration of peace with the Indians, which
followed the death of Ralle*, and the breaking up of the
Norridgwock tribe, the deserted places on the eastern shore
began gradually to be occupied. Some of the old settlers
returned, and new adventurers sought the vacant seats.
Speculators had already entered the field, and the territory
of Sagadahoc, which in a large sense embraced all the coun-
18 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
try from the Kennebec to the St. Croix, was eagerly sought
after, for the timber, the manufacture of turpentine, and the
culture of hemp. The attempt and hope were to separate
it from the Massachusetts government, and establish there
an independent colony.
This was the project of Col. D unbar, a native of Ireland
of Scottish descent, who succeeded, by aid of his friends in
1729, in obtaining a commission as Governor of the terri-
tory. He had previously been commissioned as Surveyor
General of the woods, with a view to secure the forests
from depredation, that the timber might be appropriated for
the British navy. He selected Fort Frederick at Pemaquid,
as the seat of his government, and was placed in possession
of the Fort by a detachment of troops from Nova Scotia in
1730, a force which was constantly required to enable
him to maintain his power against the rightful claims of
Massachusetts.
The country was a great gainer by his wise and judicious
administration. He took immediate measures to improve
and occupy the land, and for this purpose he invited his own
countrymen, the Scotch-Irish, by liberal inducements of land
and privileges, to settle in his province. He granted one
hundred acre lots on Pemaquid in the neighborhood of the
fort, laid out and improved a large farm for himself, and ceded
to his countrymen, Montgomery, Campbell, and McCobb,
the towns of Bristol, Nobleboro', and Boothbay, to which he
gave the names of Harrington, Walpole, and Townsend, in
honor of distinguished statesmen in England. These gran-
tees went earnestly to the work of improving their wide
domains j and in the course of two or three years, more
than one hundred and fifty families, principally of Scotch
descent, were introduced into this territory. Some were
drawn from the older settlements of this stock in Massa-
chusetts and New Hampshire, and some were fresh colonists
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 19
from Ireland. They had their pastor, the Rev. Robert Ruth-
erford, and their Presbyterian institutions, which they cher-
ished with unyielding tenacity, through the various trials,
removals, and conflicts which they endured in building up
and establishing new homes in the wilderness.
Throughout those towns, and scattered far beyond, over
the whole State, are the descendants of these colonists;
and we trace in the respectable names of McCobb, Camp-
bell, Montgomery, McClintock, Huston, McLean, McKeen,
McFarland, Caldwell, Dick, Forbush, Brown, and Mclntyre,
the offspring of men who once trod in pride and power the
land " of brown heatfc and shaggy wood," who wandered on
the beautiful banks of Ayr, or reposed in the shade of Et-
trich, or mustered for the fray at the pibrok's spirit-stirring
sound and the shrill slogan of the McGregor.
There were two McCobbs who led the immigration to
Boothbay, Samuel and James, the former born in 1707
and living until 1791, James dying earlier, and both leaving
children and grandchildren to extend the activity and useful-
ness of their ancestors. Wm. McCobb, the grandson of
Samuel, is now living in that town. Boothbay, their princi-
pal seat, long retained, and still does, the impress of this
hardy race in their daily customs and religious observances.
It was not until the present century, that their descendants
slowly and reluctantly yielded their Presbyterian usages, for
the Congregational form of worship. The memory of their
distinguished Elder, John Murray, whose ministry of thir-
teen years terminated in 1779, is still fresh and fragrant in
that secluded portion of our State.
But Massachusetts had no idea of permitting this excres-
cense of a foreign government to exist within her territory
and jurisdiction. After protesting against the usurpations
of D unbar, in paper declarations, she employed agents to
make personal appeals to the home government. Samuel
20 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
"Waldo, who had an interest in the territory as patentee, was
sent as special representative to aid the resident agent in
abating what they believed to be a nuisance. They were
successful; the government of Dunbar was terminated in
August, 1732, and the jurisdiction restored to Massachusetts.
Dunbar, while he had power, built a fine house at Pemaquid,
laid out ornamental and useful grounds, and accomplished
more in the short time he held power, than Massachusetts
had done in many years. The immediate presence of an
active and enterprising government, looking after the con-
cerns and providing for the wants and comfort of its subjects,
had an effect which a remote government, engaged in political
quarrels with its subjects, and seeking increase of power
and influence for itself, could not accomplish.
Dunbar returned to England in 1737, where he was com-
mitted to prison for debt, afterwards released by the liber-
ality of his friends, and in 1743 was appointed Governor of
St. Helena, since rendered famous by the exile of a more
distinguished ruler than this early governor. His widow
married one Henderson and was living at George's in 1776,
in a house built by her first husband. (Depos. of Benj.
Plumer, Corns. 1 Rep.)
Samuel Waldo, having seen the benefit arising from the ad-
mirable class of immigrants which had been introduced into
the neighborhood of his ample possessions, lying between
the St. George and the Penobscot rivers, profited by the
valuable example. He took prompt measures to people his
territory with a like energetic and thrifty population. He
first examined the resources of his land, and in 1734, most
fortunately discovered the invaluable quarries of limestone,
which have to this day been a source of continued wealth
and prosperity to the inhabitants. The first movements in
the manufacture of lime, which are now very extended, were
so small, that the lime was shipped to Boston in molasses
AND PKESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 21
casks. The St. George river, on which the first settlements
were made, afforded fine mill sites, and the forests an abun-
dant supply of timber.
"With these superior natural advantages and the liberal
offers of the proprietor, it is no wonder that adventurers
were attracted from various quarters to improve opportu-
nities so freely and largely opened to them. Waldo, with
a forecast and judgment sharpened in the conflicts of busi-
ness in the commercial capital of the country, by foreign
travel, and a large intercourse with society, saw the advan-
tage to be gained by selecting for his colony persons of the
same hardy and thrifty race as those who were giving life
to the neighboring towns. His first settlers, received in
1735, were all of Scotch descent from the north of Ireland,
some of them of recent immigration, others had been in
the country from the first arrival in 1718. This compa*
ny consisted of twenty-seven families, each of which was
furnished with one hundred acres of land lying upon the
banks of the St. George, in Warren. In the following year,
they commenced erecting their houses and forming their
new habitations. These people of one nation, animated by
a common sentiment, formed the first colony planted upon
the Waldo patent. The names of some of these pioneers
will show how much our State is indebted to the enterpris-
ing spirit of the proprietor, for early placing upon our soil
these most useful and valuable settlers. Among them were
Alexander North, Patterson, Howard, McLean, Killpatrick,
McCraken, Spear, Blair, Creighton, Morrison, Nelson, Star-
rett, and others, whose posterity, spread over our territory,
have been and still are exhibiting the fine qualities of their
sturdy race in the various departments of our many sided
life. The first population of Warren was thus composed,
and Gen. Waldo was continually affording encouragement to
them in the erection of mills, and opening for them commer-
cial advantages.
22 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
About 1740, a sad and unexpected event furnished an
accession of their countrymen to the infant colony. A ship
from the north of Ireland, called the " Grand Design," laden
with immigrants of superior wealth and connections, and
large and valuable stores, provisions, and property, and
servants, for the establishment of a colony in Pennsylvania
to which they were bound, was wrecked upon Mt. Desert.
The island and neighboring coast were entirely uninhabited
and desolate, and could furnish no means of comfort and
support for the wrecked passengers and crew. Nor had
they any means of communicating with settled parts of the
country. Many died from exhaustion and destitution, and
one hundred of the party, able and vigorous young men,
dispatched to the main to seek assistance, miserably per-
ished in the wilderness. After many months of suffering,
they were discovered by a party of Indians, which accident-
ally visited the island, who communicated their situation
to the settlers at Warren and Damariscove, and immediate
efforts were successfully taken to rescue the survivors. A
portion, sixteen of them, established themselves amoug their
countrymen in Warren, the others at Peinaquid, Sheepscot,
and Damariscotta.
The war with France, of 1744, interrupted the further
settlement of the country for several years, and disturbed
the peaceful and profitable pursuits of the people. Many
of the inhabitants of the eastern settlements, which lay
principally on and near the coast, abandoned their farms,
and sought protection in more secure places at the west.
After the peace of 1749, most of them returned and re-
newed their industrial pursuits.
To supply the losses occasioned by the war, and still fur-
ther to advance the prosperity of his estate, Gen. Waldo, in
1753, sent his son Samuel to Germany, while he himself
went to England, to invite settlers to his territory. They
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 23
both succeeded : the son brought over the first permanent
colony of Germans which was introduced into Maine ; l
while the father formed a company in Scotland of sixty
adults and a number of children, which embarked in the
summer of 1753, and reached George's river in September.
These were principally mechanics, and were settled in the
western part of Warren, to which they gave the name of
Stirling, the ancient royal city of their country. Among
these were Anderson, Malcom, Miller, Crawford, Carswell,
Johnston, and Auchmutey, whose names are not unrecorded
in our history, and who have contributed, by their industry,
skill, and ability, to advance the prosperity of the country.
This we believe to have been the last immigration of
people of Scottish extraction to our eastern shores prior to
the Revolution. Scotland, a country no larger than Maine,
with a population, then, not more than double of what Maine
now has, with agricultural and other resources by no means
equal to ours, has contributed largely, by emigration, to fur-
nish prominent settlers for many other lands ; and has con-
tributed to the nation with which she is now connected,
profound statesmen and thinkers, brilliant writers, and men
the most renowned in every department of scientific and
philosophical research. Surely Maine ought to congratulate
herself that so large a basis of her population was laid on
so sound and durable a foundation. These people expressed
a decided preference for the Middle States in which to
establish themselves, rather than New England. But I think
it was not solely on account of the sternness of its soil, or
its less favorable agricultural advantages ; for in both these
particulars it was superior to Ulster, or their own cherished
Scotland. But there was a more free and full enjoyment
i The Dutch colony, sent by the Duke of York to Sheepscot, was of
course prior, but of short duration.
24 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
of their religious peculiarities in the midland colonies, which
they prized above all earthly advantages, than in New Eng-
land. This was the peculiar land of Congregationalism or
Independency; and there was little harmony between Pres-
byterianism and Independency, either in the old world or the
new. Although they did not in the early time differ much
in their religious dogmas or platforms, if they did at all in
substance, both adopting the Westminster Assembly's con-
fession of faith, yet in the form of government they were
irreconcilable and bitterly hostile ; the spirit and temper
which prevailed at the birth of the two systems has not in
our day wholly subsided.
Independency was introduced into England in 1616.
Puritanism, which embraces both orders of dissenters,
had its origin in Elizabeth's time, in her attempt to cause
subscriptions to be made to the liturgy, ceremonies, and
discipline of the church in 1564. Those who refused were
called Puritans, by way of reproach. When the doctrines
of Arminius began to prevail in the English church, the
Puritans adhered to the system of Calvin, and were defined
to be men of severe morals, Calvinists in doctrine, and non-
conformists to the ceremonies and discipline of the church.
(Neal's Pur. 1, 5.)
Presbyterianism may date its origin from Calvin, although
he did not give it the form and shape which it afterwards
assumed. Independency owes its birth to that noble ser-
vant of God, John Robinson of Leyden, father of the Ply-
mouth church. John Knox, who took lessons from Calvin
in Geneva, admired, and carried home to Scotland, the
principles of the great reformer. In 1561, he composed his
first book of discipline, which contained the substance of his
intended policy. In 1566, a General Assembly approved the
discipline j and all church affairs after that time, were man-
aged by presbyteries and General Assemblies. They did
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 25
not then formally deprive the bishops, who had ecclesiastical
jurisdiction in Scotland, of their power, but they went on
firmly and gradually doing it, as they acquired confidence
and strength. In 1574, they voted bishops to be only pas-
tors of one parish ; in 1577, they decreed that bishops should
be called by their own names, and the next year they declared
the name of a bishop to be a nuisance. In 1580, they pro-
nounced with one voice in the General Assembly, that dio-
cesan episcopacy was unscriptural and unlawful. The same
year, King James and his family, with the whole Scottish
nation, subscribed to a confession of faith, embracing the
" solemn league and* covenant," obliging them to maintain
the Protestant doctrine and Presbyterian government. Thus
in the space of twenty years grew up this formal, extensive,
and powerful institution, twining itself over the Scottish
nation with stern and inflexible bands, which death only
could sunder j and for which merely a question of church
government, where no substantial principle of religion was
involved, home, country, life every thing beside were
freely given up.
The distinction in the early stage of the establishment of
this ecclesiastical system, out of Scotland at least, was not
so strongly marked as it is at this day. The learned and
liberal Archbishop Usher, of Ireland, expressly declared
that a bishop and presbyter differed only in grade, not in
order, and consequently where bishops could not be had,
the ordination by presbyters stands valid. Being asked by
the king, whether he found in antiquity that presbyters alone
ordained any, he replied, "Yes, and more, even that
presbyters alone had successively ordained bishops." This
was the opinion of Cranmer, Sewell, and other of the first
reformers. Bishop Burnett also says, " As for the notion
of distinct officers of bishop and presbyter, I confess it is
not clear to me."
26 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
This, however, it must be remembered, is on the Episco-
pal side: I do not think a Scotch presbyter was ever
brought to make a similar liberal admission; especially
after the General Assembly pronounced a bishop a nuisance.
The case and statement of Robert Blair, one of the most
distinguished Presbyterian ministers of the age in which he
lived, clearly sets forth the different feelings and temper of
the two parties. He was strenuously opposed to Episcopacy
in Scotland, and was invited over to Ireland, about 1634, to
aid the church established there. He says: "My noble
patron did, on my request, inform the bishop how opposite
I was to Episcopacy and their liturgy ; yet lest his lordship
had not been plain enough, I declared my opinion fully to
the bishop at our first meeting, in respect to my ordination.
The bishop said to me, 'I hear good of you, and will
impose no condition on you, I am old and can teach you
ceremonies, you can teach me substance j only I must ordain
you, else neither you nor I can answer the law nor brook
the land.' I answered that his sole ordination did utterly
contradict my principles. But he replied, both wittily and
submissively, i Whatever you account of Episcopacy, yet I
know you to account Presbytery to have a divine warrant ;
will you not receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham and
the adjacent brethren, and let me come in among them in no
other relation than a presbyter ? ' This I could not refuse,
and so the matter ended." (Hall, 3, 73.) Under Archbishop
Usher, who was primate of Ireland in the reign of Charles
I., and the conciliatory articles of compromise drawn up by
him, the Presbyterians found no difficulty in uniting with the
Episcopalians in Ireland, in a common communion. They
were allowed to omit such parts of the liturgy as was dis-
pleasing to them, or lay it wholly aside. This amnesty
continued until Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford
began to exercise their iron rule, when all conciliatory meas-
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 27
urea were abandoned, and religious sects outside of the pale
of Episcopacy had to wage a death-struggle, not only for
their forms, but their lives.
The first Presbyterian church was established in 1613, in
the village of Ballycarry, under the ministry of the Rev.
Edward Brice. (Hall, 3, 122.) Till the year 1634, the
Protestant church in that country was an independent, na-
tional establishment, distinct from that of England. It
owed this immunity to the liberal confession drawn up by
Usher, then Professor of Divinity in Dublin, and unanimous-
ly adopted by a convocation of the Irish Protestant clergy.
(Hall, 3, 73, from Dr. Reid.)
Still the Presbyterians, both of Scotland and Ireland,
were found more favorable to Episcopacy, than to the Inde-
pendents, and while they were opposed to the despotic
tendencies of the king, they were no less opposed to the
republicanism of the parliament, and it is well known that
they protested against the trial of the king, and denounced
his execution as murder. The testimony of the presbytery
of Belfast, sustaining this protest, drew a spirited and harsh
reply from John Milton, the renowned secretary of Crom-
well, and the sturdy advocate of Independency.
But the Presbyterian church was not destined to a harmo-
nious existence, in the country where it was established and
principally prevailed. Early in the last century, there was
found to be a serious falling off from the doctrines of the
Westminster confession, both in Scotland and Ireland ; so
that the Calvinists were actually in a minority, and unable
to enforce the discipline of the church. In 1733, the Cal-
vinists withdrew from the church, and formed a separate
organization, which went by the name of the " Seceders."
(Hall, 3, 76.) In Ireland, a similar division took place,
and the non-subscribers to the Westminster confession sep-
arated, and formed the presbytery of Antrim. At the
28 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
commencement of the present century, the synods of Ulster
and Munster were non-subscribers to the Calvinistic theol-
ogy, and the greater part of their members were Arians or
Unitarians, while the Cameronians and Seceders adhered
strictly to the Calvinistic system. The Cameronians
claimed to be the only genuine representatives of the old
Covenanters.
The Presbyterians of Ireland may be classed under the
following heads: (ISteHall, 3, 79.)
1. The General Assembly of Presbyterian churches in
Ireland, Calvinists, upwards of four hundred and forty con-
gregations.
2. The non-subscribing Presbyterian Association, Ari-
ans, twenty-seven congregations.
3. Cameronians or Covenanters, strict Calvinists, thirty
congregations.
4. The Primitive Seceders, Calvinists, six congregations.
5. The Seceders, who refused to unite with the synod of
Ulster, and enter the General Assembly, in 1840, Calvinists,
ten or twelve congregations.
The whole Presbyterian population of Ireland, in 1734,
according to government census, was near 700,000. In the
province of Ulster, in 1733, there were, according to Dr.
Douglas, 62,624 Protestant families and 38,459 Popish..
Presbyterianism has not flourished in England as it has
in Scotland and Ireland : the first church of that denomina-
tion was established near London, in 15 72; those at the
the present time, which bear that name, have generally aban-
doned both the form of church government and the theolog-
ical dogmas of the founders, and become Independent in
form, and Unitarian in belief, retaining nothing, in fact, of
the original system but its name.
Having given this brief view of the position of Presby-
terianism in Great Britain, we shall find on returning to its
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 29
history in this country, that it has retained its purity and
influence to a greater extent than in the seat of its birth
and former power.
I concur with Dr. Hodge, of Princeton College, the cen-
tral point of Presbyterianism in this country, that the
Presbyterian church in the United States does not owe its
existence to Congregationalism. There is, however, no
doubt that in the early settlement of the country, where the
population was thin and scattered, congregations were
formed composed of all sects of Christians. The form was
not then so much considered, as the enjoyment of religious
worship and the rites of the church. And as the majorities
of any one sect prevailed, they gave the tone to the kind
of government which was eventually assumed. This fas-
tened Congregationalism on New England, and gave over-
whelming success to Presbyterianism in the Middle States.
The same principle planted Episcopacy in Virginia, which
placed the cavaliers upon her soil.
I also agree with Dr. Hodge, that assent to the Westmin-
ster confession has always been a condition of ministerial
communion in the Presbyterian church, in this country. The
first immigrants, fresh from persecution, brought their rigid te-
nets entire with them, fastened to their consciences and their
minds as with hooks of steel ; and they have been cherished
by the sect with much more uniformity and firmness, than in
the mother country of the faith. Persons who did not orig-
inally hold the faith, or wavered ' from it, joined other com-
munions more congenial to their principles.
It seems to be well established, that the first Presbyterian
church in the United States was formed by a company of
Scotch emigrants, in Upper Marlboro', Maryland, about the
year 1690; they went there with their pastor at that time.
Another society of the same denomination was formed
about the same period, at Snowhill, in the same State, com-
30 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
posed of English Episcopalians and Scotch-Irish Presbyte-
rians. In'1692, two churches of this denomination were
constituted in Freehold and Woodbridge, in New Jersey,
one composed of Scotch, the other a union of Scotch and
New England emigrants. The first Presbyterian church in
Philadelphia was established in 1698, and Rev. Jedediah
Andrews of Boston was the same year chosen their pastor.
At this time there was no presbytery formed in America ;
and those churches, therefore, which did not bring their pas-
tors with them, must have acted on Congregational principles
in the election and formation of their respective societies.
That these societies originally acted independently of each
other, cannot be doubted, but about the year 1705, they
united and constituted the presbytery of Philadelphia, the
first established in this country. In a letter written by this
presbytery to that in Dublin, in 1710, they give the following
account of themselves : " In all Virginia, we have one small
congregation on Elizabeth river, and some few families fa-
voring our way in Rappahannoc and York ; in Maryland
four, in Pennsylvania five, in the Jerseys two ; these make
up all the bounds from which we have any members, and at
present some of these are vacant." Beside these, there
were some small societies in South Carolina, and others
were soon established in New York ; the first in the latter
place was in 1719.
These have continued to increase and flourish in that
portion of our country more than any other denomination ;
while in New England, after a struggle of fifty years, the
general assembly, the synod, the presbytery, and the church
disappeared, and the sect became merged principally in the
Congregational order ; the large majority retaining the Cal-
vinistic principles, a few became Unitarians and Arians.
The history of Presbyterian! sm in New England is brief;
it came into the stronghold of Independency, where forms
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. . 31
and church government were little respected, and where
simplicity and substance were esteemed paramount in the
relations of earth and heaven, "A church without a bish-
op, a state without a king." The immigrants, firmly fixed
and rooted in their ecclesiastical system, carried it with
them wherever they went, and while the fathers lived, it was
firmly cherished and maintained. The first church of the
order was planted with the colony in Londonderry, in 1719.
This place and neighborhood continued to be the head-quar-
ters of the sect for many years. The church in Boston,
under Rev. John Moorhead, was established about the same
time, which continued until 1786, under him and his succes-
sor Robert Annan, to adhere to its original faith. The
company which went to Worcester undertook to form a
society and erect a church in that place, but they were shame-
fully abused and driven off. Pelham, where the Rev. Mr.
Abercrombie had formed a Presbyterian congregation, re-
ceived a portion of them, others went to Londonderry, New
York, and Pennsylvania. The Rev. John McKinstry was
settled at Sutton, in 1720, over a society composed of Con-
gregationalists and Presbyterians, but there was so little
harmony between the two orders, that the relation was dis-
solved, and the pastor, with a portion of his countrymen,
afterwards settled in Ellington, Conn. Mr. McKinstry was
educated at Edinburgh University, and was a man of good
abilities, but disagreement on questions of church govern-
ment kept his society in a constant ferment, until 1728, when
he took a dismission and moved on toward his brethren in
New York; but resting on his way at East Windsor, in
Connecticut, he was persuaded to take charge of a parish
in that town, which afterwards became the town of Elling-
ton, where he died in 1754, aged 77.
In 1746, the Presbyterian church in Newburyport was
established, and the Rev. Jonathan Parsons, who had been
32 , THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
settled in Lyme, Conn., was called to be their pastor, a man
of distinguished character and abilities. In September of
the same year, they united with the presbytery of Boston.
There was a Presbyterian church in Seabrook, over which
Kev. Samuel Perley, afterwards of Gray, in this State, pre-
sided, and another in Newmarket, N. H.
But after all, I think there was no part of New England
so strongly imbued with Presbyterian principles, as that
portion of Maine which lies between the Kennebec and
the Penobscot. In fact, the population at one time was
nearly all Presbyterian, from the circumstance that the
Scotch immigrants from Ireland had taken possession of
the prominent points of that territory. The first and prin-
cipal of these settlements was at Georgetown, on the Ken-
nebec River. Here a fragment of Temple's colony collected,
after the close of Dummer's war, and established a town,
Embracing not only the island, but a portion of the mainland.
In 1734, the Rev. Mr. McClanathan was invited to preach
there, by the majority, consisting of thirty male Presbyterian
church members ; the minority, who were Congregationalists,
opposed him, and a dissension was kept up during the period
of ten years that he occasionally preached to them, Some
of the troubles were owing to the temper of the man, who
seems to have been ardent and impulsive, if not irascible,
and strongly wedded to his peculiar forms. In 1736 he
was at Cape Elizabeth, where several Scotch immigrants
were settled and where a severe controversy was carried
on to the great annoyance of the people and the neighbor-
ing churches.
A council was called to compose the controversy, but
without accomplishing anything ; Rev. Mr. Smith in his Jour-
nal says, "November 15 Mr. McClanathan installed, I had
a clash with him." He did not continue long in Cape Eliz-
abeth; in 1748 he was preaching in Chelsea, Mass., where
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 33
he aroused a severe opposition. About 1755 he became a
convert to the Episcopal church, and was employed by the
society for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, to revisit
his former field of labor on the Kennebec. At last in 1758
he removed to Pennsylvania, where we gladly leave him.
Rev. Alexander Boyd, a young Scotch minister, came to
this society as an occasional preacher, but they abandoned
Presbyterianism in 1764. Mr. Boyd had left them before
that time, and was ordained in 1754 6ver a church of his
denomination in Newcastle j the ordination took place in
Newburyport where Presbyterian elders could be had. The
opposition from the Cgngregational part of the parish was
so great, that he was dismissed in 1758.
The first minister of the sect who came to Maine was
the Rev. Robert Rutherford, who belonged to the company
of Dunbar of 1730. He preached at Pemaquid and the
neighboring places, without ever having had a permanent
settlement; in 1737 he preached at Brunswick. He died
in October, 1756, aged 68, at Thomaston.
The next regular parish which placed itself under the
protecting care of the presbytery was that at Brunswick,
over which the Rev. Robert Dunlap was settled in 1747.
He was born in the County of Antrim in 1715 of genuine
Scotch stock, educated at Edinburgh, and was ordained by
the Presbytery of Boston. But like the other parishes,
the Congregational element increased in this until it over-
whelmed the pastor and the presbytery, and Mr. Dunlap
was dismissed in 1760 by a council of Congregational min-
isters. He died in 1776. He was grandfather of Ex-Go v.
Dunlap.
In 1762 Rev. Thomas Pierce received Presbyterian ordin-
ation at Newburyport over the parish at Scarboro'. He
died in 1775, and his parish renounced Presbyterianism, and
ordained the Rev. Thomas Lancaster according to Congre-
gational usage. 3
34 THE SCOTCH-IBISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
But the most distinguished of the Presbyterian clergymen,
who have taken Maine for their field of labor, was undoubt-
edly the Rev. John Murray; he came quite young from the
County of Antrim after having received a collegiate educa-
tion at Edinburgh. He arrived at New York and came to
Boothbay in 1763. He became very popular as a preacher,
and his services were sought in several places. But he
then declined all invitations for a permanent settlement,
and proceeded to Pennsylvania. Early in 1766 he returned
to Boothbay, formed a church there, the largest probably
then in the State, gathered from several towns, he being
at that time the only settled minister east of Woolwich.
He was exceedingly popular wherever he preached, and
labored zealously throughout that region, gathering many to
his church and producing a great revival. His custom in
celebrating the communion was to have a table spread in
the center aisle of the church which was made broad for
the purpose ; on some occasions it extended from the pulpit
into the porch of the church, to accommodate the large
number of communicants who seated themselves at the
table. Mr. Murray continued his successful and acceptable
labors at Boothbay until 1779, when he accepted the urgent
and often repeated invitations of the Presbyterian church
in Newburyport, made vacant by the death of their pastor,
the Rev. Jonathan Parsons. He continued in that service
until his death in 1793. He preached for Mr. Smith in
Portland in 1764, but being there again in 1772 and in
1787, he was not invited to preach, which produced some
dissatisfaction. Mr. Smith's Congregationalism was of a
sturdy cast, while the people were desirous of hearing elo-
quent preaching even from Presbyterian lips. He says in
1772 "the people are in a sad toss about Murray's not be-
ing asked to preach;" and in 1787 he says "a great uproar
about Murray's not preaching."
AND PRESBYTEEIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 35
Bristol, which stretched over Pemaquid, covering the
whole of that long promontory, was early the seat of Pres-
byterianism. The settlers under D unbar occupied that
territory, and they had enjoyed the preaching of Mr. Ruther-
ford and Mr. Murray. Both of these divines had departed,
and the whole of this eastern territory was left destitute
of stated preaching. The people of Bristol in 1770 earn-
estly desiring a supply, sent to no less a source than Dr.
Witherspoon of Princeton, New Jersey, the head quarters
of the denomination ; and he sent them Alexander McLean,
a native of Scotland. He was ordained in 1772, and con-
tinued their pastor until 1795, when he was dismissed on
account of ill health, and the people by a formal vote
adopted the Congregational form. He died in 1805.
The next Presbyterian clergyman introduced into the
State was Rev. John Urquhart, who came from North Brit-
ain in 1774, and was settled in Warren in 1775, where he
continued eight years, until he was regularly removed by
the Presbytery of Salem in 1783. After that he preached
a short time at Topsham, and in 1785 was installed at Ells-
worth. But troubles arising in that church similar to those
which had invaded and infested other Presbyterian churches
in the State, he left his society and the State in 1790.
These were all the Presbyterian societies established in
our territory previous to the Revolution ; after that event
a few spasmodic attempts were made to revive the usages
of that denomination among us, but they perished almost
at their birth. In Gray, Rev. Samuel Perley, who had been
settled in Seabrook, N. H., was installed in 1784, but his
ministrations ceased in 1791. He died in 1831, aged
eighty-nine.
Dr. Nathaniel Whitaker, a man of considerable talent
and reputation, was installed the same year at Canaan, a
new settlement on the Kennebec river. He was ordained
36 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IMMIGRATION TO MAINE,
by the Salem Presbytery, then ready to perish, consisting
of Dr. Whitaker, Mr. Perley, Mr. Strickland, and Mr. CJrqu-
hart, who were all then destitute of parishes, except Mr.
Perley who had just been installed; Mr. Strickland was
at the same time installed at Turner, by this itinerant
presbytery, and Mr. Urquhart the next year at Ellsworth.
But the ministrations of these lingering and last members
of the Presbyterian church in Maine speedily came to a
close. Dr. Whitaker, who had been settled in Norwich, Ct.,
and Salem, Mass., was dismissed from Canaan in 1789, and
died in 1795, aged about eighty-five. Mr. Urquhart left the
State in 1790. Mr. Perley was dismissed in 1791, and Mr.
Strickland dismissed from Turner, was installed in Andover,
as a Congregational minister, in 1806. He died in 1823, aged
eighty-four.
Notwithstanding Presbyterian churches began to be formed
in 1719, in New England, no presbytery was established
until about 1729. This was named the Boston Presbytery,
and consisted of Eev. John Moorhead of Boston, Mr. Mc-
Gregor of Londonderry, Mr. Abercrombie of Pelham, and
Elders James McKean and others. Kev. Jonathan Parsons
of the First Presbyterian church in Newburyport, and sev-
eral other churches, afterwards joined it j and they continued
to hold regular meetings until 1754. From this time no
record of any meeting exists until 1770, when the presby-
tery consisted of twelve churches, scattered in Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, and Maine. It was soon after divided into
three presbyteries, and then formed into one synod, which
held its first meeting at Londonderry, in September, 1776.
The three presbyteries took the names of places where
churches were established, viz: Salem, Londonderry, and
Pelham.
This organization was kept up five years, when, from the
diminished number of members, the synod was dissolved,
AND PRESBYTERIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 37
and they agreed to form themselves into one presbytery,
that of Salem, of which Dr. Whitaker, then of that place,
an ardent and zealous member of the order, was the facile
princeps, the head and leader. He was assisted by the Rev.
Samuel Perley, then of Seabrook, Rev. Mr. Strickland of
Oakham, and Mr. Urquhart of Maine. This was in 1782,
and for two years they held meetings regularly in various
parts of Massachusetts. The last meeting of this or any
presbytery held in Massachusetts, was at Groton, in June,
1784, when they adjourned to meet at Gray, in Maine, where
Mr. Perley was preaching, and henceforth Presbyterianism,
as a distinct organization, ceased to exist in the old State.
Only four members attended the adjournment at Gray, viz :
Messrs. Whitaker, Perley, Strickland, and Urquhart, neither
of whom had a parish. And the three first named, persevering
to the end, attended the closing meeting of this presbytery,
and of Presbyterian organization in New England, which
was held in Gray, Sept. 14, 1791. Subsequently, the sur-
viving Presbyterian churches united to form the presbytery
of Londonderry, embracing the churches of that and neigh-
boring places, two in Newburjport, and some others in New
Hampshire. In 1850, this presbytery still existed nomi-
nally, containing two churches in Massachusetts, and ten in
New Hampshire. (Hist, of Lond., 133.)
ARTICLE II.
THE EARLY LAWYERS
or
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES.
BT
HON. FREDERIC ALLEN.
THE following article, containing sketches of the early lawyers in Lincoln
and Kennebec Counties, was prepared for the Society, by the Hon. Frederic
Allen, of Gardiner, who has been a distinguished practitioner in those coun-
ties for more than fifty years. Mr. Allen was elected a member of this
Society in the year of its incorporation, 1822. He is a native of the Old
Colony, fruitful in eminent men ; he studied his profession partly with Kil-
born Whitman of Pembroke, partly in Boston, and commenced practice in
Waldoborough, in the county of Lincoln, in 1806 ; two years after, he moved
to Gardiner, where he has ever since resided, having had a very extensive
practice in the counties at Lincoln, Kennebec, and Somerset, and adorned
his profession by learning, ability, and an unblemished life. It is a graceful
act of his ripened years, to revive the memories of the able predecessors and
contemporaries, who have dignified, with him, the same field of arduous and
useful labor.
Among his competitors at the bar, were the kte Judges Bridge, Wilde,
Bailey, and Crosby, Samuel Thatcher, Thomas Bond, Reuel Williams, Silas
Lee, Timothy Boutelle, John Wilson, Benjamin Orr, Peleg Sprague, George
Evans ; of whom, Thatcher, Williams, Sprague, and Evans only survive.
Of the lawyers who were in practice through the State fifty years ago, the
following are now alive, none of whom continue at the bar : Judges Whit-
man, Emery, Weston, and Potter, Samuel Thatcher the oldest lawyer in
the State, now residing at Bangor, Reuel Williams, Frederic Allen, Jacob
McGaw, Thomas A. Hill, Horatio Southgate, Woodbury Storer, Wm. Free-
man, now at Cherryfield, John Wadsworth at Hiram, and Wm. B. Sewall at
Kennebunk. I may add Gen. Samuel Fessenden of Portland, who was ad-
mitted to practice in 1809, and still continues, at the age of seventy-five,
with strong hand and stout heart, to fight over the forensic battles of his
youth.
These, compared with the limited number of practitioners at that early
day, show a very favorable condition of longevity in the profession. The
oldest of the above being over eighty-three, while the youngest has advanced
beyond seventy-three years. w. w.
EARLY LAWYEKS.
To THE MEMBERS OP THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY !-
THE undersigned/ presuming that it might be in accord-
ance with the design and object of the institution to preserve
some memorial of the early state, and characteristics of the
members, of the legal profession, in the several counties of
the State, has employed some hours of leisure in sketching;
from tradition, and from personal observation, a brief no-
tice of those members of the bar who have resided in the
comparatively ancient county of Lincoln, who have de-
ceased.
Prior to 1760, the whole State, then the province of
Maine, was embraced within the county of York. In that
year the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln were incorpo-
rated. In the act of incorporation, a line is described for
the easterly boundary of York, which was to be the westerly
boundary of Cumberland. And another line was described
for the easterly boundary of Cumberland, which was the
westerly boundary of Lincoln, which county extended east to
Nova Scotia ; and extending from the sea, on the south, to
the utmost limits of the province, on the north. This ex-
tensive territory formed the county of Lincoln, and remained
entire till 1789. Pownalborough being the shire-town, a
court-house was there erected, and such of the county offices
as required a location in the shire-town were established
44 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
therein. Our sketches do not extend to any members of
the bar residing in the counties of York or Cumberland,
nor to those residing in the counties formed since 1789,
with the exception of the county of Kennebec. We leave
the trust of taking care of the reputation and memory
of the deceased members of the bar, of those counties, to
their surviving brethren there residing.
The legal profession, taken as a whole, is neither a small
nor an unimportant portion of the community, either in this
or in thfe other States of our Union.' From this portion
are selected the greater part of our statesmen and diplo-
matists, and nearly all our judges. And from the bench
and the bar, as remarked by a distinguished political philos-
opher, M. Tocqueville, " the hopes and expectations of the
stability of the government must be principally founded."
As before observed, our knowledge of the earlier mem-
bers of the bar was wholly derived from tradition, and the
facts relating to them are necessarily few and scanty. As
to those who lived at a later period, having the advantage
of a personal acquaintance, our notices are more full, and
our impressions more distinct. We have only to add that if
anything can be found in the following sketches that shall
rescue from oblivion any facts of interest, or which shall
serve as an incentive to a laudable pursuit of an honorable
profession, we shall not think our time wholly wasted in
drawing them.
HON. WILLIAM GUSHING.
ONE of the earliest members of the bar, in the county of
Lincoln, was the late Judge William Gushing. He appears,
by the catalogue of Harvard College, to have graduated in
1751. It is supposed that he settled in Pownalborough
LINCOLN AND KENNEB&! COUNTIES. 45
soon after 1760, the year of the incorporation of the coun-
ty. It appears that he held the office of the first Register
of Deeds and Judge of Probate, those offices not being
then incompatible. As early as 1772, he was, under the
provincial government, appointed a Judge of the Superior
Court for the State of Massachusetts; in 1776, he was ap-
pointed to the same office under the appointing power of
the State; and in 1777, he was, by the same authority,
appointed to the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court, for the whole State, including the province
of Maine. He resigned this office in 1789, when he was, by
President "Washington, appointed an Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court of the United States. This office he
held till his decease, in 1810. Whilst residing in Pownal-
borough, he continued in the practice of his profession till
his appointment of Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of
the State. We have no distinct tradition of his standing at
the bar while in practice. From the desolate condition of
this part of the country at that early period, it is not to be
presumed that there could have been any great call or occa-
sion for the employment of men of the legal profession of
high standing, aside from the offices which they held. Dur-
ing the period of his sojourn at Pownalborough, Judge
Cushing erected a large dwelling-house on the east bank of
the Kennebec, opposite the head of Swan Island, which was
intended for an elegant mansion, but was never completed.
He returned to Scituate, in Massachusetts, from whence he
originated, after his appointment as Judge of the Supreme
Judicial Court. It might be inquired how it should have
happened, that a man of the ability, education, family, and
position of Mr. Cushing should have sought a residence in
the then inhospitable regions of the Kennebec. This ques-
tion may be satisfactorily answered, by adverting to the
small opportunity and slender prospects of Advancement
46 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
and promotion afforded at that time in Massachusetts prop-
er. That State was then very unlike what -it became after-
wards, even in 1789, the year of the adoption of the Federal
Constitution. But in the year 1760, Massachusetts was but
a small province, small in territory and sparsely settled.
It had been divided into counties ; but the offices in those
counties were all filled, and the revenues derived from them
of very inconsiderable value. The forming of the great
county of Lincoln, in 1760, would render necessary its or-
ganization, and appointment of all its officers. Its territory
was vast, though its inhabitants were few. No similar op-
portunity or chance was likely to occur in the old part of
the State.
No revolution, no declaration of independence could be
foreseen, or was then even thought of. His brother Charles
Gushing was appointed sheriif of this extended county,
which office he held till long after the commencement of the
Revolutionary War, and until his midnight capture by the
noted John Jones. The character of Judge Cushing was
distinguished by traits of great excellence. His long judi-
cial career as Judge and Chief Justice of Massachusetts,
his selection by "Washington, among his first appointments
of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, in
1789, the satisfactory manner in which he performed those
highly important trusts, furnish abundant evidence of his
ability, as shown by oral tradition and by his reported opin-
ions. Judge Cushing was of rather a tall, slender form.
He had much dignity in presiding at the circuits, combined
with great suavity of manner. No one could be less osten-
tatious, or more affable, at the circuits held by him, as we
have understood from those who practiced in that court. l
1 We append to this interesting notice of Judge Cushing some additional
facts. He was son of John Cushing, a Judge of the Superior Court of
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 47
ROLAND GUSHING, a younger brother of Judge William
and Charles Gushing, graduated at Harvard College in the
class of 1768. He came to the Kennebec soon after, and
read law with his brother William. He is said to have
possessed rare native talents. He was for a time at Pitts-
ton, now Gardiner, and subsequently removed to Waldo-
boro', where was a settlement principally composed of
German emigrants. They were generally poor and unedu-
cated, not familiar with the English language, and had little
occasion for, and could give little encouragement to, any
one of the legal profession. Destitute of all social inter-
course with cultivated minds, and deprived of all sympathy
from congenial spirits, he felt the solitude of his situation.
His health soon failed him, and his existence was closed at
Waldoboro' in 1788. He was, during his illness, surrounded
by kind friends who had become known to him, and who
duly respected his character and cherished his memory. 1
JAMES SULLIVAN.
NEXT to Judge Gushing in time and in subsequent noto-
riety and distinction, was the late Governor Sullivan, who
commenced his professional career by opening an office at
Massachusetts from 1747 to 1771, and born in Scituate, March 1, 1732. He
studied his profession with the celebrated Jeremiah Gridley in Boston, was
preceptor of the Grammar School in Roxbury in 1752; was appointed
Judge of Probate of Lincoln County in 1768. He married Hannah Phil-
lips of Middletown, Conn., and died without issue, September 7, 1810.
His brother Charles was younger , born August 13, 1734, Harvard Col-
lege, 1755. He married Eliza, daughter of Increase Sumner, in 1768, was
sheriff of Lincoln County twenty years ; afterwards, clerk of the courts
b Boston. He died Nov. 7, 1810. w.
l Roland Cushing^brother of the above, was born Feb. 26, 1750. He
was a practicing lawyer in Pownalborough in 1772. W.
48 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
Georgetown, on the east bank of Kennebec river at Parker's
Island. We are not informed of the precise time when, he
commenced or when he left that region. l
JOHN GARDINER.
AMONG the most distinguished members of the bar, resid-
ing in the county of Lincoln, was John Gardiner, who was
1 Since Mr. Allen prepared his notice of Gov. Sullivan, a very full me-
moir of his life and times has been published by his grandson, Thomas C.
Amory of Boston. We may therefore omit any further sketch of this emi-
nent lawyer, statesman, and author, than a few leading facts of his life. He
was born in Berwick, Maine, April 22, 1744, his father and mother being
immigrants from Ireland. He studied law with his brother John, of Dur-
ham, afterwards a general in the Revolutionary War, and commenced
practice at Georgetown in 1767 ; he remained there less than two years,
when he married and moved to Biddeford. He became a member of the
General Court in 1774, of the Provincial Congress in 1775, a commissary
of the troops in Maine, 1775, Judge of the Superior Court in 1776, of the
Admiralty Court 1779 ; having resigned the office of Judge of the Superior
Court in 1782, he was appointed Attorney General of Massachusetts in 1790,
agent of the United States to determine the true St. Croix river of the
treaty of 1783, in 1796, and Governor of Massachusetts in 1807 and 1808,
in which office he died Dec. 10, 1808.
He was an eloquent advocate, and amidst the cares and duties of an ex-
acting profession, his pen was constantly employed in works of history, law,
and politics. He published in the collection of the Massachusetts Histori-
cal Society, of which he was President, a " Topographical Description of
Georgetown " and a " History of the Penobscot Indians." In 1795 ap-
peared his valuable history of Maine ; by which he rescued from oblivion
many important facts. His history of land titles was one of the earliest
treatises on law published in Massachusetts. On political subjects, he dis-
cussed in the newspapers, with earnestness and ability, all the exciting top-
ics of that animated transition period of our history. No man's life in his
day, was more full of labor, activity, and energy, than was that of the sub-
ject of this notice. His only daughter married Jonathan Amory of Boston ;
and of his sons, Richard, Harvard College, 1798, and George, Harvard Col-
lege, 1801, only remain alive. W.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 49
born in Boston, about the year 1731 ; was educated in Eng-
land ; read law in the Inner Temple, under the tuition of
Sir Charles Pratt, afterwards Lord Chancellor Caraden. He
was admitted to the bar of the court of King's Bench, and
the other courts of Westminster Hall ; and practiced for a
time before Lord Mansfield. He rapidly rose to distinction.
He was employed as one of the counsel in defense of the
celebrated John Wilkes, when charged with writing a libel-
ous article. The trial was before Lord Mansfield, and such
was the ability shown by Mr. Gardiner, in the defense, as
to win for him the strong approbation of Mr. Wilkes, and
the presentation of a piece of plate with an appropriate
inscription, which is now in the possession of one of his
descendants. The zeal and freedom of his opinions, which
gained him the applause of the friends of Wilkes, lost him.
the good will of Lord Mansfield, in whose court he found it
unpleasant to practice. He therefore retired from the bar
of that court, having previously married a Welsh lady of
family, and his friends, aided by the influence of Lord Mans-
field, obtained for him the appointment of Attorney General
in the island of St. Kitts. He practiced there several years,
and until the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. About
the year 1784, he returned to Boston, and on his petition,
he and his family were declared, by an act of the General
Court, to be citizens of Massachusetts. After practicing
there for some years, and being created a barrister, he re-
moved with his family to Pownalborough, in 1786. He
sometime after took possession of an estate bequeathed to
his children by his father, the late Dr. Sylvester Gardiner,
on which he erected a dwelling house. He occasionally
appeared at the bar of the Supreme Judicial Court, in cases
of importance, in which he was sure to attract attention.
A case of unusual interest has been stated to us, in which
he was employed, with Gen. Wm. Lithgow, Jun., as counsel
50 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
for the defendant, which was that of Perrin, a Frenchman,
who was .indicted on a charge of murder, committed upon
his uncle, on the Penobscot river, at what is now Bangor.
The motive assigned was to gain possession of money be-
longing to the uncle. The defense was managed with much
ability by his counsel. The pulse of the State, and of the
nation, at that time, beat high in favor of France and French
subjects and citizens, wherever they might be found. The
French consul, then resident in Boston, came down to at-
tend the trial, and exerted all the influence he could com-
mand, in behalf of his fellow-countryman. The jury returned
a verdict of acquittal, although there was strong circumstan-
tial evidence of his guilt. The trial took place in the old
court-house still standing on the bank of the river in Dres-
den. In 1789, Mr. Gardiner was elected by Pownalborough
a representative to the General Court, and continued to be
so till his decease.
In that body he was much distinguished. In consequence
of his bringing forward a number of proposed changes in
the law, he was called " the Law Reformer." One was a
bill for the abolition of special pleading, which was, by his
opponents, considered of dangerous tendency then, but has
since been adopted by this and by almost every State in the
Union, with popular approbation. In other attempts he
was more successful. He aided in abolishing the law of
primogeniture, by which the oldest son inherited a double
share of the estate of the parent, reducing the children to
an equality in that respect. He also supported an act em-
powering a tenant in tail to dock the entailment, by a con-
veyance by deed, without going through the formal and
clumsy process of a common recovery. He was a strenuous
advocate for the repeal of the law prohibiting the establish-
ment of a theater, or theatrical representations, in which
he was more successful. His speech on this subject is still
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 51
extant, in which much learning is displayed. It is fraught
with citations from the Greek and Roman writers, upon the
drama, showing much elaborate and critical examination of
that subject. He was a decided Whig in politics, and a
Unitarian in religion. He is supposed to have contributed
essentially, whilst residing in Boston, to an alteration of the
liturgy of King's Chapel, by abolishing the Trinitarian fea-
ture, by which the society became Unitarian. Mr. Gardiner
is represented to us as possessed of uncommon native en-
dowments, of much and various reading, and of a most
retentive memory. His style of speaking was copious and
flowing. In his addresses to the jury he was somewhat dis-
cursive and declamatory ; his voice was melodious, and his
enunciation fine. He was a man of much boldness and free-
dom, in the expression of his opinions, which were fearlessly
given. It was a saying of his, that he " desired to thank God
that he had none of that sneaking virtue, called prudence."
His personal appearance was good, as would be supposed
by a portrait of him, painted by Copley, now in possession
of one of his descendants. In his manners he was courte-
ous and affable. His colloquial powers, from his intercourse
with the most cultivated society in England and in this
country, were highly interesting, and much enjoyed by his
friends and acquaintance.
Late in the autumn of the year 1793, Mr. Gardiner em-
barked on board of a heavily laden coaster, in the Kenne-
bec, bound to Boston to* attend the General Court; but he
was destined never to reach there. The vessel was over-
taken by a violent storm, and he and all on board perished.
His death and the manner of it produced a deep sensation
in the community, and especially among his friends and ac-
quaintance. It is not a little remarkable that a man of the
varied powers, antecedents, and characteristics of Mr. Gar-
diner, should have sought for and found amid the wilds of
52 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
the Keimebec, as it then was, a solitary asylum for a per-
manent residence.
WILLIAM LITHGOW, JUN.
THE subject of this notice was a son of Col. William
Lithgow, who lived at Georgetown. He served as an officer
in the army which captured Burgoyne, and had been wounded
in one of the battles previous. He passed through the
scenes of the Revolution with much honor. He read law
with Mr. Sullivan, was admitted to the bar and commenced
practice on the Kennebec, having his office and residence at
what is now Augusta, on the east side of the river, in the
old Fort, which is now standing. He is represented as a
lawyer of much ability. He soon rose to an extensive
practice. He was an able and interesting advocate. His
personal appearance was good, and in his influence with
juries he was unrivaled. During his short and brilliant
career at the bar, he was chosen Major General of the
militia for the whole extended county of Lincoln,
In the midst of his successful career, and apparently in
the prime and vigor of life, he was smitten down by a par-
alytic stroke, which ever after disabled him from appearing
in court. He retired to his father's house in Georgetown,
where he lingered till his decease, Feb. 1C, 1796, aged for-
ty-six.
HON. SILAS LEE.
MR, LEE commenced his legal practice at Wiscasset, about
the year 1790, that place being one of the shire towns for
the county of Lincoln. He read law with Judge George
Thatcher, of Biddeford, whose niece he married. He was a
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 53
man of great industry, of popular manners, and very suc-
cessful in practice. He succeeded to the office of Judge of
Probate on the decease, or resignation of the late Judge
Bowman. In 1801, he was appointed District Attorney for
the Maine District, by Mr. Jefferson, which office he held
till his decease, in the year 1814. He was also, at one
time, elected a representative to Congress, and retained
that place till he was appointed District Attorney. He
was, also, during that period, appointed Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas, and successor to Judge Rice, which of-
fice he held for a short time. The success of Mr. Lee at
the bar was not owing to his power as an orator. Few
men were more deficient in all the essential elements which
constitute good speaking. Without imagination, or power
of illustration, without any pretension to elegance of dic-
tion, he only labored to make himself understood, and it
seemed no small effort to accomplish that. A perpet-
ual stammering and hesitation were the general charac-
teristics of his addresses to the jury. He possessed, how-
ever, other qualities, which served to supply any deficiency
in elocution. He was courteous and bland in his manners ;
polite and gentlemanly in his address, and most familiar
and easy of access. He was remai kable for his hospitality,
and especially desirous of entertaining men of cultivated
minds, wherever found, at his residence. He had a passion
for building houses, which he indulged beyond his wants, or
his means which ever kept him embarrassed in his finan-
ces, and notwithstanding the perquisites of all his offices,
rendered his estate at the time of his death deeply insolv-
ent. No one could discern more readily the sources of
political power, nor the avenues which led to them. He
was ambitious, but his success or advancement was always
accomplished by fair and honorable means, which were gen-
erally aided by a favorable concurrence of circumstances.
54 THE EARLY LAWYERS OP
HITHERTO we have referred to lawyers whom we knew
only from tradition, excepting the last ; they having passed
off the stage prior to our recollection.
In 1799, the county of Kennebec was incorporated, being
wholly taken from the county of Lincoln, and with it, took
a large portion of the bar.
A material change in the habits and customs of the bar
gradually took place in the early part of the present cen-
tury. The terms of the court were then very short, rarely
continuing more than a week. The bar were collected from
remote distances, and the gathering was eminently a social
one. They were not overtaxed by their labors in court.
The evenings were spent in a very free, colloquial inter-
course, somewhat convivial, not unfrequently aided by cards,
wine, and more potent stimulants. The trials of actions
were few, not often more than three or four at a term, and
those conducted by two or three of the leaders of the bar.
Books were rarely used, or cited, in court indeed, there
were at that time few American law books to cite ; the sys-
tem of reporting the decisions of our own courts had but
just commenced, and but a very small portion of the Eng-
lish reports were applicable to the cases then tried. Black-
stone's Commentaries, and a few elementary works, consti-
tuted the greater part of the law library of the most
successful of the lawyers, furnishing the outlines of the
practice, and the principles of the common law.
BENJAMIN HASEY.
AMONG the members of the bar, then in practice, who
long survived, was the late Benjamin Hasey, who settled
and lived in Topsham. He was a graduate of Harvard
College, of the class of 1790, and read law with Judge
Thatcher, of Biddeford. He was well versed in the priii-
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 55
ciples of the common law. His reading was extensive, both
legal and miscellaneous. His memory was tenacious, his
habits studious. Always being a bachelor, he had little to
withdraw his attention from his favorite pursuits. In his
person, though very small in stature, he was of the most
perfect formation, and always most neatly attired. He was
retiring in his habits, and somewhat reserved in his man-
ners, though social in private intercourse. He had much
good sense, a strict adherent of the old federal party, from
whose leading opinions, so long as the party had a distinct-
ive existence, he never wavered, and he had little charity
for those who did. He was not much employed as an advo-
cate. He generally argued, not over one case in a year,
and that was done very well. His addresses to the jury
were brief, free from all repetition, or any copious illustra-
tion. He left the world in the same apparent quietude in
which he had lived, leaving a name much honored, and a
character highly respected. Though revolving within a
limited circle, he was, within that, much esteemed for his
kindness and benevolence. He died March 24, 1851, at
the advanced age of over eighty years.
HON. JEREMIAH BAILEY
COMMENCED practice at Wiscasset about the same time
with Mr. Hasey. He was a graduate of Brown University,
1794. He read law three years with Judge Lee. He was
most remarkable for his affability and social qualities. He
was appointed Judge of Probate, on the decease of Judge
Lee, and held that office till he was elected a member of Con-
gress in 1834, in which he served two sessions. He again
returned to the practice of law, and so continued to employ
himself till he was appointed Collector of the Customs, at
Wiscasset, by Gen. Taylor, which office he held until near his
56 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
decease. He was much distinguished for his hospitality, and
beloved for his kindness, by all his numerous friends where he
lived. His judgment was generally sound, and his benevo-
lence unquestioned. He lived till about eighty years of age,
in the same place where he commenced his professional life,
leaving an unsullied reputation, and marked for the utmost
purity in the discharge of the duties of all the various offi-
ces which he was called on to fill. l
HON. JOSIAH STEBBINS
WAS a graduate of Yale College, 1791, and emigrated to
this State about the year 1800, and settled in Alna, then
New Milford. He had the reputation of being a good
scholar, and was familiar with the principles of common law.
His personal appearance was awkward and ungainly. His
sympathies were much in unison with the laboring classes,
and manifested itself in his repeated attempts to add to
and improve the Betterment Laws, for which there was an
obvious necessity, and which tended greatly to the benefit
of the settlers and was ultimately so to the proprietors.
He was, for the time, much employed by the settlers, when
prosecuted by the proprietors, and was ever faithful to their
interests. He did not excel as an advocate, in his address-
es to the jury. He lacked method, and the power of con-
densing and of concentration of his thoughts ; hence his
arguments were desultory, involved in parentheses, and
leaving no distinct impression of the propositions sought to
be established. He was distinguished for his affability, and
1 Judge Bailey was born at Little Compton, R. L, May 1, 1773. He
was an Elector of President in 1810, and the same year a Representative to
the General Court, and re-elected four years. He died in July, 1853, aged
eighty. w.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 57
for his inflexible integrity and the purity of his moral char-
acter. His want of system was manifested in keeping
no accounts with his clients, and his never settling an ac-
count. Although extremely economical in all his expendi-
tures, he suffered his claims to remain till they were barred
by the statute of limitations. There was an inconsistency
in his habits, in this respect, which were otherwise marked
by uprightness and good sense. He was at one time a
judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and sustained himself
very well in that character. He died, where he lived, in
Alna, March 1st, 1829, aged sixty-three. 1
HON. BENJAMIN ORB
WAS for many years a distinguished member of the bar, in
the county of Lincoln. He was, in many respects, a very
remarkable man. He came rather late into the profession.
He was a native of New Hampshire. His early life was
devoted to some mechanical employment; weary of that, he
turned his attention to study, was qualified, entered college,
graduated at Dartmouth in 1798, and made up for his early
deficiency by resolute and persevering industry. He read
law and opened an office at Topsham ; soon became distin-
guished as a counsellor, and more especially as an advocate.
For many years, he was the acknowledged leader of the
bar of the county of Lincoln, and unsurpassed by any of
those in the counties adjacent. His personal appearance
was very good ; he was a neatly formed man. In his ad-
dresses to the jury he was very successful ; his manner was
earnest ; he had rather an ardent temperament, but was al-
l He was born at Brimfield, Mass., Nov. 19, 1766. He was tutor at Yale
College until 1796, studying his profession at the same time, with Hon. Elizur
Goodrich, of New Haven. W.
58 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
ways interesting, and distinguished for his good taste. He
was possessed of much magnanimity, much generosity of
feeling; capable of exhibiting every species of fraud or
meanness in its most odious colors, and of making apparent
that which was just. His addresses to the jury were gen-
erally brief, and never tedious. His language was good, as
was his method. He had the power of so combining and
concentrating his thoughts that nothing was lost by his con-
ciseness. He displayed much power and acuteness in the
examination of witnesses; his questions were searching,
and could hardly fail to elicit the truth. In cases of at-
tempted prevarication by a witness his power was signally
manifested ; and woe be to the witness who should attempt
to palm off upon him a falsehood for truth, or to disguise
the real nature of the transaction. .His power of invective
was unrivaled ; but never employed unless he believed it
was required by the occasion.
He was at one time a Member of Congress, in which he
served two sessions, with credit to himself, but not with
that distinction which he acquired and sustained at the bar.
He removed to Brunswick in the latter part of his life,
where he continued to live the remainder of his days. He
died at an early age, in the zenith of his fame and refuta-
tion, after a short period of illness. For several years
prior to his decease, the writer of this note saw much of
him, and ever found his professional course marked with
much ability, kindness, and magnanimity. 1
1 Mr. Orr was the son of Hon. John Orr, and grandson of Daniel Orr,
who came from the north of Ireland, one of the Scotch-Irish immigrants, in
1726. He was bora in Bedford, N. H., Dec. 1st, 1772 ; commenced the
study of law with Gov Samuel Dinsmore, of New Hampshire, and finished
with Judge Wilde, in Hallowell, and was admitted to the bar in 1801. He
was elected to Congress in 1816, and served one term. He died in 1828,
leaving a large family, by his wife, Elizabeth Toppan, of the Newbury family
of that name. w.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 59
HON. JUDGE JAMES BRIDGE.
IN the year 1799, the county of Kennebec having been
taken from the county of Lincoln, the bar was nearly equal-
ly divided, and the greater portion of the members confined
themselves to their respective counties.
Among the leaders of the bar, in the upper Kennebec, in
the early part of the present century, was the late Judge
James Bridge, who was appointed Judge of Probate at
the organization of the county, and hence derived that title.
He was a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1787,
read law in the office of Theophilus Parsons, and com-
menced practice at Augusta, succeeding to Gen. Win. Lith-
gow. He had the reputation of being a good scholar, and
was a sound lawyer. His commencement was auspicious.
Able lawyers were then few, and he very soon acquired an
extensive practice. He with his junior partner, Eeuel Wil-
liams, were appointed agents and attorneys to the proprietors
of the Kennebec purchase, which, of itself, necessarily fur-
nished a large amount of business, within and without his of-
fice, and in and out of court. The collecting business, which
centered in the office of Bridge & Williams, was greater than
that which pertained to any other office. Such was the in-
flux of business, that it obviated the necessity of relying
upon casual clients, whose cases might require close exami-
nation, and much preliminary investigation, and previous
preparation. Hence it was, that although possessed of
more than ordinary ability, of a logical and discriminating
mind, and exercising great industry, he never sought distinc-
tion as an advocate, and was rarely called in to the aid of
other counsel. Indeed, his own business, and that which
was thrown upon him, was sufficient to absorb all his best
efforts and precluded the wish for any such applications,
and he early withdrew from the bar, leaving the business in
60 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
court to his junior partner. Having accumulated a large
property, which required his care, and being president of a
bank in Augusta, he was in no want of employment during
the remainder of his life, till his decease, which took place
in 1834. Cotemporary with Mr. Bridge was Mr. Wilde.
HON. SAMUEL S. WILDE
WAS a native of Taunton, Massachusetts, and was born
Feb. 5, 1771. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College,
of the class of 1789. He read law under the tuition 'Of
Judge Paddleford, was duly admitted, and began his pro-
fessional practice at Waldoboro', about the year 1793. He
remained there two or three years, when he removed to
Warren, where he continued about the same length of time.
The business in either of those places was limited, and
wholly inadequate to the rising reputation of Mr. Wilde,
who had given indications of a superior intellect. In the
year 1799, he removed to Hallowell, then one of the most
important towns on the Kennebec. Having no superior
at the bar, and, indeed, no equal, he immediately entered
upon a successful course of practice, which continued to ex-
pand from year to year, as long as he resided there. The
great success of Mr. Wilde consisted in his po\ver as an
advocate, which was unrivaled by any cotemporary. His
clear and ready perception of all the intricate points of a
cause, was remarkable. No one could more easily observe
the strong points of his own cause, or more readily detect
the weak ones of his adversary. He rarely failed to make
himself so far master of his case, as to impart his convic-
tions to the jury. His addresses to the jury were gene-
rally brief, energetic and rapid. His enunciation was clear
and distinct. His arrangement of facts was not distin-
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 61
guished for method, and he never aspired to any great
degree of eloquence. He spoke for the cause, not for
any general effect. The main qualities of his forensic ad-
dresses, were force, energy, and ingenuity. He was careless
of his diction, but never failed to make himself clearly un-
derstood. We believe he was the most popular advocate,
who has ever grown up in this State. His practice was not
confined to the county of Kennebec, but extended to all the
counties east of Cumberland. He was a man of much
magnanimity and kindness of disposition. He was fond of
social and convivial enjoyments, in which he occasionally
indulged, within proper limits. He pursued his successful
course of practice till 1815, when he was appointed to the
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court. He continued to
reside in Hallowell till the year of the separation of Maine
from Massachusetts, when he removed to the latter State,
and continued to hold the office of Judge, and to perform
its duties with much ability and honor to himself, and much
satisfaction to the public, till he arrived to the advanced
age of over eighty years, when in 1851 he gave in his res-
ignation. On that occasion, as at his death, which occurred
in 1855, the bench and bar of that State manifested, by
appropriate resolutions, their high sense of his ability and
uprightness, through the whole course of his judicial life.
The degree of L. L. D. was conferred upon him by the
several colleges of Bowdoin, Dartmouth, and Harvard, in
different years. l
1 Judge Wilde married Eunice, a daughter of the Hon. David Cobh, of
Taunton, afterward of Maine, who died in 1826. He was twice chosen an
Elector of President; in 1814, a member of the Executive Council, and
was the last surviving member of the Hartford Convention. He wns allied
by marriage with the Gov. Sumner family, of Massachusetts, from which he
derived his name, Samuel Sumner. w.
62 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
A SON of Judge Rice, of Wiscasset, opened an office in Wins-
low, about the year 1794. He had a long and successful
practice. His abilities and legal knowledge were highly
creditable. His practice was generally confined to the
county in which he lived j and although never occupying a
very high stand, he was much respected for his integrity, his
urbanity, and his industry. He was deservedly popular,
and was at one time elected to Congress, where he served
two sessions, always sustaining a fair reputation with his
clients, and with all his friends and acquaintance. He cul-
tivated a small farm, on which he lived, and died at the
advanced age of about eighty-four years. l Cotemporary
with Mr. Rice was
NATHANIEL PERLEY,
WHO commenced practice in Hallowell, about the year 1794,
where he ever after continued to reside. He was a gradu-
ate of Dartmouth College, 1791, and for many years had an
extensive practice at the bar. He was distinguished for his
wit and broad humor for his jokes and cutting repartees
at the bar, which he not unfrequently indulged. Constantly
armed as he was, with this panoply, it was unsafe for an
ordinary person to attack him. Nor did he always wait for
provocation. As a sample, an instance is recollected:
When one of the four judges of the Court of Common
Pleas, not remarkable for his profundity, coming late into
1 Mr. Rice was born in Wiscasset, March 30th, 1768 ; graduated at Har-
vard College, 1791. He studied law with Timothy Bigelow in Groton, and
commenced practice in Winslow in 1795. He was elected to Congress in
1817, and again in 1819. He died in Winslow, August 24th, 1854, aged
eighty-six. w.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 63
court, on taking his seat on the bench, observing as an apol-
ogy, that he " believed that there was no member of the
court less absent than himself," " True," replied Perley,
" and no one less present." In the latter part of his pro-
fessional career, his practice declined. With many amiable
and amusing qualities, he was popular with a class of clients,
but those not of the first order. His good sayings and bon
mots were innumerable, and were often cited. And it may
be said of him, as was said of Falstaff, that he was not only
witty in himself, but the cause of wit in others ; although
it was his own which was ever most prominent.
SOLOMON VOSB
WAS from Massachusetts, county of Worcester. He settled
early in the present century at Augusta, and remained there
during his life. He was a man of commanding figure, and
good personal appearance. He was well versed in the
principles and rules of practice of his profession. He
combined the duties of an attorney and advocate in an equal
degree. His arguments to the jury were plain, perspicuous,
brief, and direct. His deep and heavy voice never failed to
be heard or listened to with attention. His practice was
lucrative, but his course was brief; his decease was sudden,
prior to 1820.
THOMAS BOND.
AMONG the distinguished members of the bar in the coun-
ty of Kennebec was Thomas Bond, who commenced practice
in Hallowell early in the present century as a copartner of
the late Judge Wilde, and so continued while the latter re-
mained at the bar, and subsequently on his own account.
64 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
Mr. Bond was remarkable for his integrity, for the urbanity
of his manners and deportment. He was familiar with the
principles of the common law, and with the rules of prac-
tice. He was a very safe counselor and adviser, and was
a highly reputable advocate. His natural endowments were
above mediocrity. His practice was extensive, and no one
was more beloved and esteemed by his fellow citizens. His
habits and mode of living were unexceptionable. He died
of an acute disease, at an early age, in 1827, and his char-
acter is held in respectful remembrance by his numerous
friends and acquaintance. l
EBENEZER T. WARREN
WAS a contemporary with Mr. Bond, having opened an of-
fice in Hallowell. He was a graduate of Harvard College,
of the class of 1800. He was for several years president
of a bank, and had a very extensive practice j no small
part of which proceeded from the bank, at a time when
loans were extensive, and punctuality of payment not strict-
ly observed. He was somewhat given to speculation, in
which he was not always successful. Among other enter-
prises, was that of extensive purchases of soldiers' patents,
located in the State of Illinois, in the early settlement of
1 Mr. Bond was born in Groton, Mass., in 1779, but moved at an early
age, with his father, to Hallowell. He graduated at Harvard College, 1801,
and soon after entered the office of Judge Wilde as a law student. He held
a high rank in his class at college. After the separation of Maine from
Massachusetts, he was twice elected a Senator to the Legislature, and the
year before his death, which took place March 28, 1827, he was selected by
the Senate to revise the penal code. In 1805, he married Lucretia, daugh-
ter of Dr. Benjamin Page of Hallowell, by whom he had three children, a
son, Francis Eugene, Bowdoin College, 1828, and two daughters, all of
whom are dead. His widow survives. W. -
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 65
that State, which involved him in much embarrassment ; and
what was still more unfortunate, was the necessity imposed
upon him of proceeding thither to superintend them, at a
time when that State was wild and uncultivated ; and where,
far removed from the comforts of civilized life, he was taken
sick and died, in Quincy, 111., August, 1829. He was a man
of an amiable disposition, and popular in his manners. He
did not greatly excel as an advocate, nor did his taste or
talents lie in that direction. While in Hallowell, he con-
tributed much to the improvement of the village by the
erection, with others, of a fine block of brick buildings, de-
nominated " the Kennebec Row."
ELEAZEB W. RIPLEY,
KNOWN to the country as Gen. Ripley. Cotemporary with
Mr. Warren, and for a time copartner with him, was Eleazer
W. Ripley, who began to practice in Winslow or Waterville,
and removed to Hallowell, where he remained till he was
appointed and commissioned a Colonel in the army of the
United States, in the war of 1812. He had much versatili-
ty of talent : he was quite an able advocate at the bar, and
interesting in his addresses to the jury ; was a very active
partisan politician ; was Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives, in Massachusetts, in 1811, succeeding to the late
Judge Story, on his resignation. He entered the army, in
1812, with much zeal, and displayed no small military skill
in several battles on our northern frontier, in several of
which he was wounded, and acquired a high reputation for
bravery. During one of those engagements, he was wound-
ed by a bullet passing through his neck, which ever after
affected his general appearance, though not so as to disfig-
ure him. At the conclusion of the war, he recommenced
66 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
the practice of law, in Louisiana ; having received an ap-
pointment and been commissioned a Brigadier General be-
fore he left the service, was retained when the army was
reduced, and retired with the title of Major General. His
high military reputation, added to his acknowledged ability
as a lawyer and advocate, at once introduced him to an ex-
tensive practice in the courts of that State. He was also
elected a Member of Congress, and held a seat for two ses-
sions. His health, however, failed him, and in 1 834 he fell
a victim to a fever incident to that climate. While General
Ripley was on the northern frontier, he was employed under
Major General Brown, and distinguished himself in several
of the severest battles, by his skill and bravery, in that re-
gion ; and his name and reputation, as a soldier, are justly
commended in the history of the war on that frontier ; and
his services are ever referred to with high encomium and
respect. We would add that Congress tendered him a
vote of thanks for his military services, and a gold medal
was ordered to him, commemorative of the battles he had
fought and the services he had rendered. l
BENJAMIN WHITWELL
WAS from Boston, a native of that city, and came to Au-
gusta about the year 1 800. He was a graduate of Harvard
College, of the year 1790. He continued to practice in
Augusta till shortly before the separation of Maine from
Massachusetts. He then went to Boston, and remained
there till his decease, in 1825. Mr. Whitwell had a fine
imagination, was of a poetical temperament, more de-
voted to literature than law, and as would be expected,
!Gen. Ripley graduated in Dartmouth College, in 1800. Mr. Allen, whose
sister he married, in his Biographical Dictionary, says he died in March, 1840.
W.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES.
67
more excelling in it. He delivered a poem before the P.
B. K., at Cambridge, entitled " Folly as it flies/' He gen-
erally had a copartner, to divide with him the labors of the
office, at one time it was Mr. Emmons, late of Hallowell,
and at another, H. W. Fuller, and then Mr. John Potter, of
Augusta. His practice was principally confined to the
county of Kennebec, having the charge of some large tracts
of land belonging to absent proprietors.
NATHAN BRIDGE
WAS a native of Pownalborough, now Dresden. He was ad-
mitted after reading law in the office of the late Judge
Bridge, his brother, about the year 1800, and opened an
office in Gardiner. He was extensively employed as an
agent for absent proprietors. There were at that time, and
for many years following, conflicting claims between the
proprietors and settlers, where much negotiation and local
knowledge was requisite. Mr. Bridge was highly instru-
mental in bringing to a successful conclusion many contests
and controversies, in which the benefit of his personal and
local knowledge was very apparent, and was conspicuously
displayed. He continued in practice till the year 1810.
Shortly after, he engaged in the business of buying and sell-
ing lands and timber, and subsequently transferred him-
self to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he had a broth-
er engaged in mercantile business.
Mr. N. Bridge returned to Gardiner or Dresden, residing
alternately at either place, till his decease, about the year
1825. He was a man of much kindness and active benev-
olence, which were frequently displayed. He was strictly
honest in all his transactions, and was emphatically the
poor man's friend. His conduct and deportment were ever
68 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
marked with a high sense of honor, in all his business, as
well as in his social relations.
JUDGE SANFORD KINGSBURY.
COTEMPORARY with Mr. Bridge, and a little later in his
profession, was the late Judge Sanford Kingsbury. He was
a native of New Hampshire, (Claremont) and a graduate of
Dartmouth College, in 1801. He opened an office in Qard-
iner, about the year 1805, and had quite an extensive course
of practice for several years. The business of making suits
for the collection of debts, was at that time the principal,
and the most important, and the most lucrative employment
of an attorney. It required no great skill, or familiar-
ity with legal principles, or other knowledge, than that
which was merely clerical. A lawyer at that period would
earn more in one year, without any other labor than such
as a clerk could bestow, than the average since earned in a
period of ten years but that state of things did not last
long. The embargo and non-intercourse laws crippled com-
merce, and annihilated the credit system, except in those
cases where suits would not be necessary, and a fortune
was no longer to be made by defending actions in court,
for the non-payment of debts. After the separation of
Maine, Mr. Kingsbury was appointed by Gov. King, a Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas, an office which he continued
to hold with ability until the court was abolished. Prior
to his appointment as Judge, he had been for several years
cashier of the Gardiner Bank, and subsequently for several
years, he was a member of the Legislature of Maine, and
in one or more years, was a member of the Senate. He
.also held the office of State Treasurer for one or more
jears. In all the offices which he sustained, he ever ful-
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. OiJ
filled his duty with strict fidelity, and ample ability. He
died suddenly at Gardiner, from a supposed angina pectoris ,
at not a very advanced age.
HON. TIMOTHY BOUTELLE.
AMONG the early distinguished members of the bar in
Kennebec, was the late Timothy Boutelle. He was a na-
tive of Massachusetts, a graduate of high reputation at
Harvard College, in the year 1800. He commenced prac-
tice in Waterville about the year 1804, where for many
years he had a very Successful practice. His knowledge in
his profession was extensive and accurate ; his judgment was
sound ; and he soon acquired a high reputation at the bar.
As an advocate, he was highly respected j he was much em-
ployed in his own county and in Somerset. He took an
active interest in all the political questions of the day, and
was fond of discussing them. He was for several years
elected a member of the House of Representatives, and
subsequently a member of the Senate of Maine, in all of
which he ever discharged his duties with faithfulness and
ability. He was once chosen an Elector of President. In
the year 1839, he received the degree of LL. D. from Wa-
terville College. He was a Trustee and Treasurer of the
college for many years. He was also, for a long time, pres-
ident of a bank established in Waterville, and the first
president of the Androscoggin & Kennebec Railroad Com-
pany. He was ever faithfully devoted to the interests of
his own town, and to those subjects which were connected
with it ; and his memory is held in respectful remembrance
by his numerous friends and acquaintance. l
l Mr. Boutelle died Nov. 12, 1855, aged seventy-seven. He was the son
of Col. Timothy, and Rachel (Lincoln) Boutelle, and was born in Leomin-
70 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
LEMUEL PAINE
WAS cotemporary with Mr. Boutelle, but beginning later.
He was a graduate of Brown University, of the class of
1803. He was a native of Massachusetts, read law at Wa-
terville, with Mr. (subsequently General) Ripley, and opened
an office in Winslow. For several years he had a success-
ful, although, from his location, not a very extensive practice.
Mr. Paine was possessed of a good intellect, and great
purity of moral character. He had a taste for agriculture :
he became the owner of a farm, which he employed himself
in cultivating. Finding this occupation more agreeable and
congenial to his tastes and disposition than his legal avoca-
tions, he gradually retired from the bar, and devoted himself
almost wholly to his farm, which he never abandoned. He
lived to an advanced age in the town of his adoption, sur-
rounded and respected by a numerous circle of friends,
whose good will and affection he ever enjoyed. He was
chosen an Elector of President 1813.
We would add that Mr. Paine was distingished as a clas-
sical scholar. After his retirement from the bar, he indulged
his taste and employed much of his leisure in reperusing
the Greek and Latin authors, which had been his early, and
formed his late companions. He continued to cherish his
love for the Greek language, which he read with ease, and
which was to him a great source of enjoyment, as long as
his health and life continued.
ster, in Massachusetts, Nov. 10, 1778. After leaving college, he became, for
a year, an assistant teacher at Leicester Academy, then commenced the study
of law with Abijah Bigelow, in Leominster, and finished with Edward Gray
of Boston. He was chosen an Elector of President in 1816, and served
with ability and fidelity at least a dozen years in the Legislature of Maine, as
a Senator or Representative. w.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 71
HENRY W. FULLER
WAS.a graduate of Dartmouth College, of the class of Daniel
Webster and Judge Kingsbury, 1801. He early commenced
practice in Augusta, and was for a time in copartnership
with B. Whitwell, Esq. He possessed good talents, was very
active in professional business, was familiar with the princi-
ples and practice of law. He was very kind and amiable
in his disposition, bland and courteous in his manner, and
was much respected and esteemed by his fellow citizens.
He was for several years a member of the Legislature. He
was appointed to the ^office of County Attorney, we believe
by Gov. Lincoln, and was afterwards appointed to the office
of Judge of Probate, which he continued to hold till his
decease. He died very suddenly in Boston, by a paralytic
stroke, when walking in the street, in the year 1841. He
was much employed in the latter years of his life as attor-
ney and agent for distant proprietors of the Kennebec
purchase, and in this capacity, as well as in every office which
he held, he was always distinguished for the faithful dis-
charge of the duties incident to the station. And although
cut down in the prime and vigor of his life, he had, by his
practice, and by some successful purchases of lands, created
quite a handsome fortune for his posterity.
HON. ERASTUS FOOTE.
MR. FOOTE migrated to this State early in the present
century, coming, as we are informed, from the western part
of Massachusetts. He opened an office at Camden, then a
thrifty village, and commenced a successful course of prac-
tice, which he pursued with energy and strict attention,
during his residence in that place, which terminated several
years prior to the separation of Maine, at which time he
72 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
removed to Wiscasset, which had been a place of much
importance and commercial activity. But its prosperity
had been blighted by the embargo and non-intercourse iaws,
and by the war of 1812, with England, from which depres-
sion it has never recovered. Mr. Foote continued to prac-
tice in that place, although the general business of the town
was much affected by the failure of its principal merchants.
Shortly after the separation of Maine, he received the ap-
pointment of Attorney General, from Gov. King, an office
which he continued to hold, and the duties of which he
continued to discharge with strict attention and ample abil-
ity. The duties of that responsible office were far more
onerous then, than they have been since, it being then
considered the duty of the Attorney General, to accompany
the court through all the counties, in which sessions were
held once, and generally twice a year. The duties of the
office, except in capital trials, have latterly been assigned
to the respective county attorneys. Mr. Foote held the
office about twelve years, when he returned to the ordinary
routine of the bar. He was a man of good common sense,
courteous and kind in his manners and disposition. He
survived till he was advanced in years, somewhat beyond
the common age of man, surrounded, and his death regret-
ted, by his numerous friends and relatives. l
1 Mr. Foote was born in Waterbury, Conn., in October, 1777.; at the age
of nineteen he commenced the study of law with Judge Hinkley, at North
Hampton, and commenced practice at that place. He moved to Camden in
1803. He represented Lincoln County in the senate of Massachusetts, was
appointed attorney of the county, and was colonel in the militia in the war
of 1812. He married two daughters of the venerable Moses Carlton, of
Wiscasset, by the second of whom he had one son, Erastus, and several
daughters. He died July 14, 1856, in his seventy-ninth year. w.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 73
JOHN OTIS
WAS the son of Oliver Otis, Esq., of this State, a wealthy
citizen, we believe, of the town of Leeds. The subject of
this notice was a graduate of Bowdoin College, of the class
of 1823. He read law in Hallowell, in the office of P.
Sprague, Esq., and was admitted to the bar, after the usual
period of study. His practice was lucrative and extensive,
and remained so until he engaged in other pursuits, and
retired from the bar. His talents were respectable, and
he possessed great mental activity and versatility. He was
for a time, editor of apaper published at Hallowell, and
.exerted no small influence over the party politics of the
day. He represented, for one or more years, the town of
Hallowell in the State Legislature, and subsequently was
elected a Representative to Congress, where he served, with
ability and distinction, several sessions. We believe that
he contributed, in no small degree, to the passage of the
act reducing the high rate of postage to its present moder-
ate extent. He was, also, one of the commissioners ap-
pointed by the Legislature of Maine, with Messrs. Preble,
Kent, and Kavanagh, for ceding to the United States a por-
tion of the territory claimed by this State, for the purpose
of enabling the former to conclude the treaty with England,
involving our northeastern boundary, commonly called " the
Webster and Ashburton treaty." Mr. Otis was largely en-
gaged in his private speculations, in this county and in the
county of Penobscot, some of which proved fortunate, oth-
ers not so. He made an unlucky investment in a bank in
Gardiner, of which he was at one time president. He was
twice married : the first time to a daughter of the late Wm.
0. Vaughan, Esq., and the second time to the daughter of
the late Samuel Grant, Esq. His death was sudden, at his
residence in Hallowell, in 1856. Mr. Otis was bland and
74 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
courteous in his manners and address, and distinguished for
his kindness of heart and disposition. He did not often
advocate causes to the jury, his inind was not formed, nor his
attention so much given to any forensic displays as to those
required in a deliberative or legislative assembly, of which
he was known to be an efficient member.
HIRAM BELCHER,
AFTER reading law with Wilde & Bond, in Hallowell, opened
an office in Farmington, where he ever continued to reside.
He possessed talents far above mediocrity. He was fre-
quently employed as an advocate, and was not an unsuccess-
ful one. He was a man of large stature, in height over six
feet, rather thin and spare of flesh, and not very compactly
formed. But he had an excellent and well cultivated mind,
and much benevolence of disposition. He was remarkable
for his amusing and quiet sallies of wit and dry humor, oc-
casionally interspersed in his forensic discussions, as well as
in his private intercourse. He was much beloved and res-
pected in the congressional district of his residence, which
he was chosen to represent, and where he served with un-
exceptional and well-merited reputation, from 1847 to 1849,
and would probably have been continued if his health had
permitted. He died at his own home, in the year 1855,
leaving the reputation of a spotless purity o*f character.
HON. EDWARD KAVANAGH.
AMONG other members of the bar in Lincoln, was Ed-
ward Kavanagh, a son of James Kavanagh, of Newcastle.
He was duly admitted to the bar of the Supreme Judicial
Court, but never practiced. He received a part of his ed-
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 75
ucation at a Catholic College, or institution, in Montreal,
and a part in a similar institution in Maryland. He was
a man of fine personal appearance, distinguished for natural
politeness of manners, founded on the great benevolence of
his disposition, which was constantly manifested. He was
much employed after his admission to the bar, in settling
the complicated business of his late father, whose estate, at
one time munificent, had in the latter years of his life be-
come involved and dilapidated. The general excellence of
his character, and the high estimation in which he was held,
led to his election as a member of Congress, where he
served from 1831 to 1835, to the entire satisfaction of his con-
stituents. He was at another period, 1843, elected a member
of the Senate of Maine, and was chosen president of that
body. The office of Governor becoming vacant during the
political year, the duties of Chief Magistrate devolved on
him, which he executed in a faithful and able manner, until
the termination of the year. He was then appointed by
President Jackson as Chargd at Lisbon. He accepted this
trust, and represented the nation at that court for several
years ; he being the highest diplomatic agent of the United
States at that place, during his residence there. His gen-
eral knowledge of public laws, his familiarity with the
French language, eminently fitted him for the duties of that
station, and not the less so for his uniform adherence to the
faith of the Catholic Church, from which he never swerved.
But it is the destiny of man, that all external blessings
should be mingled with alloy. During his residence at Lis-
bon his health was undermined, and after his return was
never restored. He visited the Sulphur Springs in Virginia,
and other resorts for invalids. As he observed to the
writer of this note, after his return, " he had been fishing for
health, but could not catch it." He not long after died at
his paternal mansion, surrounded by the tenderest of rela-
tives and most affectionate of friends.
76 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
HON. EBENEZER CLAPP.
AMONG the early practitioners in Bath, was Ebenezer
Clapp. He was from Massachusetts, and was a graduate of
Harvard College, in the class of 1799. He read law in the
office of Kilborn Whitman, Esq., in Pembroke. After his
admission he opened an office at Nantucket, and about the
year 1804 commenced his residence at Bath, where he ever
after remained. He was a man of great purity of character
had many warm friends, and was highly esteemed in the
social circle in which he moved. He, at one period, held
the office of Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions, for the
county of Lincoln, the duties of which he faithfully dis-
charged. He was also a Judge, for a short period, of the
Police Court at Bath. He died at Bath, after a sudden and
brief illness, about the year 1855, at an advanced age, with
an unblemished reputation. l
ISAAC G. REED
BEGAN to reside in Waldoborough in the year 1808. He
was from Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard College, of
the class of 1803, and read law in the office of Timothy
Bigelow. He continued to reside in Waldoborough until
his decease, which took place in 1847. He was possessed
of highly respectable abilities, had an extensive practice
from the town of Waldoborough and that vicinity. He
was distinguished for courtesy of manners, and for kindness
of disposition, and for the general benevolence of his. char-
1 Mr. Clapp was born in Mansfield. Mass., Jan. 21, 1779. Commenced
the study of his profession with Judge Paddleford, of Taunton. In 1812 he
married Sarah, a daughter of Dr. Isaac Winslow, of Marshfield, but had no
children. He died Jan. 28, 1856. W.
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 77
acter. He had somewhat of a military propensity. He
soon attained the rank of Colonel, by which he was ever
after designated. He was supposed to be unusually well
qualified for the discharge of all the duties incident to that
station. It was his pride and his pleasure to appear at the
head of his regiment, on days of public review, and it was
there he appeared to signal advantage. For many years
he held the office of Postmaster in Waldoborough, and
was, for a period, Treasurer of the county, and we believe,
was a member of the Court of Sessions. In 1835 he par-
ticipated in the mania for speculation, which so generally
pervaded the community, and which in the end swept the
greater portion of his property ; but still leaving him suffi-
cient for his comfortable support, during the residue of his
life, which was terminated with an unsullied reputation,
in 1847. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of
Bowdoin College, in the welfare of which he ever manifest-
ed a laudable interest.
JOSEPH SEWALL
WAS a native of Bath. He was a graduate of Bowdoin
College, in the class of 1812. His father and grandfather,
the late Gen. Sewall, of Bath, were among our most re-
spected classes of citizens. The latter held many offices of
trust, the duties of which he ever faithfully fulfilled. The
subject of this memoir was educated for the bar, and opened
an office in Bath and continued to practice there till his de-
cease, which was in the year 1851, at the age of 56. He
was an excellent business lawyer, of strict integrity, and
possessed of a clear intellect, and a sound judgment, which
insured him the confidence of his fellow citizens. He was
for several years a member of the board of County Com-
78 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
missioners, and ever executed the trusts incident to that
station with much ability and impartiality. On the sugges-
tion of the writer of this note, he employed himself in
writing a history of the town of Bath, a copy of which was
deposited in the archives of the Maine Historical Society
and published in the second volume of its collections. Al-
though not very highly distinguished as an advocate, nor
ever aspiring to be so, his many other valuable qualities
insured him the regard and respect of an intelligent com-
munity, by which he was surrounded. He held at one time
the office of Adjutant General. His health failed him at an
early period, before he was overtaken by the imbecility and
decrepitude of old age.
WILLIAM J. FARLEY
WAS a son of the late Joseph Farley of Waldoborough.
He graduated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1820.
He read law at Waldoborough, and was admitted to the
bar after the usual period of study, and located himself in
Thomaston. Possessing an intellect of a high order, of
uncommon powers of elocution, of great readiness of per-
ception and application of legal principles, of which he had
acquired an uncommon share, he soon attained to a high stand-
ing at the bar. He excelled as an advocate, to the jury, by
whom he was listened to without weariness, and his efforts
were not unfrequently crowned with success. Mr. Farley
had a high sense of honor, and we have never heard his in-
tegrity called in question. He was courteous in his man-
ners, amiable in his disposition, and bland in his address.
In a word, we had few members of the bar whose early and
brief course was more auspicious, and promised fairer for
future distinction, than the subject of this note. But these
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 79
bright hopes and prospects were at an early period doomed
to be blighted, by failure in his health and strength.
Although the sun of his genius sank early, and went down
in a cloud, still it was long enough in the ascendant to fur-
nish ample proof that had his life and health been prolonged,
he would have been an ornament to the bar, and an honor
to the State and to his country. He died in 1839, at the
early age of thirty-six. .
HON. JONATHAN CILLEY
WAS a native of New Hampshire. He was a graduate of
Bowdoin College of the class of 1825. After reading law
the usual period, he was admitted to the bar, and established
himself in Thomaston. He was a man of fine personal ap-
pearance and of very prepossessing manners. He was
possessed of a superior intellect, and had acquired the repu-
tation of a good scholar. He was very evidently designed^
and well fitted by his superior knowledge and abilities, to
take an important political stand in the councils of his
country. He commenced the practice of law under very
auspicious circumstances, and readily acquired a good share
of business. He was soon elected to represent his own
town in the Legislature of the State, and after a session or
two, was chosen to represent his district in Congress, in
1837. He entered that body, though very young, under
favorable aspects, and by his participation in the discus-
sion of several important questions, showed himself to be
possessed of those qualities which would render him an
able debater. But these bright hopes and prospects were
unhappily soon blighted, by his acceptance of a challenge
sent him by Mr. Graves, a member of the House from Ken-
tucky, for some expression used in debate, reflecting upon a
80 THE EARLY LAWYERS OF
third person, J. W. Webb, a friend of Mr. Graves, and
whose cause he espoused. Between Messrs. Cilley and
Graves there was no hostility, and ought to have been none,
and there was not, on the part of Cilley, any unkindly feel-
ing. He had not said or done anything to warrant this, call
upon him. But Mr. Cilley, unfortunately, under the influence
of a nice sense of honor, judged otherwise. He accepted
the challenge, and was mortally wounded by his adversary,
and died in 1838, at the age of thirty-five.
This fatal accident produced a thrill through the public
mind not before experienced on any similar occasion. It
not only pervaded the hearts of his numerous friends at
home, but those of the community generally, especially
those of his native, and his adopted States. This barbar-
ous practice ought to be proscribed by every civilized com-
munity. It is alike repugnant to the mild precepts of
Christianity, as it is to the principles of sound morality. If
there are cases which would form an exception, the above is
not one of them. It can only be resorted to, when to avoid
it, life would become a burden, and character and reputation
would be destroyed. We have heard of such cases, but, in
civil life, they are of such rare occurrence as not to be tol-
erated, or to form the basis of a principle. It furnishes no
test of honor, truth, or justice. There is no equality in
this appeal. The advantage is with the best marksman,
and not with the party who has the highest sense of honor,
or is most free from all blemishes in his reputation. No
man, having a wife and children dependent upon him for
their support and protection, is justifiable or excusable for
hazarding his life in this manner, either upon principles of
the strictest honor or of sound morality. Cilley judged
otherwise, and judged erroneously. Mr. Henry Clay was
much censured by the friends of Cilley, for his supposed
agency in this catastrophe. It was said that he was applied
LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC COUNTIES. 81
to by the opponent of Cilley, and not only did nothing to
prevent, but was supposed to have aided in producing the
fatal meeting. It was alleged that he drafted the prelimi-
nary correspondence on the part of Graves, who had es-
poused the cause of Webb, editor of the "New York
Courier and Enquirer," a paper devoted to the interests of
Mr. Clay, then aiming at the Presidency, and who was be-
lieved to be far removed from the position of an impartial
observer of the causes which led to the impending conflict
and fatal result. The remains of Mr. Cilley were trans-
ported to Thomaston, the place of his domicile, and deposi-
ted in the cemetery of tfiat town. His late fellow citizens,
following the impulse of their affections, as a tribute of
respect to his memory, have erected a distinguishing monu-
ment at his grave with an appropriate inscription.
WE here close our sketches of some of the characteris-
tics of many of the deceased members of the bar of the
counties of Lincoln and Kennebec, as derived from tradition
or observation. We do not claim to have embraced the
whole number. Some may have been omitted by accident
others have been from design. But this beginning need not
preclude others more competent, from supplying, in a future
attempt, anything which may be wanting in this.
F. ALLEN,
A MEMBER OP THE KENNEBEC BAB.
ARTICLE III.
MEMOIR
OF
BENJAMIN VAUGHAN, M. D. AND LL. D.
BT
HON. ROBERT HALLOWELL GARDINER.
MEMOIR OF DR. VAUGHAN.
THE committee appointed at the last meeting of the His-
torical Society, to procure a memoir, for their publications,
of the late Dr. Benjamin Yaughan, communicated with his
family upon the subject, and learned that Dr. Vaughan had in
his lifetime expressed a wish, that no memoir of him should
be written j in compliance with which, they had declined the
offer of the late Alden Bradford to write his life, and could
not give their assent to the writing of it by any other
person.
While your committee feel that it would not be proper
to act in contradiction to these expressed wishes of Dr.
Yaughan and his family, they do not deem it inconsistent
with respect to those feelings, to give a slight notice of a
gentleman, so distinguished for his learning and benevo-
lence ; and who took so warm an interest in developing the
resources of his adopted State.
Dr. Benjamin Yaughan was the oldest son of Samuel
Yaughan, a London merchant, engaged in commerce with the
American colonies ; in pursuit of which, he occasionally vis-
ited Boston, where he became attached to, and subsequently
married, Sarah, eldest daughter of Benjamin Hallowell, a
merchant in extensive business, and holding the office of
navy agent under the British government, and celebrated
by the poet Green for his public spirit. Mrs. Yaughan was
a lady of great amiability of character, of much active
86 MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN.
kindness, and of strong practical common sense. Her hus-
band owned a valuable plantation in the island of Jamaica,
to which he made occasional visits ; and there the subject
of this notice was born, April 30, 1751.
He was educated in England, and at a suitable age was
sent to study in Cambridge, without being matriculated, as
at that time, the signature to the thirty-nine articles was a
prerequisite to matriculation at either of the English Univer-
sities j and Mr. Vaughan having been brought up as a Unita-
rian, could not conscientiously comply with this requisition,
and was not admitted to any of the collegiate honors, but in
all other respects, had the same advantages as other students.
He had imbibed strong Whig principles, and soon after
leaving Cambridge, became private secretary to Lord Shel-
burne, through whose interest he became member of Parlia-
ment for the borough of Calnes Wiltshire. Mr. Vaughan
became attached to Miss Manning, an accomplished lady, of
lively wit, and who, from the miniature likeness still pre-
served of her, must in youth have been very beautiful. She
was the daughter of a wealthy London merchant, whose
son became governor of the Bank of England, and whose
grandson was one of the ablest writers of the Oxford
tracts, and who subsequently seceded to the church of Rome.
The father refused his consent to his daughter's marriage,
because Mr. Yaughan had no independent fortune, nor any
profession or business by which he could acquire one. To
attain the object of his affections, Mr. Vaughan went to Ed-
inburgh, and there pursued a regular course of medicine for
two years, and having obtained his degree of M. D., re-
turned to England, where he obtained the hand for which
he had so faithfully labored. His father-in-law made him a
partner in his business, and assigned to him the charge of
the extensive correspondence of the house, the heads of
which were given to him by the senior partner.
MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN. 87
Mr. Vaughan inherited from his parents a strong predilec-
tion for America, and lived on intimate terms with all the
distinguished Americans residing in London, among whom
were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Laurens of South
Carolina. The colonies found it necessary to have agents
residing in London to represent their interest, and they
generally selected for the office their most distinguished
men. In such society Mr. Vaughan became an enthusiast for
American Independence.
After the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, there was no
longer expectation of reducing the American colonies to
obedience, and the British nation became clamorous for
peace ; and as peace necessarily included the acknowledg-
ment of American Independence, it could not but be deeply
mortifying to British pride. While yielding to necessity,
Lord Shelburne was desirous that peace should be con-
cluded with as little irritation as possible; and as the
negotiation would be out of the common course of diplo-
macy, he applied to Mr. Vaughan to recommend as ambas-
sador, some person well acquainted with the American
character, and who would know how far it would be neces-
sary to yield to American claims. Upon his recommendation,
Richard Oswald, a merchant largely engaged in commerce
with the colonies, was appointed to treat with the American
Commissioners, and at the solicitation of his Lordship, Mr.
Vaughan accepted the office of confidential messenger, con-
stantly passing between the minister in London and the
ambassador in Paris, to carry proposals, explanations and
suggestions, which it was not thought expedient to commit
to writing. Lord Shelburne highly valued this service, and
was desirous on the part of government to remunerate it
liberally ; but Mr. Vaughan declined all compensation, al-
though his father-in-law, a high Tory, cut him off from a
year's profits of the house, for neglecting the business of
the firm to engage in American politics.
88 MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN.
The French revolution has been frequently considered as
the natural sequence of American Independence. The Eng-
lish Whigs, particularly those who were Unitarian, hailed
with enthusiasm the first dawning of this revolution, and
many of the most distinguished were specially invited to
attend the opening of the first National Assembly ; an invi-
tation which was accepted by Dr. Yaughan, who took Mrs.
Vaughan with him. They believed that the French were
about to shake off the shackles of feudal tyranny, under
which the nation had so long groaned, and to establish that
Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, which they had pro-
claimed by carving the words on the front of all their pub-
lic buildings. It required the prophetic eye of Burke, to
perceive, through this glare, the scenes of anarchy, blood-
shed, crime, and despotism, which were to follow, and that
every spark of liberty would eventually be extinguished.
The English Whigs, dazzled with the present enthusiasm,
shut their eyes to the future, and sighed for such a republic
in England. The more prudent would have been satisfied
with the introduction of gradual changes in the constitution
of their country, but the more ardent fraternized with the
French politicians, and were anxious that England should
be at once revolutionized into a democratic republic.
In their enthusiasm, they had made themselves believe
that the great mass of the nation were ready for the change,
and that the introduction of a small body of French troops,
to give confidence in the first rising, would at once excite a
general demand throughout the nation for a republican form
of government. To effect this object, they entered into
correspondence with leading members of the French Gov-
ernment, who readily acceded to their wishes. The English
ministry, having obtained information of this correspon-
dence, caused the arrest of a number of the persons impli-
cated j several of whom were tried, convicted, sentenced,
MEMOIR OP DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN. 89
and transported to Botany Bay. Upon Stone, one of the
convicts, was found a letter of Dr. Vaughan's, dissuading
against the project of calling in French troops. As soon
as the Doctor heard of this, he instantly fled to France, and
sought an asylum with Mr. Skipwith, the American consul-
general in Paris.
His brother-in-law, Manning, a member of Parliament and a
Tory, applied to Mr. Pitt, to know in what light Dr. Vaughan's
conduct was viewed by the government, and whether it
would be safe for him to return to England. Mr. Pitt re-
plied that they perfectly understood Dr. Vaughan's charac-
ter, that they considered him an enthusiast, but in no way a
dangerous person, that he might return and resume his seat
in Parliament; and he would assure him that no notice
would be taken by the government of anything that Dr.
Vaughan had said or done. Dr. Vaughan would place no
confidence in this declaration of Mr. Pitt, but viewed it as a
trap laid to get him into the power of the ministers, and he
never again set foot upon the soil of England.
Mr. Skipwith received him in the most friendly manner ;
gave him the use of his country-house, where he resided
more than a year, in a kind of incognito, though he con-
stantly received visits from the savans and distinguished
men of Paris. Unable to return to England, he determined
to become a citizen of the American republic. As the ex-
isting war between France and England prevented his family
from joining him in Paris, he directed them to proceed to
the United States under the charge of Mr. Merrick, a tutor
in the family, and who subsequently married his sister ; and
he wrote to his brother Charles in Boston, to have a place
provided for their reception, where they could remain till
he was ready to join them. Charles established them at
Little Cambridge, now Brighton, where Dr. Vaughan joined
them in about eighteen months, in the year 1796, and then
90 MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN.
took them to Kennebec, making his permanent residence at
Hallowell, on family property derived from his maternal
grandfather, after whom the town was named. Here he
occupied himself in study, in an extensive correspondence
with distinguished persons on both sides of the Atlantic,
and in promoting the welfare of the place, and of the peo-
ple among whom he had fixed his residence.
He had an extensive library, and his books were freely
loaned to all who were disposed to read them. His medi-
cal education became also useful. In addition to his medical
library, he received regularly all the new and valuable books
on medicine published in England ; and although he did not
practice as a regular physician, he was constantly called
upon in consultation in important cases, with the neighbor-
ing physicians, where he gave his advice readily and always
gratuitously. The poor he visited without being accompa-
nied by a regular physician, not only giving advice, but
furnishing also the requisite medicine, and frequently sup
plying the nourishing food needed for their recovery. In
the year 1811, the epidemic known as the spotted fever,
and sometimes called the cold fever, from prevailing only in
the winter season, visited the northern portion of the Uni-
ted States, and like the Asiatic cholera, marched slowly,
but with resistless power from place to place. During its
prevalence in Hallowell, Dr. Vaughan was indefatigable in
his attentions to the sick, and in his efforts to stay the
progress of the disease, and he consented to take the en-
tire charge of Dr. Page's numerous patients, prostrated
with that complaint, during his absence at Wiscasset, where
the epidemic was just appearing, and where he went at the
urgent solicitation of the people, for a few days, to give
them the benefit of the experience he had acquired in its
management. The agriculture of the country was indebted
to Dr. Yaughan for the introduction of new varieties of seed
MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN. 91
and plants, and for the importation of improved breeds of
animals. His fortune was considerably diminished by the
large sums expended upon his farm and nursery.
Dr. Vaughan was a man of great learning. He was a rapid
reader, and the marginal notes in most of his books bear tes-
timony to the attention with which he read, and he could give
clear and condensed sketches of an author's views. His
knowledge was always at command, and no subject could be
introduced into conversation, upon which he would not give
additional information. From this very extensive knowl-
edge and ready power of producing it, he has been called
a walking encyclopedia. 'He was, however, a learned man^
rather than an original or profound thinker.
Dr. Vaughan came to this country expecting to find the
ideal republic, with its patriarchal simplicity, which he had
imagined in Europe.* Wishing to conform to this fancied
simplicity, he directed his plate to be sold, and he had his
family dressed in the plainest manner. A few years resi-
dence here, and observation of the practical workings of
our institutions, disabused him of these visionary theories
of the purity and unsophisticated simplicity of a democratic
republic ; and he became a strong conservative and warm
Federalist. Having professedly retired from party strife,
he abstained from exercising the elective franchise which he
had acquired ; but no one felt a stronger interest in the
great events which agitated the political world during his
residence in this country. Dr. Yaughan, though not sub-
scribing to the doctrine of the trinity, was a serious Chris-
tian. He was a regular attendant at the Congregational
meeting in Hallowell, contributed very generously to its
support, was indefatigable in his kindness and liberality to
its pastor and his family ; but was not allowed to join with
the society in commemorating the dying love of a common
92 MEMOIR OF DR. BENJAMIN VAUGHAN.
Redeemer. On communion Sundays he came to Gardiner
to receive the sacrament of the Episcopal church.
The degree of LL. D. was conferred on Dr. Yaughan by
Harvard University, in 1801, and by Bowdoin College, in
1812; and he was a member of numerous literary and sci-
entific societies, both in Europe and in this country. He
died at Hallowell, Dec. 8th, 1835, after a short illness, in
the eighty-fifth year of his age, and in full possession of his
faculties, highly and universally respected.
ARTICLE IV.
ALBERT
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1798.
LETTER FROM MR. THATCHER.
LUBEC, JANUARY 30iH, 1850.
Professor Parker Cleaveland,
SIR:
In relation to a letter from the Honorable Albert
Gallatin, I have to state that the letter, of which I possess
merely a copy, was addressed to Lewis F. Delesdernier, of
this town. A transcript thereof I herewith enclose. In
addition to this letter, I am able, after many inquiries, to
state the following particulars, which I suppose to be sub-
stantially correct, and perhaps may not be new to you.
Mr. Gallatin, a native of Geneva, came to this country in
1780, aged nineteen. He landed in Boston a total stranger,
without funds, friends, or letters of introduction. The
American Revolution had produced such an enthusiasm in his
young mind, that, without the knowledge of his relatives, he
took passage for this country, for the express purpose of
unsheathing a sword in the cause of liberty. Soon after
landing, bewildered and lost in the crowd, he was noticed
by a native Genevan, the elder Mr. Delesdernier, who ap-
proached him and addressed him in his native language,
which was the only one Mr. Gallatin then knew. On learn-
ing his circumstances and destitution, Mr. Delesdenier sup-
plied his necessities and invited him to his residence in
Lubec.
96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN.
He remained an inmate in Mr. Delesdernier's family till
he had an opportunity of joining in a detachment of the
American army, enlisting as a private soldier in the Penob-
scot expedition. After the war, he attempted mercantile
business without success. He subsequently obtained the
situation of French Tutor in Harvard University. I exert-
ed myself, some years since, to procure his name to be given
to a new town in this vicinity.
Mr. Gallatin was a citizen of the United States at the
adoption of the constitution. I have understood that his
foreign nativity was the only obstacle to his nomination to
the Presidency.
I remain, sir, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
STEPHEN THATCHER. 1
i Mr. Thatcher died at Rockland, in this State, Feb. 19, 1859, in the
eighty-sixth year of his age. A brief memoir of him will appear on anoth-
er page of this volume.
Mr. Gailatin, at the date of his letter, was a Senator in Congress from
Pennsylvania, to which he was chosen in 1793. He was born in Geneva, in
1761, and died at Astoria, N. Y., in 1849. He filled many important offices
in our government ; he was appointed Secretary 'of the Treasury by Mr.
Jefferson, in 1801 : in 1813 was a Commissioner to Ghent on the subject of
the then pending war ; was subsequently and successively minister to France,
the Netherlands, and England. He published many valuable and interest-
ing works, among which was an Indian vocabulary, which may be safely con-
sulted, and treatises on financial matters. Judge Story said of him, " He is
truly a great statesman, I rank him side by side with Alexander Hamilton ; "
again he says : " A man of great learning, he daily adds weight to his coun-
sels and glory to his name." w.
ME. GALLATBTS LETTEE.
PHILADELPHIA, MAY 25TH, 1798.
Mr. Lewis F. Delesdernier,
MY DEAR SIB:
I received yours in due time, and
now enclose a copy of the Act, and also a memorandum in
which I have recapitulated such of the most important
proofs which it appears to me you should be provided with.
You must read both the Law and the memorandum, and not
fail in collecting all the necessary documents, and transmit
them, if possible, before next December, to the Secretary
of War, together with every such additional proof and pa-
pers in support of your sacrifices, sufferings, and services,
as may not have suggested itself to my mind, and which
you may think of as being proper on the occasion. I say
before next December, because I will desire you to send
me at the same time, a copy of all the papers you send to
the Secretary, so as to give me an opportunity to examine
them, and to write to you back for every additional paper
in which, upon inquiry, I may find you have been deficient.
You may see by the Act that the highest class are to be
entitled to one thousand acres, and it must be your endeav-
or, by supplying the most numerous proofs of your services,
(which, in regard to you, I take it to be a stronger ground
98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN.
than either your sacrifices or your sufferings), so as to have
you placed in that class. In respect to your deceased
brother John, I do not believe that he can be entitled to be
placed above the lowest class, viz., one hundred acres and
as to your father, I am afraid by the wording of the Act,
that having returned to Nova Scotia in 1782 or 1783, he is
altogether excluded. Yet upon the ground of his having
returned to the United States within a short time after,
which shows that he did not return to Nova Scotia to reside
therein, according to the excluding words of the Act, and
also on the ground of his having been actually in service as
interpreter, the best that can be done, must be done, in or-
der to attempt to have him placed on the list. I will add
that it may not be improper for you to furnish also proof
of your not being rich, and having a large family, and it is
on that account, that amongst the other proofs which I have
mentioned in the memorandum, I have stated that your
father and mother have been supported by you for a length
of time, (which although I do not know it, I suppose prob-
able,) because, in case they are excluded themselves, yet
that circumstance and their sufferings, will be arguments in
your favor to have your case placed in the highest class. I
cannot say that it will be in my power to be of any assist-
ance to you in that stage of the business, beyond advising
you from time to time, of the steps to be taken by you, and
objections which may be started, as also of the best way to
remedy them. For the violence of party is such at present,
that it is much to be doubted whether my interference
might not be more hurtful than beneficial to you, with the
three officers who are, according to the Act, to decide on
the merits of the respective cases. Yet I will act accord-
ing to circumstances, and if I think it can be done to advan-
tage, will add my affidavit as to the facts I know, and every
.assistance I possibly can give, to the other proofs you
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN. 99
may send. But it will be more prudent in the first in-
stance, for you to send your papers to the proper officer
without my appearing in it. There are two steps in that
business I would advise you to take, besides getting all the
testimonies from the most respectable inhabitants in your
favor, which you must by no means neglect. The first is,
to write to Mr. Parker, l your representative in Congress,
and to request him to attend to your business, sending him
also a copy of the papers which you shall have procured,
and sent to the Secretary of War, stating to him your and
your family's case, and getting from some gentleman, friend-
ly to you, and who may fce personally acquainted with him,
a letter of recommendation for him. The second is, to
write to that officer of the Treasury Department, with
whom you are in the habit of corresponding as naval officer,
(whether it be the Secretary or Comptroller), a letter, rec-
ommending your case to his examination, and stating as
briefly and clearly as you can, the principal circumstances
of your case, referring him for details to your papers sent
to the Secretary of War, according to the directions of the
Law. This is all that now strikes me as important, but if,
after having read my letter, the memorandum, and the Law,
you want any further explanation, write me about it, direct-
ing your letter, if you write during the session of Congress,
to Philadelphia, and if after, to Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
After the business of deciding upon the quantity of land to
which you may be entitled shall have been fixed, which can-
not take place before eighteen months at least, the next thing
to be done will be to locate the land. The manner in which
1 Isaac Parker, afterward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massa-
chusetts, then resided at Castine, in this State, and represented the first
eastern District in Congress from 1797 to 1799, when he was appointed
United States Marshal of the Maine District, and moved to Portland. He
died Chief Justice, in 1830. W.
100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN.
it shall be done is not yet determined, and is extremely im-
portant on account of the differences in the quality and
value of the lands in the North West Territory. But in
whatever manner it may be done, I will be able in that stage
of the business to be of some use to you, as I live in that
part of the country, and am well acquainted with the lands
and their respective value. I need not add how extremely
welcome you will be to any services I can render you.
Indeed, my dear friend, I have not forgotten, I never will
forget you, nor your parents, I feel for their afflictions, and
it has distressed me not a little, that my situation did not
permit me to alleviate their sufferings. I remember all of
you, I often think of you, and never would I do it without
pleasure, were not that emotion checked by the regret I
feel at your misfortunes. I flatter myself that I cannot but
meet with similar sentiments for me in your breast, and
therefore will give you a short account of myself since we
last parted, which as you know was at Providence in 1783.
You ask me about our friend Serre, he has been dead
near fifteen years, for having gone to Jamaica a very few
months after you saw him last, he died there, almost imme-
diately after his arrival, of one of the fevers generated by
that climate. I staid myself in Virginia with Mr. Savory
till the spring of 1784, when I went to the western country,
sometimes called the Ohio country, and remained there two
years, in locating and directing the surveys of a quantity of
land for myself, Mr. Savory, and others. In 1786, being
twenty-five years old, I received from Geneva my small pat-
rimony, and purchased a plantation of about four hundred
acres, on which I have lived ever since. It lies in Fayette
County, State of Pennsylvania, on the east bank of Monon-
gahela river, (which empties into the Ohio at Pittsburgh)
only a few miles north of the State of Virginia, and about
fifty miles south of Pittsburgh. I am a bad farmer, and
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN. 101
have been unfortunate in some mercantile pursuits I had
embraced. I have just made out to live independent, and
am neither richer nor poorer than I was twelve years ago,
the fact is, I am not well calculated to make money I
care but little about it, for I want but little for myself, and
my mind pursues other objects with more pleasure than
mere business. Most of my time, indeed, has been em-
ployed in reading and in improving myself as well as I
could. In 1784 I married, but had the misfortune to lose
my wife after six months' marriage. The same year I was
elected a member of the convention which formed the con-
stitution of Pennsylvania, and from that time till now, I
have been always a member, either of the Legislature of
this State, or a member of Congress. In that political life,
some acquirements, and a tolerable share of attention to
public business, have rendered me more conspicuous than I
could have expected, but without increasing my happiness,
and still less, my fortune. Yet I feel very far from being
unhappy, for in 1793 I married a very amiable and lovely
wife her parents and connections are respectable, and
much attached to me by her I have only one son, eighteen
months old, and enjoying thus much domestic happiness,
without being rich, I have certainly no room to complain.
As to my political character, during these violent party
times no man could expect the approbation of all. Mine
is praised by some, and abused by others. But you may
perhaps remember that I am blessed with a very even tem-
per it has not been altered by time or politics, and I
quietly pursue that line of conduct, which to my weak judg-
ment appears to be the best for the welfare of that country
which has granted me a generous asylum and entrusted me
with its most important concerns. I am sensible that I am
liable to error, as liable as any other man ; but I do not
believe that I am very apt to be led away by passion, or to
102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GALLATIN.
be blinded by enthusiasm and prejudice in favor of any
modern system ; and to you, I am sure, I need not say that
the integrity of my heart, and the innocence of my manners
have remained unsullied, and remain the same as you knew
them in the days of my youth. Indeed, I have said so much,
only because far too much credit has been given me for
abilities at the expense of the purity of my motives.'
I forgot to mention that in the year 1788, in February, I
went being then at Boston to Wiscasset, and had an
intention to go and pay you a visit. But the severity of
the season, the difficulty of finding a conveyance, and hear-
ing that you had gone to Boston, prevented me from my
pursuing my journey any farther. When you write again, I
shall be glad to hear more particularly about your situation.
Have you any farm belonging to you ? In what part of
Passamaquoddy do you reside ? Has the country grown
very populous ? Which of the islands belong to the United
States, and which to England ?
I wish to be most kindly remembered to your parents. I
cannot express how much I wish their situation might be bet-
tered, how much I regret my own incapacity in assisting them.
I trust your worthy mother finds in a reliance on a kind
Providence, and resignation to the will of her Heavenly
Father, that consolation which no human being could afford
her under the pressure of her afflictions. Give her, I beg
you, the assurances of my most affectionate respect. What
shall I say about your poor father ? It is better for me to
be silent, for I would only distress both you and myself,
by dwelling on that sad subject. Yet I feel a strong desire
to be more particularly informed about his situation. Is it
only by times that he is afflicted ? You have said nothing
about your wife. I have not forgotten her, and desire you
to give her my best compliments.
I wish you had let me know the name of the vessel in
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP GALLATIN. 103
which your son George came, or that you had directed him
to call upon me. You will easily judge that I have but little
conception of what he is now, when I will tell you that I of-
ten think of him when I play with my child. I would also be
glad to hear about Col. Allen and his family, and I wish
if in your power to be kindly remembered to him. Pre-
sent also my compliments to the worthy Mr. Jones of
Machias, of whom I have ever preserved a grateful remem-
brance ; and also to Mr. Cony (do I spell his name right ?)
of Campobello. You see by the length of my letter, that I
feel happy in conversing with you, and I hope it will en-
courage you to renew aud continue our correspondence.
I remain, with sincere affection,
Your obedient servant and friend,
ALBERT GALLATIN.
Mr. Savory, who usually lives within two miles of me,
when I am at home, and who is now in this city, sends you
his compliments.
Correctly transcribed from a certified copy.
Attested by STEPHEN THATCHER.
ARTICLE V.
CASTINE;
THE OLD COINS FOUND THEKE.
BY
JOSEPH WILLIAMSON,
THE CASTIN COINS.
ONE of the earliest settled localities in Maine, as well as
one of the most distinguished in our history, is the penin-
sula of Matchebiguatus, or Major Biguyduce, called by con-
traction Bagaduce, on which stands the village of Castine.
The origin and signification of this term have never been
satisfactorily explained. Palfrey's History of New Eng-
land intimates that " Point Bagaduce " was a name used as
early as 1642, but I can find no authority for such a state-
ment. An approximation to it appears in a deed dated
August, 1644, from Gov. Winslow to John Winthrop and
others, cited in a note to Winthrop's Journal, vol. 1, page
220, (Savage's edition), where the eastern possessions of
the Plymouth Company are referred to, as located "at
Matchebiguatus, in Penobscot." No such name is contained
in any^of the English or French documents relating to the
Castin family. In 1760, the infant settlement of the pres-
ent town of Castine was known as " Baggadoose." During
the Revolution, it was called " Maja Bagaduce/* and u Maje
Bigaduce," more frequently the latter. Gov. Sullivan, in his
History of Maine, repeatedly mentions " Bagaduce Point,"
and " Bagaduce Neck." His manner of spelling the word
is now the most common. Williamson's History, vol. ii.,
page 572, note, says " the peninsula, now Castine, originally
bore the name of a resident Frenchman, called Major Big-
108 THE CASTIN COINS.
uyduce" As authority for this statement, the letter of Col.
Jeremiah Wardwell, of Penobscot, dated March 21, 1820,
and the certificate of Capt. Joseph Man sell, of Bangor,
made June 27, 1831, are cited. Both papers are deposited
in the library of the Society. They constitute the only
support that a person named " Major Biguyduce " ever ex-
isted. Such an origin of the term is therefore erroneous.
The author of the History of Maine seems subsequently to
have been convinced of his mistake, for in one of his manu-
script books, I find the following : " Marcheba<ryduce, an
Indian word, meaning no good cove." Mr. Eaton, in his An-
nals of Warren, page 20, note, also says Bagaduce is an
Indian name, signifying " bad harbor." A tradition exists
that it expresses the idea of great sorrow or trouble, be-
cause, at a remote period, the upsetting of a canoe in the
swift current of the river, which flows above the peninsula,
caused great loss of life, and consequent sorrow or trouble.
Whatever may be the correct orthography of the word, no
other conclusion than that it is of Indian derivation can be
drawn. In support of which I can cite nothing more perti-
nent than the following extracts from a letter written rela-
tive to the matter, by the venerable Jacob M'Gaw, Esq., of
Bangor, one of the founders of our Society, addressed to
Hon. William Willis, under date of Aug. 5th, 1857.
"In my conversation with old Indians, I have learned from them that the
word Majebiguyduce (first syllable pronounced as in our word majesty) is
purely Indian, and is descriptive of the river \thich flows in front of the
beautiful town of Castine. All old Indians unite in defining Majebigaduce
as being ' a river having many large coves or bays.' One intelligent Indian
says that it expresses or includes the idea of the bar or ledge that crosses
the river about two or three miles above the village of Castine, and just be-
low two large bays at the head of the river, called Northern Bay and South-
era Bay. This ledge resembles a low dam, over which the tide water falls?
after about half tide, so as to render the navigation by large vessels or boats
difficult, until the obstruction made by the dam or ledge is overcome. As
the orthography of the word Major-biguyduce or Maje-bigaduce is altogeth-
THE CASTIN COINS. 109
cr arbitrary, 1 have only attempted to spell it as nearly in accordance with
the sound received as I can." l
The beauty and prominence of its situation, added to the
security and extent of its harbor, attracted the attention of
the first voyagers who sailed along our coast, and under the
name of Pentagoet, it was a well known place of resort to
the French fishermen, long before any settlement had been
effected north of Virginia. Champlain, who in 1604 en-
tered Penobscot Bay, and who may be regarded as the first
known white man who looked upon its spacious harbors and
verdant islands, gives a conspicuous designation to Penta-
goet 2 on the map which accompanies the account of his
voyages, and the same place is mentioned by Captain John
Smith, who visited it twelve years afterwards, as the princi-
pal habitation he saw at the northward. 3 According to
Bancroft, the first intelligible sounds of welcome which
greeted the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, were from
an Indian who had learned a little English of the fishermen
at Penobscot. 4
The Plymouth Company established a trading house at
Penobscot in 1630, 5 where they carried on an extensive
traffic with the natives, for five years, when D'Aulney, a sub-
ordinate commander under Razillai, the governor of Acadie,
took possession of the country by virtue of a commission
' I think the proper spelling of the word is Matche-Biguatus. Matche
means ba d, as Matckegon, the Indian name of the north-eastern end of
Portland, means bad clay, and includes Clay Cove. Matche, in all the New
England dialects, expresses something bad ; it is from Mat, no, not. In
the Narragansett, Matchit means naught, evil ; and in all its combinations
implies negation. What Biguatus means, I do not know. w.
2 Champlain's Map, Berjon's edition.
3 Coll. Mass. Hist Soc. iii. 21, 3d series.
* Bancroft's Hist. United States, i. 316.
5 Bradford's Hist. Plymouth Plan., Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii., 4th series.
110 THE CASTIN COINS.
from the king of France. Four years previous, the French
had obtained entrance into this trading house, by means ol
stratagem, and robbed it of goods to the value of five hund-
red pounds. An attempt was made by the Plymouth men
to displant the French, and regain their possession, but it
failed through the incapacity of the director of the expedi-
tion which was dispatched for that purpose. D'Aulney
erected a fort, and made Penobscot his fixed place of resi-
dence. After the death of Razillai. he became involved in
hostilities with La Tour, who had established himself at the
mouth of the river St. John, and who claimed that the gov-
ernment of Acadie had been rightfully delegated to him.
The bloody contentions of these rivals continued for many
years to disturb the tranquillity of the English settlements,
and form one of the most romantic passages in the history
of the new world. D'Aulney retained the control of Aca-
die until 1654, when it was conquered by the English. Col.
Temple, the first English governor, resided at Penobscot
after the French had left, and carried on a trade there. l By
the treaty of Breda, in 1667, it was restored to its former
owners, 2 and was by them retained for nearly a century.
BARON DE ST. CASTIN.
Although Penobscot is associated with the names of many
of the most prominent adventurers who appear in our early
history, that of Vincent de St. Castin is the most distin-
guished. He had been an officer in the body guard of the
king of France, and was a man of wealth and distinction.
Born near the Pyrenees, and accustomed to their wild and
1 Sullivan's Hist. Maine, 158.
2 Holmes' Am. Ann. i. 346.
BARON DE CASTIN. Ill
rugged scenery, the primeval forests of Acadie accorded
well with his eccentric disposition, and soon after arriving
at Quebec, in 1665, the regiment of which he was the com-
mander having been disbanded, he selected the pine clad
peninsula of Biguatus as his place of residence. On the
same spot which had previously been occupied by D'Aulney
and by Temple, he erected a fortified habitation, and for
over a quarter of a century carried on an extensive and
profitable trade ; receiving supplies of merchandise from
France, and exchanging them with the Indians for furs. La
Hontan estimated his profits to have been two or three hund-
red thousand crowns, 1 and Castin himself informed M.
Tibierge, in 1695, that eighty thousand livres could be an-
nually realized at Penobscot out of the beaver trade. 2 A
census of Acadie, taken in 1673, enumerates thirty-one
white persons, including soldiers, who were connected with
Castin's establishment. 3 He formed a close alliance with
the savages, by marrying the daughter of Madockawando,
their chief, and his influence over them was so great that
they regarded him as their tutelar god. Within his habita-
tion was a chapel, decorated with the emblems of the Cath-
olic church, and attended by several priests, whose solemn
rites and unintelligible ceremonies have never failed to im-
press a barbarous people. To the exertions of Castin may
be traced the origin of Catholicism among the Tarratines.
The extent of dominion and the wealth which Castin ac-
quired rendered him to the French a powerful ally, no less
than to the English a formidable adversary. A zealous
bigot in religion, he was the frequent instigator of hostili-
ties towards the Protestants, and on repeated occasions he
1 La Hontan, New Voyages, L 471.
a Memoir on Acadie by M. Tibierge, Oct. 1, 1695.
3 Coll. French MSS. Sec'y's Office, Boston, ii. 253.
112 THE CASTIN COINS.
took command of the Indians aided by reinforcements of
French troops, in expeditions against the New England set-
tlements. In several instances, however, the English were
the aggressors. King William's war, by some writers called
Castin's war, which was carried on between Massachusetts
and the eastern tribes from 1688 to 1697, originated in the
unprovoked robbery of Castin by the English. 1 In June,
1688, Sir Edmund Andros, Governor of Massachusetts,
without a reasonable pretext, and influenced only by a de-
sire of enlarging his power and of increasing his wealth,
proceeded to Penobscot in the frigate Eose. Entering the
harbor, he anchored before Castin's door, and sent his lieu-
tenant on shore to request an interview. The Baron,
suspecting that it was designed to make him prisoner, im-
mediately retired with his company from the peninsula, and
the Governor on landing found the house deserted. All
the arms and ammunition which the fort contained, together
with a quantity of merchandise and furniture, he placed on
board the Rose, and carried to Pemaquid, "in condemnation
of trading at Penobscot." The altar, pictures, and orna-
ments of the chapel were left undisturbed. Andros after-
wards sent word to Castin that every article seized should
be restored, if he would render allegiance to the English.
But the base act so exasperated him that he refused to
reply, and use(J his exertions to excite the Indians to hos-
tilities, which they commenced the following August. 2
During the war, the English burned all habitations on the
peninsula, obliging Castin and his servants " to hide their
merchandise far in the woods, so as to have it secure from
plunder." 3
1 Belk. Hist. N. H. 135.
2 Hutch. Hist. i. 330.
2 Memoir on Acadie, by M. Tibierge.
BABON DE CASTIN. 113
In 1703, while Castin was in France, the English again
visited his fort, which he had rebuilt, and plundered it of
all its most valuable articles. l The next year, Major
Church, in his fifth eastern expedition, killed or took cap-
tive all the inhabitants at Penobscot, both French and
Indians, " not knowing," as he says, " that any one did es-
cape." Among the prisoners was Castin's daughter, who
said her father had gone to reside on his estate in France. 2
Church also carried away all the valuables which could be
found.
Castin went to France in 170 1. 3 and probably never re-
turned to this country. His son by his Indian wife contin-
ued to reside at Penobscot, and for many years occupied an
influential position among the savages. In the office of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are let-
ters relative to Indian affairs, written as late as 1754, by
Joseph Dabadis de St. Castin, who was probably a grand-
son of the Baron. Nothing is known of any of the family
after that time. Some of them undoubtedly remained at
Penobscot until the commencement of the French war.
Gov. Pownall of Massachusetts, in 1759, took formal pos-
session of the peninsula in the name of the King, and
hoisted the English flag on Castin's fort. He found the
settlement deserted and in ruins. 4
It would be foreign to the object of the present article,
to give any extended account of the history of Penobscot.
It is sufficient to have traced the outlines of the principal
events which occurred while it was under the control, and
in the possession of the French, and especially during the
residence of the Castins.
1 Hist. Maine, ii. 42.
a Church's Fifth Exp. 261.
3 Copies of French MSS. in Sec'y's office, Boston, 5. 105.
4 Gov. Pownall's Journal.
114 THE CASTIN COINS.
The mention of the discovery of a large and valuable
collection of ancient coins in the immediate vicinity of Big-
uatus, is calculated to awaken all the interesting historical
associations which for a period of nearly two centuries are
connected with that locality, while the absence of even any
traditionary evidence of such a deposit or concealment
affords an opportunity for varied conjecture. It is proposed
to give an account of this treasure trove, and of the means
by which it was brought to light, and to make some sugges-
tions as to the cause of its long inhumation.
It was not on the peninsula that these coins were found,
nor within the limits of the town of Castine, but on the
banks or shore of the Bagaduce river, about six miles from
the site of Castin's fort, in the town of Penobscot. This
river, at its mouth, forms the harbor of Castine, and is nav-
igable for small vessels for several miles above the village.
At about six miles above, is a point called " Johnson's Nar-
rows," or " Second Narrows," where the water is of great
depth, and at certain periods of the tide forms a rapid
current. A path leads across the point, and from the
adaptation of the shore as a landing place, it is probable
that the usual passage from Biguatus to Mt. Desert, was up
this river as far as the narrows. Near the narrows the
coins were discovered.
The first indication of the hidden coins was perceived
at the close of one of the last days in November, 1840, by
Captain Stephen Grindle, on the farm he owned and occu-
pied at the Second Narrows, before described. While
engaged with his son, Samuel Grindle, in hauling wood down
the bank to the shore, the latter picked up a piece of mon-
ey near a rock which was partially buried in the ground.
The rock was on a side hill, and when uncovered, presented
..an irregular surface of about four square feet. Its situation
was some twenty-five yards from the shore, and in the di-
THE CASTIN COINS. 115
rect line of a beaten track through the bushes, which has
been used as a path across the point for a time beyond the
remembrance of the oldest inhabitants. At the termination
of this path on the shore, is an indentation or landing place,
well adapted for canoes, and the natural features and facil-
ities of the spot are confirmatory of a tradition that one of
the Indian routes from the peninsula to Mount Desert and
Frenchman's Bay was up the Bagaduce river, and from
thence across to Bluehill Bay. The land was very rocky,
and covered with a second growth of trees ; the original
growth having been cut about seventy-five years. At the
time the coins were found, Capt. Grindle, together with his
father-in-law, Mr. Johnson, had resided on the farm for over
sixty years. Portions of the top of the rock were embed-
ded in the soil to the depth of a foot, and a clump of alders
grew around. The appearance of the place is not now the
same as when the discovery was made. Repeated digging
has laid the rock bare to the depth of several feet, and the
side hill has washed away.
Upon finding the first coin, which proved to be a French
crown, Capt. Grindle and his son commenced digging away
the earth around the rock, and by the time it was dark, had
possessed themselves of eighteen or twenty additional
pieces. They then abandoned the search, intending to re-
new it on the following day. That night a severe snow
storm occurred, which covered the ground, and rendered
further investigations during the winter impracticable. Ear-
ly in the spring they resumed the examination. On the top
of the rock, embedded in the mass, one or two coins were
found, and upon striking a crowbar into the declivity, and
grubbing up the alders, they came upon a large deposit,
numbering some four or five hundred pieces of the currency
of France, Spain, Spanish America, Portugal, Holland, Eng-
land, and Massachusetts. Mr. Grindle's wife held her apron,
116 THE CASTIN COINS.
which her husband and son soon loaded with, as she after
wards remarked, " the best lapful she had ever carried."
The greater part of the money was found contiguous to the
rock, but many pieces were afterwards exhumed ten or
twelve feet distant. As several of the smaller coins ap-
peared to be scattered down the declivity, it was probable
that they were washed away by the action of the elements.
No vessel or covering, or remains of any, were found in
connection with the coins. Appearances indicated that the
deposit was originally made at the side of, or perhaps on
the rock, without any protection except a perishable one.
Many of the coins retained their original brilliancy, but
some were blackened and discolored by exposure to the
weather. Dr. Joseph L. Stevens, l of Castine, visited the
spot early in April, 1841, while Capt. Grin die was still en-
gaged in searching the ground, and several coins were dug
up in his presence. An opportunity was afforded him to
examine at his leisure the entire collection, before the own-
er had disposed of any portion, and to select the most per-
fect specimens of each variety which could be found. These,
seventeen in number, he paid for at the rate of old silver.
Other gentlemen secured similar samples ; but Dr. Stevens'
collection is the most complete that has been preserved.
!M ost of the coins were paid to a creditor of Capt. Grindle, and
ultimately found their way into the crucible of a silversmith.
The exact amount which their fortunate discoverer realized
probably exceeded five hundred dollars. No other money
has ever since been discovered at Johnson's Point, but the
extent of numerous excavations in its vicinity indicate that
the neighboring inhabitants believe that additional treasures
are yet concealed.
1 1 am indebted to Dr. Stevens for very valuable information in relation
to the coins. Without his kind assistance, it would have been impossible to
have prepared this article.
THE CASTIN COINS. 117
Most of the coins were French crowns, half-crowns, and
quarters, all of the reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.,
and bore various dates, from 1642 to 1682. With a few
exceptions they were bright and but little worn, and when
placed where they were found could not have been long in
circulation. Their excellent workmanship, compared with
that of English or Spanish coins of a similar date, shows
the superiority of the French in the arts, even at that pe-
riod. The regularity of the letters, and the general appear-
ance of each piece are but little inferior to those of the
present age. On the obverse of all these French coins is a
profile of the reigning sovereign, surrounded by the inscrip-
tion LVD-XIIL- (or XIV., according to the date,) D-G-
FR-ET-NAV-REX," for Ludovicus XIII. (or XIV.) Dei
Gratia Franciae et Navarrae Rex : " " Louis XIII. (or XIV.)
by the Grace of God King of France and Navarre." Some
of the specimens contain, between the letters G and FR, a
small figure, such as a star, lion, <fcc., indicating under whose
dictation the coinage took place. The profile on the crowns
bearing date 1652 represents the king as a child, while that
on those of 1680 exhibits the mature features of a stern
man. l The two would not be recognized as the face of the
same person. The reverse has the figure of a plain shield,
surmounted by a crown, with a legend extending around as
follows : SIT-NOMEN-DOMINlTBEtfEDIO TUM, that is,
" Blessed be the name of the Lord." The letter A, which
appears inverted before the last word on most of the pieces,
denotes the mint mark of Paris. 2 At the left of the top of
the shield is the date.
l Louis XIV., often styled the Great, ascended the throne in 1643, in the
fifth year of his age, under the regency of Anne of Austria, his mother. He
died after a reign of seventy-two years : one of the longest on the pages of
history.
a u The coinage of each of the French mints may be known by its mint-
118 THE CASTIN COINS.
French crowns of the time of Louis XI Y. are now sel-
dom to be found, except in the cabinets of numismatologists.
A few years ago they were occasionally brought from Cana-
da to the United States mint for recoinage, being so much
worn as to be no longer passable. l
A large part of the money, numerically considered, con-
sisted of the old Massachusetts or Pine Tree currency, of
which there were fifty or seventy-five shillings, and nearly
as many sixpences. They are of rude manufacture, very
thin, and not uniform in diameter. The intrinsic value of a
shilling, when unmutilated, is sixteen cents and two-thirds. 2
Both shillings and sixpences are simple in design. On one
side a double ring around the circumference encloses the
words " IN MASATHVSETS," and in the center is the fig-
ure of a pine tree. A similar ring on the reverse surrounds
the legend " NEW ENGLAND, AN DOM," that is, Anno
Domini. In the interior is the date, 1652, and beneath it
the figures XII. or VI., according to the value of each piece
in pence. This money was the first coined in the colonies,
and with the exception of similar coins issued in Maryland,
the only ones struck until the Revolution. The earliest
emissions of the Massachusetts mint hardly deserved the
name of money. 3 Their only inscriptions were the letters
NE for New England, and figures indicating the value. Such
rude impressions soon became the subject of fraudulent imi-
tations, and in a few months more elaborate designs were
substituted. Specimens of the first kind are exceedingly
rare, as their circulation was of short duration. All the
mark or letter ; that of Paris is the letter A," &c. Eckfeldt and Du Bois :
Manual of Coins, 55.
1 Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 57.
2 Dictionary of Coins.
3 Coll Mass. Hist. Soc., 2d series, ii. 274.
THE CASTIN COINS. 119
Pine Tree money bears the same date, yiz, 1652, although
the mint was in constant operation for nearly forty years
after. The reason of this is, that subsequent to the resto-
ration, the coining of money by the colonies was declared
an encroachment upon the royal prerogative, l and further
issues were forbidden. This order was evaded by retaining
the original date on all the pieces. 2 The Massachusetts
mint was probably discontinued at the commencement of
the reign of William and Mary, in 1688. Its products are
said to have been current in this country down to the Revo-
lution, although Judge Hutchinson, afterwards governor of
Massachusetts, in 1761 Sent a Pine Tree shilling and six-
pence to England, " as something of a curiosity." 3
The next largest proportion consisted of the clumsy,
shapeless Spanish coinage, commonly called " cob money "
or " cobs," and sometimes " cross money," from the figure
of a cross, which always characterizes it. The meaning of
the word " cqb " is unknown. In Mexico, this currency was
termed " maquina de papalote y cruz" that is, "windmill
and cross money." 4 None of the specimens appear to have
been made by machinery, but seem like lumps of bullion,
flattened and impressed by the means of a hammer. The
1 Soon after the accession of Charles II., Sir Thomas Temple, Governor
of Acadie, being at London, held an interview with the king, in the course
of which his majesty expressed great dissatisfaction against the people of
Massachusetts, for invading his right by coining money without authority.
Oov. Temple exhibited some of the coin to the king, who teeing the pine
tree, inquired what it was emblematical of. The immediate reply was that
it was a figure of the royal oak which saved his majesty's life. This answer
mollified the king, and induced him to favor the pleas which the Governor
made in behalf of the colony. Felt's Historical Account of Mass. Coin-
age, 38, 39.
a Barry, Hist, of Mass. i. 344, note.
3 Felt's Hist Account of Mass. Coinage, 49.
Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 119.
120 THE CASTIN COINS.
figures and inscriptions are extremely rough and imperfect,
and sometimes entirely illegible. The largest of these
coins were originally made for dollars, and when new were
of the lawful standard. Some of the specimens are what
old writers frequently called pieces of eight. Those among
the collection of Dr. Stevens are of different weight, and
present every variety of form except that of a circle. In
the center of the obverse are the pillars of Hercules, with
the letters " PLVS VLTRA," more beyond," crowded in
without regard to order, and around the circumference
"PHILIPPVS mi.," or CAROLYS II.," according to the
date. 1 The figure 8 between the pillars on one of the
largest pieces, and 2 on the smallest, indicate the value in
r6als. 2 On the side of the pillars are letters, which vary
according to the date, and are probably mint marks. The
reverse has a cross with arms of equal length, loaded at
the ends, and of an unusual form, resembling the fan of a
windmill. 3 The legend which surrounds the fc exterior, but
which is usually mutilated by clipping, was originally D-
G-HISPANIARVM ET INDIARYM REX," "By the
Grace of God King of the Spains 4 and of the Indies."
There are mint marks at the ends of the cross, similar to
those on the opposite side. Some of the specimens have a
date on each side, which generally omits the thousandth
and hundredth parts, so that " 78 " and " 82 " on the pieces
1 Philip IV., of Spain, reigned from 1621 to 1662, and was succeeded by
his son Charles II., who continued on the throne until 1700.
2 The Spanish real varies in value from twelve and a half cents down to
ten, according to the time of its coinage.
3 Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 119.
4 By the marriage of Ferdinand of Arragon to Isabella of Castile, in
1469, the two kingdoms of Arragon and Castile were united, and afterwards
called" The Spains."
THE CASTIN COINS. 121
preserved are meant for 1678, and 1682. The full date,
1659, appears on another piece.
One of the cob dollars differs in some particulars from
those already described. It is so much worn and battered
that the inscriptions are almost obliterated. Instead of
pillars, the obverse has a shield enclosing the national arms.
The letter G and M, surmounted by 0, are the only ones
which remain, the latter being the mint mark of Mexico,
showing that the coinage took place in that city. l This
coin is probably the oldest one in the collection.
Among the Spanish coins were a few pillar dollars, which
in size and execution resemble the cob money. The one
secured by Dr. Stevens is of a hexagonal shape, and is much
worn and clipped. The inscriptions upon the obverse are
somewhat confused by having received two impressions from
the same die. A double circle contains the legend " PHIL-
IPPVS IIH. D-G," and within are the arms of Spain, en-
closed in a shield. The value in re'als is indicated by the
letters VIII. at the right. On the reverse is " HISPANIA-
RVM ET INDIARYM REX," as on the cob dollars. The
pillars of Hercules, each surmounted by a crown, with
" PLVS VLTRA " below, occupy the center. At the right
of the pillars is the date, 1657. The letters " ORM " at
the left hand, and OR beneath, are mint-marks.
Some Spanish half dollars, or pieces of four re'als, were
also found. These were made in Spain, and are superior in
form and manufacture to the coinage of the colonies. 2 They
appear to have been impressed by means of machinery, al-
1 Eckfeldtand Du Bois, 119.
2 The silver coins of Spain and Spanish America are obviously distin-
guished : those of the Peninsula have on the reverse the national arms en-
closed in a shield, while the coins of the colonies have the two pillars. Eck-
feldtand Du Bois, 119.
122 THE CASTIN COINS.
though the edges remain uneven. The obverse has a shield,
like the pillar dollar. The surrounding legend is the same as
that on the cob dollar of 1659. On the right of the shield
is IIIL, the number of re*als, and the letter E, which is a
mint-mark, occupies the other side. On the reverse is the
date, 1640, and "HISPANIARYM KEX." The omission
of the remaining part of the inscription which the other
Spanish coins contain denotes that this piece is not of Amer-
ican coinage. A plain cross, quartering the national arms,
fills the center. Between two of the arms of the cross the
figures 300, enclosed in a parallelogram, are impressed in
such a manner as to efface a part of the legend.
There were several pieces of Portuguese money found.
That preserved by Dr. Stevens is a twenty reis piece, and
in size and shape resembles an old-fashioned pistareen. Its
value by weight is twenty-two cents and a half. The in-
scriptions and figures are quite simple. The obverse has a
plain shield surmounted by a crown, with a cypher on each
side to signify its value in reis. Around the edge is the
legend IOANNES-IIII D-G-REX-PORTVGALIE," that is,
" John IV., by the Grace of God King of Portugal." On
the reverse a double circle contains the motto " IN-HOC-
SIGNO-YINCES," By this sign thou shalt conquer." A
plain cross with arms of equal length fills the center, with
the letter P at each angle, which are probably mint-marks.
There is no date, but from the name of the sovereign, which
is impressed upon the obverse, it must have been coined be-
tween 1630 and 1636. l
A few Belgic coins were found among the collection,
all three guilder pieces, and also several rix dollars of Hol-
land. One of the latter bore a date anterior to that of the
landing of the Pilgrims. That which Dr. Stevens selected
1 John IV. was proclaimed king of Portugal in 1630, and died in 1636.
THE CASTIN COINS. 123
was struck in 1641, and is well preserved. In weight
and size it resembles a modern Mexican dollar. The ob-
verse has the figure of a knight in armor, his left arm rest-
ing upon a shield which encloses the figure of a lion rampant,
the arms of the confederacy. Extending around is the le-
gend MO ARG-PRO-CONFOE-BELG-GELD," for "Mo-
neta argentea provinciae confoerationis Belgicae," or trans-
lated, "Silver money of Gelderland, a province of the
Belgic confederacy." 1 The figure of a lion rampant oc-
cupies the reverse, with the motto " CONFIDENS-DNO-
NON MOVETVR," the contracted word being DOMINO,
and the whole translated "being "He that trusts in the Lord
is not moved." 2
The three-guilder piece is larger than the rix dollar. Its
value in our currency is one dollar and seventeen cents.
The figure on the obverse is that of a female leaning her
left arm on a pedestal, that encloses a device that is too
much defaced to be distinguished. Around is the legend
"HANG TVEMVR, HAG NITIMVR," i. e., "This we
support, on this we depend." The reverse has a shield,
surmounted by a crown. Within the shield are the figures
of two lions rampant. Over the crown is the date, 1682,
and on the side of the shield "3 G," for Three Guilders.
The surrounding legend is " MO-NO-ARGENT-ORDIN-
WESTF," or " New common silver money of West Fries-
land."
1 " The coinage of the Netherlands displays something of the intricacy of
its political history. Several series of coins were minted contemporaneous-
ly, for many years previous to the Revolution. Each of the seven provinces
had its own mint, but the variety in the coinage is not materially due to this
feet, since, in most cases, they conformed to a common standard, making on-
ly a difference in the legend." Eckfeldt and Du Bois, 91.
a Charles Folsom, Esq., late librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, furnished
me with the correct reading of this inscription. .
124 THE CASTIN COINS.
It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance, taking into
consideration the extensive intercourse which the American
colonies always maintained with England, that among so
many and so various coins, but a single piece of the money
of that nation was found in the collection. This was a
shilling, of the reign of Charles L, and is one of the speci-
mens belonging to Dr. Stevens. It has evidently seen some
service, but is in a tolerably perfect condition. The obverse
of this piece bears a profile head of the king, crowned and
facing the left, with the figure X1L, denoting the value in pence,
behind the head. The surrounding inscription is "CAROLVS
I.D-G-MAG-BRI-FRA-ET-HIB-REX," CarolusL, Dei Gra-
tia Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, et Hiberniae Rex," that is,
" Charles L, by the Grace of God King of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland." Immediately over the profile is the
mint-mark, a diamond enclosed in a circle. On the reverse
are the royal arms quartered on a plain shield. Separated
by a circle is the motto CHRISTO AYSPICE REGNO,"
" I reign under the auspices of Christ." There is no date
on either side. According to Snelling, l the mint-mark on
this piece was first used June 15th, 1641, and as Charles I.
was executed seven years afterwards, the coin must have
been struck between 1641 and 1649. The reverse of all
the money coined during the reign of Charles L, from the
penny to the crown, has the royal arms impressed. 2 In the
first issues they were enclosed in a square shield, quartered
by a cross. The edges of this coin are slightly mutilated
by the process of clipping, an evil which became of fearful
magnitude in England after the restoration. Macauley says
that till the reign of Charles II. the art of milling, or manu*
facturing coin with a raised inscription around the edge,
1 Snelling : View of Silver Coin and Coinage in England, 36.
2 Kelly's Cambist.
THE OASTIN COINS. 125
was not employed, and that the English money was struck
by a process many generations old. The metal was divided
with shears, and afterwards shaped and stamped by the
hammer. A disparity in weight and size was therefore
common ; few pieces were exactly round, and there was no
impression upon the edges. Clipping a half penny worth
of silver from each shilling became a common and lucrative
species of fraud, and the most rigorous laws were enacted
for its prevention. The evil was remedied by calling in all
the defaced money, and recoining it by the means of ma-
chinery. l
Many conjectures and 'opinions have been raised to ac-
count for the deposit of these coins in the place where Capt.
Grindle found them, but the most satisfactory conclusion
which can be arrived at, is that they originally belonged to
the Baron St. Castin. This is rendered probable from the
location where they were discovered, from their age, and
from the fact that a great proportion of them were of French
manufacture. Johnson's Narrows are exactly in the route
which it is reasonable to suppose Castin would have taken
to escape from the English when his residence was attacked
by them. It has been shown in another part of this article
that the peninsula was repeatedly invaded during King "Wil-
liam's war, and the Baron obliged to fly to the woods for
safety. Probably it was on the occasion of one of these
invasions that the treasure was lost or concealed. On the
approach of the enemy Castin placed his most valuable
articles in canoes and retreated with them up the river to
the Narrows, and from thence crossed over to Frenchman's
Bay or to Mount Desert. In the haste of conveyance, the
coins, enclosed in a covering which was not proof against
the action of the elements, were either lost, or laid down
1 Macauley's Hist Eng. ir. 562, 563.
126 THE CASTIN COINS.
for some temporary purpose on the rock where they were
found. l If it had been intended to conceal them, the earth
would have been removed and a more substantial envelope
provided. As none of the coins bore date subsequent to
1688, 2 it was probably between that year and the Peace of
Eyswick, in 1698, that they were lost. The treasure there-
fore remained undisturbed for nearly a century and a half. 3
1 Mr. William Hutchins, who is the oldest inhabitant of Penobscot, stated
in 1855, that when he was young, he knew a man named Conolley, who in-
formed him that a great many years ago, he found near Johnson's Narrows,
at the shore, a chest or box covered over with moss, as if it had been exposed
for a long time to the weather. Upon opening it, he found remains of goods.
2 In 1852, there was picked up on the site of Castin's fort, a French half
crown, of the same appearance as those discovered by Mr. Grindle.
3 Penobscot is not the only place in the eastern part of Maine where hid-
den money has been found. About fifteen years ago, in the town of Sullivan,
at the head of Frenchman's Bay, a farmer in plowing a neck of land in
front of where the " Ocean House " now stands, turned out an old earthen
pot containing nearly four hundred dollars worth of French crowns and hah*
crowns, all bearing date about 1724. [Machias Union, July 8, 1856.] The
coin wore a bright appearance, but the pot crumbled in its contact with the
plow. This money was sold to a silversmith in Boston, but before it all
found its way into the crucible, William G. Stearns, Esq., of Harvard Col-
lege, secured some specimens, which are preserved with his valuable collec-
tion of coins.
ARTICLE VI.
REMARKS ON COINS
FOUND AT
PORTLAND IN 1849, AND RICHMOND'S ISLAND IN 1855 ;
WITH A
GENERAL NOTICE OF COINS AND COINAGE.
BY WM, WILLIS,
OLD COINS IN PORTLAND.
IN the summer of 184$, two old and rare coins were
found at different times, and in different places, in the city
of Portland. They were "lying under the soil, and were
accidentally brought once more to light in the process of
cultivation.
But in May, 1855, a still more valuable discovery was
made at Richmond's Island, in the vicinity of Portland, by
which a quantity of coin of the reigns of Elizabeth, James L,
and Charles L, of England, and a valuable signet ring, which
had been buried for many years, were restored, in good
preservation, to the uses and curiosity of the present gen-
eration.
I propose to place on the records of the Historical Soci-
ety, a description of these several treasures, with some
historical facts and associations connected with them, and
to deposit specimens of the coin in the archives of the
Society.
The first piece was turned up in June, 1 849, in the garden
of the Hon. William P. Fessenden, on State Street, by his
gardener. When he first saw it, he supposed it to be an
old copper, but being cleansed, it appeared to be a silver
sixpence of the reign of Elizabeth, bearing date "1579."
About a fourth part of the coin had been eaten away by the
130 OLD COINS IN PORTLAND.
rust ; the remainder was in good preservation, and the fig-
ures and inscriptions very plain.
Several coinages of gold and silver took place in the
reign of Elizabeth, of a purer metal than were in circula-
tion before. Her father had considerably debased the coin
in the latter part of his reign, but she restored its standard.
The gold coin of her reign consisted of sovereigns, worth
twenty shillings ; nobles, fifteen shillings ; angels and crowns,
worth ten shillings. The impression upon all the coinage
of her reign \*as the same, and consisted of her effigy in
armor and ruff, hair disheveled, and crowned with the im-
perial or double crown. The silver coin consisted of
crowns, half crowns, shillings, sixpences, groats, equal
to four pence, threepences, twopences, half pennies, and
farthings; as there had been no copper or brass coin-
age before the reign of James I., she was obliged to go into
this minute system to supply the demand for a circulating
medium. One pound weight of standard silver, that is,
eleven ounces, two pennyweights of pure silver, and eight-
een pennyweights of alloy, the same as now used, was
coined into sixty shillings, parts of a shilling, &c., of the
value of three pounds sterling.
LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE COINS.
The piece now under consideration is one of her six-
pences, and has the impressions and mottos the same as
upon the gold coin. On the face, is the head of the Queen
and half bust, in armor, a masculine effigy, a crown, but not
the imperial, and a rose behind the head, an emblem handed
down from the time of Edward III., who first introduced
that device upon the gold noble, thence called the rose no-
ble, which was of the value of six shillings eight pence. In
the piece referred to, the words remaining on the front are
DESCRIPTION OF THE COIN. 131
BETH. D. G. ANG. FR. et HI. RE. On the perfect coin
the title is Elizabeth D. G. Ang. Fr. et Hi. Regina. On the
reverse are the arras of England and France quartered on
a shield, that is, three lilies on each of two diagonal quar-
ters and three lions passant on the opposite quarters, over
which is the date 1579, being the twenty- first year of her
reign. The part of the motto remaining is VTOREM. MEV.
The perfect motto is Posui Deum Adjutorem Meum] I
have made God my Helper ; which was first adopted by Ed-
ward III., and continued by all his successors until the union
of the crowns of England and Scotland under James I.
The piece at the time it was found, was two hundred and
seventy years old, and had lain in the soil, probably, more
than one hundred and fifty years, and yet the impressions
were distinct, and the coin in good preservation except the
portion which had been eaten off by rust. It was found in
a part of the garden which had been but a few years under
cultivation, and was that year spaded unusually deep. The
question now arises, how came this coin there ?
All that part of the town was, until about fifty years be-
fore the coin was discovered, in a state of nature, covered
with a forest or overrun with bushes. Previous to the first
Indian war, in 1675, there was a settlement at Clark's point,
a little west of the foot of State Street, and about one-third
of a mile from the place of discovery. Michael Mitton,
who married the only child of George Cleeves, the first
settler of Portland, came there as early as 1637, estab-
lished himself at Clark's point, and received from his father-
in-law a grant of all that part of the town, extending across
Back Cove and including a portion of the Deering farm..
One of his daughters, Elizabeth, named from her mother,
married Thaddeus Clark, from whom the point was named,
and whose blood flows in the veins of the Tyngs by the
marriage of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, with Capt. Ed-
132 OLD COINS IN PORTLAND.
ward Tyng, a man of high note in the early affairs of Mas-
sachusetts and Maine. Another daughter married Thomas
Brackett, and a third, Anthony Brackett, who owned and
lived on the Deering farm. All the western part of the
town, from below High street, except the Brarahall farm,
which Cleeves conveyed to Hope Allen in 1660, 1 is held
at the present day under that ancient title, from Sir F.
Gorges to Cleeves, from Cleeves to Mitton, and from his
descendants to its thousands of modern proprietors.
In 1680, at the close of the first Indian war, Capt. Tyng
came to Falmouth, married Clark's daughter, and received
a conveyance of forty-four acres, extending from Fore river
near tke western railroad station, north-westerly to a point
beyond Main Street, including both Park and State Streets.
On this tract, near the bank of the river, where York Street
runs, were three houses, in one of which Tyng lived. Pierre
Baudouin, better known under his English name, Peter
Bowdoin, the Huguenot ancestor of the founder of Bowdoin
College, of Gov. Bowdoin, and the present Winthrop fam-
ily of Boston, also had a house in the neighborhood, and
lived there until the second Indian war broke out in 1689,
when the whole settlement was again overthrown and de-
stroyed. The land where Park and State Streets are, came,
partly by descent and partly by purchase, to Edward, only
son of Capt. Edward Tyng, who in 1729, conveyed the
eastern, half to his kinsman, John Tyng, and he in 1736, to
Dr. Eliphalet Hale, then resident there. Dr. Hale sold it
to Richard Codman, and he to Thomas Robison and his
partner, Reed, who built the house on the corner of Park
and Congress Streets, where they kept store, which has
since been greatly enlarged, and is now occupied by the Miss-
1 The original deed, on parchment, from Cleeves to Allen, is now in my
possession. w.
LOCATION OF THE COIN. 133
es Jones, as a boarding house. They opened a street through
their lot from Congress Street to the river, first called Ann,
now Park Street. Reed sold his part to John May, of Bos-
ton, who opened a store in the same house. May conveyed
to William Gray, of Boston, who had a ropewalk upon it,
extending from Congress to Gray Street, Gray parcelled
out the land to individuals, and the Park Street Proprie-
tary, between 1830 and 1838. The western half of the
forty-four acres descended to the heirs of Edward Tyng
and it came to the hands of his son William, who sold it to
Joseph H. Ingraham, and he, in 1799, opened State Street
through it 99 feet wide, and built the first house on the new
street, one of the most elegant in town, in 1801, which was
owned and occupied by the late Judge Preble. A lot was
sold by him to Judge Mellen, who in 1807 erected the
house upon it, which is now owned by Mr. Fessenden, in
the garden of which, the coin under consideration was
found.
Although I have dwelt so long upon a deduction of the
title, I have not yet reached the answer to the question,
how came the money there ? It is evident, that as no such
coin has circulated in this country for, probably, near one
hundred and fifty years, it must have been dropped there
at a very early period in the history of our town. Per-
haps the Bracketts, or Clarks, in passing across the town
in their visits to each other, or the Tyngs, or the men in
the employment of the owners of the soil, in cutting wood
or timber, may have lost it; or soldiers in the Indian wars,
in scouring these woods in pursuit of the enemy; for
Church tells us, in his account of the hot battle he fought
with the French and Indians, at Back Cove Creek, in 1689,
that he crossed over the hill with a detachment, toward
Clark's point, to intercept the enemy and to attack him in
the rear; or lastly, it may have escaped from the pouch of
134 OLD COINS IN PORTLAND.
some Indian, wandering over the hill, or concealing himself
from pursuit in the recesses of the forest. We can arrive
at no nearer solution.
COIN OF THE BELGIAN PROVINCES.
The second coin mentioned at the beginning of this arti-
cle was found in August, 1849, on a vacant lot on the corner
of Brackctt and Vaughan streets, in Portland. It proved
on examination to be a two and a half guilder piece, or rix
dollar of the old seven United Provinces, dated 1655, and
equal to one dollar and five mills of our money. It was
sometimes called the " leg dollar," from the fact, as is sup-
posed, of the military figure upon it being on foot, and show-
ing only one leg. On the face of the coin is the efiigy of a
knight in armor, one of whose legs is hidden by a shield,
which has a lion rampant upon it. Around the border is
the legend, of which the following letters only can be traced :
MO. AR. CON. BEL. The perfect inscription is " Mo.
Arg. ConfoB. Belg. Prov." which translated is " Silver
money of the confederate Belgian Provinces ; " to this was
added the name of the province in which it was coined, each
province having its own mint, as Holl. for Holland, Tra.
for Trajecta the ancient name for Utrecht, Tran. for
Overyssel, Gel. for Gueldre, &c. The name of the prov-
ince on the present coin cannot be deciphered. On the
reverse the figure and letters are still more obscure ; the
figure cannot be traced at all, and but few of the letters ;
the coin must have been very much worn before it was
dropped. The date " 1655 " is pretty well preserved, and
the following letters can be read, IDEN. UNO ON. The
motto on the perfect coin is " Confiden. Uno Non Move-
tur? which freely translated is, " If each one is true, the
union will not be disturbed ; " and like our motto u E Flu-
AMERICAN COINAGE. 135
ribus Unum" has reference to the union of the provinces.
The same motto is on the coin of each province. The coin
is hammered, not milled.
That part of the town in which this piece was found is
less than a quarter of a mile from the locality of the one
last described. The tract had not been cultivated, had been
formerly overgrown with woods and bushes, and could have
been frequented in early times, when the coin found a rest-
ing place, only by hunters, wood cutters, or warriors. The
Dutch coin was probably brought over by Frenchmen, and
may have been lost when the French and Indians invaded
the town in 1689 ; they certainly passed over that hill; or
it may have been dropped by some Huguenot as he roamed
over that part of the town previous to the Indian war.
What man will be so bold as to say that the double guilder of
1655 did not once adorn the pocket of Peter Bowdoin, or his
son-in-law, Stephen Boutineau, or Philip le Bretton, or did
not pass from the hand of some French priest to that of his
Indian convert, to repose for one hundred and fifty years,
through perio Js of bitter conflict, of change of empires, and
revolutions, to arise in a new and more hopeful republic
than that in which it first came into being ?
AMERICAN COINAGE.
The notice that was taken of the discovery of these two
pieces, at the time, led to the disclosure of other valuable
coins in the hands of our citizens : among which were the
" pine tree shilling " and " pine tree threepence " of Mas-
sachusetts, and the "Washington cent." The history of
this cent is rather curious : the managers of the mint, in
1783, which was not then a national institution, but under
tire management of the Board of Treasury/ out of compli-
ment to Washington, and without authority of law, struck off
136 AMERICAN COINAGE.
a quantity of cents with the head of Washington, wreathed
in laurel, stamped upon them. Around the head were the
words "Washington and Independence," underneath, the
date, "1783." On the reverse, in the field " One Cent,"
surrounded by a wreath, and around the margin, ' United
States of America." This greatly offended the modesty of
Washington, and by his intervention the issue was immedi-
ately suppressed. It is against both the genius and practice
of republican governments to place the effigy of the political
chief upon their coins. A few of these, however, escaped
into circulation, but are now extremely rare, and are gree-
dily sought after by curious collectors.
Prior to the mint system under the present constitution,
there was no national establishment in which coins were
struck by the United States. Copper coins had been fur-
nished under a contract of the Treasury Board, and were
issued in several States, as New Jersey, Connecticut, Mas-
sachusetts, and Vermont; no gold or silver having been
coined. In 1782 Congress approved of the establishment of
a mint; in 1786 an ordinance passed for the purpose of es-
tablishing one, and regulating the alloy and value of coin.
But nothing effectual was done until the constitution went
into operation. The coinage of silver at the mint com-
menced in 1794, and of gold in 1795.
The pine tree shilling and threepence are, if possible
more rare. In the early settlement of the colonies, the
metalic currency was chiefly of British and Spanish coinage,
and was so scarce that exchanges were made, as in times
anterior to the invention of coin, in various other articles,
as wampum, beads, shells, skins, tobacco, corn, &c. At
length Massachusetts, in 1652, established a mint for the
coinage of silver, to meet the necessities of the colony,
without the sanction of the home government. They
issued shillings, six and threepences, of irregular shape
RICHMOND'S ISLAND. 137
and rudely stamped, which continued for nearly thirty
years, until it was prohibited by the government in Eng-
land. These coins, on one side have a coarse impression of
a pine tree, which gave them their name, with the inscrip-
tion, " In Masathusetts ; " on the other side, in the center,
is " 1652," and around the border the words "An. Do. New
England." They all bear one date, although coined in dif-
ferent years. The mint value of the shillings is sixteen
cents and two-thirds, the parts in proportion.
COIN DISCOVERED AT RICHMOND'S ISLAND.
But the most remarkable discovery of coin which has tak-
en place among us, was made on the eleventh of May,
1855, at Richmond's Island. The impression has prevailed,
with more or less intensity, for two hundred years, that
money is concealed upon the islands on our coast, left there
by pirates who in former years frequented our seas. It
cannot be denied that this recent discovery has given new
force to these rumors, and deepened to conviction the vague
impressions which had almost lost their hold upon the imag-
inations of visionary men.
Richmond's Island lies off the southern shore of Cape
Elizabeth, the nearest point half a mile distant. It is about
a mile long and three quarters of a mile wide at the broad-
est part, and contains a little more than two hundred acres.
The first settlement made upon this island of which we
have any account, was by Walter Bagnall, in 1628 j he car-
ried on a profitable trade with the Indians, and was killed
by them for his extortion, Oct. 3, 1631. Winthrop, in his
journal, says he accumulated a large property, four hundred
pounds, by his traffic. Bagnall occupied without title. On
Dec. 1, 1631, the council of Plymouth granted the island
and the whole southern part of Cape Elizabeth, from Cam-
138 RICHMOND'S ISLAND.
mock's patent of Black Point to Casco Bay, to Robert Tre-
lawny and Moses Goodyeare, merchants of Plymouth, Eng-
land, and sent the patent over to John Winter, their agent,
who was one of the adventurers, to the extent of one-
tenth, to establish a trading house, and conduct the opera-
tions of the plantation. Winter took possession of the
grant at once, and entered upon a large business. He built
a ship there immediately, probably the bark Richmond, of
thirty tons, and sent to Europe, lumber, fish, furs, oil, &c.,
and received in return, wines, liquors, guns, ammunition, and
articles necessary for the Indian trade, and to sustain the
colony. Several ships were employed in the trade; the
names of some of them were the Agnes, Richmond, Her-
cules, and Margery. In 1635, a ship of eighty tons, and a
pinnace of ten tons arrived at the island. In 1638, Winter
had sixty men employed there in the fishing business, and
the same year Trelawny sent a ship of three hundred tons
laden with wine and spirits to the island. In 1639, Winter
sent home in the bark Richmond, six thousand pipe staves,
valued at eight pounds, six shillings a thousand. The place
was, for twelve years -from 1633 to 1645, the latter be-
ing the year of Winter's death one of the most important
for its trade upon this coast. An Episcopal Church was
established there, over which Richard Gibson, an educated
man, presided from 1637 to 1640, when he was succeeded
by Rev. Robert Jordan. Jordan married Winter's only
daughter, inherited his estate, and is the ancestor of the
numerous race which bears his name throughout this State
and far beyond.
Trelawny, the principal patentee, died in 1644, and Win-
ter in 1645 ; from that time the plantation declined ; its trad-
ing operations were abandoned, and probably the island
itself; for Jordan established himself on the mainland, near
the mouth of the Spurwink river, and there were no persons
remaining to sustain its commercial character.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COIN. 139
Having given this general historical view, we will pro-
ceed to describe the deposit, and its particular location.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COIN.
The oldest of the coin is silver, of the reign of Elizabeth,
of which there are four one-shilling pieces, sixteen sixpenc-
es, one groat or four-penny piece, and two half groats. All
these pieces, as was the case with the whole silver coinage
of Elizabeth, bear the same effigy, title, and motto. They
are as follows: On the face is the head of the Queen
crowned ; the rose an old emblem behind it ; around
it her title, "ELIZABETH D : G. ANG:FR:ET:HIB :
REGL," that is, " Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queen of
England, France, and Ireland." On the reverse are the
arms of England, France, and Ireland, quartered on a shield,
traversed by a cross, around which is the motto : " POSYI
DEV. ADIVTOREM MEV.," i.e., Posui Deum Adju-
torem Meum I have made God my helper." This motto
was first adopted by Edward III., and continued to be used
till the time of Charles I. On some of the coin, the title
and motto are abridged. The shillings have no date, but
all the sixpences and some of the smaller pieces have
the date of coinage over the shield, and on the present
collection it extends from 1564, the seventh year of the
reign of Elizabeth, to 1593. In her reign both the date
and milling the coin were first introduced, but neither was
uniformly followed by her or by her immediate successors.
The shillings of this and the two subsequent reigns are of
uniform size, and their weight and value nearly correspond
with those of the Spanish quarter dollar, but they are broad-
er and thinner.
Of the reign of James I., there are four one-shilling
pieces, and one sixpence ; the shillings are not dated, the
140 DESCRIPTION OF THE COIN.
sixpence bears date 1606, the fourth year of his reign. The
title, motto, and bust on the three pieces are the same ; on
the face is the head of the king crowned, behind it, on the
shilling pieces are the figures XIL, and on the sixpence YL,
to indicate their current value. Around on the outside of
the head is the title, "IACOBVS D : G. MAG:BRI:FR:
ET HIB : REX," that is, "Jacobus, Dei Gratia Magna3 Brit-
annise, Francise, et Hiberniae Rex, James, by the grace of
God King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland." On the
reverse is a plain shield, without the cross, on which are
quartered the arms of England, Scotland, France, and Ire-
land, around it is the legend or motto " Quce Deus con-
junxitnemoseparet What God hath joined let no man
put asunder," referring to the union of the English and
Scotch crowns. 1 On the first coinage in this reign, the title
was " Jacobus, D. G. Anglae, Scotise, Fr., et Hib. rex," in the
second the words* " Mag. Brit., Great Britain " were substi-
tuted for England and Scotland. The change took place in
1604, when he assumed the style of King of Great Britain.
The shilling pieces in this collection were coined before
June, 1605, as is indicated by the lily, which was the mint-
mark down to that time. The sixpence has the escallop
shell, which was the mint-mark from July, 1606, to June,
1607.
Of the reign of Charles L, there are but one shilling and
one sixpence. On their face, they bear the impression of
the king's bust, crowned ; behind the head, the figures indi-
cating the value, XIL, on the shilling, and VI., on the six-
pence. The sixpence is dated 1625, the first year of the
1 This motto James borrowed, with a slight change, from the beautiful
crown which his mother Mary caused to be coined in honor of her marriage
with Henry, Lord Darnley, which took place in 1561. It had their busts
upon it, and the legend " Quos Deus conjunxit, homo not separet." James
varied it so as to apply to crowns instead of persons.
THE GOLD COINS. 141
rekrn ; the shilling has no date. For this singular fact, that
in all cases in the three reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and
Charles I , only the smaller pieces are dated, we cannot ac-
count. The title is " Carolus D. G. Mag. Br. Fr. et Hi.
Rex" i. e., " Charles, by the Grace of God, King of Great
Britain, France, and Ireland." On the reverse are the
Union Arms, quartered as in the preceding reign ; but on
the shilling the shield is traversed by a cross, its four arms
extending to the circumference. The motto is a new one
adopted by Charles, " Christo auspice regno ; " "I reign
under the auspices of Christ."
GOLD COINS.
The number of gold coins in the collection is twenty-one :
of which ten are sovereigns or units of the reign of James
L, and of the value of twenty shillings ; three are half sov-
ereigns or double crowns, of the value of ten shillings each ;
seven are sovereigns of the reign of Charles I. ; and one is
a Scottish coin of the last year of the reign of James, as
king of Scotland only. This is the oldest in the collection
of gold coins, and is dated 1602, and of the size and value
of the half sovereign or double crown. On one side of the
piece are a sword and scepter, crossed at an acute angle ;
between the points at the top is a crown ; opposite, on the
under part, between the hilt of the sword and the handle of
the scepter is the date 1602; on each side is the national
emblem, the thistle ; the motto around these emblems is
" Salus Populi Suprema Lex" i. e., " The safety of the
people is the supreme law." On the other side is a lion
rampant on a shield ; a rose over the crown, and around it
the title '"IACOBVS 6, D. G. R. SCOTORVM," that is
' James VI., by the Grace of God King of the Scots." This
is a beautiful coin, and in a fine state of preservation.
142 THE GOLD COINS.
The sovereigns and crowns are subsequent to his acces-
sion to the English throne ; two of them are of the descrip-
tion which the king denominated units, from their being the
first issued under the United Crowns. On their face they
represent the king in armor, crowned, and holding the globe
and scepter, around which is the title, " Jacobus D. G.
Mag. Brit. Fran, et Hib.>Rex" On the reverse is a shield,
with the arms of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland,
quartered and surmounted by the crown. On one side of
the shield is the letter I., on the other, R., which I suppose '
stand for Jacobus Rex. The motto is " Faciam eos in
Gentem Unam I will make them one nation ; " hence the
name units or united. The mint-stamp is an escallop shell,
indicating its coinage to be prior to June, 1607.
The other eight of the sovereigns are units, and a later
coinage ; having the king's head crowned with laurels in the
Roman style, for the first time on English coins ; they have
the same title or motto as those last described. Behind
the head are the figures XX., designating their value, twenty
shillings. These were called laurels, from the laurel wreath
on the head.
The crowns have an impression similar to that on the
sovereigns first described, except that the motto on the re-
verse is different, viz : " Henricus Rosas, Regna Jacobus,"
the meaning of which is probably this, that Henry, meaning
Henry YIL, united the roses, James united the kingdoms j
not the only instance of vanity which this pedant king ex-
hibited. These have also the letters I. R. on the sides of
the shield. The gold coinage of James I. consists of rose
rials, of thirty shillings' value ; spur rials, fifteen shillings ;
units, twenty shillings ; angels and crowns, ten shillings j
and half crowns, five shillings.
The last of the series of gold coins are seven of the reign
of Charles L, all of the denomination of sovereigns or units,
THE KING LQCATION. 143
and of the same coinage. They represent the head of the
king, crowned and youthful, with a double ruff round his
neck, and a robe over his shoulders ; the figures XX. behind
his head, and the title " Carolus D. G. Mag. Br. Fr. et
Hib. Rex" On the reverse a new motto is introduced,
"Florent Concordih Regna" i. e., "Nations flourish by
peace," in the center the national arms, quartered as usual
on a shield, surmounted by a crown.
None of the gold coins have dates, and all the coins, both
silver and gold, are much thinner and broader than modern
coin of similar value. The impressions are clear and dis-
tinct, especially upon the gold coins, which are less worn
than the silver, and nearly as bright as when issued.
THE RING.
The ring is a wedding signet ring of fine gold, weighing
eight pennyweights and four grains. The signet is oval,
six-eighths of an inch by five-eighths in size. On the outer
side of the surface is an ornamental border, in the center
the letters G. V. ; a cord passes between the initials, with a
tie at the top and a love knot at the bottom. Inside is
engraved the word " United," then the figure of two united
hearts, and the words "Death only Partes." The work-
manship is remarkably good, the letters well-formed and
sharply cut. The initials probably represent the parties
whose hearts are united on the ring, but who they were we
are at a loss even to conjecture.
LOCATION.
The coins and ring were found in a stone pot of common
manufacture, and a beautiful globular shape, resembling a
globe lantern. The pot would probably contain a quart,
and was found about a foot below the surface, on a slope of
144 LOCATION OF THE COINS.
land gradually descending from the summit in the center of
the island, northwesterly to the shore. The spot is about
four rods from the bank, which is there elevated fifteen or
twenty feet above the beach. There are traces of the foun-
dation of buildings about the place ; stone from the beach
were turned up in plowing ; in one place are apparently
the foundations of a chimney, and near was a cavity which
had probably been a cellar. The place had not been
plowed within the memory of the present generation, if it
ever had, until it was broken up last year. This year the
plowing was deeper. Mr. Hanscom, the tenant of Dr. Cum-
mings, was holding the plow, and his son, twelve years old,
was driving. When the boy came to the place, he observed
the pot, bottom up, and picking it up, said to his father, I
have found it," in allusion to rumors and frequent conversa-
tions among the people in the vicinity, relative to money
having been formerly buried on the island. His father took
it and said, " It is a broken rum-jug of the old settlers,
throw it over the bank." On second thought, he told him
to lay it one side on a pile of stones. On turning it up, all
that could be seen was earth caked inside. Another small
son of Mr. Hanscoin was sitting on the pile of stones where
the pot was laid, who began to pick the earth in sport. He
soon came to the coin, and their astonishment and excite-
ment may easily be conceived. The contents were regular-
ly arranged on the bottom of the jar ; the gold on the edge
at one side, the silver on the other, and the ring in the
middle.
The whole number of gold pieces was twenty-one, of sil-
ver of various sizes, thirty-one ; total standard value, one
hundred dollars. The silver was considerably discolored ;
the gold very little. Part of the fracture of the pot ap-
peared fresh, as though caused by the recent plowing ; the
rest was of an earlier date, and made, it is conjectured, by
LOCATION OF THE COINS. 145
the plowing of the previous year. But it is probable from
appearances, and from the pieces to complete the jar not
being found, that it was a broken vessel when the coin was
placed in it. A piece of lead which had been bent to adapt
it to some object was found near ; but from the circumstance
that the pot was filled with hard earth, it is probable that it
was not covered, or that the cover had got misplaced. Mr.
Hanscom and two other men immediately spaded the earth
in the vicinity of the spot, but no more coin or any other
valuable thing was found. Some broken pottery, pipes, an
iron spoon, piece of a large, thick, green glass bottle, char-
coal, rusty nails and spikes, Vere scattered about, which the
plow had turned up. A building had evidently stood there
or near by, but without a cellar.
The question most eagerly asked, and the most difficult
to answer, is, " How came the treasure there ? " No satis-
factory answer can be given ; we can only approach the
answer by conjecture. I have no doubt that the deposit is
a solitary case, and can afford no encouragement to the idle
rumors that have long prevailed, that large sums of money
were many years ago buried on the island. The probability
is that the deposit was made by some inhabitant of the is-
land, or some transient person, for security ; and that he
either suddenly died, or was driven from the island, or killed
by the Indians. That the money found was all that was de-
posited, there seems no reason to doubt.
My conjecture is, that the deposit was made as early as
the death of Winter, which took place in 1645, and I go
still farther and express the belief that the money is con-
nected with the fate of Walter Bagnall, who was killed by
the Sagamore Squidraset and his company, Oct. 3d, 163L
Bagnall had one companion with him, a servant or assistant,,
whom Winthrop calls John P , the blank we cannot
supply. He had accumulated a large estate by trading,
10
146 LOCATION OF THE COINS.
Winthrop calls him a wicked fellow, and the Indians were
exasperated by his hard usage of them. The principal part
of the silver is of the reign of Elizabeth, only five pieces
were of James, and two of Charles ; and the date shows
one of them to have been coined in 1625. Of the gold,
only seven out of the twenty-one pieces were of the time
of Charles, and as these must have been coined before the
breaking out of the civil war in 1642, they may have been
before 1631. The coinage after the civil war commenced
was of different patterns, and of much coarser execution
than that issued before. That the deposit must have had
an early date, before the commencement of the civil war
is evident from the fact that it contains not a piece of
coin of a later date that 1642. In 1632, the expedition
fitted out at Boston and Piscataqua to pursue Dixy Bull, a
pirate who had ravaged Pemaquid, and plundered vessels,
on their return, stopped at Richmond's Island, and hung
up Black Will, an Indian, who had been concerned in the
murder of Bagnall.
Now my solution is that this coin was Bagnall's, concealed
by his servant, or by some of the Indians, perhaps Black
Will, and that it has lain there ever since. In regard to
the ring, it probably had no connection with any of those
parties, but may have been received by Bagnall from some
of the rovers on the coast, or other person who came dis-
honestly by it, and placed by him with his other treasures.
That the articles were hidden before the Indian War of
1675 is manifest from the absence of any coin of a date
thirty years prior to that event, and from the fact that the
island had been deserted for many years before the war, by
all persons who had money to conceal. Jordan himself, the
head and leader of the whole region, lived on the main land
near the mouth of Spurwink river, where his house was
burnt by the Indians, in the autumn of 1675, with all its
HISTORY OF COINS AND COINAGE. 147
contents, and he barely escaped with his life. The treasure,
therefore, is not connected with the Indian war, but its his-
tory must be sought in prior events.
HISTORY OP COINS AND COINAGE.
A few remarks upon the general subject of coinage may
not be an inappropriate close to this article. The origin,
of the word coin is not agreed upon by medalists ; some
derive it from the French word com, meaning corner, from
the shape of the earliest coins, which were square ; others
derive it from the Greek word koinos, common ; and some
from the Arabic kauna, to hammer or stamp. There is
no certainty on the subject ; the word, like many others in
common use, may owe its birth to slight circumstances so
remote and obscure as to be wholly lost, like the names of
many pieces of coin. The Lydians are said to have been
the first nation which adopted a metallic currency. Ly-
curgus, it is well known, ordered that iron only should be
used for money in Sparta. The first money coined in
Greece was in the island of JBgina, by Phidon, King of
Argos, about 880, B. C. And this was merely a lump of
silver stamped with a sea tortoise, and was really but a
piece of sealed metal, the figure being a public stamp to
give assurance of its weight and standard. Among the
Jews we do not find that any coined money was used until
the time of the Maccabees ; before, their money was " pieces
of silver," of certain weight, as shekels, talents, drachmas.
Silver was not coined at Rome until about the four hundred
and eightieth year of the city, and gold not until the six
hundred and fortieth. Among the ancients, the Greek coin-
age was the most beautiful, that of Philip and Alexander
of Macedon exceeding all others, except that of Sicily,
Graecia Magna, and some of Asia Minor. The coins of Al-
148 HISTORY OF COINS AND COINAGE.
exander are said to have been wonderful ; the head of Mi-
nerva on his gold, affording a variety of exquisite faces.
The earliest coins were without any impression upon them ;
those of the Kings of Macedon are the most ancient on
which portraits are found, and these always exhibit the side
face. Plutarch says that Theseus, of Athens, caused money
to be impressed with the figure of an ox ; the weight of the
coin was two drachmae, that being the price of an ox. Ya-
rious emblems were early adopted having significance to
facts or persons ; helmets were common impressions, a lion's
skin, a wing ; goat's .horns were used by Pyrrhus as a crest
over the helmet, a gnat being the symbol of Macedon. On
Roman coins, before Christ, the reverse bore the prow of a
ship, a car, or other like emblems ; figures of their deities
were also common, and of animals ; from which last it is
said that the name " pecunia," the Latin word for money,
was derived, signifying originally a sheep ; a coin in common
circulation having the figure of that animal.
The derivation of the word money is not equally clear ;
it has been variously derived from the Danish word Maa-
ne, sounded in English, mohney, which signifies the moon,
from the resemblance of the fresh silver coin. Others de-
rive it from the Saxon mynet, Swedish mynt, Danish
myndt, signifying mint; money and mint being the same
word varied. There is much bearing on this subject in
the books, into which I do not intend to go, but come to
the coinage of more modern times.
Modern coins, as distinguished from ancient, comprehend
those which have been struck since the time of Charlemagne,
at the commencement of the ninth century ; and from that
time for nearly seven hundred years, the coin was generally
rudely made and without date or epochs, and the portraits
and impressions rough and uncouth. The reverse generally
bore a cross, extending across the field with three pellets
or dots in each quarter.
COINS AND COINAGE OP ENGLAND. 149
Florence surpassed all the cities of Italy in the beauty of
its coinage, and was the first to revive the publication of
gold coins. This took place in the year 1252, by the issue of
the famous coins called florins from the flower of the lily up-
on them ; and being the first struck in Europe, after the eighth
century, they were speedily imitated by the Popes, France,
and England. The impression upon them was, on one side,
St. John the Baptist, standing ; on the other, a large lily,
and the word " Florentia ; " and they were worth twelve
shillings.
COIN AND COINAGE OF ENGLAND.
The first gold piece coined in England was a gold penny,
struck by order of Henry III. about 1257, only two speci-
mens of which have come down to the present day; it was
worth twenty pence, and was nearly of the weight of a sev-
en shilling piece of the present time. The next gold coin
was the florin, struck by Edward III. in 1344, worth six
shillings, now nineteen shillings. The florin was followed
by the noble, of the value of six shillings eight pence, coined
of very pure gold ; it took its name from the nobility of
the metal, and being stamped with a rose, was called the
rose noble j it is a beautiful and rare coin. The rose, in
various forms, was continued on the coin to the time of
James I. These coins, with their parts, were the only gold
in circulation until 1465, when Edward IV. struck a piece
of the same value as the noble, but being stamped with the
Angel Michael, was thence called an angel. Henry VI. in-
troduced the rial or royal of the value of ten shillings j
and these, with their parts, continued to be the only gold
coin until Henry VII. coined the double royal or sovereigns
of twenty shillings, and double sovereigns of forty shil-
lings.
150 . COINS AND COINAGE OF ENGLAND.
As Edward III. introduced the rose upon the gold coin
which was transmitted for two hundred and sixty years, so
also did he the motto, "Posui Deum Adjutorem meum," "I
have made God my helper," which had the same duration,
having been adopted by all his successors to the union of
the two crowns in James I. Henry VIIL, in 1527, added
the gold crown and half crown, of the respective value of
ten and five shillings, and made some change in the relative
value of the other gold coinage, and greatly debased both
the silver and gold. The crown was about the size of an
English shilling. Elizabeth restored the standard of value,
and the coins continued with slight variations, until an es-
sential change took place in the mode of coinage, and the
character of the pieces, in the time of Charles II. He in-
troduced the guinea in 1663, so called from its being coined
of gold from the coast of Guinea, and was of the value of
twenty shillings, but circulated at twenty-one shillings. It
was, of the standard of the present time, twenty-two carats
fine and two alloy ; he also issued double and five guinea
pieces and half guineas.
The value of gold in England compared with silver was
as eleven to one, from the time of the Saxons to the dis-
covery of America ; in the reign of Elizabeth it was thirteen
to one ; it afterwards returned to its former proportion.
The annual product of the precious metals has increased
enormously in the last three hundred and fifty years. In
1500 the whole annual product was but three million dol-
lars; in 1600, eleven million; in 1700, twenty-three mil-
lion; in 1800, fifty-two and a half million; in 1853, two
hundred and ninety-five million. The product of gold hav-
ing increased recently much faster than silver, has materially
changed their relative value, and their united very large
amount has advanced the comparative prices of labor, and
the necessaries of life. That is, the metallic currency being
COINS AND COINAGE OF ENGLAND. 151
more abundant, it requires a greater quantity to purchase
the same articles than it did when their quantity was more
limited.
The proportion of pure silver in the standard coinage
was fixed, in the time of Richard L, by certain persons from
the eastern part of Germany, called easterlings, from which
the term sterling is derived ; which was applied first to the
silver penny, the only coin then in use, but which was after-
wards extended to all the lawful money of Great Britain,
and means the money of the mint standard. Sixty-two
shillings was established by Elizabeth as the standard value
of one pound of standard . silver, and so continues. The
standard is thirty-seven parts pure silver and three alloy ;
L e., eleven ounces two pennyweights pure, and eighteen
pennyweights alloy.
Coin was made in England, to the time of Charles II., by
the hammer; the silver and gold pieces were thin and
broad. The metal was cast into bars, which were reduced
to the proper thickness, and then cut into squares of equal
weight. These were rounded by heating and hammering,
they were then stamped with the figures by the hammer and
punch. This process continued until 1662, when the mill
was introduced, and became a permanent institution, greatly
improving the appearance of the coin. Elizabeth, as early
as 1562, had milled some of her coin, but the process was
so expensive that she discontinued it, after ten years' trial,
for the old mode.
All the coin discovered at Richmond's Island, the Eliza-
beth sixpence from Mr. Fessenden's garden, the pine tree
shilling, and the Dutch guilder, were coined by the hammer
and punch.
ARTICLE VII.
MEMOIR
OF THE
|; KEY. JOHN MURRAY,
FIRST MINISTER OF THE CHURCH IN BOOTHBAY,
BY
REV, A, G, VERMILYE,
OF- NEWBTJRYFORT, MASS.
REV. JOHN MURRAY.
FROM its first settlement, about 1630, till 1766, the town-
ship of Boothbay appears to have had neither church nor
minister; although in 1674, when the county of Devonshire
was established, this was one of the principal plantations.
The land, however, was not bought of the Indian sagamore
till 1666; and in 1686, during the second Indian war, the
place was overrun by the savages, and lay waste lor forty
years. In 1737, the then proprietor made a grant of lands
to sundry people dwelling there, and at the same time a
generous provision for the support of the ministry. Ten
acres were reserved for a meeting house, training field, and
burying ground. And he ordered that the first settled min-
ister should have an equal share in the meadows with the
first settlers, and that one hundred acres should be laid out
as a free gift to the first minister, and another hundred
acres for the use of the ministry forever. He also allowed
the inhabitants to deduct, out of the sales of the land, one
hundred pounds towards building a meeting house, and thir-
ty pounds per annum towards paying the first settled minis-
ter. Still, for some reason, nearly thirty years elapsed
before a meeting house was built or a minister obtained,
although Rev. Robert Dunlap resided there awhile, previous
to his settlement at Brunswick. The people of Boothbay,
156 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
then TWnshend, 1 many of whom were Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians, seem not themselves to have been entirely
responsible for it. Applications were at various times made
by them to the Presbytery of Boston for supplies ; but all
were treated (say the session records) " with utter neglect,"
probably because the Presbytery had no supplies to send.
So many and so urgent, indeed, were the " supplications " of
feeble and destitute congregations for preachers, and so de-
sirous the Presbytery of meeting the want, that they some-
times erred in receiving too hastily men of doubtful repute,
who proved in the end "troublers," and whose censurable
conduct in some places seriously damaged the interests and
credit of Presbyterianism. Such a man was the Rev. Alex-
ander Boyd of Newcastle in Maine ; who was sentenced by
them to be " sharply rebuked," but was at length ordained ;
the reason assigned being " the urgent necessity of the des-
titute places."
Dispirited by long and fruitless attempts, and seeing now
" no hope of any settlement of the gospel at Boothbay, the
people sat down in inaction and despondency," we again
quote the session records of the church, but in the midst
of this gloomy prospect, their minds were relieved by the
arrival, in 1763, of Mr. John Murray, a probationer from
Ireland ; who had been drawn thither by repeated invita-
tions from one of the principal settlers of the place. This
was Andrew Reed, Esq., formerly of Mr. Murray's native
town, and his uncle by marriage.
1 There being another Townsend in the State, the inhababitants petitioned
General Court for a change of name, and their agent was asked, " What
name will you have, what is there peculiar in your location or harbor ? "
" Why," said he, " it is as snug as a booth." " Well, has it any bay ? "
" Yes, a fine bay." So they called it Boothbay.
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 157
REV. JOHN MURRAY.
We shall now sketch the history of this eloquent divine,
subsequently the subject of so much public discussion and
bitterness, and endeavor to do what we think justice to his
memory. Mr. Murray was born in the county of Antrim,
in Ireland, May 22, 1742. At a very early age, owing to
his unusual proficiency in his studies, he was entered at the
university of Edinburgh, where he graduated with high hon-
or. He united with the church in his native town when
fifteen, and commenced the ministry when only eighteen.
Many troubles, involving an imputation upon his integrity,
dated from this period, and concerned his licensure ; a matter
to be referred to in another place. When hardly twenty-one
he came to New York, and thence to Boothbay. Dec. 22,
1763, the inhabitants assembled at the house of A. M. Beath,
Esq., and unanimously voted to call Mr. Murray to be the
stated pastor of the town ; and five individuals at the same
time obligated themselves to pay him an annual salary of
ninety pounds sterling. He had resolved, however, to re-
turn to Ireland ; and accordingly, notwithstanding the earn-
est importunities of the people, took his leave of them in the
February following, 1764, but with the promise that if he
ever returned to America, and their call was renewed, he
would settle with them. For two years longer, they re-
mained without a minister : Mr. Murray had, meantime, by
a^jhange of purpose, been received under the care of the
Presbytery of New York; and subsequently, in May, 1765,
ordained and settled as Gilbert Tennent's successor, in tho
Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. After his set-
tlement there, the people of Boothbay claimed his promise ;
but as he had heard nothing from them during his residence
in New York, he replied that he had considered himself ab-
solved from it. But in January, 1766, he again returned to
158 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
Boston, and the inhabitants of Boothbay now determined to
push their call to a final result. For this purpose Andrew
McFarland and Andrew Reed, Esqs., were sent as commis-
sioners to the synod of New York and Philadelphia, and
John Beath (afterwards a ruling elder in the church) was
sent express to Boston to manage the matter there. Some
difficulties interposed : the church in Philadelphia, notwith-
standing the rumors circulated against his character, were
very loth to give him up ; and it was only after reiterated
requests to the Presbytery, and the assurance of his deter-
mination not to return, that his dismission was obtained.
But finally, they " received the minutes of the First Presby-
tery of Philadelphia, whereby Mr. Murray was liberated in
manner and form, as fully as they desired."
In July he arrived at Boothbay. A full meeting of the
town was at once called by the selectmen, and at his desire
assembled under the frame of the meeting house then being
reared. Before accepting their call, Mr. Murray " opened
at large the history of his education and degrees at the uni-
versity, his licensure to preach, and of certain difficulties
which had arisen between him and some ministers in Ire-
land, respecting a certificate, which he expressed great sor-
row for attempting to support, after having discovered the
error of its authors ; begging pardon therefor of God and
man. This, together with some censures which had since
appeared in the public prints, he related at large ; and also
read all the minutes of the Presbyteries of New York ana
Philadelphia respecting him. He then asked the meeting
to testify by the usual sign, if any were dissatisfied; and the
whole meeting answered in the negative."
LABORS AT BOOTHBAY.
During his brief sojourn at Philadelphia, more had been
added to the church than during the whole of Gilbert Ten-
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 159
nent's ministry, and but a short time elapsed before an
extensive revival commenced at Boothbay, which reached
other places also. Notwithstanding the unpromising nature
of the field, and the prevailing inattention to religion at
his coming, he formed a church there which was probably
the largest in the State, and gathered from all the surround-
ing region ; he being at the time the only settled minister
east of Woolwich. People would go seven and even ten
miles, regularly, on the Sabbath to hear him, returning at
night. Mr. Murray was not merely an eloquent orator, but
uncommonly active and faithful as a pastor " a minister/'
says Williamson, " whose piety was as incense, both at the
fireside and the altar." His whole soul was in his work.
He went from house to house, examining into the religious
state of individuals and families, and pressing upon all the
duties of piety. A single extract from his private diary in
1766, after a day spent in visiting, will show the character
of his zeal and the feelings with which he labored. " Alas !
alas ! " he writes, " what shall I say ? I now fear the success
of my ministry more than ever. my God, enable me to
be found faithful. pour out thy spirit on these poor fam-
ilies, that they may not forget the promises this day made
in thy sight, that thy worship shall be daily, morning and
evening, maintained in their houses, and that they will never
rest till they have received Christ into all their hearts.
let the convictions we hope begun on two of them be car-
rid deeper and deeper until ended in conversion. Eight
unbaptized all prayerless. Alas ! alas ! " Not long had
he thus to mourn. During the winter the revival commenced,
a Presbyterian church was organized, and April 12, 1767,
the sacrament was administered for the first time in Booth-
bay. Immediately after, at the call of several towns, begin-
ning at Squam and Freetown, he visited Pownalborough,
Sheepscot, the head of the tide, Walpole, Harrington, and
160 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
other places, preaching every day for a fortnight. In Bris-
tol the result was, that the town appointed a committee " to
take measures to have a church organized on the Westmin-
ster confession and Presbyterian rules ; " which was done
by Mr. Murray in the course of the year. Religion, in those
neighborhoods, now became the conversation of all compa-
nies. His lodgings were daily crowded, often till after
midnight, and sometimes till three o'clock in the morning,
with one company after another. And this revival contin-
ued during two years ; so many being added to the church,
that the communion table, which according to custom was
spread in the broad isle, had frequently to be extended into
the porch and on both wings of the building.
CHARACTER AS A PREACHER.
In manner Mr. Murray was a little pompous, and his style
touched the verbose ; but his acquirements were extensive,
his sermons thoroughly evangelical, solid in matter, often
grandly solemn, pathetic, and experimental, and as set forth
by his fine voice and appearance, and his energetic action,
produced a powerful impression. Many who had heard
them both, considered him not inferior to Whitefield. As
his sermons were cfften two or three hours in the delivery,
and he held his audience in rapt attention, he must, evident-
ly, have had rare gifts as a preacher. His popularity was
exceedingly great. Whenever he passed along through
Maine, the churches were thronged. Mr. John McKeen, no-
ticing some years ago that the old church at Brunswick was
" shored up," found on inquiry that it was a precaution
against accidents from the rush of people when Mr. Murray
came along. Worthy Mr. Smith, of Portland, raised " a sad
toss" among his people in 1772, by not inviting him to
preach ; and again in 1787 he writes in his journal, " a great
MEMOIR OP REV. JOHN MURRAY. 161
uproar about Murray's not preaching." In extemporaneous
utterance, as a good test of his powers, Mr. Murray was al-
ways ready. Judge Hinkley, a descendant of the pilgrims of
Plymouth, a disputatious man, one who thought nothing right
which lacked the savor of Independency, and a leader in op-
position to the Scotch Irish in Brunswick, was one Sabbath in
meeting when Mr. Murray occupied the pulpit. Something
in the sermon displeased the Judge. Whereupon he stepped
into the aisle, and asked the preacher if he " knew in whose
presence he stood ? " Mr. Murray replied yes, he knew
that he stood in the presence of " a judge of the Inferior
Court of Common Pleas^ " Then, 1 ' answered the Judge,
" I will say unto you, as the Lord said unto Elijah, ' What
dost thou here,' John Murray? " Mr. Murray immediately
repeated Elijah's answer, (1 Ki. xix. 10), and taking it for
his text, preached an hour thereon. The difficulty ended,
and the congregation were more pleased with him than
ever. It is related that one of his early opposers at New-
buryport, (where he subsequently settled), gave him a text
at the church door as a trial of his qualifications. He laid
aside his intended sermon, and discoursed with such ability
as disarmed prejudice, and called forth from Rev. Mr. Par-
sons the extravagant eulogiuin, that he had not been sur-
passed since the days of the apostles.
INFLUENCE DURING THE WAR.
The Revolutionary War pressed with severity upon Booth-
bay and other towns on the seaboard. The operations of
the enemy at different times greatly distressed the people,
and obliged many of them to remove for a season. Mr.
Murray appears to have entered zealously into the senti-
ments of his adopted country and parishioners. In 1775
he was sent as a delegate from Boothbay (or Townshend)
11
162 MEMOIR OP REV. JOHN MURRAY.
to the provincial Congress, which met that year at Water-
town. He was at one time president pro tern, of that body,
and also acting secretary, and was also, while a member,
chairman of the committee for reporting rules and orders
for Congress; and his reports bear evidence of his thor-
ough acquaintance with parliamentary usage. The basis of
these reports is still preserved in the rules observed in
the Legislature of Massachusetts. l So great was his influ-
ence over the people around Townshend, and so well known,
that Commodore Sir George Collier, who visited the harbor
in 1777, with the British ships Rainbow and Hope, having*
cause of complaint against the inhabitants, addressed the
matter to him, at the same time inviting him politely to
come on board his ship. Mr. Murray accordingly went, and
was received with civility; and after some further corres-
pondence as the organ of the officers and council, appears
to have settled the difficulty. A writer on board the ship
describes him as a " cunning, sensible man, who had acquired
a wonderful ascendency over, and had the entire guidance of
all the people in the country around Townshend. His
house," he says " was on an eminence not far from the water
side, and appeared to be a very handsome edifice, with gar-
dens and shrubbery happily disposed around it. Sir George
offered him some trifling presents, which he refused for
fear of giving jealousy to his fellow rebels." 2 It was, prob-
ably, before this, that the following incident occurred, as
related to Dr. McKeen of Topsham, by old Mr. Eeed of
Boothbay, who witnessed the scene. Early in the war the
British cruisers were in the habit of putting into Towns-
hend harbor, and the sailors would frequently go ashore and
pilfer from the Whigs or patriots. The people remonstrat-
1 Hist, of Newburyport, by Mrs. E. Vale Smith.
2 Town's" Details," &c.
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 163
ed with the officers, but without effect. They then went
and got Mr. Murray. Donning his canonicals, the white
wig and gown and bands, he was carried on board ship,
and there talked with so much force and eloquence, that the
inhabitants had no further trouble. Mr. Reed likewise said,
that " the dignity of his appearance was such, that all the
ministers in Maine put together would not equal him ; that
he was superior in personal knowledge to any other man
that ever walked God's footstool ; that if he had not said a
word, such was the grandeur of his looks that he would
have carried his point ; and that the officers were greatly
surprised to see such a sp<^imen of dignity coming from the
coast of Maine." With proper abatements for the warmth
of personal friendship, Mr. Reed undoubtedly was correct
as to the impressiveness of Mr. Murray's appearance and
manner. It was an enthusiasm he inspired.
But civilities were not long extended to him by the Brit-
ish naval officers. When in 1779 another armament de-
scended upon the coast, he was considered so particularly
obnoxious, from his active efforts for the defense of the
eastward, that a reward of five hundred pounds was offered
for his apprehension ; and as the British had besides a post
in the neighborhood, he was obliged to leave everything and
flee elsewhere for shelter. One more incident may be here re-
lated, as illustrating both his eloquence and ready zeal for his
country. During the war and at a period of peculiar gloom,
Newburyport was called upon to furnish a full company, offi-
cers and men, for actual service. But the officers and gentle-
men to whom the business was entrusted labored day after
day in vain. On the fourth day it was moved that Mr. Murray
should be invited to address the regiment then under arms.
Accordingly, he was escorted to the parade, and thence by
the whole regiment to the Presbyterian church. There he
pronounced an address so spirited and animating, that his
164 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
audience were all attention, and tears fell from many eyes.
Soon after the assembly was dismissed, a member of the
church stepped forward to take the command, and in two
hours the company was filled. l On occasion of the public
Thanksgiving for peace, (Dec. 11, 1783), he published a
most thrilling and able discourse, entitled, " Jerubbaal, or
Tyranny's Grove Destroyed, and the Altar of Liberty Fin-
ished ; " which was considered a wonderful performance at
the time, and unlike the printed productions of Whitcfield,
fully sustains his reputation as a great orator.
REMOVAL TO NEWBURYPORT.
t
Mr. Murray himself would have been content to live and
die in his remote locality. He had married Susan, the eld-
est daughter of Gen. Lithgow of Phipsburg, an influential
family, and had considerable property at Boothbay. Be-
sides, his political troubles and private sorrows led him to
court retirement and obscurity. " There," he writes, " I
find my comfort, and, I hope, my God ; and there I see less
danger of being a stumbling block in Zion, the very idea of
which to me is worse than death." But much to the annoy-
ance of his parishioners, who had such hard work to get
him, several persistent attempts were made to remove him
to other spheres, and many long contests were the result in
presbytery. With Newburyport his people at length be-
came quite indignant. In 1768, and again in 1769, Rev.
Mr. Parsons and his session, of the First Presbyterian
Church in Newburyport, sent a request that he should sup-
ply their pulpit for some months every year. And from
" some inuendoes " in the letters, the Boothbay session be-
gan to suspect (no doubt justly) a design of removing their
pastor from them entirely. They therefore replied in terms
1 Miltimore's Funeral Sermon.
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 165
of high compliment to them, "recognizing the reverend
and worthy Mr. Jonathan Parsons, his session and congrega-
tion, as the patrons and friends of oppressed truth in the
worst of times ; who had nobly struggled in the cause of God,
at Newburyport, for many years, through a continual torrent
of opposition and persecution; and in the year 1768 dared
to stand up, though almost alone, and espouse the cause of
a persecuted stranger, whom others had conspired to de-
stroy, whilst all the country stood silent by;" but they
declined anything more than an " exchange " for a number
of Sabbaths. In 1773, he received the unusual compliment
of a call from the wardens and parish of Green's Chapel
(Episcopal) in Portsmouth, N. H., with the offer of a high
salary, showing in them very advanced, not to say singu-
larly correct ideas, for gentlemen of their persuasion, of
what constitutes true apostolic succession ! He replied,
however, that he was conscientiously a Presbyterian ; and
that, whilst the revenue they offered did honor to their gen-
erosity, of that species of earth called gold he hardly now
knew the value, and that it was not beneath the sun that he
desired to have his portion.
The Rev. John Morehead of Boston having recently de-
ceased, in 1774 his congregation earnestly besought Mr.
Murray; although their late pastor had been his public and
decided opponent. The case was delayed till 1776, and
then decided adversely. But at the same meeting of pres-
bytery, the congregation at Newburyport urged a " suppli-
cation " for his translation to become the colleague of Rev.
Mr. Parsons. 1 It was not granted at that time ; but subse-
quently, owing to his constant exposure to capture by the
British, his people themselves consented to a temporary
removal from them, to any place of safety; they, however,
1 Mr. Parsons soon after died, aged 7 1.
166 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
added, " with the exception of Newburyport." This provi-
so the presbytery overruled. He preached there some
twenty months, and in June, 1781, was dismissed from Booth-
bay, and without any farther formality constituted the pastor
of that church. His salary was one hundred and fifty
pounds, one hundred pounds " additional " being also
voted to kim from year to year. For his labors previous to
settlement, he received the apparently munificent sum of
nine thousand pounds and house rent.
Mr. Murray preached, after his settlement at Newbury-
port, not quite twelve years. His congregation was im-
mense for that day, estimated at two thousand, and in
their attachment to him enthusiastic. Whilst there his zeal
and labors were unremitted, although not blessed, as at
Boothbay, with revivals. The war greatly affected the state
of religion. He had a number of theological students un-
der his care, and assisted many of the young in obtaining
an education. Considerate kindness to the young, indeed,
marked his Irish heart, and also his wisdom as a teacher.
On one occasion, a little fellow in the public school sketched
the reverend gentleman on a blank leaf of his Testament;
when he should have been thinking of his catechism. Of
course, in that day, it was very irreverent to make pictures
of the minister, however well done ; but Mr. Murray saved
him the flogging, and had him placed under the instruction
of a portrait painter. In the way of anecdote I will only
add here, that another John Murray was at this time gain-
ing some notoriety as a preacher of Universalism. To
distinguish the two, his adherents denominated the one as
Salvation, the other as Damnation Murray. Being at an
auction in Boston, Mr. Murray gave his name. " What
Murray ? " said the auctioneer. " Rev. John Murray."
" Which Rev. John Murray, Salvation or fyc. ? "
Mr. Murray's health at length failed him. A long sick-
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 167
ness of two years' duration came upon him. But one
marked in the midst of many sorrows, as his previous life
had been, by great patience, resignation, and piety. His
enemies and his trials had been, and were, many and bitter ;
but when dying he remarked that they had but increased
the frequency of his errands to the throne of grace. The
testimony as to his closing hours is that of exalted aspira-
tion and Christian triumph. His steady denial of certain
accusations which had pursued him through life, was neither
amended nor reversed in that " honest hour." He died at
Newburyport, March 13th, 1793, aged 51.
THE CHARGE RELATIVE TO HIS LICENSURE.
Some reference to this is necessary to complete the pres-
ent sketch of his life, and for information in writing up
the history of the churches and ecclesiastical bodies with
which he became connected. He was widely charged with
having " forged his license ; " and his name is recorded in
the printed " Extract of Minutes " of the Presbytery of
Philadelphia, as a " deposed " minister.
From dissatisfaction with certain ministers of the Pres-
bytery of Ballymena in Ireland, whom he charged and
probably with offensive warmth with doctrinal defections,
he was induced to go to England for licensure ; which he
obtained from the class of Woollers, at Alnwich, Northum-
berland. But on his return his credentials were questioned,
and he sent the paper to Edinburgh to be attested. A cer-
tificate was sent back to him, signed by two young friends
of his, (ministers), designating themselves untruly " moder-
ator " and " clerk " of presbytery. They afterwards in-
formed him of their misdemeanor in thus counterfeiting an
official document; beseeching him, however, not to ruin
them, as their prospects were good in the church. And
168 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
rather than ruin them, and give his own enemies a triumph,
" to which/' he writes, " my infernal pride could by no means
consent/' he defended the paper as genuine. He was then
accused of "forging; " but this whilst confessing repeat-
edly and with sorrow the above-mentioned offense he ever
strenuously denied. The charge was sent after him to Phil-
adelphia ; yet only a few days before he left that city, his
presbytery gave him a testimonial, as having " conducted
with such meekness and piety as adorn the sacred character,
and must endear him to all lovers of religion and virtue."
But after his departure, acting on fresh papers from Bally-
mena, and some allegations besides, never judicially investi-
gated nor proven, although influencing their minds as sus-
picious, the presbytery, apprehensive that " the honor of
religion suffered while he continued in good standing," in
June, 1766, suspended, and in April, 1767, deposed him.
These proceedings were published in the Massachusetts
Gazette of May 12, 1768, as he continued to preach at
Boothbay, together with the manifesto of eleven ministers
of Boston, pubjicly withdrawing all fellowship with him;
which called forth his " Appeal to the Impartial Public."
Mr. Murray and his friends, his church, and afterwards the
'' Presbytery of the Eastward," of which he became a mem-
ber, claimed that he had previously been dismissed from all
connection with the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and by
them recommended to the church at large, and that, there-
fore, they had no right to depose him. But this that pres-
bytery denied, having only dismissed him from his church;
they said, and continued him under their jurisdiction. Still,
their proceedings were evidently loose, and would be so
considered at this day : he was not present, had no proper
citations, no judicial hearing; neither were his alleged
crimes and the testimony judicially sifted. They might
have sentenced him for contumacy in not appearing, sup-
MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY. 169
posing him still a member of the body, and regularly cited,
but not for moral turpitude. For these reasons, as well as
his humble confessions and devotedness, the Presbytery of
the Eastward, in 1771, annulled the censure, and always
sustained him as in good and regular standing. But owing
to these unhappy difficulties, he encountered bitter prejudice
throughout life; and his usefulness was greatly circum-
scribed. He lived a suspected man. He had warm friends,
among whom Rev. Mr. Parsons and the distinguished Rev.
Simon Williams of Wyndham, N. H.,had carefully examined
the whole case. But many pulpits were closed against him,
and some of his neighbor^ at Newburyport would not even
speak to him. Dr. Samuel Spring, a man of strong and de-
cided tone, whether for or against, once put his hand behind
his back when Mr. Murray offered his ; and at a funeral
where both officiated, he left the room during Mr. Murray's
prayer. 1
Having now, however, the finished record of his life and
death before us ; and in addition, the decided convictions
of Rev. Mr. Parsons, who wrote to England and took spe-
cial pains to reach the truth we can, perhaps, judge con-
cerning him more impartially and correctly than did his
1 Some rhymesters composed and used to sing the following catch :
" Parson Spring began to fling,
And seemed to be in a hurry ;
He could n't stay to hear him pray,
Because 'twas Parson Murray."
Dr. Spring was a Hopkinsian and preached against the doctrine of origin-
al sin. Mr. Murray preached some sermons to meet him. Being a man of
keenness and wit, he likewise wrote the following on the title page of a
book the doctor had published. It was afterwards found in his handwrit-
ing:
" What mortal power, from things unclean,
Can pure productions bring'?
Who can command a vital stream,
From an infected spriny f "
170 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN MURRAY.
immediate cotemporaries. He was but eighteen when his
offense in using the certificate was committed ; his life, from
the age of twenty-three, was public and unimpeached ; and
his confessions were public, frequent, and most humble.
" Though I was not concerned as an author of that paper,"
(he writes in 1774) "nor knew I at that time of life any
great evil in receiving it when sent to me, as I was very
sure its contents were nothing but facts, and its signers had
written their real names in the signature ; yet in using it as
genuine I thereby made their crime my own I can truly
tell you, that the daily views I have had of the multiplied
enormities which this occasioned me, all of which, with the
unhappy consequences to the church of Christ, have been
continually before my eyes, have made me wish iny name
blotted out of remembrance by all mankind. The Searcher
of all hearts does know my agonies of mind on every re-
view; and that but for the application of Gilead's balm, I
had perished of my wounds years ago not a few." This
unextenuating penitence marked his life ; but the forgeries,
and the other misdemeanors afterwards alleged against him
but never proven, he firmly denied.
Mr. Murray's questionable position as a member of one
presbytery, while another held him deposed there being
at that time no General Assembly, and the Presbyterians
being independent of each "other prevented harmonious
action among the presbyterial bodies in New England.
The attempt to consolidate into a "synod "in 1788 90,
failed from this cause, and these differences of opinion and
feeling deeply injured Presbyterianism and caused it to de-
cline in New England. We here leave this gifted man; the
successor of Parsons, and predecessor of the now venera-
ble Dana; and whose great distinction it was, that in the
very place of Whitefield's ashes, he rekindled Whitefield's
fires.
ARTICLE VIII.
THE EAB.LY HISTORY
OF THE
PllOTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH,
DIOCESE OF MAINE.
BY THE
REV. EDWARD BALLARD, A. M.,
RECTOR OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BRUNSWICK, ME.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
THE early history of the*" Protestant Episcopal Church."
in that portion of our country now known as the diocese ot
Maine, records many events of varied interest and value.
It affords examples of perseverance against discouragement ;
of opposition, which might as truly be called by a severer
name ; in some cases, sadly successful for the hindrance of
her progress. Yet as time passed lingering on, her fea-
tures assumed a more cheerful aspect, and her present
prosperity furnishes the assurance of a greater prosperity
still in reserve.
After the discovery of New England, its coasts were
often visited long before the well known landing on Ply-
mouth Rock. Some vessels came to perfect the discoveries ;
but more came attracted by the fisheries on its waters, and
the peltry of its forests, and therein found a rich induce-
ment to hazard the perils of a voyage to the newly found
regions. As early as 1577, in one season three or four
hundred fishing vessels came to the Banks of Newfoundland,
among which the French and Spanish were more numerous
than the Portuguese and English. 1 In process of time
1 1 Belknap, Biog. Art. Gilbert, 197. Savalet, an old mariner, had
made forty-two voyages to these parts before 1609. Purchas, p. 1640.
174 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
these voyages were extended to New England, and the ac-
quaintance with its "coast thus acquired, prepared the way
for its permanent occupation. Maps or charts, still pre-
served, were made of the shore line with its islands and the
mouths of its rivers ; and names were given to the various
localities, either derived from the natives, or suggested by
the taste of the person interested in the survey.
At the time of these events, and in the early part of the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, the affairs of the English nation
had attained an extent of prosperity that animated all de-
partments of its business \ and bold and hopeful men were
stimulated to turnlheir efforts to this distant quarter, by
the novelty of exploration, and the prospect of a plentiful
reward to their enterprise. In the latter part of her reign,
a royal patent was granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, l which
authorized him to take possession of any countries, " re-
mote and barbarous," not occupied by Christian people, and
to ordain laws and ordinances in agreement with the civil
institutions of England, and in harmony with " the true
Christian faith or religion professed in the Church of Eng-
land." Failing in his first attempt, the intrepid navigator
was successful in his second. He landed on the shores of
Newfoundland in 1583, and took formal possession of the
territory, extending two hundred leagues in every direction.
Acting in the name of his sovereign, he promulgated three
principal laws ; the first of which established the Church of
England in the newly occupied domain, which, by the terms
of the grant, embraced all that was then known of North
America. 2
This impressive fact has a significancy in three interest-
ing relations. It was the first formal religious act in the
1 1 Hazard, 24.
2 1 Belknap, Biog. Chron. Detail 37. This action was several years an-
terior to the claim set up 'in behalf of Neutral Island.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 175
whole region of the Atlantic coast. It was intended to
give a direction to the religious character of its future pop-
ulation ; and it affords an important aid in the interpreta-
tion of the subsequent grants of a similar nature, in regard
to their religious bearing. l
After the lapse of several years, a voyage of discovery
was planned, and placed under the charge of George Wey-
mouth (1605), who landed on the coast of Maine, explored
"the most excellent and beneficyall river of Sachadehoc," 2
and, on one occasion, had " two " of the Indians " in pres-
ence at service, who behaved themselves very civilly, neither
laughing nor talking all the .time." The attendant circum-
stances show this to have been a religious " service " of the
English Church, the first mentioned on the coast of New
England, not improbably by a chaplain, and doubtless not
the only one on shipboard on this coast, in connection with
this enterprise, in which the setting up of crosses, at points
deemed proper, was one distinct feature. 3
1 The religious design of these early voyages of occupation, as connected
with the Episcopal Church, is also apparent in the narrative of Frobisher's
landing on a point north of Labrador, in 1578, five years before Gilbert's
act Here public services were held, the communion administered, and ser-
mons preached during a part of the year, by the Rev. Mr. Wolfall, accord-
ing to the usages of the Church of England, and were the first " ever
known in these quarters." 3 Hackluyt 74, 9J, quoted in Frobisher's Mis-
sionary, p. 244, 245.
2 Strachey, cap. vii.
3 Rosier, in third series Mass. Hist. Coll. v. viii. p. 139.
[Mark L'Escarbot, a companion of De Mont, and the historian of his
first voyage, and of New France, in his account of the settlement upon St.
Croix Island in the river of the same name, in 1G04, now called Neutral Is-
land, speaks of the erection of a chapel, as among the buildings constructed
by that colony, and of religious services being performed there. In some
accounts he is called the chaplain. As these colonists were Huguenots, and
earnest for the propagation of their religion, we cannot doubt that they con-
176 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
The next attempt at colonizing this portion of our coun-
try, then known as Northern Virginia, was made as a sequel
to this voyage, under the first charter of James ; which was
granted, among other purposes, to extend the Christian re-
ligion among the natives. As no other form of religion was
then recognized, the Church of England was to afford the
means of worship and instruction to the settlers, and be
the means of enlightening and reclaiming the savages. 1 Un-
der the protection of this charter, with " a true zeal of pro-
mulgating God's holy church, by planting Christianity," 2 a
colony of a hundred and twenty-four persons left Plymouth
in England, in June, 1607; 3 and sailed for the Kennebec,
under the command of George Popham. On their arrival
on the coast they came to " a gallant island," as it is quaint-
ly termed in the ancient narrative ; which proceeds to re-
cord, that on Aug. 7, they came to another island, where
" they found a crosse set up ; " and on " Aug. 9, Sonday, the
chief of both the shipps with the greatest part of all the
company landed on the island where the crosse stood, the
which they called St. George's Island, and heard a sermon
delivered unto them by Mr. Seymour, his preacher, and so
returned abourd againe." On the 19th of the same month,
" they all went ashoare where they had made choise of their
plantation," on the Sachadehoc, " and there they had a ser-
mon delivered unto them by their preacher, and after the
ducted their worship in the usual form of the Reformed Churches in Germa-
ny and France. This will deprive the Episcopal Church of the honor of
preaching the first sermon and instituting the first Christian worship in New
England. This distinction we must claim for the Puritans, although Maine,
at least west of the Kennebec, became an Episcopal colony, under its renown-
ed leaders of that denomination, Popham, Gorges, Southampton, &c.] w.
1 1 Hazard 57.
2 Hosier's Rel. of Weymouth's Voy., 3d Ser. Mass. H. Coll. vol. viii. 153
3 3 Maine Hist. Coll. 292 (Strachey).
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 177
sermon the President's commission was read, with the laws
to be observed and keept." " Ri : Seymour preacher " was
chosen one of the assistants, and took the oath of office :
' and so they returned back againe." On the 4th of
October, certain Indians being present, 1 were detained un-
til the next day, " which being Sondaye the President car-
ried them to the place of publike prayers, w ch they were at
both morning and evening, attending y fc with great rever-
ence and silence." The record in the journal for the 6th of
October states a '* fort was trencht and fortified with twelve
pieces of ordinaunce, and they built fifty houses therein, be-
sides a church and storehouse."
The valuable testimony of this cotemporaneous journal
establishes these following facts : that the first known act
of religious homage on the shores of New England was
the erection of a cross, by an earlier navigator, who had
respect for that symbol of the Christian faith, and who, by
the same testimony, is known to have been Capt. George
Weymouth, of England, and a member of the English
Church; that the first religious services, of which any
knowledge has been preserved, as having taken place in
New England, were performed by the chaplain of this col-
ony; 2 that these services were held in accordance with
the ritual of the Church of England; that the minister
who celebrated this worship and preached these sermons
was a clergyman of that church, deriving his authority for
his sacred office from ordination by the hands of a Bishop
of the same church ; and that these acts were performed at
1 Rosier Intimates the like in the time of Weymouth's voyage, p. 139.
2 In Hosier's account of Weymouth's voyage (p. 139) he says, that Wey-
mouth had the Indians " in presence at service, who behaved themselves
very civilly, neither laughing nor talking all the time." This would seem
to have been a religious service of the English Church. 3d series, Mass.
H. Coll. v. 8.
12
178 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
first on an island, and in the open air, and afterwards con-
tinuously in a church near the Kennebec River, on the west
side of one of the peninsulas of the coast, in the year
1607, l thirteen years before the landing of the colony on
Plymouth Rockj and sometime before the Puritans left
England to reside for a season in Holland. 2 If the fact of
first occupation is conceded to give the right of continued
possession, and if chartered privileges add strength to the
right, then surely the Episcopal Church may peacefully en-
ter any part of our wide domain.
Much might the early settlers have rejoiced if this happy
introduction of the gospel had been followed by permanent
results. But the enterprise failed. The intense cold of the
first winter, noted as extraordinary in Europe also ; 3 the
absence of all experience in the life of the colonist ; no
mines discovered, nor hope thereof, which were the chief
expected benefits of this plantation ; the loss of the great-
est part of their buildings and stores by fire ; and the ma-
ny unforeseen hardships of their condition, increased by the
death of their President ; these troubles, with fears of oth-
ers, equal or greater, constrained the whole colony, the next
year, to embark in a newly arrived ship, and " sett saile for
England. And this was the end of that northerne colony
uppon the river Sachadehoc." 4
Twenty-eight years passed away, after this ineffectual at-
tempt to found a colony at the mouth of the Kennebec,
before we find a historic notice of any effort to support the
institutions of religion in this quarter. The endeavor was
then renewed by means of the Episcopal Church, to supply
the wants of the first permanent settlers on the coasts
1 Sirachey, Hist. Travaile, c. vii. ix.
2 1608, 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., 155.
3 Prince, 117.
4 Strachey.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 179
of Maine. These pioneers came from the counties of Dev-
onshire and Somersetshire in the south-western part of
England, * while the far-famed Pilgrims to Plymouth and
Massachusetts came from another quarter, in the north of
England, as Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, 2
where they bordered nearest together." So that this fact,
of different starting points for the emigration, shows why
the first occupants of Maine were, from the beginning, of a
different mode of thinking from the people of the other
northern colonies ; and the opinion, that the Puritans were
the common fathers of all New England, appears to be un-
founded. Here, too, we see reason why the first dwellers
in our region had but little interest of feeling and action in
union with the neighboring colonies, as was afterwards de-
clared by the ambitious aims of the latter, and the ineffect-
ual resistance of the former.
In the spring of 1636, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, under the
sanction of a royal grant, established at the settlement at
Winter Harbor on the Saco River, 3 by the agency of his-
nephew, the first organized government within the present
State of Maine. The rights granted to the patentee of this
territory, authorized the establishment of the services of
the Church of England, and gave him the power to nomi-
nate the ministers to all churches and chapels which might
be built in the province. 4
The Episcopal character of this colony, thus intimated in
advance, is inferred also from other recorded facts. It ap-
pears in the design with which all the early charters, pat-
1 1 Belknap Biog. 364.
2 Morton extracts in 1 Hazard, 350. Prince, 99. The two principal
towns for their gathering were Gainsboro' and Scrooby. Palfrey, 132, 133,
note.
3 Folsom's Saco, 24, 33.
4 1 Hazard, 443. 1 Williamson, 264.
180 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
ents, and grants were made, and in the persons to whom the
royal favors were dispensed. The Dean of Exeter, Dr.
Matthew Suttcliffe, 1 was engaged in the enterprise as one
of its friends, which secured his interest because of its reli-
gious bearings. In the names and stations of others, we
see reasons for the like interest. This is especially mani-
fested in the fact, that when Robert Gorges was commis-
sioned, at an early day, by the council of Plymouth, to be
the " General Governor of New England," at the same time
the Rev. William Morrell, an Episcopal clergyman, was sent
over with authority to superintend the churches. 2 Though
this office proved ineffectual, it nevertheless shows the in-
tention of the patentees in England.
At Saco, one of the first measures was a provision for
religious instruction. A subscription (31 15s) was raised
for the support of a sacred teacher. These settlers came
to enjoy the customs of their fathers peacefully, in a new
land; and therefore they were glad to receive (1636) the
Rev. Richard Gibson, an Episcopal clergyman ; who, though
not taking the name, performed the duties of a missionary
in the new settlements on the sea-coast. He could not be a
missionary in the strict sense, as he came over about eleven
years before any Protestant missionary society had been
formed. His first and principal labors were bestowed at
Saco, where the first Episcopal church in New England was
established with any permanence; and the first of any kind
in Maine after the attempt on the Sagadahoc. It also ap-
pears that he resided (1637) on Richmond's Island, near
Cape Elizabeth. This " was an Episcopal plantation," J
where was a settlement of enterprising men, who found
1 2d charter of Va. 1 Hazard, 60.
2 1 Belknap's Biog., 367.
-3 Thornton's Pemaquid, 208, 5 Maine Hist. Coll.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 181
here, for a term of years, a profitable business in connec-
tion with the fisheries, and furnished a market for cargoes
of goods sent from England every year. The tradition has
been preserved, with great probability of its truth, that a
church was established on this island. The tradition is
confirmed by the fact that in 1648, twelve years after Mr.
Gibson's arrival, and in the time of his successor, vessels
for the service of the communion, and cushions, were enu-
merated iu an inventory then made of property belonging
to this island, with other articles appropriated to the use of
the minister.
In extending his labors*to the neighboring plantations, he
became well known at Portsmouth, N. H., where the church
people had " set up common prayer " as early as 1639, l and
had already organized a parish, with fifty acres of land for
a glebe, and a chapel with a dwelling for the minister. 2 He
was elected its first minister in 1640. In this new field of
employment, he spent a portion of his time in places out-
side of his immediate charge. He was bold and decided in
the utterance of his opinions, and particularly in regard to
the claims of Massachusetts for control beyond her proper
limits. A Puritan minister of Dover, by the name of Lark-
ham, provoked a controversy with him by preaching a * ser-
mon against such hirelings," supposed to be aimed at Mr.
Gibson, which called forth a severe reply, " wherein," Win-
throp says, " he did scandalize our government ; " who also
adds, that "he, being wholly addicted to the hierarchy and
discipline of England, did exercise a ministerial function in
the same way, and did marry and baptize at the Isle of
Shoals, which found to be within our jurisdiction," 3 where-
in the practice of clerical duties had been forbidden to the
Episcopal clergy, by the laws of Massachusetts.
1 1 Winthrop, 327.
a Belknap's N. H.
3 2 Winthrop, 66.
182 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
For these offenses he was taken into custody ; and after
several days' confinement in Boston, he was constrained to
acknowledge the jurisdiction of the offended government.
Being a stranger, and about to depart from the country,
where the spirit of persecution still lingered, he was al-
lowed to go without any fine or other punishment. Larkham,
his enemy, soon after followed to avoid a punishment for
his bad morals.
Mr. Gibson, the first permanent pioneer of the church,
was described by those who had no ecclesiastical relations,
to give a bias in his favor, as " a good scholar, a popular
speaker, and highly esteemed as a gospel minister, by the
people of his care." 1 Others have represented him " as a
man exceedingly bigoted." 2 This opinion, when properly
understood, may mean no more than his open and distinct
avowal of his attachment to the Church of England, of
which he was a minister. He liked the prayer book better
than any other form of worship, (and doubtless said so,)
as well as the order of bishops ; and quite as honestly said
that New Hampshire ought to have her own government,
against the grasping claims of her southern neighbor.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Jordan, who, as it
appears from the genealogy of the family, was probably or-
dained in the diocese of Exeter. 3 He came over from
England about the year 1640, at the age of twenty-eight,
and at the instance of Robert Trelawny, who at that time
possessed Richmond's Island. He took charge of the dis-
trict, which had been occupied for about four years by Mr.
Gibson, and thus officiated in the present Scarboro,' Casco,
(now Portland) and Saco. 4
1 2 Winthrop, 66. 1 Williamson, 291.
2 Greenleaf Conf. Sketches, 223.
3 Hist Mag , 1857, p. 54.
4 Hist. Saco, 80.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 183
Here he was a welcome laborer. For the religious con-
dition of the community at this time, east of the Saco, was
decidedly, if not exclusively, in favor of the Episcopal form
of government and worship. Indeed, it has been asserted
by a writer, whose sympathies are not with this church, that
" Maine was distinctively Episcopalian, and was intended
as a rival to her Puritan neighbors." 1 The charter of
Charles I. was designed to perpetuate the same order and
usages as existed in the mother country. Even the Ply-
mouth company's charter was based on the hypothesis, that
the same church and king were to be obeyed in both coun-
tries. 2
It was therefore but a natural fear of these inhabitants,
that their privileges would be diminished, when they saw
the beginning of the encroaching spirit and overbearing ac-
tion of Massachusetts, 3 whose emulous aspirations, arising
from a colonization of unexampled energy, had reached even
to Pegypscot. 4 " This wary government, ever watchful of
its own interests, had already conceived the idea of pushing
its limits into the heart of Maine," 5 by the same special
pleading as it had already done into New Hampshire. 6
For this reason the people here began to protect themselves
from interruption in their enjoyment of the usages of their
church, as they looked for hostile demonstrations against
the customs of their fathers. Anxieties were thus awak-
ened, which following events increased, rather than allayed.
Many of the early settlers doubtless came over in the mere
spirit of adventure. But it would be a stinted measure of
1 Thornton's Pemaquid, 175. 5 Maine Hist ColL
2 2 Anderson Colon, ch. 145.
3 Josselyn in Sullivan, 288.
4 1 Williamson 290. Purchas.
5 Hist. Saco, 60.
6 2 Anderson Colon, ch. 142, 147.
184 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
charity, which will not allow that in all the families risking
their fortunes in the enterprise, there were some persons
who cherished the/ spirit of religion, and attended to its
practical duties, as well as its customary forms. l The de-
sire to have " a goodly minister," (1641) by the people,
finds a place in the records of these times. They renewed
the institutions and laws of their native country, designed
to promote the moral and religious character of the people.
Penalties like those at home were inflicted on profanity,
Sabbath-breaking, and other immoralities. 2 They forgot
not the salutary restraints of their fathers. A law was
passed for che encouragement of the baptism of children. 3
A community strictly English in its character was estab-
lished on our shores, and continued to exist until changed
in its features by the extension of the power and principles,
both civil and religious, of the Puritan colonies. This
community, of course, preferred the ways of their early ed-
ucation, and had no wish to change them for the usages of
the persons who left England that they might avoid the cus-
toms of the church and enforce their own decisions. As
they increased in numbers and strength, they endeavored to
widen the area of their power. The occupancy of this
province came within the range of their wishes, and both
the civil and religious opinions of the people in this prov-
ince were arrayed against the effort. 4
Mr. Jordan was the leader and counselor of the persons
who clung to the old ways of their fathers. He and his
friends were resolute in purpose, and confident in their view
of the right. Sustained by the favoring judgment of his
many friends in the community, who were at first the major-
1 Hist. Scarboro', 153. 3 Maine Hist. Coll.
2 1 Williamson, 367.
3 Gorges in Sullivan, 320.
* Greenleaf, 224. 1 Willis's Portland.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 185
ity, and possessing great influence with them, he encouraged
them as long as there was any hope of success, to resist the
manifest design of Massachusetts, with a singular but not
unusual mixture of religious zeal and worldly policy, to sub-
jugate the colony, J as well in its religious as its political
relations. In order to have the pretense of right, a new
survey of her northern boundary was ordered, beginning at
Aquedahtan at the outlet of Lake Winnepisiogee, and ter-
minating on an island in Casco Bay, three miles east of the
present Portland.
But his readiness to act, and the prompt aid of his friends,
did not ward off the control of the grasping colony. For
in 1654 2 he was committed to prison in Boston. The spe-
cial reasons for this procedure do not appear. They may
have been political. But from subsequent events it is easy
to infer that his religious views and practices were both the
cause and occasion. Emigrants had come in from that en-
croaching quarter. 3 Some of the people were weary of
the contest, and as is usual, some hoped indefinitely for bene-
fits from a change of rulers. Thus in the midst of the agita-
tions that were aimed at the ascendency, by persuasion, by
promised benefits, by military force, and the aid of the new
comers, an agreement was made in 1658, 4 which gave to
Massachusetts -the authority to rule in the province of
Maine. 5
It was not long before Mr. Jordan's decision of character
and ready action exposed him to a new assault. It is on rec-
1 Sullivan, 323, 324.
2 Willis's Portland, 57. Sullivan, 369, says it was 1657 ; though this
might have been a subsequent imprisonment.
3 Willis's Portland, 62.
4 Willis's Portland, 59, 60.
5 Josselyn considers that the Puritans in Maine asked the submission to
Massachusetts. Sullivan, 70.
186 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
ord that he was frequently censured for exercising his minis-
terial office, in marriages, baptisms, and other acts. In 1660
he was called by summons, from the new and intolerant gov-
ernment to appear before the General Court at Boston, to
answer to the charge of baptizing three children in Falmouth,
" after the exercise was ended on the Lord's day ; " and was
required to desist from such practices in future. 1 Five years
afterwards his friends complained, in writing to the royal
commissioners, that the General Court " did imprison and
barbarously use Mr. Jordan for baptizing children." A few
years later (1671) a warrant was ordered to be sent out
against him, requiring him to present himself at the next
court, " to render an account why he presumed to marry Rich-
ard Palmer and Grace Bush, contrary to the laws of this
jurisdiction;" when there is no evidence that he did any-
thing at variance with the customs of his own church or the
laws of England, under whose protection the colony had al-
ways been placed.
But the sectarian spirit was strong against him and his
friends, and the power of the government gave it support.
Sullivan says, " the Episcopalian party dreaded the tyranny
of Massachusetts Puritanism." 2 And the fear was not with-
out cause. For though the second charter of James (1609)
declared that all English subjects and their children, in the
granted territory, should have and enjoy all the liberties of
free citizens, which were guaranteed in any other part of
the royal dominions ; 3 though in the agreement recently
made, it had been stipulated in the sixth article, that " civil
1 The baptismal font, brought by Mr. Jordan from England, and used by
him in this sacred rite, is still preserved in the family of one of his descend-
ants in Scarborough, where he had his house, and is a vivid remembrancer
of the troubles that met him in his walk of duty.
2 Hist. Me., 321.
3 1 Minot, 31.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 187
privileges should not be forfeited for religious differences ;"
and though the king of England, on hearing the cries of the
oppressed, had given instructions to insure a more liberal
treatment; yet the protection of the charter, the terms of
the agreement, and the tones of the order, were violated,
with a dexterity which gave an apparent obedience, while in
effect it evaded the obvious meaning of each provision.
This treatment proceeded from a class of persons, who had
professedly left England for the American wilderness, to
enjoy liberty of conscience, but whose exactions declared,
that the liberty could be allowed to others only according to
their own rule, in which chirch and state were united ; and
whose conduct, in these particulars, was more distinguished
for its boldness, than its consistency or its justice.
It was in reference to this spirit and practice, that New
England's most accomplished historian had deemed it prop-
er to record, that " base ambition " was mingled with the
schemes of church government, which Massachusetts was
then devising, and " gave a false direction " to the legisla-
tion of her state government; that "the creation of a na-
tional uncompromising church led the Congregationalists of
that province to the indulgence of the passions which had
disgraced their English persecutors, and Laud was justified
by the men he had wronged." *
Therefore, under the influence of this state religion the
sufferers found no effectual relief. Their just complaints
were heeded abroad, but denied at home. The Episcopa-
lians, in the places where Mr. Jordan was received as their
minister, were not likely to be soothed by this treatment,
so unlike what Gorges 2 and his followers had exhibited in
this quarter. They waited for the time when they could
enjoy their rights and preferences, free from the capricious
1 1 Bancroft, 450, 451.
a 1 Williamson, 306.
188 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
interference of their rulers. But there was not much room
for hope, when the United Colonies of New England had
declared, that " no colony, while adhering to the Episcopal
church-communion of England, could be admitted to mem-
bership." 1
The severe restrictions, however, to which they were
called to submit, at length produced a reaction. By a peti-
tion to Charles II. (in June, 1664) a royal order was pro-
cured, requiring the Massachusetts government to make resti-
tution of the Province of Maine to Ferdiiiando Gorges, grand-
son to the first patentee, 2 or his commissioners, into his or
their quiet and peaceable possession. This order was reluct-
antly and slowly obeyed. For about three years the change
was favorable to the wishes of Mr. Jordan and his friends.
The power then reverted to Massachusetts, and there re-
mained for a long term of years.
Amid all these fluctuations, Mr. Jordan resided in the
present Cape Elizabeth, and extended his ministerial care
to Scarborough and the Casco settlement, now Portland,
and elsewhere. For thirty-six years he here attended to
the employments of preaching, of baptizing, of marrying
the living and burying the dead, and the administration of
the Lord's Supper, except when he was " silenced " by the
ruling power. Complained of himself, he, in turn, with the
aid of a leading man in the colony, brought a complaint to
the Court, that the Puritan minister of Scarborough " preach-
ed unsound doctrine to the settlers." 3 It is not improba-
ble that this action hastened the measures for his punishment
1 Williamson, 297, (anno 1644). This enactment was made in that spirit
which led a person in high position for literature and theology (the Presi-
dent of Harvard College, 1673) to say, that he " looked on toleration as the
mother of all abominations." 2 do. 277. Sullivan, 314.
2 Sir F. Gorges died about 1647. (Hist. Saco, 65).
3 Hist. Scarborough, 154, (anno 1659.)
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 189
for baptizing the children of his parishioners in Casco ; at
a time, too, when there was no minister but himself in the
settlement ; as indeed there never had been before, except
Mr. Gibson, his predecessor, and was not till ten years af-
ter the act for which he was punished. So far as history or
even tradition speaks, he was the only minister in Portland
during the long period of his service ; l and yet he could
not do his ministerial duties without rebuke, and sometimes
a separation from his family and imprisonment, to satisfy
the demands of the offended powers in another province.
In the Indian war excited by King Philip, he was attacked
in his house by the savage enemies. He barely escaped
with his family to Great Island, now Newcastle, near Ports-
mouth, N. H., leaving his dwelling house to be burned with
all its contents. In 1677 he was invited by the Governor
of New York to settle at Pemaquid, where he had secured
the friendship of Giles Elbridge, with whom he harmonized
in religious and political sympathies. 2 But he declined the
proposal. Old age had now crept upon him ; and he de-
cided to remain in the quiet retreat, which afforded a relief
from his vexations, though he had been driven to it by the
violence of the common enemy. In the memory of his past
troubles and hardships, and his increasing infirmities, he did
not return with the people to the resettlement of the deso-
lated town, which began in about three years after the flight.
After a residence of four years at Great Island, he died in
the sixty-eighth year of his age, (1679), so enfeebled in the
use of his hands as to be unable to sign his will. 3
1 Smith's Journal, Appendix, 437. [Rev. George Burroughs preached on
the Neck, now Portland, previous to 1676, and was there at the destruction
of fie town by the Indians, in that year. w.]
8 Thornton's Pemaquid, 259, 230.
3 Willis's Portland. A letter was written to him, from New York, by Gov
Andros, Sept. 15, 1680, after his death. Pemaquid Papers, 42, 5 Maine
Hist. ColL
190 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
The cares of his active and uneasy life were largely in-
creased by his attention to the great property acquired by
marriage, and preserved by his prudence for the benefit of
his numerous family. On this account his devotion to the
proper duties of the ministry was proportionally less;
and it was still more diminished by his occupation in the
civil affairs of the people, as one of their leaders and mag-
istrates. His enemies were on the alert to find charges
against him ; but never in relation to his preaching, his doc-
trine, or his conduct, except in the ritual acts of his sacred
office, and his words. Their accusations before the court
were grounded on. his expressions of hostility to the gov-
ernment whose authority he regarded as encroachment,
and the movements he made against its claims. But the
charges found little proof, even from the lips of his partisan
foes, and before a court composed of judges representing
the authority which he had offended. His activity and en-
terprise, combined with an education much in advance of
the people among whom he lived, made him prominent . in
the doings of those early days. The measures that bore
the features of a bigoted, if not revengeful spirit, on the
part of his opposers, prompted him to take an attitude
which, under kinder treatment, he never would have assumed.
The moral state of the colony, through all this period, was
deplorably low, and the flame of piety shone with a feeble
light. Different individuals strove to improve the people in
these relations. But little good could be done among per-
sons who largely depended for their livelihood on hunting
and fishing. In an age of little zeal ; with no brother in his
office in all New England, to counsel and assist him in his
solitary labors, and not finding or expecting aid from the
sect whose forms and theology were of a different school,
the minister had little to encourage him in his toils and tri-
als. We may lament the difficult circumstances in which
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 191
the active portion of his life was spent. These vexations
gave his faults prominence, when under the favorable condi-
tion of the present day they would hardly have been
known.
A long term of years now passed away, in which period,
Indian wars produced their bloody devastations. In 1690,
after the siege of a week, the last fort in Falmouth surren-
dered to the united forces of the French and Indians. Many
of its defenders were killed. Others were carried to Que-
bec, and the settlement destroyed. Mather truly described
the desolation of the sad scene in two words, "Deserted
Casco." It lay in ruins about sixteen years.
During this interval the religious interests of the people
at Pemaquid were not overlooked by the friends of that
settlement. In the instructions for that place given in 1683,
it is declared to be " requisite for the promoting of piety,
that a person be appointed by the commissioners to read
prayers and the holy scriptures." l At this time a large
portion of the residents had come from New York, under
whose government the plantation was placed, and these in-
structions show the Episcopal character of the people at
Pemaquid.
The proof that this purpose was carried out is found in a
manuscript petition still preserved, addressed to Gov. An-
dros, when he stopped at Pemaquid, in April, 1688, on his
expedition to Castine. From this it appears that John
Gyles, the petitioner, " ever since June last, had read prayers
at the garrison, on Wednesdays and Fridays, and had not
received anything for it." He therefore solicited the gov-
ernor's aid, and a compensation, that he might continue to
officiate as before. These duties to the soldiers appear to
have been additional to the regular services on the Lord's
day. 2
1 Pemaquid Papers, 79, 80.
8 MS. petition in possession of John McKeen, Esq.
192 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
The first notice of the renewal of the services of the
church in Falmouth, now Portland, occurs in the journal of
the Congregational minister of the place in 1754, seventy-
nine years after the departure of Mr. Jordan, a period of
more than two generations. Four times had peace been
followed by war during this space ; and the place was now
peopled by a large number of settlers, notwithstanding the
former changes and discouragements. At this date, the
Rev. Mr. Brockwell, rector of Trinity Church, Boston,
attended Governor Shirley as the chaplain of his expedi-
tion, to hold a council with the Norridgewock Indians at
Falmouth. He preached in the Congregational house in
the morning; and it is added quaintly in the journal, "he
carried on in the church form." A fortnight after he
preached again, and the record reads, u he gave great of-
ense as to his doctrine," which might have been expressive
of the views of his own church.
Ten years then elapsed without a record ; and then (1764)
we find that a large number of persons declared in writing
their desire that the new meeting-house about to be erected
in Falmouth should be devoted to public worship according
to the Church of England. This movement was made by
the Church people, and a portion of the Congregatiorialists
who were dissatisfied with the settlement of a colleague to
their minister. At this juncture of affairs, the Rev. Mr.
Hooper of Trinity Church, Boston, made a visit to the
place. He preached, and baptized several children. The
congregation at once entered on their plan of operations,
with a decision both unexpected and fruitful in results. The
accession to their numbers occurred on the twenty-third of
July, and on the third of September the corner stone of the
first Episcopal church was laid by the wardens, who, with
the other officers, had been chosen in the earlier part of the
same day. From this beginning there appeared the next
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 193
*
year the finished structure, with tower and bell. In close
relation to this prosperity, an event occurred which oc-
casioned great surprise to the community, and added
new strength to the part of the church. The Rev. John
Wiswall, a graduate of Harvard University, who had been
settled (in 1756) over the New Casco Parish, suddenly de-
clared for the Church of England, and immediately accepted
a call to be the minister of the collected Churchmen. l
Many, and indeed the majority of the people uniting in this
act, had been attendants on his ministrations; and the
church people had previously, as well as now, endeavored
to persuade him to the change, which he made without pas-
sing through " the usual ecclesiastical formalities." 2 For
a few Sundays he conducted the worship as well as he could,
without Episcopal ordination. On the eighth of October
he " sailed in the mast ship " for England. He there re-
ceived authority to administer the ordinances of religion
according to the order of the English Church. He returned
in May following, and was the first rector of the parish, as
a missionary, aided to the amount of twenty pounds per
annum, by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in For-
eign Parts. A hundred pounds, lawful money, was voted
by his people for his support. At first the persons who
had seceded, were required to pay the usual tax to the old
society ; but after bearing this burden for eight years, and
one hundred persons reclaiming against it, a vote of that
society was passed, by which the money thus raised was re-
funded to the parish where the tax justly belonged. The
increase of the church is indicated by the amount of this
taxation. In 1765 it was forty- three pounds seven shillings
1 " There is a sad uproar about Wiswall, who has declared for the church."
Smith's Journal, 200.
a Greenleaf, 41.
is
194 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
ten pence; in 1774 it was one hundred and nine pounds six
shillings nine pence.
The next year after the rector's return, he reported to
the society in England, that his congregation had increased
to seventy families, who constantly attended worship, with
a considerable number of strangers and twenty-one commu-
nicants.
It is not purposed to pursue the history of the mission
in Portland any further. It would be interesting to de-
scribe its progress through its various fluctuations of pros-
perous and adverse changes, the destruction of its church
by the fire of the British war-ships, followed by the disper-
sion of the congregation, its rebuilding twelve years
afterwards, when only twenty persons subscribed for a
weekly payment to support a clergyman, who was allowed
to preach three Sundays in a year at Windham, 1 where
some of the members of the church resided; its incor-
poration as a parish in 1791, the exchange of this building
for a new brick structure, (1802) and the later improvement
and enlargement to accommodate its increasing congrega-
tion. Another church has sprung from it as an offshoot,
in strong and efficient growth, with its impressive edifice of
stone ; while both parishes now have a condition of pros-
perity, in marvelous contrast with the hardships and trials
endured by the friends of the church through the chief part
of the previous two centuries.
From the settlement on Casco Bay we now turn to the
Kennebec.
Efforts had been made by the Romish priest, a missionary
to the Indians near the present Augusta, to persuade the
settlers at Frankfort on this river, to remove to an abode
near to his influence and instruction. As an inducement, he
offered each man two hundred acres of land. They refused
i Greenleaf, 225.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 195
the solicitation. * This movement led to the construction of
the forts at Augusta and Winslow. l
The date of the commencement of the enterprise on this
river, carries pur thoughts back to the year 1754, when the
people at Georgetown, aided by their friends at Frankfort,
now Dresden, sent a petition to " The Society for Propa-
gating the Gospel," asking for the services of a missionary.
The Rev. Mr. Macclenachan was appointed, with a stipend
of fifty pounds from the society. He had already officiated
in the first of these places as a Presbyterian minister. He
had afterwards received Episcopal ordination in England,
and soon after came to supply the wants of these two scat-
tered plantations. He arrived on the Kennebec in the
spring of 1756, having been recommended on account of
his " uncommon fortitude, and mind cheerfully disposed to
undergo the difficulties and dangers of the mission." He
went to Fort Richmond, 2 on the west side of the river, just
north of the present village of the same name. This place
was the most convenient point from which to prosecute his
labors. The building was old and uncomfortable, where
the wind, rain, and snow had a free passage. The next year
he wrote to the society that he had often preached on com-
mon days, as well as on the Lord's day, to an increasing
congregation ; and lamented that there was no church in
either of the places, nor glebe, nor house prepared for his
occupancy, as had been promised ; and that he had made
his dwelling in an old, dismantled fort, where he had been
wonderfully preserved from a merciless enemy, to whom he
was often exposed j and added that his head, his heart, and
his hands were all employed in directing, encouraging, and
1 3 Maine H. Coll, 274.
2 Fort Frankfort was on the east side of Kennebec River, about a mile
and a half above Fort Richmond, and afterwards called Fort Shirley. 1
Williamson, 51.
196 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
fighting for his people. l Late in the next year he left the
mission. His subsequent career showed, that though he
possessed great powers of pulpit oratory, they were not
sustained by the solid qualifications of a character suited
to his sacred calling.
For a year and a half the shores of the Kennebec were
left in their original destitution of the ministrations of the
gospel, except in such form as protestants could not adopt.
But the people at Frankfort were not inactive. They sought
aid again by petition to the society in England, whose
" nursing care and protection," for a long period, the church-
es in this country enjoyed. In response to their wishes,
the Rev. Jacob Bailey was appointed to occupy this vacant
mission, for which he had been recently ordained in Eng-
land, after his graduation at Harvard University. The
town had now received the name of Pownalborough ; but
his arduous and long continued care extended through a large
territory, containing more than seven thousand inhabitants,
in which the majority were extremely poor, very ignorant,
and without any means of instruction.
The new missionary arrived in the summer of 1760.
Here he toiled with untiring zeal for the welfare of his
charge ; extending his efforts to Sheepscote, Harpswell,
Damariscotta, and Georgetown, where in 1761, the commu-
nicants had increased from seventeen to fifty ; preaching
among people of different languages, 2 and eight different
persuasions ; and, amid many discouragements, finding much
satisfaction in witnessing the good effects of his efforts on
many hearers.
After ten years of pastoral care, he had the happiness to
see an edifice reared, thirty-two feet by sixty, including the
chancel, and though not completed, rendered serviceable for
1 Hawkins, 225.
2 Hawkins.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 197
public worship in the fall of 1770. Near the beginning of
the winter of the next year he moved from Fort Richmond
with his family into the parsonage, near his church, where
he had " one room very comfortable," but was obliged to
board the workmen till another room could be finished.
In his labors applied away from his special care, he
preached at Gardiner, where, in two years after his own
church was occupied, he saw a church and parsonage erected
at the expense of the liberal individual from whom the town
has derived its name, and who had generously aided in the
similar enterprise at Pownalborough. Amid the discourage-
ments of changing times, and with a growth, sometimes
feeble, and finally vigorous, it has found a firm friend in the
inheritor of the name of its founder, and has been the help-
er of almost every parish in the diocese, as well as many
others out of it, and the dwelling place of the first resident
bishop.
It would occupy a long time to speak of all the work of
this " frontier missionary," among the people of his charge,
where he found but few inducements for perseverance be-
yond the labor of love. But it would be interesting to
repeat how devotedly he attended to their welfare ; how he
traveled up and down the river, sometimes to the distance
of sixty miles, by water, or on the ice, or through the wil-
derness, and most often alone, to supply the religious need
of the scattered population; how he received little or no
salary from the people ; how his friends in both towns were
compelled by tax to support a worship which they did not
like ; how he solaced himself with his books and ready pen,
and the care of his garden, which he adorned with the taste
of skillful cultivation ; how the peace of his life was con-
stantly embittered by the fabe and malicious representa-
tions of two persons, of opposite religious sentiments, in
official stations, with the addition of the most contemptuous
198 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
language and actions; how, under legal advice, lie made
concessions to them for the sake of securing his church and
dwelling from their rapacity ,* how he continued in his parish
duties in the midst of all these difficulties from outside forc-
es, and the various trials of his patience and hope, within
his pastoral limits, until he came into the power of the civil
excitements connected with the war of the Revolution ; how
unhappily for his comfort, but honestly for his conscience,
he decided to make no change in his allegiance to the ruling
powers ; how the enemies of his church and king harassed
his daily life, already afflicted with the most pinching pov-
erty, amid the heart-rending scenes of the like suffering
among many of his parishioners j how he lived on, looking
for better times in faith, with a few clams for his breakfast,
hoping to find a dinner with some of his better provided
parishioners, and disappointed there, had refused an invita-
tion in other places, where the " starving children were
staring on him with hollow, piercing eyes, and pale, languid
faces ; " how he was compelled to flee from his house to es-
cape from the violence of his opposers, and was waylaid
near his own house, and muskets fired on other persons in
the dark, which were intended to hit or frighten him ; how,
after enduring these and other like calamities and insults,
not for any moral offenses, but for his religious and political
opinions, he was glad to receive permission from his adver-
saries to leave the home and the people to whom, by the
associations of nineteen years, he had become affectionately
attached ; and how, at length, with his wife and little child-
ren, cheerless and persecuted, taking a final leave of his
once happy home, in the needs and in the garb of extreme
penury, dependent on charity, walking several miles to a
boat, which was to bear them down the river to the vessel
which was to carry them away, and with many a long, lin-
gering look of love for his native country, he went, in the
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 199
spirit of a martyr, into a permanent exile, to a land where
he knew no persons, except such as, like himself, had fled
from troubles, which their honest interpretation of their
principles would not allow them to escape in any other
way.
We cannot dwell on these and many other severe trials ;
but we can see, what he could not see, how the seed that he
had sown was not lost j how his desolated parish and church,
destroyed by ruinous hands, have revived in these last
years, and give the hope that they will not again be molest-
ed; while other churches have risen around, to prosper
under the guidance of a Chief Shepherd who has his home
in the hearts of a united people. Could he have foreseen
all the present, he might the more willingly, but not the
more patiently, have borne his bitter bereavements, in the
joy of having an agency in accomplishing these once distant
results. He was a pioneer to be long and gratefully re-
membered. We cannot read the rich pages of his life,
prepared by his faithful biographer, l without the feeling
that the hardships of the present day are but lightness when
compared with the weight of his ; and we cannot go to the
place where his feet once trod the busy path of his varied
duties, without yielding a brother's tribute to the memory
of JACOB BAILEY.
The people at Georgetown and Harpswell, where for
some years he had officiated, and a portion of the time
every third Sunday, were supplied with a missionary by the
Society in 1768. 2 He was thus relieved from a portion of
distant cares. The Rev. Mr. Wheeler was thus his nearest
counselor and aid. But four years afterwards he withdrew
from the mission, where the members of his little flock were
1 "The Frontier Missionary," by Rev. W. S. Bartlet.
2 Boothbay at this time had some church people. Greenleaf, 134.
200 EPISCOPAL CHUKCH IN MAINE.
obliged to pay taxes for the " support of dissenting minis-
ters/' and therefore could not be liberal in the maintenance
of their own. The whole burden of its wants, therefore,
was thrown back upon the person who had borne it patiently
and long. An edifice had been erected for religious wor-
ship ; but, like the congregation that used it, it has passed
away, to be revived in times near our own day, in the more
prosperous parish in the city of Bath.
Not far from these last dates a church was built in that
part of Kittery, now known as Elliot, and fifteen communi-
cants were reported, as belonging to the congregation.
The services were continued at intervals for many years, by
the minister at Portsmouth, and appear to have ceased at
his death in 1773.
And about the same time a small chapel of brick was
erected in Prospect, near Fort Pownal, with the promise of
an Episcopal minister, under an arrangement with the pro-
prietors of the Waldo grant. But it is not now known
that it was ever occupied for this purpose. l
For a long time after the Revolutionary struggle had hap-
pily terminated, in securing our independence, the church in
Portland, after its revival, and in Gardiner, where the serv-
ices had received some interruption, were the only two in
the District. At intervals the former was closed, at one
time for years, and was apparently dead. But it has passed
through all its difficulties successfully. The latter was kept
open perseveringly (when the number of persons attending
it were included in about twelve families, who were all the
active friends of the church in the State,) by lay reading,
for a number of years, in the absence of a clergyman. It
was also regarded as the place where application could be
suitably made for assistance, when the services of the church
1 2 Williamson, 565. Thurston's Anniversary Discourse, 1859.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE. 201
were desired elsewhere. Thus about the year 1810, the
people at Waldoborough solicited advice from this parish
to carry out their wish to secure an Episcopal clergyman to
fill the vacancy in the Lutheran pulpit in that town. But
those were the days when the ministers of the church were
few; and the opportunity for the establishment of a pros-
perous Episcopal parish was lost, for want of a laborer to
occupy the promising field. x
When the State was again separated from Massachusetts
in its civil relations, the ecclesiastical separation from the
Eastern Diocese followed soon after. The Convention held
its first meeting at Brunswick, several years before the
church was organized in that place ; and directed its early
action to the interests of the missions within its jurisdic-
tion. In 1823 the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society
was formed, and made its first effort at Saco in 1827, one
hundred and ninety years after Richard Gibson had been
the first preacher of the gospel in that part of our country.
Other parishes in various parts of the State have since been
formed, and are now generally in a prosperous condition.
An account of their origin and condition has been published
during the past year, 2 and renders further mention here un-
necessary.
This sketch of the early history of the Episcopal Church
in the Diocese of Maine is far too brief to do justice to the
worthy individuals who gave their time, counsels, labors,
prayers, and means for its introduction and support.
These early days of the ecclesiastical history of the
province, were the days when European cupidity was stim-
ulated by the marvelous reports, carried out from wild
shores by voyagers, to enchant the imaginations of their
employers and friends at home. The spirit of adventure
1 MS. letter, R. H. Gardiner, Esq.
3 By R. H. Gardiner, Esq.
202 EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MAINE.
was aroused in the hope of speedy affluence. The highest*
rank in society yielded to its attractions ; and the people at
large were filled with exciting hopes of sharing the antici-
pated gains. Hence, during a long period, we see but little
of the earnestness of the Christian life, as we wish to see
it at the present hour, when we are favored with a settled
government, the privileges of peace, brotherly influences,
social counsels, saintly examples, and a gratifying prosper-
ity. These pioneers had little to cheer them in these re-
spects ; and in their hard circumstances may find a plea
against any censure of their deficiencies. If they had been
favored with the greater blessings of later days, we may
believe a brighter light would have shone upon the history
of their times.
ARTICLE IX.
THE -ABZST^KI 1 1ST 3D I ^- 1ST S.
COMMUNICATED BY
EUGENE VETROMILE, S, J,,
PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLT CROSS, AT WORCESTER, MASS.
WITH A
BRIEF MEMOIR OF PROF. VETROMILE,
REY. EDWARD BALLARD, OF BRUNSWICK, ME.
MR, VETROMILE,
THE REV. EUGENE VETROMILE, S. J., the author of the following com-
munication, is a native of Galiipolis, a city of the ancient " Magna Graecia,'
on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Taranto, at present belonging to the
government of the King of Naples, and in which the ancient ./Eolic dialect
of the Greek language is spoken in great purity. His education was com-
menced in that city, and continue4 under private teachers, and in its princi-
pal seminary, in which he spent three years in studies properly academic and
theological. He then went to Naples to finish his course. But there his
purpose was interrupted for several years by an appointment to instruct the
pupils of the college of that city. Availing himself of an invitation to come
to America, he completed his intended course of collegiate studies at George-
town, D. C. While thus employed, he received his first knowledge of the
Abnaki language, from the Rev. Mr. Barber, who had resided for ten years
among the Penobscot Indians. With this assistance and a great readiness
for the acquisition of language, he was soon prepared to enter on the mission
at Oldtown, and was honored with the position of " Patriarch of the In-
dians." While employed in the duties of his office, he increased his knowl-
edge of the language by hearing the sounds of the spoken dialects, and the
free use of the many valuable manuscripts of the earlier missionaries of the
Church of Rome to the various Eastern tribes. For their benefit he has
published two editions of a volume called " Alnambay Uli Awickhigan,"
comprising devotions and instructions in their various dialects ; and one edi-
tion of a small book to aid the musical portion of their worship, in which,
in addition to the Gregorian chants, he has introduced several native airs, of
sweet, though wild melody. This book is entitled " Ahiamihewintuhangun."
His interest in the Abnaki language has induced him to undertake the prep-
aration of a Comparative Dictionary of its several dialects ; which valuable
work, it is hoped, will be published under the auspices of the Maine Histor-
ical Society. He is believed to be the only person who can read a verse of
Elliot's Indian Bible with a true understanding of the words of that trans-
lation.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
ALTHOUGH recent discoveries of manuscripts of the Ab-
naki language, prior and posterior to the date of the dic-
tionary of Rev. Sebastian Rasles, have prevented me from
preparing a communication on the Indian language of the
ancient Acadia and New France a communication which
I reserve for some future opportunity, yet I have deemed
proper for the present, to collect every historical document
that I have met with, and to present an article on that pow-
erful nation, which once occupied this land from the shores
of the great St. Lawrence, down to the Atlantic Ocean, and
from the mouth of the Kennebec river to the eastern part
of New Hampshire. The kind and gentle Abnaki has disap-
peared from this State. Those few of that ancient and
noble nation that remain yet mixed with other tribes of
Canada, will soon share the same fate. It is true that
the deep mosses of Maine shall no more be imprinted with
the moccasin of its ancient master, yet no man shall ever
be able to efface the name of the Abnaki out of this exten-
sive land. Every hill and valley, every river and brook,
every lake and pond, every bay and promontory, bears wit-
ness of that nation. True 1 the Abnaki disappeared from
this soil, but not before having marked every nook, stream
and pond with the name of their owner. The granite mon-
208 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
ument on the left shore of the Kennebec river, near Nor-
ridgewock, points out the lonely spot of the last Abnaki
village in this State the only spot east of the Mississippi
marked with a monument to perpetuate the memory of an
Indian village of the last 'century ; to which so many historical
recollections remain attached a monument which is the
pride of the antiquarian, and the target of vandalic' hands.
The aborigines that once lived on the banks of the Ken-
nebec river, in the State of Maine, were visited earlier than
any other Indian nation of New France and Acadia, if we
' except the Sourriquois or Micmacs. When Father Biand,
in 1613, sailed from Port Royal in Nova Scotia for Mount
Desert, near the mouth of the Penobscot river, he had al-
ready visited the shores of the Kennebec, and the people of
that country. 1 He spoke very highly of them, as of a
powerful nation living in settled villages. Yet it is to be
lamented that so little is known of them, even to render
their very existence doubtful to some antiquarians of the
present age. That eminent scholar, Baron William von
Humboldt, in one of his letters, urged the publication of
the dictionary of Father Rasles, on the ground that very
little was known of the dialect of the Abnakis, and its pub-
lication would preserve that language from perpetual obliv-
ion. 2 The object of this communication is to show whether
there was any nation strictly called Abnaki, and to present
some remarks upon that people.
It is a fact well known, that very often the same tribe or
nation has received different names by various persons or
nations j so the Abnakis were called Taranteens 3 by the
1 Shea : Catholic Mis. in the U. S., p. 131.
2 John Pickering's notes on Jonathan Edwards, D. D. Mohegan Indians.
3 Very probably from Atironta, the name of a brave Indian who rendered
so many services to the first missionaries.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 209
English, l and Owenagungas by the New Yorkers. This
fact has led several persons to think that the number of the
Indian tribes was larger than it was in reality. Travelers,
in observing the same tribe, or a part of it, encamped in
different places, have been several times misled in taking
them for different nations. The Indians are a roving people,
and there' is no difficulty to find the same tribe now at one
place, now at another ; in this manner the same tribe may
have been reckoned several times. I can give an illustra-
tion of it in the Indians who live in Maine. The Passama-
quoddy tribe at present dwells at four places. One part at
Pleasant Point, near Perr^ another part at Calais, another
on the Schoodic lakes, and another on the British shore of
the St. Croix river. Travelers not acquainted with this
fact would make four tribes out of this nation, which forms
only one tribe.
We must admit that a large portion of the North Amer-
ican Indians were called Abnakis, if not by themselves, at
least by others. This word Abnaki is found spelt Abena-
quesj Abenaki, Wapanachki and Wabenakies by different
writers of various nations, each adopting the manner of
spelling according to the rules of pronunciation of their
respective native languages. This, however, is of no conse-
quence. The word generally received is spelled thus, Ab-
naki, but it should be Wdnbdnaghi, from the Indian word
wdnbdnban, designating the people of the Aurora Borealis,
or in general, of the place where the sky commences to ap-
pear white at the breaking of the day, from wdjibighen, it
is white. This observation is sufficient for the present. I
shall give a fuller and more satisfactory translation of the
word Abnaki in the progress of this communication.
It has been difficult for different writers to determine the
number of nations or tribes comprehended under this word
1 Shea : Hist, of the Catholic Mk,
14
210 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
Abnaki. It being a general word, by itself designates the
people of the east or north-east. We follow the most of
the authors, who have treated this subject, to embrace under
this name all the tribes of the Algic family who occupy, or
Jiave occupied the east or north-east shore of North Amer-
ica ; thus, all the Indians of the sea shores, from Virginia
to Nova Scotia, were Abnaki. l We include also the abo-
rigines of Newfoundland, and of the northern shore of the
St. Lawrence river as far as Labrador, because they also
belong to the same family.
We find that the word Abnaki was applied in general,
more or less, to all the Indians of the East, by persons who
were not much acquainted with the aborigines of the coun-
try. On the contrary, the early writers, and others well
acquainted with the natives of New France and Acadia, and
the Indians themselves, by Abnakis always pointed out a
particular nation existing north-west and south of the Ken-
nebec river, and they never designated any other people of
the Atlantic shore, from Cape Hatteras to Newfoundland.
In an ancient map published in 1660, in the history of
Canada, written by Rev. Father Ducreux, the Abnakis (Ab-
naquotii) are located between the Kennebec (Kinibakius
fluvius) and Lake Champ lain (Lacus Champlenius), occupy-
ing the headwaters of the Kennebec, of the Androscoggin
(fluvius Amingocontius), of the Saco (Choacatius fluvius),
and of another river marked in the map without name,
which must be, perhaps, the Prcsumpscot river. The same
.author does not put any other nation north of New England,
except the Etchimis (Etecheminii) north and east of the
Penobscot river (Pentecoitius flumen), and the Sorriquois
(Soricoi) in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Acadia).
No other nation is marked in New England (Nova Anglia),
except the two following. The Sokoquis (Soquoquisii) be-
1 See Encycl. Amer. vol. vi. *
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 211
tween Boston (Bostonium Londini), Plymouth (Plimntium),
Cape Cod (Promontorium Malabarreum) and the Connecti-
cut river. The other nation is that of the Mohegans (na-
tio Euporum), between the Connecticut river and the North
river (fluvius borealis seu minsius). These are all the na-
tions which occupied the area of New England and Acadia
in 1660. Every nation, no doubt, was subdivided into dif-
ferent tribes.
This is confirmed by Father Bressani, Father Rasles, and
other early missionaries, who spent a great number of years
amongst the Indians, whose language and manners they pos-
sessed to some perfection/ The different names given to
nations located in New England and Acadia were generally
from strangers. The number of tribes has been either too
much exaggerated, or over reckoned. The same tribe may
have been counted several times under different names, ac-
cording to the various residence in which a tribe, or a part
of it, had encamped for some war, hunting, or fishing party.
These names were generally taken from some river, pond,
etc., in whose vicinity they had pitched their camps. This
must have been the cause of much confusion. We say at
present the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy, the Oldtown,
the Pleasant Point, the Calais, the Louis Island, the Moose-
head Lake, the Lincoln, the Mattinacook, the Passadumkeag,
the Ollemon Indians, yet they are only one nation, the Et-
chimis, divided in two small tribes, the Penobscot and Pas-
samaquoddy. This might have been the case in ancient
times. Only five nations are reckoned in New England and
Acadia, namely, the Mohegans, the Sokoquis, the Abnakis,
the Etchimis, and the Micmacs.
La Hontan confirms it by putting the same nations and
no others. 1 He mentions the Openangos, who are the Pe-
1 Transactions of the Hist and Lit. Com. of the Amer. Philos. Soc. of
Philad. Y. 1, p. 107.
212 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
nobscots, l and I would rather believe them to be the same
Abnakis, by spelling the word differently^ and the Canibas,
who are the same Abnakis called by the French Canibas,
or Kanibals, from the Kennebec river. 2 La Hontan, how-
ever, is inaccurate in locating them all in the ancient Acadia.
This error is not uncommon to old writers not well ac-
quainted with geography. Dr. Jonathan Edwards does not
mention any other tribe in New England, 3 and he falls into
error of geography in locating the Penobscots in Nova Sco-
tia. The classification of Gookin 4 may be reduced to the
following: The Pequods are the Mohegan nation the
Narragansetts and the Massachusetts must be the Soko-
quis. The Pawkunnawkuts or Wampanoags are the Ab-
nakis, and under this name he comprehends, also, the Et-
chimis and Micmacs. Father Bressani does not mention
any other nation. In a letter written by a French gentle-
man to a Father of the Society of Jesus, 5 there is mention
of the Micmacs and Mareschites (the Etchimis being called
also Mareschites) in Acadia. On the St. George river,
which divides New France from New England, he puts the
Abnakis and Kanibas. Towards Quebec, the Papinachis,
the Saquenets, the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Hurons,
the Wolves and Sokokis. Of these only the Wolves, and
Sokokis are in New England. It is to be remarked that
the Sokokis are put near the Wolves, and not near the Ab-
nakis, just as they are in the map of Father Lecreux. Now
leaving these tribes, we return to the Abnakis.
1 Father Demilier's manuscripts.
2 Father Rasles' Let. Lettres edif. vol. vi.
3 Observations on the language of the Muhhekaneen Ind., with notes by
J. Pickering.
4 Transactions of the Amer. Antiq. Soc. at Cambridge, vol. iv. p. 33.
5 The travels of several learned missionaries of the Society of Jesus, p.
316.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 213
The Abnakis had five great villages, 1 two amongst the
French colonies, which must be the village of St. Joseph or
Sillery, and that of St. Francis de Sales, 2 both in Canada,
three on the head waters, or along three rivers, between
Acadia and New England. These three rivers are the Ken-
nebec, the Androscoggin, and the Saco, as it appears from
the map of Father Lecreux, and from the words of Father
Rasles, who says that these three rivers enter into the sea
south of Canada, between New England and Acadia. 3 The
names of these villages must be those given by Father
Rasles in his dictionary, 4 namely, NdnrdntswaJc (where the
river falls again), Anmessukkantti (where there is an abund-
ance of large fish), Pdnnawdnbskek (it forks on the white
rocks). These three villages are those of this State. The
names of the two Abnaki villages of Canada are Nessawa-
kamighe (where the river is barricaded with osier to fish,
or where the fish is dried by smoke), and it is the present
village of St. Francis of Sales. The other Canadian Ab-
naki village is St. Joseph or Sillery, called formerly by the
Indians Kamiskwawdngachit (where they catch salmon
with the spear.) 5
The nation of the Abnakis bear evident marks of having
been an original people in their name, manners, and lan-
guage. They show a kind of civilization which must be the
effect of antiquity, and of a past flourishing age. The ori-'
gin and meaning of the word Abnaki has been always the
subject of investigation amongst historians and philologists.
It seems that they were satisfied in finding that it meant
1 Father Rasles' Let Lettres Edif. vol. vi. p. 159.
3 Shea : Hist of the Catholic Miss. p. 135142.
3 Lettres Edif. voL vi. p. 104.
4 Abnakis' diet p. 544. Father Bigot's letters. See Les voeux des Hu-
rons et des Abnaquis. Chartre, 1854.
5 Notes on Father Bressani's Relations, p. 329.
214 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
people of the east, without inquiring further into the analy-
sis of the word. Rev. John Heckewelder spells it Wapa-
nachk, l saying that the French had softened it to suit the
analogy of their own tongue ; yet he does not give the pro-
nunciation of the word to see in what did the French soften
it. Williamson, 2 in a note, gives the authority of Kendall,
who resolves it into wabamo or wabemo (light, east) and
aski (land), from which it follows that ch in Wapanachki
was soft, hence there was no need for the French to soften
it, it being favorite to the French to pronounce ch soft like s.
This word then would have been Abnasque very appro-
priate for the French pronunciation. Moreover, in the
comparative vocabulary of fifty-three nations, published in
the ArchcBologia Americana by the American Antiquarian
Society at Worcester, 3 in no language the word aski means
land, except in that of the Knistinaux Indians ; but light
in that same language is kisigostagoo, and not wabamo. If
it comes from wabisca or wapishkawo (white), it is very
difficult to make wapanachki out of those two Knistinaux
words. Then it remains to be proved when and how the
Knistinaux Indians could call the aborigines of the Ken-
nebec Eastlanders.
It is certain that the word Abnaki originally was not that
with which the natives of the Kennebec River called them-
selves, but it was that with which they were called by others.
I find in all the languages of Acadia and New England, that
the word AbnaJci, spelt as is found in the most ancient manu-
scripts, 4 Abanaquis, Abnaquois, Wabanaki, means our an-
cients or our ancestors of the east. This word is to be
1 Transactions of the Hist, and Philos. Soc. of Phila., vol. i. p. 109.
2 Hist, of Maine, vol. i. p. 463.
3 Transactions of the Amer. Antiq. Soc., vol. ii.
4 Father Bressani's notes at the word Abnaki.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 215
resolved into wdnb-naghi. Wdnb * means white, hence
wdnbighen, it is white, (the breaking of the day), and wdn-
bdnbdn, aurora borealis. All authors agree in this word,
yet they never remarked the meaning of naghi, which means
ancestors in all the dialects of New England and Acadia.
Father Rasles says that neganni arendnbak means the an-
cients of past time. 2 Oghan in Mohegan means father, to
which adding n it would mean our fathers. 3 There is no
Sokoki vocabulary of my knowledge, but if the Sokoki lan-
guage be the Massachusetts, noosh in that dialect means my
father. 4 In Micmac, nakan has the signification of old, an-
cient, and it was also the meaning at an early time, as it
appears from the manuscript of Father Mainard. Nkarti
in the Etchimi tongue means our ancients. 5 It is quite nat-
ural that this word Abnaki (our ancestors of the East)
should have been given by other tribes, and not by them-
selves, as they could not call themselves with that word,
before it had been given by others. This is confirmed by
the Abnakis themselves, who never called themselves by
that name. It seems that they called themselves men. The
Abiiaki villages were called by them in general nardnka-
migdok epitsik arenanbak, 6 men living on the high shores
of the river. I speak the Abnaki language nedarenan-
dwe (I speak man, from arenanbe}. I speak the Iroquois
language nemekwaandwe (I speak mequa), a name with
1 Wdmb may be spelt wdb, then the d must have a strong nasal pronunci-
ation, like that of the Portuguese language in the words mao (hand), Alle-
mao (German).
2 Abnaki Diet., p. 384.
3 Archneol. Amer., vol. ii., and Dr. J. Edwards' observation.
4 Transactions of the Amer. Antiq. Soc., vol. ii.
, 5 Father Demalier's MS. Diet.
6 Abnaki Diet., p. 542.
216 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
which the Mohawks were called by the natives living on the
Atlantic shores. 1
This is confirmed by tradition, I am aware that Kev. John
Heckewelder's narrative is looked upon with some distrust
by several critics, who accuse him of too much credulity in
listening to and believing the narrations of the Indians.
However, this accusation has not yet been satisfactorily
proved. Rev. J. Heckewelder, in the introduction to the
account of the history, manners, and customs of the Indian
nations, 2 says the Lenni-Lenapis are acknowledged by near
forty Indian tribes, whom he calls nations, as being their
grandfathers. Yet by perusing the text of Heckewelder
fvith attention, it is not the Lenni-Lenapis that were called
grandfathers, but the Abnakis. This word is extended by
him to the Lenni-Lenapis, and by a personal preference, he
concluded that the Lenni-Lenapis were the grandfathers
of the forty nations ; yet from the text it is clear that they
were the Abnakis. No tribe ever called the Lenni-Lenapis,
Abnakis, but if sometimes they may have been called so, it
was in a general sense extended to all the tribes from
Virginia to Newfoundland. I cannot see how Lenni-Len-
api means original men. Lenapi is man, and it is the
same word alnambe in Abnaki. 3 If Lenni means also
man, 4 it must be an abbreviation of the word Lenapi, and
it would mean man-man, that is man by excellence, and not
original man. In the historical account of the Indian na-
tions, 5 in relating the treachery of the Mengwe Indians
against the Lenni-Lenapis, Rev. J. Heckewelder seems to
1 Transactions of the Am. Ant. Soc., vol. ii. p. 34.
2 Transactions of the Hist, and Am. Philos. Soc. of Phila., vol. i. p. 25.
3 John Pickering's notes on Father Rasles' Diet
4 Transactions of the Amer. Antiq. Soc., Cambridge, vol. ii. p. 308.
5 Philad. Philos. Trans., vol. i. p. 37.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 217
explain what the Indians meant for pure man. He relates
how the Lenni-Lenapis did not consider the Mengwe Indians
as a pure race, or as rational beings, but as a mixture of the
human and brutal kinds. Father Rasles, who had been a
missionary amongst the Illinois, relates, that to be a real
man, true man, amongst the Indians, means to be a great
hunter, or a great warrior. x
It is true the Indians have given the name of father,
grandfather, uncle, etc., to several persons only for compli-
ment, yet it was through respect and acknowledgment of a
superiority. Hence we have to admit, that if it was through
mere compliment that those forty nations called the Abnakis
their grandfathers, they acknowledged in them, at least,
some preference and superiority.
Yet we have a regular nomenclature of degrees of rela-
tionship amongst them. The Delaware Indians call the
Wyaudots (the Hurons) their uncles; 2 and we know that
the Hurons are, more than any other nation, like the Abna-
kis, in manners and language. The Lenapis call the Mohe-
gans their grandchildren ; 3 the Shawanoes and Mohegans
acknowledged the Lenapis their grandfathers. The Shaw-
anoes call the Mohegans their elder brothers, and the lat-
ter call the former their young brothers. 4 Hence it appears
that both Mohegans and Shawanoes were descendants of
the Lenapis, and that the Lenapis being nephews to the
Hurons, they were not original people, but they recognized
some common ancestors with the Hurons. We find these
common ancestors to be the Abnakis. The Abnakis never
acknowledged any ancestral tribe, which is a proof of their
1 Lettres Edif., vol. vi. p. 144.
2 Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren by Rev. J. Heckewel-
der, p. 1 15.
3 Williamson's Hist, of Maine, vol. i. p. 455.
4 Philad. Philos. Transactions, vol. i. p. 69.
218 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
antiquity. An early Abnaki missionary, giving the cosmog-
ony of that tribe, says they claim to have been created
where they were, and that the Great Spirit, having made
them and their land as a chef cTceuvre, made the rest care-
lessly. 1
Having observed how the name and tradition show that
the Abnakis are an original people, let us consider a few
more remarks drawn from their manners and language, to
prove the same subject.
One of the characters of the Algic family is to be errant
and roving in the woods. The Hurons had some fixed vil-
lages, yet they were not described to be of that order and
neatness as those of the Abnakis. 2 The mound existing
on the Kennebec River of Maine proves that only the Ab-
nakis had villages of some consideration. No other mound
of any elevation can be found in New England, with the ex-
ception of some vestiges of enclosures at Sanbornton and
near Concord, New Hampshire. 3 Father Easles mentions
three considerable villages in the State of Maine, 4 besides
the two amongst the French colonies. In the one at Nor-
ridgewock, he says the cottages were distributed with an
order very near like the houses in the cities. This village
was surrounded by a kind of wall of poles or stakes, high
and so thick as to protect them against the incursions of the
enemies. The cottages, although built of poles, and cov-
ered with large bark, yet were elegant and convenient. Their
dress was modest, and ornamented with a great variety of
rings, necklaces, bracelets, belts, etc., made out of shells
and stones, worked with great skill. It was not so with the
other surrounding tribes of the Algic family; they were
1 John S. Shea : Letter.
2 Father Bressani's relation abr., p. 56.
3 Samuel F. Haven : Archseology of the U. S., p. 153.
4 Lettres Edif., vol. vi.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 219
negligent in their dress or entirely naked. Although at
seasons they went hunting the wild animals of the forest,
and fishing on their numerous lakes and rivers, yet this was
not the only method on which they depended for acquiring
the necessaries of life. They practiced also agriculture.
Their fields of skamgnar (corn) were very luxuriant. . As
soon as the snows had disappeared, they prepared the land
with great care, and at the commencement of June they
planted the corn, by making holes with the fingers or with
a stick, and having dropped eight or nine grains of corn,
they covered them with earth. Their harvest was at the
end of August.
The Abnakis had an amenity of manners and a docility,
which distinguished them by far from the other Algonquin
tribes, which cannot be but the effect of education. Their
morals were pure, and they have never been charged with any
kind of cruelty, even in time of war. When Father Druilles l
proposed to them, as a condition to receive baptism, that they
should first give up intoxicating liquors, to live in peace
with their neighbors, and to abandon their medicine bags,
drums, and other superstitious objects, they all agreed with-
out difficulty. On the other hand, we find that this was one
of the greatest obstacles which missionaries encountered in
planting the gospel amongst the other tribes. "We know
the troubles, dangers, and persecutions which Fathers La
Marquette, Brebeuf, and others endured from the medicine
men of those tribes to which they were preaching the gos-
pel. Their affection for their children was very striking.
Soon after their birth, they were wrapped in a bearskin, and
they were raised with much care, and as soon as they were
able to walk, they were taught how to manage the bow and
arrows. They were remarkably hospitable, and their attach-
ment to the family was such as we do not read of in other
i Shea : Cath. Miss., p. 139.
220 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
tribes of the Algic family. Their courage and valor as war-
riors were unsurpassed, even against European troops. Twen-
ty Abnakis once entered an English trading-house, either to
rest or to traffic, when they were surrounded by two hundred
British soldiers, to capture them, when one Abnaki gave the
alarm of war, crying " We are dead, let us sell our lives
dearly." They prepared themselves to fall upon the Brit-
ish soldiers, who had great difficulty to pacify them. 1 An-
other time, during the war of England and France, thirty
Abnaki warriors, returning from a military expedition
against the British, while they unsuspectingly were asleep
during the night, were found by a party of British sol-
diers, headed by a colonel, who had been on their track.
The soldiers, six hundred in number, surrounded them, cer-
tain of their capture, when an Abnaki awoke and cried to
the others, " We are dead, let us sell our lives dearly."
They arose instantly, formed six divisions of five men each,
and with the tomahawk in one hand, and a knife in the oth-
er, they fell upon the British soldiers with such force and
impetuosity, that they killed sixty soldiers, including the
colonel, and dispersed the rest. In the last war between
England and France, the Abnakis joined the latter, on ac-
count of their allegiance to this nation, and during the war,
they spread desolation in every part of the land occupied
by the English. They ravaged their villages, forts, farms,
took away a large quantity of cattle, and made six hundred
prisoners. l
Their sentiments and principles of justice had no paral-
lel amongst the other tribes. We never read of their hav-
ing been treacherous, nor of a want of honor or conscience
in fulfilling their word given either in private or in a public
treaty. We have a very remarkable example of the sacred-
ness with which they held their allegiance to France. l In
* Lettres Edif., vol. yi.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 221
the time that the war was about to break out between the
European countries, the British governor, lately arrived at
Boston, required a conference with the Abnaki Indians, to
be held on an island. He endeavored to induce the Abna-
kis to remain neutral, and to let the French and English
settle their matter amo'ngst themselves, who were equally
strong ; and he promised to furnish the Indians with every-
thing they wanted, and to buy their peltry. This was the
great answer given by the Indians, after a consultation held
amongst themselves, and delivered by one of their ora-
tors :
" Great Captain, you say to us not to join ourselves to
the French, supposing that you are going to declare war
against him. Let it be known to you that the French is my
brother, he and I have the same prayer, and we both live in
the same wigwam, at two fires, he has one fire, and I the
other. If I see you enter the wigwam on the side of the
fire where the French my brother is seated, I shall observe
you from iny mat where I am seated, at the other fire.
In observing you, if I see that you have a tomahawk, I will
think to myself, < What does the English intend to Jo
with that tomahawk? ' I will rise from my mat to see \vhat
he intends to do. If he raise the tomahawk to strike the
French my brother, I shall take my tomahawk, and I will
run to the English and strike him. Can I see my brother
be. stricken in my own wigwam, and I remain quiet, seated
upon my mat ? No, no ! I love my brother too much, that I
should not protect him. I tell you, Great Captain, do noth-
ing against my brother, and I will do nothing against you;
stay quiet upon your mat and I will stay quiet upon mine."
I could bring other proofs of the noble sentiments of this
nation, to show that the heart and mind of the Abnakis
were not savage an<J. uncultivated, like many of the other
tribes of the Algic family, but they were grand, pure, and
222 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
refined, to scorn even the most civilized nations of both
continents.
It is a point already known to you, that a primitive lan-
guage in a state of infancy is monosyllabic, like the Chinese
and others in Asia, and that the Indian language, being com-
posed of words formed by an agglutination of other words,
or parts of them, can not be a language in a state of in-
fancy. Yet, it being common to. all the Indian dialects, it
proves nothing for my subject. At present I am not pre-
pared to give a comparative view between the language of
the Abnakis, and those of the other tribes, to show the su-
periority and cultivation of the former above the latter. I
will only make some remarks upon two points, namely, upon
a traditional superiority of the Abnaki language, and upon
the manner of writing it.
Baron La Hontan l puts only two mother languages in
the whole extent of Canada j the Huron and the Algonquin.
Speaking of the Algonquin language, he asserts that it was
a language very much esteemed amongst the savages, in the
same manner as the Greek and Latin languages are es-
teemed in Europe. From this it follows that it must have
been a cultivated mother language, and, as it were, a classic
tongue amongst them. In the transactions of the histori-
cal and literary committee of the American Philosophical
Society of Philadelphia, 1 it is agreed that what the Baron
La Hontan remarked of this language was very correct, but
they do not allow to him to call it Algonquin, but they want
it to be called Abnaki, that is to say, this quality of being
a classic language belongs to the Abnaki nation, and not to
the Algonquin, which is a small, miserable, wandering tribe.
We fully agree with this remark of the learned Society of
Philadelphia, and especially in observing that La Hoi}tan
puts the Abnakis at the head of the tribes inhabiting Nova
i Vol. 1, p. 109.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 223
Scotia, whom he calls also Abnakis. Rev. J. Heckewelder,
who appears to be the author of these remarks, reflects
further l that La Hontan probably did not understand suf-
ficiently the Abnaki language, otherwise the Indians would
have informed him that they derived their origin from a
powerful nation, whom they revered as their grandfather.
I know that Rev. J. Heckewelder alludes to the Lenni-Len-
apis, but I have already proved how the Lenni-Lenapis must
be referred to the Abnakis, because the Lenni-Lenapis were
not Abnakis, except in a general sense, called so only by
authors not much acquainted with the Abnakis.
It has been an object of research amongst the antiquari-
ans, to find whether the aborigines of this continent pos-
sessed any manner of writing. With the exception of the
Mexicans and Peruvians, it has been denied. All, however,
agree that they had a kind of hieroglyphics, or rather pic-
tures, with some conventional signs to transmit an event,
battle, hunting party, etc. The celebrated Dighton rock,
the other at a place in Connecticut, called by the Indians
Scaticook, and many others collected by Dr. H. R. School-
craft, l show that they had an imperfect manner of engrav-
ing pictures, with a few signs, which could not be reduced
to a regular system of writing with hieroglyphics, like the
people of Asia. Yet it was because they were not familiar
enough with the Indians of the North. The Abnakis and
neighboring tribes had a regular method of writing in the
same manner as the Chinese, Japanese, and other Asiatic
nations, although with different characters. This kind of
writing is yet used amongst the Micmacs, and I am sur-
prised that no writer has yet made any mention of this
manner of scripture.
1 Phila. Transactions, vol. i. p. 109.
l Hist. Cond. and Prosp. of the Indian Tribes.
224 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
This system is so perfect, that there are in existence
three regular books, one containing prayers, another the
mass, and another a catechism ; two of these, written by an
Indian, are in my possession. A specimen of this hand-
writing, with the English version, is appended at the end
of this communication. It reads running from the left to
the right. Old Indians, however, at Oldtown, informed me
of having seen this kind of books written by running in a
vertical line from the top to the bottom, and, if I am not
mistaken, others running from the right to the left.
I close the present subject by giving a short history of this
manner of writing, such as it exists by tradition amongst
the Indians, confirmed by their missionaries, 1 and especially
by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Colin Frs: MacKinnon, D. D.,
Bishop of Arichat, who, being a native of Nova Scotia, and
a scholar of great talents and high education, has been for
many years amongst the Micmac Indians.
When the French first arrived in Acadia, the Indians
were used to write and read on barks, trees, and stones,
engraved with signs made with arrows, sharp stones, or oth-
er instruments. They were used to send pieces of bark,
marked with those signs, to other Indians of other tribes,
and to receive back answers written in the same manner,
just as we do with letters and notes. Their chiefs were
used to send circulars, made in the same manner, to all
their men in time of war to ask their advice and to give di-
rections. Several Indians possessed in their wigwams a
kind of library composed of stones and pieces of bark, and
the medicine men had large manuscripts of these peculiar
characters, which they read over the sick persons. Inscrip-
tions of this kind were made by Indians on standing trees,
in the woods, to inform others about some extraordinary
event. The Indians assert that by these signs they could
i Letter of Rev. Charles Kauder, a missionary amongst the Micmacs.
THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 225
express any idea with every modification, just as we do with
our writings. When the French missionaries arrived in
that country, (they generally refer to Fathers Maijard and
Le Loudre), they made use of these signs, as they found
them, in order to instruct the Indians. They improved
them, and others were added in order to express the doc-
trine and mysteries of the Christian religion.
This kind of writing does not exist, nor do we know that
it has existed amongst other nations of the Algonquin fam-
ily. All the researches made by so many missionaries, by
so many learned antiquarians, could never find any of these
characters to have been used by other Indians, such as we
find at present amongst the Micmacs, and which formerly
were common amongst all the Indians of Acadia and of a
portion of New France. I will reserve for another occa-
sion to show how the Micmacs, the Montagnaises, the Etchi-
mis, and the Abnakis melt in one same nation and language ;
and these must be the tribes that, according to the tradition
of the Micmacs, kept correspondence among themselves
by this kind of hand-writing. We have already observed
that Baron La Hontan puts the Abnakis at the head of the
Indians of Nova Scotia, and Rev. J. Heckewelder approves
of it ; and certainly they were correct in this view. A few
of these hieroglyphics can yet be seen amongst the writings
of Father Rasles, which is a confirmation of what I assert.
The Abnakis have disappeared, with the exception of a few
left in Canada. The Etchimis are vanishing away very rap-
idly. The Montagnaises are in the same condition. The
Micmacs are at present the only standing nation that can
represent the red man of the northeast ; hence no wonder
that we find the remains of this manner of writing, pre-
served especially by the care of their missionaries. I hope
that this system of hand-writing will not be suffered to be
buried in silence amongst the ruins of time, but that the
15
226 THE ABNAKI INDIANS.
memory of this kind of scripture shall be transmitted to
future ages to show the antiquity and education of the no-
ble and gentle, but ill-fated Abnaki.
EUGENE VETROMILE, S. J.
SPECIMEN OF THE MICMAC LANGUAGE.
Isolated Words.
Micmac. Nixkam, nixkaminak, wajok, elukultigik,
English. Spirit, spirits, heaven, wicked,
weguisit, utinin, ncuktejik, tabujijik, nessijijik, menduakik,
father, body, one, two, three, hell,
kadu, mu, wen, kokwey utchit.
but, no, who, why.
Sentences.
Esselekeh, taluisultijik ? net na delwidemek nixkam,
He gives to eat, how are they called ? that is called spirit,
lias, lidadach, m'set lidadach, kulelman,
I will go, they will go, all will go, in doing so.
Nixkam pawatkus eta n'kesalan, n'makelman,
The Spirit wishes indeed I may love him, glorify hin^
n'talahim, n'nenuan, sikendasultijik, mu sikendasultijik,
adore him, know him. baptized, not baptized,
wen kisiskos ? Nixkam eta kisip wajok
who made you ? The Spirit indeed made me to heaven
I THE ABNAKI INDIANS. 227
lidadak, Weguisit Nixkam Euschit Nixkam,
that I might go. Father God (or Spirit), Son God (or Spirit),
Wegi-Uli Nixkam kokwey eduk kommnieudi?
Good Spirit God (or Spirit), what is communion?
skadu mu eta.
but no indeed.
NOTE. Mr. Vetromile has given in his manuscript the Indian characters
which stand for the English words of the above vocabulary ; but these, very
interesting as they are, we must fail to present to our readers for want of the
necessary types.
ARTICLE X.
THE ABENAKI INDIANS;
THEIR TREATIES OP 1713 & 1717, AND A VOCABULARY :
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
BY
FREDERIC KIDDER, OP BOSTON.
THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
THE present spirit of inquiry into the early history of
New England is bringing forth additional facts and evolving
new light, by which we are every day seeing more clearly
the true motive and incentives for its colonization. But
whenever the student turns to investigate the history of the
aboriginal tribes ; who once inhabited this part of the coun-
try, he is struck, not so much with the paucity of materials,
as with the complication and difficulties which our earlier
and later writers have thrown around the subject, as well
as the very different light with which they have viewed it.
The first explorers of our coast, whose intercourse with
the Indians was limited to trading for furs and skins, seem
to have had a much better opinion of them than Mather,
Hubbard, and some still later writers. It is not to be sup-
posed that while a large part of the population were smart-
ing from the distress of almost continued Indian wars, that
even the most candid could coolly investigate, and impar-
tially record the history, character, and wants of such a
people. But the time has arrived, when, divesting ourselves
of all prejudice, we can examine carefully their true situa-
tion, and making allowance for their condition, write their
history with fairness and candor.
The present sketch is confined to a brief notice of the
tribes who inhabited the territory now constituting the
232 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
States of Maine and New Hampshire, all of which may be
considered as embraced under the name of Abenakis, or
more properly Wanbanakkie. It has often been supposed
that this name was given them by the French, but it is un-
doubtedly their original appellation, being derived from
Wanbanban, which may be defined the people of aurora
borealis or northern light.
It is only now intended to sketch their earlier history,
and to trace the various emigrations to the present resi-
dence of the Abenakis proper, in Canada ; and viewing this
tribe as the living representative of our extinct ones, to
consider its interesting history, so clearly connected with
New England frontier life, although most of that history is
but a record of war and wretchedness.
The celebrated discoverer, Capt. John Smith, in his gen-
eral history, furnishes the earliest and most reliable descrip-
tion of the Indians on the coast of Maine, as they were in
1614; other writers give accounts of tribes there, some of
which it is difficult to distinguish or locate j but it may be
best to consider all that were residing in the two States
above-mentioned as embraced in about eight distinct tribes,
namely: Penobscots or Tarrentines, Passamaquodies or
Sybayks, Wawenocks, Norridgewoks or Canibas, Assagun-
ticooks, Sokokis or Pequakets, Pennacooks, Malacites or St.
Johns.
The Penobscots 1 were probably the most numerous and
influential tribe. Their chief or bashaba was said to have
been acknowledged as a superior as far as Massachusetts
Bay. They occupied the country on both sides of the Pe-
nobscot Bay and River ; their summer resort being near the
sea, but during the winter and spring they inhabited lands
1 For a pleasant and very well-written account of this tribe, by Hon. Lo-
renzo Sabine, see the Christian Examiner for 1857.
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 233
near the falls, where they still reside. It is somewhat
strange to find a tribe numbering about five hundred still
remaining in their ancient abode, and, though surrounded by
whites, retaining their language, religion, and many of the
habits and customs of centuries past, with a probability of
perpetuating them for ages to come. Their name is from
penobsq, rock, and utoret, a place, literally, rocky-place,
which no doubt refers to the rocky falls in the river near
their residence. It is not supposed that many of this tribe
emigrated to Canada, although they had constant inter-
course with that country.
The Passamaquodies were found occupying the northeast-
ern corner of Maine, if, as it is generally supposed, they
are the descendants of those seen and described by De
Monts, who spent the winter of 1604 near their present
head-quarters. Their subsequent history for more than a
century was but a blank, as in all that time they are not
mentioned by any writer, or named in any of the treaties,
till after the conquest of Canada. This omission is cer-
tainly strange, as in the ones of 1713 and 1717 now pub-
lished in this volume, mere fragments of tribes are named
and represented.
Still, if any reliance can be placed on their own traditions,
they had resided for generations previous to the Revolution
around the lower Schoodic Lake, where the recent discovery
of stone hatchets and other implements of an ancient make
would seem to verify their assertions. They also point out
the place of a fight with the Mohawks, who two centuries
ago carried terror into all the Indian villages from Carolina
to the Bay of Fundy. It is probable that from their dis-
tant inland and secluded position, as well as their limited
numbers, they were in no way connected with the various
wars which the other tribes waged against the colonists,
and so were unnoticed. As their residence on the lake was
234 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
nearer Machias than any other available point on the sea
coast, it may be that to trade with this people the trading
house was established there by the Plymouth Colony, in
1630, and they were often called the Machias Indians. Al-
though their intercourse has long continued with Canada, up
to this time they have sent no emigrants there. They num-
ber at present between four and five hundred souls, and
still adhere to the religious forms taught them by the Jes-
uits. This tribe designate themselves by the name of Sy-
bayk. l
The Wawenocks were located on the sea-coast, and in-
habited the country from the Sheepscot to the St. George ;
they are quite fully described by Capt. John Smith, who
had much intercourse with them. From their situation on
the rivers and harbors, they were much sooner disturbed by
the settlements than any other of the tribes in Maine. In
1747 there were but a few families remaining. At the
treaty at Falmouth, in 1749, they were associated with the
Assagunticooks, among whom they were then settled, and
with whom they soon after removed to Canada. The Cani-
bas or Norridgewoks occupied the valley of the Kennebec,
from the tide water to its sources ; their principal residence
was at Norridgewock. Here the Jesuit missionaries, at an
early period, taught them their religious faith, and by shar-
ing with them their privations and hardships, obtained a
controlling influence over them.
As they inhabited fertile intervale land, they gave more
attention to agriculture than any of the neighboring tribes,
and appear to have been originally more peaceably inclined
towards the whites than some of their neighbors. Residing
so far inland, they were but little acquainted with the prow-
1 Mr. Sabine has given their history in a truthful and friendly communica-
tion to the Christian Examiner for 1852.
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 235
ess of the whites, and sent out their war parties to commit
murders and depredations on the unprotected settlers, with-
out expecting a retribution on their own heads. After a
long succession of murders and captures in the English
settlements, by this tribe, instigated, as was believed, by
their priest, Sebastian Rasle, an expedition was sent against
them, consisting of about two hundred men, who killed
about thirty Indians, including Rasle, and destroyed the
place, without the loss of a man. This broke their power,
but they continued to reside there for many years, and grad-
ually retired to the St. Francis, the last family migrating
near the end of the last*century.
The Assagunticooks were a numerous tribe who inhabited
the country along the whole valley of the Androscoggin;
and although their lands were not occupied by whites, they
were frequently bitter enemies, and were the first to begin
a war and the last to make peace. Their location gave
them easy access to the settlements, from Casco to Piscata-
qua, which they improved to glut their thirst for blood and
slaughter. About 1750 they moved to Canada and joined
the St. Francis tribe. They could then muster about one
hundred and fifty warriors, and being much the most numer-
ous tribe that emigrated there, it is supposed they had the
greatest influence, and that their dialect is more truly per-
petuated than any other in that confederacy. .
The Sokokis inhabited the country bordering on the Saco
River, but were mostly limited to its head waters. Their
villages were located on the alluvial lands in what is now
Fryeburg, Me., and Conway, N. H. The Pegwakets and
Ossipees were either identical with or branches of this
tribe. In 1725 Capt. John Lovewell with about fifty sol-
diers, on a scouting adventure in the vicinity, fell in with a
war party of the tribe, and a sanguinary battle ensued, dis-
astrous to both parties. Their chief, Paugus, was slain;
236 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
and within a short period the remainder of the tribe, dispir-
ited by their misfortunes, retired to Canada.
The Pennacooks were probably the only occupants of the
waters of the Merrimac, and perhaps included nearly all the
nations who resided in what is now the State of New Hamp-
shire. Their principal residence was at Amoskeag Falls,
the site of the present manufacturing city of Manchester.
It is usual to name the Pennatuckets, Wambesitts, Souhe-
gans, and some others as tribes, but there can be no doubt
they all owned fealty to the head sagamore of the Pennacooks,
and were only branches of that tribe, as were all the In-
dians on the Piscataqua and its waters. It is also probable
the small band of Cowasacks, on the upper Connecticut,
were of this tribe. The Pennacooks must have been at one
time a numerous community, and were less warlike than
any of the Abenaki race. It is likely they were more dis-
posed to cultivate the soil, and their historian, Judge Pot-
ter, represents them as amiable and friendly to the whites.
Notwithstanding, they were the earliest emigrants to Can-
ada. They left their pleasant hunting grounds with regret,
and often returned to cultivate their ancient fields ; but few
of them resided permanently there after about 1700.
It is proper to add to the names of the original Abenaki
tribes, that of the Malacite or Amalecite, who have always
resided on the St. John. It is not known that any part of
this tribe emigrated to Canada with those of Maine, but in
1828 about thirty families emigrated there, and settled on a
branch of the River Yerte. But the largest part still reside
in New Brunswick.
We come now to trace the emigration of the Abenakis
to the banks of the St. Lawrence. As the Jesuits had been
in constant communication with the tribes in Maine for more
than half a century, the Indians had learned the way to
Quebec, and it is probable that during Philip's war some of
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 237
the tribes obtained arms and ammunition from that place.
During this war the Pennacooks, under the influence of their
chief, Wonnolancet, had remained neutral, and in July, 1676,
at Chocheco, signed with some others a treaty of perpetual
peace. Still, the feeling of the whites was so strong against
all the race, that they placed little reliance on their former
good conduct or present promises. A few months after
this treaty, they induced a large number of Indians, from
the various tribes, to come to the same place, and where all
the militia of the provinces had assembled, and while pro-
fessing to practice some sham evolutions, the Indians were
suddenly surrounded and captured. Many of the prisoners
so treacherously obtained were executed, and others sold
into slavery for having been in arms against the whites.
Although Wonnolancet and his tribe were discharged, this
breach of faith must have taught him that he could not rely
on the white man's promise, and that neither he nor his tribe
was safe on the Merrimac. With this feeling he, with a
part of them, left for Canada in the autumn of 1677. Al-
though he subsequently returned to visit his former hunting
and fishing grounds, his real home was, for the remainder
of his life, near Quebec, and he with his band became the-
nucleus of the Indian settlement there ; but it is not appar-
ent that he was at any period the enemy of the English.
In the course of the war, nearly all the tribes in New
England had been more or less involved in it. The colo-
nists now looked upon them as a conquered race of heathen,
and that their duty was to drive them out, and enjoy their
lands in the manner of the Israelites of old. On the other
hand, the Indians who had made terms of peace, having
now for the first time realized that they had not the ability
to cope with the English in war, and could not trust their
friendship in peace, naturally looked to the French as the
protectors of their villages and hunting grounds. Many of
238 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
them were willing to place themselves and their families un-
der their care.
Therefore the Jesuits, who ha*d for a long time been their
spiritual, and often their temporal advisers, began to turn
the steps of the broken and scattered remnants of the
tribes who had suffered most in the war, to the feeble set-
tlement of the Pennacooks, near Quebec, and as early as
1685, the Governor of that colony granted a tract of land
at a place called C6te de Lauzon, opposite that city, for
their use. Up to the commencement of the war, a consid-
erable number of Indians had continued to reside on the
Connecticut river, above Northampton; they had fought
against the whites, and at the death of Philip, fled and took
up their abode at Scauticook, above Albany, and were after-
wards increased by additions from other tribes.
After a few years, the government of New York became
desirous of being rid of such neighbors, whom they could
not trust or control, and induced them to remove to Canada,
where most of them were settled before the close of that
century, with or near the Pennacooks.
Early in the eighteenth century, the numbers of refugee
Indians attracted the attention of the Governor of Canada,
and as the whole of the French population of that colony
did not then number ten thousand souls, he saw they would
materially add to the strength of his command, and could
be used most effectually against the frontiers of New Eng-
land. He therefore took measures to give them a home
there. As the grant near Quebec was found not adapted to
their needs and condition, probably from its close contigu-
ity to that city, two convenient tracts of land were granted
for their use; the first bears date Aug. 23, 1700, the sec-
ond, May 10, 1701. These were on the St. Francis river,
which has given a name to the tribe. In 1 704 another set-
tlement of refugees from New England received a grant of
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 239
land at a place called Begancour, near Three Rivers, and
during this year the Governor addressed a letter to the
ministry in France, giving his reasons for inducing the Aben-
akis to settle in his colony, and from this period it was a
constant policy to encourage their immigration there, for
more than half a century.
Here was the place where parties were to be fitted out
to carry war, destruction, and misery to the frontiers of
New England.
In 1704 these Indians piloted a body of French to the
vicinity of their former homes, on the Connecticut, and en-
tirely destroyed Deerfield. The writer not long since con-
versed with an ancient member of this tribe, who claimed
to be the great grandson of Esther Williams, daughter of
Rev. John Williams, who was, with his family, captured at
that time. In 1707 this tribe, piloted by the Pennacooks
down the Merrimac, destroyed Haverhill, murdering and
capturing most of its inhabitants. It would fill a volume
to relate the bloody tragedies acted and instigated by this
tribe ; it seems almost incredible that any people could ex-
ist for a generation amidst such repeated incursions of a
relentless enemy.
In November, 1724, Yaudreuil, Governor General of Can-
ada, addressed an urgent letter to the Minister of War in
France, giving an account of the attack on Norridgewock,
and the death of Father Rasle, with a full account of the
losses and sufferings of that tribe, and asking for a grant
of ammunition, guns, and blankets to supply their losses,
and enable them to make war on the English settlements.
He also gives a particular account of the condition of the
Abenakis, and says, " of all the Indians in New France, they
are in a position to render the most service ; this nation
consists of five villages, which number, altogether, about
five hundred warriors. Two of these villages are situated
240 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
on the St. Lawrence, near Three Rivers one below that
town called Be^ancour, the other ten leagues above, called
St. Francis, the three others are in the direction of Acadie,
called Narantsouak, on the River Kanibekky, Panagamsde*,
on the Pentagouet (Penobscot), and Medocteck, on the Riv-
er St. John. These three villages have different routes,
each by its own river, whereby they can reach Quebeck in
a few days." l
In April, 1725, a delegation of three gentlemen visited
Montreal with a letter from the Governor of Massachusetts,
in reply to one addressed to him some months previously
by M. Vaudreuil, relative to the attack at Norridgewock,
and the death of Father Rasle. They demanded that the
prisoners held by the Abenakis should be given up, and a
perpetual peace established.
The Indians, who were entirely under the influence of the
French, were extremely haughty in their language and de-
portment ; they demanded that the English should restore
their lands, rebuild their church, which they had destroyed
at Norridgewock, and when asked what land they referred
to, said " that their land commenced at the River Gounito-
gon, otherwise called the long river, 2 which lies to the west
beyond Boston, that this river was formerly the boundary
which separated the lands of the Iroquois from those of
the Abenakis, that according to this boundary, Boston and
the greater part of the English settlements east of it are
in Abenakis' lands j that they would be justified in telling
them to quit there, but that they had considered that their
settlements were established and that they were still in-
clined to tolerate them j but they demanded as an express
condition of peace that the English should abandon the
1 See N. Y. Colonial Documents, edited by E. B. O'Calligan, LL. V.
2 Undoubtedly the Connecticut.
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 241
country from one league beyond Saco River to Port Royal,
which was the line separating the lands of the Abenakis from
those of the Micmaks." l
The Abenakis denied that they had ever sold any land to
the English, and when the latter claimed that much of it
was theirs by a possession of more than eighty years, and
that this possession gave them a title, the Indians replied,
" We were in possession before you, for we have held it
from time immemorial." The English delegates conceded
that they did not claim beyond the west bank of the Narant-
souak (Kennebec), and that the fort at St. George was built
not by them, but by the.government of Port Royal.
The meeting seems to have been unsatisfactory to the
delegation, and no treaty or arrangement was made. The
French governor denied that they had furnished the Indians
with arms, or instigated them to attack the English, although
Vaudreuil's letters to his government in France bear abund-
ant evidence that this was his constant policy.
In the treaty with many of the tribes, held at Deerfield
in 1735, the St. Francis Indians were represented, and
agreed to the arrangement for perpetual peace ; but a few
years elapsed before they were again engaged in their
bloody pastime. War was declared against France in 1744,
and the Abenakis were soon hovering on the frontiers. In
1746, Keene and Concord, in New Hampshire, felt their
power, and many captives were carried to Canada. In 1752
Capt. Phineas Stevens proceeded to Canada, as a delegate
from the governor of Massachusetts, to confer with the
Abenakis, and to redeem some prfsoners they had in their
possession. At a conference had with them in the presence
of the governor of Canada, Atewaneto, the chief speaker,
made an eloquent reply, in which he charged the English
with trespassing on their lands : he said, " We acknowledge
1 N. Y. Colonial Documents, voL ix.
10
242 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
no other land of yours than your settlements, wherever you
have built, and we will not consent, under any pretext, that
you pass beyond them. The lands we possess have been
given us by the Great Master of Life, we acknowledge to
hold only from him."
In 1755 they were again in the field, and followed the
French armies to the head of Lake George, and carried
terror into the new townships on the Connecticut river.
Some of their small parties at that late day penetrated
within sixty miles of the capital of New England. But
these long continued aggressions were soon to meet a fear-
ful retribution. The capture of Quebec, which gave North
America to England, had changed the relation of the Aben-
akis. Capt. Kennedy having been sent to their villages
with a flag of truce, was, with his whole party, made pris-
oners. To chastise them for this outrage, as well as to
retaliate for their continued cruelty and murders on the de-
fenseless frontier settlements, Gen. Amherst dispatched the
celebrated Major Rogers with a detachment of his rangers
to the villages on the St. Francis. Just before daybreak,
on the fifth of October, he surprised and killed at least two
hundred Indians, and burnt all their wigwams, plunder, and
effects. Rogers in his journal says : " To my own knowl-
edge, in six years' time, the St. Francis Indians had killed
and carried into captivity on the frontiers of New England,
four hundred persons : we found in the town, hanging on
poles over the doors <fcc., about six hundred scalps, mostly
English."
The power of the tribe for evil was gone, and we hear
no more of them till the Revolution, when their warriors
followed Burgoyne to Saratoga, where they again used the
tomahawk and scalping knife, but when his fortunes began to
wane, they retired to the banks of the St. Lawrence. Again
in the war of 1812, they joined the English, but their num-
THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 243
bers were few, and after a brief campaign, they, for the
last time, retraced their steps to their own homes.
A few more remarks will close the history of this tribe,
once the terror of New England.
The present condition of the Abenakis is given in a re-
port made in 1858 to the Legislative Assembly of Canada.
This states that the tribe on the St. Francis has diminished
to three hundred and eighty- seven persons ; they live mainly
by agriculture, but everything is done in so rude a way, that
they gather but scanty crops. Part of them, through the
exertions of one of their own number, have been induced
to discard their ancient faith, and are now professed Metho-
dists. This change has involved the tribe in continual feuds
and difficulties, which will prevent any improvement, and
will probably lead to a permanent division and removal of
one of the parties. They often undergo much privation for
want of proper food and other necessaries of life. The
portion of the tribe at Begancour presents a still more de-
graded condition. There remain but thirty families, in all
one hundred and seventy-two individuals. They still re-
main Roman Catholics, have no schools, and seem to have
reached the extreme of misery and destitution, and so com-
pletely have this people intermixed, that their missionary
writes, "he does not know of a single pure Abenaki among
them."
The vocabulary now published is copied from a small
volume printed about thirty years ago, entitled " Wobanaki
Kirnzowi Awighigan," i. e. Abenaki Spelling Book. It was
procured by the writer with much difficulty, as it was the
only copy that could be obtained among them. It is sup-
posed by those qualified to judge, to be a fair specimen of
the dialect formerly spoken on s the Androscoggin and Ken-
nebec, although there are in it many words originally bor-
rowed from the French and English. From a memorandum
244 THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
made when with them a few years since, the name of their
tribe, as near as can be written and pronounced in English,
is WBanankee, accenting the last syllable.
The treaties, now for the first time printed, are copied
from the original in the possession of the writer j they will
be perused with pleasure by those interested in antiquarian
researches. But at the present day it is difficult to realize
the interest which these proceedings and documents excited ;
they were often considered almost a matter of life or death
to the frontier settlers. It is apparent that every chief had
then his peculiar totem, or symbol. At a later period this
system was abandoned, and they used only a simple cross.
Among the chiefs who signed, is to be found the totem of
Bombazeen and some others, whose names are perpetuated
in history for their bloody exploits. The autographs an-
nexed show the names of men then prominent in both prov-
inces, and some of them afterwards attained the highest
positions in political life.
The vocabularies and treaties are now submitted for pub-
lication by request of the Maine Historical Society.
BOSTON, AUGUST, 1859.
VOCABULARY OP THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
245
EXTRACTS FROM A SPELLING-BOOK IN THE ABENAKI LANGUAGE.
PUBLISHED IN BOSTON IN 1830, AND CALLED "KIMZOWI AWIGHIGAN," THE
LAST WORD BEING THE TERM FOR BOOK.
The sounds of the vowels are represented in English ac-
cording to the following scheme.
Vowels.
A a
E e
I i
o
U u
u
Nasal.
Q o
Dipthongs.
Ai ai
Au au
Sounded.
as a in father, psalm.
as e in met, or in accident.
as ee in seen, or i in machine,
as o in note.
as u in tube, cube ; also used af-
ter g, as in language.
as u in cup, sun.
as i in pmc, nine.
as 010 or ou in how, thou,
Consonants.
Names.
Consonants.
Names.
B b
bi
N n
ni
D d
di
P P
Pi
G S
gi
S s
si
H h
hi
T t
ti
J J
ji
W w
wi
K k
ki
Z z
zi
L 1
li
CHch
chi
M m
mi
246
VOCABULARY OF THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
Chols cricket
kots goat
kask cap
pots boot
mskakw swamp
nbes lake
mskask spruce
paks box
mke zen shoe
sop soap
sen stone
tlaps trap
win marrow
wchat sinew
wli good
ne bi water
cha kwa this morning
chi ga when
chbi wi apart
chig naz thorn plum
cho wi must be, certain
pa skwa noon
pla nikw flying squirrel
pi han rope
psig ia half
kokw kettle.
kogw porcupine
pins pin
skog snake
piz pea
nbis little water
pigs __ hog
moz moose
kwat cup
swip jew
sips a fowl
wins black birch
wskan bone
a sokw cloud
wkot leg
cha kwat daylight
cha ga now then
chi bai ghost
chog luskw black bird
chan naps turnip
chbo sa walks apart
pne kokw sandy hill
po bakw a bog
pe guis a gnat
psi gaskw board
psan ta full
to son a shed
ta lin earthen basin
sko tarn trout
ski ia raw
o-kwa maggot
ska mon corn.
ska kwam green stick
mski ko grass
psa na wi full of
ab on cake
as ma not yet
a ses horse
akw bi rum
a wip pith
a la or
ap les apple
ak ikw seal
VOCABULARY OF THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
247
as ban raccoon
al wa almost
ki kgn field
ko wa pine tree
ki zos sun
kda hla it sinks
ka ia thick milk
kchim li chimney
kchin bes great lake
psan ba full
psa nikw black squirrel
sig wit widower
ska hla raw hide
te go wave
ski bakw green leaf
ska wakw fresh meat
mska ta lily root
msko da prairie
kzab da hot
ab on bed
as kan horn
al akws star
al ikws pismire
am kwon spoon
ag askw woodchuck
a zip sheep
ak sen ox
a kwan bitter, acrid
kas ko crane
pe laz pigeon
kas ta how many times
ka oz cow
ka akw gull
ko jo vein
kchi tukw great river
ki zokw day
wo wan an egg
wa bi buttock
wi bit tooth
wdel li shoulder
wuch ol nose
wig bi stringy bark
wle guan wing
wa japkw root
wcha too sinewy
wskat gua forehead
wli gen good
wi noz onion
wo bi white
wa guan heel
wut tep head
wta wakw ear
wsi sukw eye
wdo lo kidney
wig worn house, camp
wa dap root to sew with
Wdo wo Autawa Indian
wut tun mouth
wji ia belonging to
wlo gas leather string
wla nikw fisher
wikw kwa thigh
wa chil oak nut
wha gakw a scalp
wha ga body
wpa nak lights
wa laskw husk
wol kaa hollow place
248
VOCABULARY OF THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
wzukw na tail
wi zi gall, bile
wo boz elk
wokw ses fox
wi os flesh
ma wia better
sog mo chief
a wan air
ki zi already
msi wi largely
wski a new
sikw hla hail
kwa nak length
ta bat enough
mat guas rabbit
mkwi gen red
tau bo gan large trough
tlap so bi trap chain
ska ho gan a forked post
wlag zi bowels
wa jo mountain
wji gon desolate camp
wdol ka breast, stomach
wi ka fat
wlo da hot weather
wo lakw hole
wja kwam but end
wlom ka fine grainy
wski gen young vegetable
wzi dakw handle
wne kikw otter
wa gin wagon
pil tal lead
kchiia aged person
pa gon nut
a chi also
ngon ia old
mo gis monkey
wdup kwan hair
wa ji for, to
so ga lobster
piz wat good for nothing
klo gan door
tip wa bel pepper
ska wo gan standing
skip wo gan eating raw
chi to ba hi gan a wedge
chi ba gi no guat looks very
bad
chi ba i skwet ta ignis fatuus
chi git wa hi gan razor
pi mi zig ni gan withe
pok ja na hwi ka stumpy
psakw dam ni mo zi black-
berry bush
tbo bak hi gan pair of scales,
steelyard
ska mon ta hi gan corn meal
skas kwat si gan green dye
a lo ka wo gan a work, la-
bor
al no ba wo gan human na-
ture, birth
sa no ba wo gan manhood
a za wa skwi gen square
a ba kwa wo gan act of cov-
ering with a roof
a ses si ga mikw stable
VOCABULARY OF THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 249
am kwo ni no da spoon pa pi torn ko gan a play-
basket thing
a ses wo bi al harness nkes kog wo gan nightmare
a za to i wi backwards ni mat gua hi gan a fork
kin ja mes wo gan majesty no da hla go kat black-
ka dos mo wo gan act of smith
drinking, a drink no ji mo ni kat silversmith
kba hod wi ga mikw jail no ji pak si kat box maker
ki wi tarn wo gan hint no da wig hi gat notary,
ki ta das wo gan act of writer
sharpening by grinding no ji na mas kat fisher
ki no ho ma sin preaohing no da ma guo gan spear
kin ja mes sis kwa queen o lo wat si gan blue dye
ka o zi ga mikw barn o do lib io gan oar
ka wzo wah di gan sleigh po da woz win no counsel-
ka sij wa hi gan dish towel lor
po da wa wo gan act of po da Vaz wo gan council
blowing mos kwal dam wo gan an-
po lo ba wo gan pride ger
piz wa gi zo he reads for mi ga ka wo gan act of
nothing fighting
pi da hla guo gan scabbard mka za wat si gan copper-
pkwes sa ga hi gan key as
po ba tarn wo gan religion si gua na hi gan skim-milk
po ba tarn win no religious tino kwa ta hi gan sword
person les sa ga hi gan trunk
pa pa hwij wi ia tin wi la wig win no rich per-
pa pa hwij wi jo tin basin son
250 TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
INDIAN TREATIES.
AT Portsmouth, in her Majty' 8 Province of New Hamp-
shire, in New England, the thirteenth day of July, in the
twelfth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Anne, by
the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
Queen, Defender of the faith, Ac. [1713]
THE SUBMISSION AND AGREEMENT OP THE EASTERN INDIANS.
WHEREAS for some years last past We have made a breach
of our Fidelity and Loyalty to the Crowns of Great Brit-
ain, and have made open Rebellion against her MajV 8 Sub-
jects, the English inhabitants in the Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and other of her Majty' 8 Territories in New
England, and being now sensible of the miseryes which We
& our people are reduced thereunto thereby, We whose
names are here subscribed, being Delegates of all the
Indians belonging to Norrigawake, Narrakamegock, Amasa-
contoog, Pigwocket, Penecook, & to all other Indian Plant-
ations situated on the Rivers of St. Johns, Penobscot,
Kenybeck, Amascogon, Saco, & Merimack, & all other Indian
Plantations lying between the s d Rivers of St. Johns and
Merimack, Parts of her Maj^' 8 Provinces of the Massachu-
sets Bay and New Hampshire, within her Majty' 8 Sovereignty,
having made application to his Excellency, Joseph Dudley,
Esq re , Captain General & Govern r in Chief in and over the
s d Provinces, That the Troubles which we have unhappily
raised or occasioned against her Majty' 8 subjects, the English,
& ourselves, may cease & have an end, & that we may
enjoy her Majty' 8 Grace & Favor, and each of us Respect-
ively, for ourselves & in the name & with the free consent
of all the Indians belonging to the several Rivers and places
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 251
aforesaid, & all other Indians within the s d Provinces of the
Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, hereby acknowl_
edging ourselves the lawfull subjects of our Sovereign Lady 9
Queen Anne, and promising our hearty Subjection & Obedi-
ance unto the Crown of Great Britain, doe solemnly Cove-
nant, promise, & agree to & with the s d Joseph Dudley,
Esq., Govern r , and all such as shall hereafter be in the
place of Capt. General and Govern r in Chief of the afore-
said Provinces or territories on her Majty' 8 behalf, in man-
ner following. That is to say :
That at all times forever, from and after the date of these
presents, we will ceaseand forbear all acts of hostility to-
ward all the subjects, of the crown of Great Britain, and
not to offer the least hurt or violence to them or any of them
in their persons or estates, but will honor, forward, hold, &
maintain a firm & constant amity & friendship with all the
English, and will not entertain any Treasonable Conspiracy
with any other Nation to their Disturbance.
That her Majty' 8 Subjects, the English, shall & may peace-
ably & quietly enter upon, improve, & forever enjoy, all and
singular their Rights of Land & former Settlements, Prop-
erties, & possesions, within the Eastern Parts of the s d
Provinces of the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire,
together with all the Islands, Islets, Shoars, Beaches, &
Fisheries within the same, without any molestation or claims
by us or any other Indians, And be in no wais molested, in-
terrupted, or disturbed therein. Saving unto the s d Indians
their own Grounds, & free liberty for Hunting, Fishing,
Fowling, and all other their Lawful Liberties & Privileges,
as on the Eleventh day of August, in the year of our Lord
God One thousand six hundred & ninety-three.
That for mutual Safety & Benefit, all Trade & Comerce
which hereafter may be allowed betwixt the English &
Indians shall be in such places & under such management &
252 TEEATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
regulations as shall be stated by her Majty' 8 . Governments of
the s d Provinces respectively. And to prevent mischiefs &
inconveniencies the Indians shall not be allowed, for tho
present, & until they have liberty from the respective Gov-
ernments, to come near to any English Plantations or Set-
tlements on this side of Saco River.
That if any Controversy or Difference at any time here-
after happen to arise betwixt any of the English or Indians,
for any real or supposed wrong or injury done on the one
side or the other, no Private Revenge shall be taken by the
Indians for the same, but proper application shall be made
to her Majty' 8 Government, upon the place, for remedy there-
of, in our Course of Justice, We hereby submitting ourselves
to be ruled & Governed by her Majty' 8 Laws, & desire to
have the protection & benefit of the same.
We confess that we have, contrary to all faith and justice,
broken our articles with S r William Phipps, Governour,
made in the year of our Lord God 1693, and with the Earl
of Bellemont, Govern r , made in the year of our Lord God
1699, And the assurance we gave to his Excellency, Joseph
Dudley, Esq re , Governor, in the years of our Lord God
1702, in the month of August, and 1703, in the month of
July, notwithstanding we have been well treated by the s d
Governors ; and we resolve for the future not to be drawn
into any perfidious Treaty or Correspondence, to the hurt
of any of the subjects of her Majty the Queen of Great
Britain, and if we know of any such we will seasonably re-
veal it to the English.
Wherefore, we whose names are hereunto subscribed,
Delegates for the several tribes of the Indians, belonging
unto the River of Kenybeck, Amarascogen, St. Johns, Saco,
& Merrimac, & parts adjacent, being sensible of our great
offence & folly in not complying with the afores d Submission
& agreements, and also of the sufferings & mischiefs that
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 253
we have thereby exposed ourselves unto, do, in all humble
& submisive manner, cast ourselves upon her Maj^' 8 mercy
for the pardon of all our past rebellions, hostilities, and
Violations of our promises, praying to be received unto her
Majty' 8 Grace & Protection. And for & on behalfe of our-
selves, and of all other the Indians belonging to the several
Rivers and places afore s d , within the Sovereignty of her
Majty of Great Britain, do again acknowledge & profess
our hearty and sinceer obedience unto the Crown of Great
Britain, and do solemnly renew, ratify, and confirm all &
every of the articles & agreements contained in the former
and present submission*.
This Treaty to be humbly laid before her Maj % for her
ratification and farther orders. In Witness whereof, We,
the Delegates afore sd , by name, Kireberuit, Iteansis, and -V
Jackoit, for Pen6T3scot, Joseph and Eneas, for St. Johns,
Waracansit, Wedaranaquin, and Bomoseen, for Kennebeck,
have hereunto set our hands & seals, the day and year first
above written.
SIGNED, SEALED, & DELIVERED
IN THE PRESENCE OF
QUALEBEENEWES.
254 TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
WEDAKANAQUIN.
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 255
^Z7? ^7
256 TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
257
At Portsmouth, in her Maj tie ' s Province of New Hamp-
shire, in New England, the 28th Day of July, in the thir-
teenth year of our Sovereign Lady Anne, by the Grace of
God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Queen, Defend-
er of the Faith, <fcc. [1714]
The several Articles of the foregoing sheet, after a long
Conference with the Delegates of the Eastern Indians, were
read to them, & the sense & meaning thereof explained by
two faithful, sworn Interpreters, and accordingly signed by
every of the Sachems and Delegates that were not present,
& had not signed the last year.
In the Presence,of his Excellency the Governour, and his
Excellency General Nicholson, & the Gentlemen of Her
Maj tie ' 3 Councills for the Provinces of the Massachusetts
Bay & New Hampshire, & other Gentlemen.
SIGNED, SEALED, & DELIVERED
IN PRESENCE OP US,
PEQUARET
Signum.
258 TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
NEGUSCAWIT
Signum
QUINNAWUS Signum
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 259
ADDEAWANDO.
Signum,
SEGTJNCEWICK
Signum.
KISSURAGUNNIT
PITTAURISQUANNE
MOXUSSON
Signum.
Signum.
Signum.
ERIXIS
ESTIEN
WENEMOET
Signum.
Signum.
Signum.
WOHONUMBAMET \^ Signum.
SANBODDIES f /)K fl I* Signum.
260 TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
TREATY OF 1717.
Georgetown, on Arrowsick Island, in his Majesty's Prov-
ince of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, the 12th
Day of August 1717, in the fourth year of the Reign of our
Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God of Great
Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith,
&c.
We, the Subscribers, being Sachems and Chief men of the
several Tribes of Indians belonging to Kennebeck, Penob-
scut, Pegwackit, Saco, and other, the Eastern Parts of his
Majesty's Province afores d , having had the several Articles
of the foregoing Treaty distinctly read and Interpreted to
us by a Sworn Interpreter at this time, do Approve of, Rec-
ognize, Ratify, and Confirm all and every the said Articles,
(excepting only the fourth and fifth articles, which relate
to the restraint and limitation of Trade and Commerce,
which is now otherwise managed.)
And whereas, some rash and inconsiderate Persons
amongst us, have molested some of our good fellow Sub-
jects, the English, in the Possession of their Lands, and
otherwise illtreated them ; We do disapprove & condemn
the same, and freely consent that our English friends
shall possess, enjoy & improve all the Lands which they
have formerly possessed, and all which they have obtained
a right & title unto, Hoping it will prove of mutual and
reciprocal benefit and advantage to them & us, that they
Cohabit with us.
In testimony and perpetual memory whereof, We have
hereunto set our hands & seals, in behalf of ourselves and
of the several Tribes of Indians that have delegated us to
appear for, & represent them the day and year aforemen-
tioned.
S NUDGGUMBOIT X Sign. ^
ABISSANEHRAW x Sign. > Kennebeck.
UMGUINNAWAS x Sign. }
TREATIES WITH TIIE ABENAKI INDIANS.
261
AWOHAWAY X Sign. ^
PAQUAHARET x Sign. >
C.ESAR x Sign. }
LEREBENUIT X Sign. ^
OHANUMBAMES x Sign. >
SEGUNKI x Sign. }
ADEAWANDO X Sign. )
SCAWESO x Sign. J
Kennebeck.
Penobscut.
Moxus
BOMMAZEEN
CAPT. SAM
NAGUCAWEN
SUIIMEHAWIS
X Sign. ]
X Sign.
X Sign.
X Sign.
X Sign.
WEGWARUMENET x Sign.
TERRAMUGGUS. x Sign.
Kennebeck.
* SABADIS X Sign. >
SAM HUMPHRIES X Si^n. J Ammarascoggm.
SIGNED, SEALED, & DELIVERED, IN PRESENCE OP
AUGUSTIN MOXUS SON 7
-/^-,
Sign.
SABOME.
Sign.
262 TEEATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS.
FRANCOIS XAVIEB
Sign.
TREATIES WITH THE ABENAKI INDIANS. 263
TOTEMS.
The figures or emblems connected with the signatures of the Indians are
called, in the language of the Algonquins, Totems ; and are the distinguish-
ing marks or signs of the clans or tribes into which the various nations are
divided. They are not the personal emblems of the chiefs, although in sign-
ing treaties they employ them as their sign manual. Each tribe or clan had
its emblem, consisting of the figure of some bird, beast, or reptile, and is
distinguished by the name of the animal which it has assumed as a device,
as Wolf, Hawk, Tortoise. To different totems, says Parkinan in his " Con-
spiracy of Pontiac," attach different degrees of rank and dignity ; and those
of the Bear, the Tortoise, and the Welfare among the first in honor. Each
man is proud of his bad^e, jealously asserting its claim to respect. The use
of the totem prevailed among the southern, as well as the northern tribes ;
Mr. Parkman says that Mr. Gallatin informed him, that he was told by the
chief of a Choctaw deputation at Washington, that in their tribe were eight
totemic clans, divided into two classes of four each.
Mr. Parkman says again, in the work above cited, page 9, " But the main
stay of the Iroquois polity was the system of totemship. It was this which
gave the structure its elastic strength ; and but for this, a mere confederacy
of jealous and warlike tribes must soon have been rent asunder by shocks
from without, or discord from within. At some early period the Iroquois
must have formed an individual nation ; for the whole people, irrespective
of their separation into tribes, consisted of eight totemic clans ; and the
members of each clan, to what nation soever they belonged, were mutually
bound to one another by those close ties of fraternity which mark this singu-
lar institution. Thus the five nations of the confederacy were bound to-
gether by an eight-fold band ; and to this hour their slender remnants cling
to one another with invincible tenacity." \v.
ARTICLE XI.
THE INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY,
THEIR LANQUAQE;
SELECTED FROM
UMFREVILLE'S "PRESENT STATE OF HUDSON'S BAY,'
BY
WM. WILLIS.
THE INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY.
As this society is endeavoring to collect and preserve the
remains of Indian Dialects, for the purposes of comparison
and to throw light generally upon Indian archaeology, it
seemed to me that a few facts taken from Umfreville's " Pres-
ent State of Hudson's Bay " would aid in this useful under-
taking. Edward Umfreville was eleven years in the service
of the Hudson's Bay Company, and four years in the Can-
ada fur trade j in 1790, he published in London a work
under the above title, containing the result of his observa-
tions, with a brief account of the customs and languages of
five Indian tribes inhabiting the coasts of Hudson's Bay, in
latitude from fifty-five to sixty north ; that is, about York
Fort and Churchill's River.
He says: "The Hudson's Bay Indians were originally
tall, properly proportioned, strongly made, and of as manly
an appearance as any people whatever. This, however,
was before their commerce with Europeans had enervated
and debased their minds and bodies, by introducing spirit-
uous liquors among them and habituating them to severe
courses of drinking. * * * They are very superstir
tious ; they allow that there is a good being j he is called
Kitch-e-man-e-to, or the Great Chief. They further say
there is an evil being, who is always plaguing them - T they
call him Whit-ti-co.
268 THE INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY,
" The Indians' method of dividing the time is by number-
ing the nights elapsed, or to come j thus, if he is asked how
long he has been on his journey, he will answer, ' so many
nights.' From this nocturnal division, they proceed to the
lunar or monthly division, reckoning twelve of these in the
year, all of which are expressive of some remarkable event
or appearance. For instance,
"January, they call Kee-sha pan-ur-te-can-um, by reason
of the cold weather found at this time.
"February, Sha-peshem, or the old moon.
"March, Mee-kee-su a-peshem, the eagle moon, because
these birds visit their coasts in this month.
"April, Nis-cau-peshem, the goose moon.
"May, Atheek-a-peshem, the frog moon.
"June, Opineou-a-peshem, because birds are laying their
"July, Opus-cou-a-peshem, because the geese moult their
feathers.
"August, Opo-ho-a-peshem, because the birds are begin-
ning to fly.
"September, Wus-ker-ho-a-peshem, because the deer then
shed their horns.
" October, We-sac-a-peshem, the rutting season of the deer.
"November, As-kut-ta-te-su-a-peshem, the rivers are frozen.
"December, Pou-watch-e-can-a-fish-a-peshem, the severe
frost makes the brush fall from the pine trees.
44 Their method of computing numbers is chiefly by dec-
ades, as two tens, three tens, &c. If they reckon any large
numbers, a skin or stick is laid down for every ten, and af-
terwards tied in a bundle for an aggregate of the whole."
Let us compare the above names of the months with
<those used by the Abnakis, as furnished by Father Yetro-
AND THEIR LANGUAGE. 269
mile, the Indian Patriarch, in his " Alnambay Uli Awikhi-
gan," Indian Good Book. He says :
" The Indians commence the year from the new moon
preceding Christmas ; they count the month by moons, and
the first day of each new moon is the first day of the month.
As in some years there are thirteen moons, then the Indians
skip the moon between July and August, and they call it
Abonamwikizoos, let this moon go.
"January, Onglusamwessit, it is very hard to get a living ;
this was formerly Called Mekwas'que, the cold is great ; but
after they were deprived of their rich settlements on the
Kennebec, it is called as above.
"February, Taquask'nikizoos, Moon in which there is
crust on the snow.
"March, Pnhddamwikizoos, Moon in which the hens lay.
"April, Amusswikizoos, Moon in which we catch fish.
"May, Kikkaikizoos, Moon in which we sow.
"June, Muskoskikizoos, Moon in which we catch young
seals.
"July, Atchittaikizoos, Moon in which the berries are ripe.
"August, Wikkaikizoos, Moon in which is a heap of eels
on the sand.
"September, Montchewadokkikizoos, Moon in which are
herds of moose, bears, &c.
" October, Assabaskwats, there is ice on the borders.
"November, Abonomhsswikizoos, Moon in which the frost
fish come.
"December, Ketchikizoos, the long moon. Kizoos is the
term for moon, the other parts of the compound words are
the qualifying terms."
270 THE INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY,
Those Indians from whom the peltries are obtained are
known to us by the following names, viz: The Ne-heth-
aw-a, the Assinee-Poetuc, the Fall Indians, the Sussee
Indians, the Black-Feet,, the Paegan, the Blood Indians.
The Ne-heth-aw-a are scattered over a very extensive
country. I am of opinion, that the Ochipawa Indians de-
scribed by Carver, and inhabiting the countries south-east-
ward, sprung from the same original stock with the Neheth-
awas. Their language corresponds, and they live promis-
cuously and on friendly terms with each other.
They divide the year into thirteen moons, all expressive
of some remarkable event at the time. The first moon in
the following list came in on the twelfth of December, 1784,
and was called by them
Pou-arch-e-kin-e-shish, from the wind blowing the brush
from the pine trees.
Ke-sha-peshem, the old moon.
Me-ke-su-a-peshem, the eagle moon.
Nis-cau-peshein, goose moon.
A-theck-a-peshem, frog moon.
0-pin-e-ou-wa-o-peshem, time for birds laying their eggs.
0-bas ka-wa-ho-a-peshem, the fledging of birds.
0-pus-ko-a-peshem, the moulting of birds.
0-po-ho-a-peshem, the time of birds taking their flight.
0-noch-a-ha-to-a-peshem, rutting seasoaof animals.
0-poon-a-ha-to a-peshem, rutting season over.
Cus-cut-ta-no-a-peshem, time of rivers freezing.
A-theck-a-peu-a-peshem, trees covered with ice and snow.
The Assinee Poetuc, or Stone Indians, are said to have
been a portion of the Nau'dawissees on the Mississippi, men-
tioned in Carver's travels. The Black-Foot, Paegan, and
AND THHK LANGUAGE.
271
Blood Indians, though divided into three tribes, are all one
nation, speak the same language, and have the same cus-
toms.
The following table presents the definition of words of
four tribes :
English.
Ne-heth-a-wa. Assinee Poetuc. Fall Indians.
Black Foot.
An eye
She-shic Ister
Nun-nec-so-on Wap-pis-pey
p'r of stockings metas uce-ker.
nun-nor-tor
at-chis
shirt
pau-pau-ke-wi- uke-no-sis-o-
ne-weed-thu-it
e-stoke-so-char-
an-a-saugi bun
sim
knife
mo -co-man meen
warth
es-to-un
tobacco pipe
wus-pwog-an hun-nobe]
pe-chou-on
ar-qui-in-e-man
hat
ta-tus-tin wap-pau
ti-u-it-te-tur
arshe-mo-gan
pair of shoes
mes-ke-sin-er hump
nub-o-on-er
atch-ce-kin
tobacco
shees-tem-mou chan-dee
chees-ou-on
pis-tar-can
rum
sku-ta- wap puc min-ne-wong
nuts
o-key
dog
attim shong
hudth-er
ame-tou
fire
scuta pate
u-sit-ter
is-chey
arrow
at-tuce-er wau-hin-dip
ntceee
ap-pis-sey
bow
au-chap-pey in-tar-seep
bart
kits-nar-mi
beads
me-ke-suc o-ay
can-ar-ti-u
com-on-e-cris-
to-man
cloth
man-ne-to-a- shin-nunte
na-odth-i-u
shic-a-pis-chey
one
pi-ac [gan o-jin
kar-ci
to-kes-cum
two
ne-shu nomb
neece
nar-to-kes-cum
three
nis-to yarmin
narce
nc-hokes-cum
four
na-ou tope
ne-an
ne-swe-um
five
ne-an-an starpt
yan-tune
ne-sit-twi
six
un-coot-a-wash- sharp
ne-te-ar-tuce
nay
seven
tapuco [ic shar-co
ne-sar-tuce
kitz-ic
ten
metartut wa-kee-chem
met-tar-tuce
kee-pay
These words bear no resemblance 'to the language of the
Abnakis, the Indians of Maine ; from which it may be in-
ferred that their origin is distinct. Compare, for instance,
the Abnaki term for tobacco, oudaman, or as the English
would write it, wudaman, with the foregoing ; also, shirt,
antoura hanoua ; also the numerals, Abnaki, one, pezakan,
272 THE INDIANS OF HUDSON'S BAY.
two, niss, three, jeou, six, nakoudas, ten, mtara ; this last
comes nearer to some of those dialects. So does the Ab-
naki for fire, skoutar, which seems to be the same with the
Ne-heth-a-wa. As that tribe came from the Mississippi, it is
probably one of the Lenni-Lenapi family, and is thus con-
nected with the Maine and Canada tribes. The Lenapi
language is the most widely extended east of the Mississip-
pi, and is used in various dialects in Canada, and the coun-
tries lying south and west of Hudson's Bay. These exam-
ples may guide and assist the inquiries of archaeologists in
this interesting department. w.
ARTICLE XII.
EXTRACTS
FROM A
MEMOIR OF M. DE LA MOTHE CADILLAC,
1693,
CONCERNING ACADIA AND NEW ENGLAND;
FROM THE ARCHIVES OF PARIS.
TRANSLATED AND COMMUNICATED TO THE SOCIETY BY
JAMES ROBB, M. D.,
PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, AC., IN KING'S COLLEGE, NEW BRUNSWICK.
18
MEMOIR OF M. DE LA MOTHE CADILLAC.
THIS memoir was found at Quebec by Dr. Robb, among a mass of pa-
pers procured by the Colonial government from the archives of Paris, and
translated by him for this Society.
Cadillac was an active partisan of the French government ; he was an
officer in the army, and at the same time seems to have been familiar with
naval affairs. In 1691, Louis XIV. granted to him for his services, an ex-
tensive tract of land in Maine, east of Penobscot river, a territory then
claimed and occupied by the French, as part of the ancient Province of
Acadia. In 1787, his granddaughter, Maria Theresa de Gregoire, and her
husband, Bartholcmy de Gregoire, made application to Massachusetts for
a confirmation of this grant, or an indemnity for its loss. And although
they had not the slightest claim upon the State, yet from a universally good
feeling which prevailed toward the French people at that time, the govern-
ment yielded to their request, and granted to them a large tract of land
situated in the County of Hancock, embracing the present town of Trenton,
and part of the towns of Sullivan, Ellsworth, Hancock, Eden, and Mount
Desert, with some adjacent islands, containing about sixty thousand acres.
To complete the generosity of the government, as aliens could not then
hold lands in the Commonwealth, a special act was passed by the Legisla-
ture, Oct. 29, 1787, authorizing the naturalization of them and their three
children, Pierre, Nicholas, and Maria.
In February, 1692, Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, in a report to
the French minister, proposed to send Cadillac to France, to give intelli-
gence of the condition of his Province and the general state of affairs. The
minister, in his reply, desired him to be sent, and added that he "under-
stands him to be the best instructed on plans, soundings, and all obser-
vations."
The memoir from which we now present extracts, was communicated to
the government, probably, after his return. It contains minute sailing and
276 CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
pilot directions for the coast and harbors, from the Bay of Fundy, called
by the French " Baye Frangaise," to New York, with other statistical in-
formation and speculations, which prove him to have been a careful and
intelligent observer.
A portion of his memoir, relating to New York, has been published in
the ninth volume of " Documents relating to the Early History of New
York," procured from Paris by Mr. Broadhead, and edited by Dr. O'Calla-
ghan, a very accurate and learned antiquarian, at the expense of that
State.
In 1694, M. Cadillac was employed among the Iroquois Indians, to watch
their motions and secure their friendship ; he made a full report on that na-
tion to his government the same year.
In June, 1701, he was sent by Calliere, Governor of Canada, with a Jesuit
missionary and one hundred Frenchmen, to take possession of Detroit, and
then made the first settlement in that place. He was afterwards appointed
commander of the fort at Mackinaw, one of the cordon of important mili-
tary posts established by the French on the frontier, extending in the rear
of the English colonies from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Rev. M. Bobe, Missionary Priest, in a letter to M. De 1'Isle, the ge-
ographer of the Academy of Sciences, dated Versailles, March 15, 1716,
says : * I have a memoir of M. de la Mothe Cadillac, formerly governor of
Missilimakinack (Mackinaw), who says that if St. Peter's River is ascended
to its source, they will, according to all appearance, find in the highlands
another river leading to the Western Ocean. For the last two years, I tor-
ment exceedingly the Governor General, M. Raudot, and M. Duche, to in-
duce them to discover this ocean." (Hist. Mag., Aug. 1859.)
It appears from the various and responsible offices with which Cadillac
was entrusted by the French government, that great confidence was placed
in his fidelity and good judgment; in every situation he made detailed and
able reports concerning the people, the country, and affairs in the midst of
which he was placed.
In examining the documents which the State of New York have, with
a liberal and wise policy, procured from the depositories of Paris, and given
to the public, and other sources, we are surprised by the copious, minute,
and constant reports of the French officials, in every department of colonial
affairs, to the Home government, on all the subjects which were within the
scope of their observation. The manners and customs of the natives, their
intercourse with the English colonies, their various movements, the local
situation and diversities of the country, through its whole wide extent, and
i ts multifarious resources, were all subjects of special report and comment,
CADILLAC'S MEMOIR. 277
by men who prepared themselves by careful observation and study, to con-
vey full and accurate information.
This marked difference strikes us forcibly, between the English and French
colonists, that the former were laboring to build up a country and state of
affairs for their own comfort, use, and adornment, while the French seem
to have been legarding more the honor and advancement of the mother
country. They never seemed to have entertained an idea of independence,
or of self government, but were wholly devoted to extending the dominion
and glory of France. This may in part account for the very different results
of colonization on this continent, to the two nations principally concerned
in it. w.
CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
PLACES IN MAINE.
Pesmocady. 1 From the mouth of the River St. John to
Pesmocady the distance is fourteen leagues. This bay and
harbor is good for ships, which can pass in and out of it at
all seasons, without being incommoded by ice. To enter
the bay you must sail west-north-west. There are two
fathoms of water.
Grand Menane. Opposite this place and five leagues
off shore on the north side and two on the south side there
is an island called Grand Menane, which is fourteen leagues
in circumference.
Majais. 2 From Pesmocady to Majais it is ten leagues.
The entrance of this river is difficult on account of rocks,
which are concealed at high water. You must make a
north-west course. There are five fathoms of water
there.
Rock off the Coast.* Opposite this river and three
leagues out to sea, there is a rock which in good hands
would bring in a considerable revenue, by the catching of
the seals which, every second year, might be killed to the
1 Passamaquoddy Bay.
2 Machias.
3 Seal Islands.
280 CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
number of fifteen or sixteen hundred. They go there to
drop their young. It is only necessary to strike them on
the head with a club ; but care must be taken not to slaugh-
ter the old ones, lest the supply should totally fail.
Monts Deserts. From Majais to Monts Deserts it
is twenty leagues. This is an island which is twelve leagues
in circumference, and very high and mountainous. It serves
as an excellent landmark for ships from Europe, bound ei-
ther for Port Royal or Boston.
Douaquet. 1 This island is on the north-east side of a
river of the same name, which is very beautiful and very
wide. There is a rock in the middle of the entrance which
is not covered at high tide. As you go in, you perceive first
two small and very steep islands. The entrance is safe ev-
erywhere. Within there is a basin which is four leagues in
circumference, and where there is good anchorage. In en-
tering you must sail south ; there are ten fathoms of wa-
ter.
Mount Desert Harbor. The harbor of Monts Deserts,
or Monts Coupe's, is very good and very beautiful. There
is no sea inside, and vessels lie. as it were, in a box. There
are four entrances. The north-east one is the best ; it has
nine fathoms of water. In the eastern one, there are four-
teen or fifteen ; in the south-west one, there are three and
a half, but in the channel there is a rock which is sometimes
covered by the tide. In the western entrance there are
three fathoms and a half, but to enter safely, you must steer
west or south-west. Good masts may be got here, and the
English formerly used to come here for them. Four leagues
north-west and south-east of the Monts Deserts, there is a
rock which is not covered at high water.
Although the country of the Canibas, or Abenakis, ought
to begin at Doiiaquet and go as far as St. George's river,
1 Frenchman's Bay.
PLACES IN MAINE. 281
it is, nevertheless, certain that their residence is on the Riv-
er Kenibek, or Kenibeguy.
Remarks. It is of consequence that this tribe should
not be drawn off to Canada, and for several reasons. The
first and strongest is, that they defend Acadia and protect
it from the inroads of the English, who have often designed
to come and fortify themselves at Pentagoet, and were it
not for the Indians, could have done so without any resist-
ance. Thus it is easy to see that they not only defend
their own soil and our boundary, but they also attack and
destroy their enemies, our neighbors. They completely
prevent their forming any settlements upon our shores, and
oblige them to abandon their own, and to take refuge in
their towns. Besides, it is known that some Iroquois In-
dians had started, and made some attempts to get to Can-
ada by this route, if they had not been persuaded that the
Abenakis would have resisted, and that they ran some risk
of a disagreeable reception. La Mananthe (Manhattan), or
New York, labored hard for the success of the project, but
the Iroquois, although very enterprising, have always got
the worst of it in any casual encounter.
They also came at the outbreak of the war, with presents
of necklaces for the Abenakis, and desiring either peace or
a promise of neutrality, which they have never succeeded
in obtaining. It is most important to keep this nation in
our interests ; the English have done their best to make
friends with them, both by promises and presents, but they
have made no progress as yet ; these Indians have always
remained attached to the French, and well for us it is so.
The second reason is, that by this means we shall preserve
all the advantage of this province, which otherwise would
fall to the English. But the strongest argument is, that the
enemy, if they found no obstacle in this quarter, would, in
ten days' march, appear with their Indian allies on the
282 CADILLAC'S MEMOIK.
southern bank of the river at Quebec, plundering, and mak-
ing a diversion with great ease to themselves, but very seri-
ously for us.
Pentagouet (Penobscot). From Monts Deserts to Pen-
tagouet, it is ten leagues. The entrance to this river is
narrow. You may anchor between the island and this river.
You must sail to the west-south-west of the aforesaid island.
There is a rock three-quarters of a league from the shore,
and which is to the south-west. To enter the river you
must steer north. There are six fathoms of water.
River St. George's. From Pentagouet to the St.
George's river, it is eight leagues. This river is not very
safe, on account of the numerous rocks. It furnishes ex-
cellent oak for shipbuilding. To enter you must steer north-
north-west. There are three fathoms of water.
Boundaries. This river has always served as boundary,
from east to west, between the French and English.
Observations. Although it is easy to see that there
are on the coast of Acadia, at least twenty harbors proper
for ships of war, I shall not touch upon the smaller ones,
lest I should prove tiresome. I may, however, again re-
mark that generally, along this whole shore, codfishing may
be very profitably carried on, with the exception, neverthe-
less, of a part of Bay Franchise (Bay of Fundy).
Paincuit (Pemaquid). From the River St. George's to
Paincuit, it is seven leagues. This is the first point which
is occupied by the English. It is a very wide bay, with
good anchorage, but towards the end of the season it is
somewhat dangerous with a west or south-west wind, which
makes a heavy sea, and there is only five fathoms water.
To anchor opposite the fort we must sail close to a rock,
which is not dangerous, and head north-east. The anchor-
ing ground is within a musket-shot of the fort, and there is
no swell.
PLACES IN MAINE. 283
This fort was taken in 1688 by the Indians. They put
eighty men to death, but gave quarter to the Governor and
six of the people, at the request of one of the chiefs, called
Mateknando, l whose son is now in France.
A great rock, which happened to be close to the fort, was
the cause of its capture. The English have, at the present
time, repaired this fort, and avoided the error which they
committed the first time, in placing it so close to the rock.
This was done in 1692, and we learned at Monts Deserts
that there are one hundred men in garrison there, and that
they are constantly employed at the defenses of the place;
that there were sii guns mounted there, and that there was
a frigate at hand to prevent any interruption from the sea ;
that the whole was in a good state of defense except on
the side next the water, where, as yet, there was little work
done. This place is very troublesome to our Indians, and
on that account should be looked upon suspiciously by the
government.
Meniguen. Three leagues to seaward, there is an isl-
and called Meniguen (Monhegan). There were about twen-
ty families employed in fishing around this island, but our
Indians have made them abandon it.
Pesc.adouet (Piscataway). There is, also, Pescadouet;
the harbor is pretty good, but there are many reefs five
leagues off the coast, and if one was caught in a strong
east or north-east wind and embayed here, it would be very
dangerous. There are five fathoms and a half of water in
this harbor. To enter it, we must head north-north-west.
This place supplies plank and boards to the whole country,
and also good masts. The Indians might easily interrupt,
or even put an end to all this business, if they thought it
worth their while, and if they were led by a Frenchman of
l Madokawando, fether of Baron de St. Castin's wife.
284 CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
some experience, with a few soldiers or settlers to help
him.
I pass over all the little harbors, from Pescadouet to Bas-
ton (Boston), to notice only the most important of the forts,
the number of their guns, the approximate number of the
settlers capable of bearing arms, the diversity of their re-
ligion, their commerce, and the productions of the country.
BOSTON.
River of Boston. The entrance of the Boston river is
safe. There are many islands in the bay. At the entrance,
we observe an island called Brosseillant (Brewster's Isl-
and). It is west-north-west. You must pass by the said
island to the south-west, when you will see a spit (une
grave), which you must also sail close to and leave on the
starboard side; then put the cap on the north-west and
north-north-west. At the entrance there are fifteen fathoms
of water. Having gone about three leagues into this river,
you find a small island on which the fort or castle is situat-
ed (Castle Island). There are sixteen guns mounted, and
about sixty men in garrison. The sixteen guns are low
down, on a levelwith the water, without embrasures. They
say that there are now forty guns there. At this island
there are two passages. In entering you must keep that
on the starboard side. Opposite the fort there are six
fathoms of water. It would not be prudent to attack the
town, without first taking possession of the fort, (Monsieur
de La Mothe will give the plan of it in another place, as
well as that of the town, and which will, perhaps, be fol-
lowed) which is three-quarters of a league from the town,
as many think, but I consider it to be only a good half
league.
The anchorage is between the two ; all sorts of ships
may anchor there ; the holding is good, and the bottom is
BOSTON AND VICINITY. 285
of mud. There are five and a half fathoms of water, and
seven on the north side. You may anchor in all safety
within a cable's length of the town. There is a wooden
quay, and ships may rest on the bottom, which is nearly dry
at low water, so that in unloading, the freight may very ea-
sily be stowed away in the stores.
Guns. There is a battery at each end of the quay ;
one of them mounts twelve, and the other seven guns. It
is said that there are other two batteries, one of which is
of sixteen, and the other of twelve guns.
Situation of Baston (Boston). This town is built at
the base of two tfttle hills, on the south side, and on the
north it abuts upon the shore of the bay or river. Two-
thirds of the town are of wood, the remainder of brick or
stone. The houses are fine and very clean. It is occupied
by merchants, sailors and artisans. There are very few
people of quality in it. It is rather rich in money and mer-
chandise. . .
Troops. There are here, at present, fifteen hundred
men bearing arms, and in four or five days, by calling in
those who are in the country, they may make out six thou-
sand men. They are republicans in their heart, and sworn
enemies of the government (de la domination).
Religion. There are six different places of worship,
and six different religions in actual practice. Of these, two
have set off from the Anglican Church, and are called Non-
Conformists, one of Anabaptist, one of Quakers, and anoth-
er of French Protestant refugees.
Commerce. Their principal commerce is the fishery,
which is carried on along the coasts of Acadia ; abo a few
beaver skins and furs. They build ships and make lumber,
both of which are taken to Europe, and the Barbadoes Isl-
ands. In their adventures they make a common purse, or
stock. Every one of the partners takes with him whatever
286 CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
he pleases, and on the return of the vessel, they make an
equal division of the profit or loss. In this way there is
always something to speculate upon in every vessel, and
then they have much correspondence and commerce all over
the world.
Natural Productions. They cultivate corn and rye, but
little wheat, and they seldom have provision sufficient for
their own subsistence. They send for it to Mananthe (New
York) and Long Island.
They have an infinite number of cattle, sheep, horses, and
other stock, and many kinds of fruit.
Their policy towards the natives. They have taught
their own tongue to many of the Indians ; then they have
given them small pensions, on condition that they will like-
wise teach it to their friends, and to the young. After-
wards they have taught them to read and write, gradually
increasing their allowances according to the care they may
have taken in educating the others. This is pursued so
steadily, that already many of these Indians have forgotten
their own tongue, and have become well acquainted with
holy scripture ; they have ministers in their schools, and are
become more sagacious and more religious than the English
themselves, to whom they remain very submissive, from a
spirit of religion, and which, moreover, is the strongest pil-
lar of their colony. I believe it would be very useful, if
the missionaries among our Indians were to observe the
same custom. The governors who have been, and who are
in this country (Acadia), have always intended to follow the
above-mentioned plan, but as yet they have never actually
put it in practice. I think I understand the mystery, but.
some other may reveal it. At all events, it is certain that
there is nothing so inconvenient as to see people who come
every day to speak to the governors, and to whom no au-
dience could be given if there was not a missionary at hand
BOSTON AND VICINITY. 287
to serve as interpreter, and who very often adds to, or sub-
tracts something from what is said on either side, as suits
his own interest. But what is most unfortunate, is that
these people, who are very useful to us in time of war, are
for most of the time very useless, because neither the offi-
cers, nor soldiers, nor settlers know how to command them,
as they cannot speak in their own tongue, nor can they obey
our directions, as they know not ours.
Charlestown. On the other side of the river of Bos-
ton, on the north side, there is a small suburb or town,
called Charlestown. There are, on the banks of the river,
twelve guns not s^t in embrasures, and which might be
brought to bear upon vessels in the stream. This village
is situated at the base of an eminence which might be dis-
advantageous to the city, for it would not be difficult to
take it from the land side. The disembarkation of troops
might easily be effected at a place which is about half a
league distant. It is not so well fortified, but that by get-
ting possession of these guns they might be carried to the
top of the hill, which commands the whole of Boston, and
then the whole city might be ruined and demolished without
difficulty or danger. It is distant from Boston abcut a gun-
shot only.
Cambridge. At the distance of three-quarters of a
league further up this river, or bay, there is another village
called Cambrigge (Cambridge), where there is a college or
university for the instruction of youth.
Salem. Salem is another little town, at the distance of
five leagues from Boston. It is not fortified ; it is the prin-
cipal residence of the fishermen. Large vessels cannot get
within half a league of it.
The attack and capture of Boston does not appear to be
less necessary than that of New York, and for the reasons
which I gave in 1680, and which I shall refer to after-
wards.
288 CADILLAC'S MEMOIR.
Sailing out of Boston. In sailing out of Boston river
you must head east, and after getting out, if you wish to go
to New York, you must sail twenty-five leagues to sea, or
to the south of Cape Cod, on account of a bay in which
there is only five or six feet of water. It runs north-west
and south-east of Boston. Nevertheless, there is a channel
between the bar and the shore, but this route is not a safe
one. You must take care not to get too much embayed in
this bay, for if an east or north-east wind should come on,
it is almost impossible to get off the lee shore, in which
there is no harbor. By the accounts of the English, there
are some such disasters here every year.
Of Martinvigners (Martha's Vineyard). After doub-
ling this cape, you must pass to seaward of an island called
MartinvignerSy on which there are several settlements and
many Indians. There are eight hundred now there.
Of Rodeillant (Rhode Island). I pass in silence over
several small islands ; after the last, I shall mention only
two, which are placed to the east of Long Island. You
must pass between this one and the other two, to reach
Rhode Island. The entrance into this passage is good, and
you may almost touch the shore with the end of the bow-
sprit without danger. There are but two corps de garde
at the entrance, each of which mounts but two guns. The
town is two leagues and a half within the island, and on
the margin of the water. It is partly built of bricks. The
Governor is a Quaker. Most of the inhabitants are either
Quakers or Jews. There are two hundred men who bear
arms. In entering you must keep a north-north-west course.
There are ten fathoms of water. They say that the settlers
own two hundred thousand sheep or lambs.
As this is the retreat of the pirates, and the magazine of
the privateers of New England, it ought to be chastised
and ravaged, whereby this colony would sustain a loss of
BOSTON AND VICINITY. 289
more than four millions. I should be glad to have the hon-
or of being associated with this enterprise. I undertake
to promise ample success.
Long Island. From Rhode Island to New York, it is
fifty leagues. The passage between Long Island and the
main is good. The island is forty leagues in length. It
lies east and west, but the channel must be well known,
inasmuch as there is one place where the river is very nar-
row, and where a ship can only pass at high water, on ac-
count of a whirlpool, which they call Hell Gate, or the Gate
of Hell. The safest way is to pass to the south of Long
Island, which is settled almost from one end to the other.
It produces a prodigious quantity of wheat.
10
ARTICLE XIII.
THE VOYAGE OF CAPT. GEO. WEYMOUTH
TO THE
COAST OF MAINE IN 1605:
AN ATTEMPT TO SHOW THAT THE ISLANDS ON WHICH HE LAND-
ED, AND THE RIVER WHICH HE EXPLORED, WERE THE
ST. GEORGE'S OF THE PRESENT DAY.
BT
GEORGE PRINCE, OF BATH, ME.
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
THE controversy of Kennebec vs. Penobscot, in relation
to the discoveries of Capt. George Weymouth in 1605, has
attracted much attention ; and the close observer cannot
have failed to notice the numerous obstacles pointed out by
each party, as applicable to their opponents' theory, and
thus been led to the inevitable conclusion, that the grounds
taken by both parties are equally untenable, and that it was
neither the Kennebec nor Penobscot River which was ex-
plored by Weymouth. Yet Weymouth must have discov-
ered some river on the coast of Maine, whose mouth was
near Monhegan. Let us see, then, if any other river will
answer better to Hosier's description than either the Ken-
nebec or Penobscot.
The writer of this article, in a letter to Cyrus Eaton,
Esq., of Warren, dated in August, 1858, and published in
the Lincoln Advertiser, Thomaston, has endeavored to show
that u St. George's River " is the only one that will answer
to Rosier's account. And it is now proposed to follow up
that theory, and show that St. George's River will conform
to that discovered by Weymoulh, in almost every minute
particular, and in fact, that the narrative, when applied to
that river, is found marvelously correct, when we take into
consideration the brief time occupied in its exploration.
294 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
Even his conjecture that it " trended almost into the mayne
about forty miles," is not far from the fact, while the length
of the Kennebec and Penobscot, each over one hundred and
sixty miles, is wide of the mark.
"VVe will first endeavor, without being tedious, to show
the location of Pentecost Harbor, and afterwards point out
some of the objections to the prevailing theories, as applied
to the two rivers above named.
It is universally admitted that Weymouth's ship, sup-
posed to have been called the li Archangel," was anchored
about a league north of the Island of Monhegan. He ar-
rived there on Saturday, the eighteenth of May, 1605. Ro-
sier says : " From hence we might discern the main land,
from the west-south- west- to the east-north-east, and a great
way (as it then seemed, and we afterwards found it) up in-
to the main, we might discern very high mountains, though
the main seemed but low land."
If we place ourselves near Monhegan in clear weather,
we shall be at no loss to discover that the il very high moun-
tains " referred to, are no other than the Camden and Un-
ion Mountains, which show their lofty heads far inland.
Mount Pleasant, or Ragged Mountain, the most elevated,
bearing north by east one-half east, just thirty-two miles
distant. They are the only conspicuous heights along the
coast, and a noted landmark for mariners approaching the
land, being visible long before the main land comes into
view.
That the White Mountains, as conjectured by Mr. Mc-
Keen, are not the ones seen by Weymouth, is evident from
the fact that they cannot be approached within three or four
miles on tide waters, as were the mountains noticed by that
explorer. And again, no harbor for a vessel like the " Arch-
angel " can be found in a " road directly with these moun-
tains/' within a distance of seventeen miles, whereas Rosier
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN leos. 295
says that they went only about " three leagues," and his es-
timated leagues, in all cases, were very short ones, but little
more than two miles. Again, the White Mountains, with
an elevation above the level of the sea of six thousand six
hundred feet, being distant one hundred and ten miles, could
not, on account of the curvature of the earth, be seen from
the deck of the Archangel, even with a telescope. 1
Camden and Union Mountains, then, must be the ones
referred to, and the islands " in the road directly with the
mountains," must be St. George's Islands, seven miles from
Monhegan. Let us now refer to the narrative.
"The next day (tiie nineteenth) being Whitsunday, be-
cause we rode too much open to the sea and winds, we
weighed anchor about two o'clock, and came along to the
other islands more adjoining to the main, and in the rode
directly with the mountains, about three leagues from the
first islands where we had anchored. When we came near
to them (sounding all along in good depth), our Captain
manned his ship's boat, and sent her before with Thos.
Cam, one of his mates, whom he knew to be of good expe-
rience, to sound and search between the islands for a place
safe for our ship to ride in, which it pleased God to send
us far beyond our expectations, in a most safe berth, de-
fended from all winds, in an excellent depth of water for
ships of any burthen, in six, seven, eight, nine, and ten fath-
oms, upon a clay ooze very tough. We called it Pentecost
Harbor, found Eggs larger than Goose Eggs, dug wells, put
in one an empty cask, found great quantities of Fish, Lob-
sters, <fcc. Here we sat up our crosse to serve in all after
times for future discoveries. Wednesday, 22d of May
planted a garden with peas and barley, which in sixteen
i See rule for calculating heights of distant mountains, Bowditch's Naviga-
tion, page 95.
296 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN
days grew eight inches above ground, and continued grow-
ing half an inch a day. The bigger isle of the harbor,
judged about five miles in compass and a mile broad.
Among the rocks found large mussels, and in some of them
large pearls. The Harbor was open by four several pas-
sages. Surveyed the Harbor and Islands adjoining for five
or six leagues. Upon one of the Islands (because it had
a pleasant sandy cove for small barks to ride in) we landed,
and found hard by the shore a pond of fresh water, which
flowed over the banks, somewhat overgrown with little
shrub trees, and searching up in the isle, we saw it fed with
a strong run, which with small labor and little time, might
be made to drive a mill. The Captain, on a rock in the
midst of the Harbor, observed the height, Latitude, and
variation, made Latitude forty-three degrees twenty 'min-
utes, variation, eleven degrees fifteen minutes West."
The twenty minutes of latitude here given is evidently
an error; no islands are there, answering at all to the des-
cription, and the distance being also too far from Monhegan.
It is probably a typographical error, and should read fifty
minutes. The latitude off Nantucket, forty-one degrees
twenty minutes, having been correct, it is presumed their
calculations at these islands were as reliable as when first
falling in with the land.
Every thing about St. George's Islands, their distance
from Monhegan, their situation in the " road directly with
the mountains," their being open by four several passages,
the existence of the rock on which the observations were
made, the pond of fresh water on Monhegan, l with the run
which could be made to carry a mill, all substantiate the
ground that " Pentecost Harbor " must have been the har-
bor at the " St. George's Islands," a name given to them by
"Weymouth, from his own name, his patron's, and that of his
1 The bed of this pond is yet plainly seen.
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605. 297
country's patron saint ; for it is a well known fact that these
islands and the river which he discovered have uniformly
been known by that appellation ever since the time of Wey-
mouth's exploration. The same name was also given to
them by Popham, in his voyage two years after, 1607, who
expressly says " they were the islands visited by Wey-
mouth," and furthermore, he found the very cross set up by
Weymouth. Strachey, in his account of the voyage, says :
" Howbeit before they put from the island, they found a
Crosse set up, one of the same which Capt. Weymouth, in
his discovery, for all after occasions, left upon this island."
He also describes the islands as being several leagues east
of Pemaquid, and of course they could not be the Booth-
bay Islands. He furthermore expressly says, that Popham's
colony found no trace on the Kennebcc of any former vis-
itors, which would be a very singular fact, if Weymouth's
party had explored that jiver but two years before, setting
up crosses. A reason urged by some for favoring the
theory, is because Capt. Popham's Colony was established
at the mouth of that river in 1607. But it must be borne
in mind that Capt. Popham first came to anchor at the St.
George's Islands, piloted there by the Indian Skidawarres,
and aided by the directions given by Rosier and Weymouth ;
that his intentions, originally, were to plant his colony in
that neighborhood, but having heard of the more favorable
situation of the Kennebec, from Capt. Pring's statement,
who had discovered that river the year before, or per-
haps from his Indian guide, he concluded to settle at the
Kennebec, and accordingly sailed for that locality, " going
westward," and calling at Pemaquid on his way, where he
met with Nahanada, brought out by Capt. Pring. Here
Skidawarres left him, and, together with his old companion
in captivity, Nahanada, hastened to the home of his old
chief, on the Penobscot, repeatedly urging Capt. Popham to
298 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
go to that river. This last circumstance seems to be a
strong proof that their home was not at the Kennebec, as
is perseveringly urged.
Boothbay Harbor, which is contended by some to be
" Pentecost Harbor," aside from its being twice the distance
given by Rosier, from his first anchorage, will not answer
the description in any respect, such a\s its being in a cluster
of islands, open by four several passages. No trace of a
pond of fresh water, such as is described, is to be found on
Squirrel Island, or on any of the islands adjoining, nor is it
in the road with any mountains which could have been seen
from their first anchorage.
Having shown, we think, conclusively, that St. George's
Island Harbor was Weymouth's Harbor of " Pentecost," it
is evident that Kennebec River was not the one explored
by Wey mouth, for his river " run up towards the high moun-
tains," which we have shown to be the Camden and Union
Mountains.
Mr. Belknap's theory of Penobscot River will now be ex-
amined, and shown to be equally untenable.
The first idea that the Penobscot was the river in ques-
tion, arose from the report of Capt. Williams, who was sent
to examine the grounds, having with him an abridged and
imperfect copy of Rosier's narrative. He readily found
the high lands, conspicuous from Monhegan, and was at no
loss to fix upon the St. George's Islands as " Pentecost
Harbor," but instead of proceeding up St. George's River,
he was directed to examine Penobscot River, and see if it
would compare with the narrative. Having his mind upon
a very large river, he took it for granted that the Penob-
scot must be the one, not considering that Weymouth had
been used to looking upon such rivers as the Thames and
the Severn as large rivers, and a river much smaller than
the Penobscot might have been considered by him as a
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE m 1605. 299
large river. In fact, we have seen that his " large river "
was conjectured to be forty miles in length.
Capt. Williams was at a great loss to harmonize the
statement of Rosier with the River Penobscot, and finally
concluded that these explorers had mistaken the passage
from St. George's Isles to Belfast, as a " river, from a mile
to half a mile wide " 1 1 but in that conjecture he detracts
from those old seaman all credit for knowledge or judg-
ment, for no schoolboy could ever mistake that passage for
a river " from a mile to half a mile wide, with six, seven,
eight, nine, and ten fathoms water," when the distance be-
tween the islands an<J main is sometimes twenty miles ; and
for long distances there are no islands, but the passage is en-
tirely open to the sea on the right hand. But even could
such a mistake have been made, a boat could not have rowed
to Belfast and proceeded up the Penobscot, and returned
again in twenty-four hours. There are also wanted " the
divers branching streams," the " meadows," the " codde "
with its eastern and western entrances, and the " high moun-
tains." This last fact alone undermines the whole struc-
ture, for had the explorers ascended, as is conjectured, to
Belfast when they landed, these mountains would have been
left twenty miles astern, whereas they expressly say that
they judged the nearest of the mountains " to have been
within one league of them when they landed."
Let us now examine the narrative and .compare it with
the St. George's River, the entrance to which is distant
some six or eight miles from Pentecost Harbor, and running
up directly towards the Camden and Union Mountains.
" Tuesday the eleventh of June we passed up into the
river," (from Pentecost Harbor), " with our ships, about six
and twenty miles, all the way of exceeding beauty and ver-
dure, for (besides without the river, in the channel and
sounds about the islands adjoining the mouth thereof, no
300 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
better riding can be desired for an infinite number of ships)
the river itself, as it runneth up into the main very nigh
forty miles, towards the great mountains, beareth in breadth
a mile, sometimes three-quarters, and half a mile is the nar-
rowest, where you shall never have under four or five fath-
oms water hard by the shores, but six, seven, eight, nine,
ten fathoms all along, and both sides every half mile very
gallant coves, some able to contain almost one hundred sail,
where the ground is excellent soft ooze, with a tough clay
under for anchor hold, and where ships may lie without ca-
ble or anchor, only moored to the shore with a hawser, it
floweth, by their judgment, eighteen or twenty feet at high
water. Here are made by nature most excellent places as
docks, to grave or careen ships of all burdens, secure from
all winds." Here we see St. George's River, with its "gal-
lant coves," viz : Turkey Cove, Maple Juice Cove, Teel's
Cove, Smalley's Cove, Broad Cove, Hyler's Cove, &c., &c.,
the river itself running up directly towards Camden Moun-
tains, from a mile to half a mile wide, with its bold shore and
deep water, also its excellent places for docks to grave and
careen ships. The distance sailed, to be sure, is less than
ft twenty-six miles," being but eighteen ; but it must be remem-
bered that Mr. Hosier's distances are allowed to be overstat-
ed ; yet how much nearer the mark than the distance from St.
George's Islands to Belfast, which is more than fifty miles.
Allowance is also to be made for his error in judgment in
stating the rise of the river to be " eighteen feet." The'
rise of the tide in St. George's River is but one or two feet
.short of the Penobscot, consequently their estimate of the
tide does not further Mr. Belknap's theory much.
I place the ships anchored in the river just above the
point whereon are the remains of St. George's Fort. The
narrative then proceeds :
" On Wednesday, the twelfth of June, our captain manned
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1005. 301
his light horseman with seventeen men, and run up from the
ship riding in the river, up to the codde thereof, where we
landed."
This was the open space or bay, at the turn of the river,
in front of Gen. Knox's mansion ; just to the west of which
they landed, with Marsh's Mountain in full view, distant
about two or three miles. " Leaving six to keep the light
horseman till our return, ten of us with our shot, and some
armed, with a boy to carry powder, and a match, marched
up into the country, towards the mountains which we de-
scried at our first falling in with the land ; unto some of
them the river brought us so near, as we judged ourselves
when we landed to have been within a league of them," (this
was Marsh's Mountain), " but we marched up about four miles
in the main," (heading probably about north by east), " and
passed over those hills ; and because the weather was parch-
ing hot, and our men in their armor not able to travel far
and return that night to our ship, we resolved not to pass
any farther, being all very weary of so tedious and labor-
some a travel. During this travel we come to numerous
little runs of fresh water, but the fartherest and last we
past run into a great stream able to drive a mill." This I
suppose to be Oyster River stream.
" We were no sooner aboard our light horseman, return-
ing towards our ship, but we spied a canoe coming from the
farther part of the codde of the river eastward, which hast-
ened to us, inviting us to their city to the east, the residence
of their bashaba." This canoe came out of Mill River
which empties into the bay or codde l from the eastward/
and was the grand carrying place of the Indians coming
1 Codde is an old Saxon word which signifies a case or pod in which seed
is enclosed, and means here probably a narrow bay or indenture into the
land. \v.
302 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
from the Penobscot Bay and River, where was their great
city Norumbega, the residence of their bashaba or king.
We will now follow the voyagers in their cruise up the
river to Warren : " Thursday, the thirteenth of June, at two
o'clock in the morning, (because our captain would take the
help and advantage of the tide), in the light horseman, with
our company well provided and furnished with armor, and
that both to offend and defend, we went from our ship up
to that part of the river which trended westward to the
main to search that, and we carried with us a crosse to erect
at the point," (Watson's Point, where they arrived at about
three o'clock in the morning) " which because it was not
daylight we left on the shore until our return back, we
set it up in manner as the former," (at Pentecost Harbor),
u we then rowed by estimation twenty miles," (this estima-
tion, if intended to give the distance rowed from the ship,
is over-estimated one-half; it may be, however, the estimat-
ed distance in going and returning, which would not be far
in error, allowing the boat to have ascended nearly to
Counce's ship-yard), " the goodness and beauty whereof I
cannot by relation sufficiently demonstrate. That which I
can say, in general, is this : what profit or pleasure soever
is described and truly verified in the former part of the
river, is wholly doubled in this, for the breadth and depth
are such that any ship drawing seventeen or eighteen feet of
water may have passed up as far as we went with our light
horseman, and by all our men's judgment much farther, be-
cause we left it in so good depth and breadth, which is so
much more to be estimated of greater worth by how much
farther it trendeth up into the main. From each bank of
this river are divers branching streams into the main, where-
by is offered an unspeakable profit by the conveyance of
transportation from place to place. Here we saw great
store of fish, some great leaping above the water, which we
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN leos. 303
judged to be salmon, all along is of an excellent mould of
ground, and in that space we went, we had on both sides of
the river many plane plots of meadow, some three or four
acres, some eight or nine, so as we judged in the whole, be-
tween thirty or forty acres of good grass, and where the
arms run out into the main, there likewise went a space on
both sides of clear grass," (see the mouth of Oyster River),
" but the tide not suffering us to make any longer stay
because we were to come back with the tide thought it
best to make return."
Here is a picture of George's River drawn to life, which
cannot fail to convince any unprejudiced mind, which is fa-
miliar with the river, its islands, and neighboring mountains ;
and to set this long mooted question forever at rest.
It needs no forced construction of the text, the
scenery, locations, and geography of that section are de-
scribed just as they are seen at the present day. The
highlands, the codde with its two streams diverging from it,
one " trending eastward into the mayne" the other from the
"farther part of the codde eastward" the breadth and
depth of water, the bold bhore, coves, <fec. The only state-
ments in the narrative and they are given by the narrator
merely as conjectures or estimates which conflict with the
facts as they now exist, are the given distances and the flow
of the tide. These estimates, if insisted upon as correct,
are as fatal to one theory as the other. Rosier estimates
the distance sailed up the river in the vessel at twenty-six
miles, and the distance rowed in the light horseman twenty
miles further, making forty-six miles in all. The true dis-
tance on the St. George's River would have been eighteen
miles sailed and ten miles rowed, making an over-estimate
of eighteen miles. On the Kennebec, it would have been
fourteen miles sailed and eight miles rowed, giving an error
of twenty four miles. On the Penobscot, it would have
304 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN
been fifty miles sailed and eighteen miles rowed, an error
in the estimate of forty-two miles. Consequently the nar-
rator's distances when applied to the St. George's River
are nearer correct than when applied to either of the other
two.
The historian's guess at the flow of the tide, " eighteen or
twenty feet," if correct, would oblige us to seek for the
true river somewhere in the Bay of Fundy. The flow of
the spring tides at the Kennebec is about eight feet, at the
St. George's, nine feet, and at Belfast, where Capt. Wil-
liams places the anchorage, ten feet. 1
It is, therefore, evident that Rosier's estimates of distan-
ces and the rise of the tide were erroneous. That these
early explorers should have over-estimated eighteen miles,
in sailing and rowing up the St. George's River, while their
attention must have been constantly attracted by the beauty,
grandeur, and strangeness of the forest scenes, is not to be
wondered at, when we remember that Popham, under like
circumstances, estimated that he rowed up the Kennebec
forty leagues, and back the same day. In every other par-*
ticular, Rosier's statements and description agree with St.
George's River ; is it possible, then, that doubts can still
linger in the minds of those who have supported other
yiews ?
Those writers who have revived the Kennebec theory,
discard all of Rosier's statements \vhich conflict with their
hypothesis, as intentionally obscure and hyperbolical, and
receive only those that by a forced construction can be
made to apply to Boothbay Harbor and the Kennebec Riv-
er, giving as a reason, that Rosier wrote his narrative in
that manner, on purpose to mislead subsequent voyagers,
1 American Almanac for 1832, page 29. Also as per letters received
from prominent residents.
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605. 305
while at the same time they assert that Popham's expedi-
tion was guided by this same narrative, into the Kennebec
River ! This is one of their strongest arguments in sup-
port of the theory they adopt. Now this application of a
supposed cause (although wrong in that supposition, for
Popham was induced to locate at the Kennebec, through
the report of Capt. Pring's discovery of the Kennebec Riv-
er, the year before, and information derived from the five
savages, brought from George's Islands by Weymouth, as is
evident from the " narrative of Ferdinando Gorges," printed
in the Maine Historical Collection, vol. ii., chap. 3, 5, 7)
would rather weigh against the idea of obscurity and want
of veracity in Rosier's statements.
Rosier's descriptions, when compared with the actual riv-
er he explored, will be found wonderfully correct, except in
the instance alluded to, of conjectured matters, and in re-
gard to those, I think, on careful examination, the charitable
doubts of dispassionate historical criticism will justify the
disbelief in any intentional misstatements on the part of the
narrator, for had his object been in those cases to exagger-
ate, he would have stretched the story of his ascending the
river more than eighteen miles, for such a small increase as
that, would hardly have been an object of deliberate false-
hood, but much more likely to have been an error in judg-
ment of distance. He could likewise have made his rise of
the tide less than eighteen or twenty feet, as such an extra
tide is no advantage to a navigable river. The error of
thirty minutes in the latitude is evidently unintentional,
more probably a misprint, for had it been Rosier's design
to lead others astray by giving the wrong latitude, he would
have lessened it thirty degrees, rather than thirty minutes,
or more probable still, have given no latitude at all. Like-
wise in relation to the high lands, those conspicuous land-
marks would not have been pointed out, had obscurity been
20
306 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE IN 1605.
Iris design. It will not do, because Hosier's descriptions do
not conform to the scenery and location of Boothbay Har-
bor and Kennebec River, to denounce the historian's narra-
tive as false, extravagant, and intended to deceive. If we
take Hosier's narrative as published in . the Massachusetts
Historical Collections, and compare it with the St. George's
Island and St. George's Eiver, its candor and truthfulness
will be found perfectly apparent, and not excelled in that
particular by any historian, either of that, or a later pe-
riod.
ARTICLE XIV.
WEYMOTJTH'S VOYA.QE:
EXTRACTS FROM A PAPER READ AT A MEETING OF THE SOCIETY,
AT PORTLAND, IN JUNE, 1859,
BY
DAVID CUSHMAN, OP WARREN,
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE.
MR. CUSHMAN takes the same view of the locality of Weymouth's land-
ing on the islands, and exploration of the River St. George, that is given
by Mr. Prince in the preceding article. He urges with a clear comparison
of facts, and a strong argument, his convictions that St. George's River, and
no other, was the one explored by Weymouth. We have not space to
present the whole of his paper, and it is not necessary to a full understand-
ing of the case, as he follows the same line of discussion adopted by Mr.
Prince, who was the first to suggest the locality, and whose article was read
at the January meeting of the Society.
We take pleasure in publishing the closing portion of Mr. Cushman's
able paper, in which he encounters the positions assumed, and the argu-
ments urged in favor of the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, severally by
Dr. Belknap, and by Mr. McKeen of Brunswick. He says :
WE are now prepared to examine the theories that it was
either the Kennebec or the Penobscot that Weymouth dis-
covered during his brief stay upon the coast.
Mr. McKeen says that at the first anchorage the day was
probably clear, and the White Mountains revealed them-
selves to their view. This may, and it may not, have been
so. The White Mountains, we know, are seen at sea only
in the clearest weather ; but that this day was clear, remains
to be proved. The keeper of the light-house on Monhe-
gan says, in answer to inquiries put to him by Cyrus Eaton,
Esq., that in the very clearest weather the White Hills can
310 * WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE.
be discerned from the lantern of the light-house ; but it is
his opinion that they could not be seen from a point three
miles to the north of that island, where Weymouth came to
anchor. It may be quite doubtful if, at that early age, any
of that ship's company knew of the existence of such hills.
The Camden Hills, however, may be seen from Weymouth's
position in almost any weather. To them they would ap-
pear high up in the main. But suppose they were seen.
McKeen says that Weymouth probably took his departure
for the White Hills. Let us look on the map of Lincoln
County, and the State of Maine. The White Hills are ac-
tually in a higher latitude than where Weymouth was an-
chored ; and starting from that point and sailing towards
them, if he had escaped the islands which lie off Friendship,
a few miles further run would have brought him up against
the shores of Breinen. Rosier says they went in directly
toward the main ; Mr. McKeen says he probably took his
departure for the White Mountains.
Now, if Boothbay is the Pentecost of Weymouth, as Mr.
McKeen and others maintain, instead of going in towards
the land, directly in range with the mountains, as Rosier
says they did, he must have left them as a beacon, and stood
out to sea in a south-westerly direction, and the nine miles
which the Archangel's historian says they went, must have
been extended to thirty and upwards before they would
have arrived on that spot where Cam was sent in, with one
of the boats, to find anchorage. The mate found a harbor,
on an island, amidst a cluster of islands ; and when the
ship was brought in, they named it Pentecost Harbor. I
am well acquainted with Boothbay Harbor, and it certainly
is a most beautiful one ; but then it is formed by the shores
of the mainland, and by islands lying off in the distance,
and is not a harbor lying on an island, as Weymouth's Pen-
tecost Harbor was. Besides, there is no one of the islands
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE. 311
lying around Boothbay Harbor that has a harbor in it ca-
pable of accommodating such a vessel as Weymouth was
then in. Again, the island where Weymouth found his Pen-
tecost Harbor was only one of a large cluster of islands ;
but the islands which lie off Boothbay Harbor are very few
only about five or six and these scattered to a consid-
erable distance from each other.
When Weymouth was at Pentecost Harbor, he one day
sent out his men who landed on two islands, the largest of
which was estimated to be four or five miles in compass,
and a mile wide. " This," the larger, says Mr. McKeen, " is
supposed to be Cape.Newaggan ; " but this cape is now dig-
nified as the town of Southport; is at least five miles long,
and probably fifteen miles in compass. " The lesser," says
Mr. McKeen, " with its sandy cove, and fresh water pond,
is now called Squirrel Island." I have been several times
on Squirrel Island ; recollect well its sandy beach, but not
its " sandy cove ; " and if there is a fresh water pond here
Which I never knew it is quite likely that such exists
on more than one of the numerous islands that lie at the
mouth of the St. George's River, or skirt the bosom of the
Penobscot Bay. But unfortunately for Mr. McKeen, Rosier
nowhere speaks of " sand," but oftentimes of ooze, soft
bottom.
Again ; on the morning of the thirtieth, Capt. Weymouth
started in a pinnace, and entered on a river about a mile
in width, with numerous coves, and of an oozy bottom all
the way ; and he went directly inland, toward the moun-
tains. Now, suppose that on the morning of the thirtieth,
he was in Boothbay Harbor, and started to make discover-
ies. Instead of going mland, directly " with the mountains,"
and finding his river above described, he must have started
in a westerly direction, passed up through the " Gut," a very
narrow passage between Southport and Boothbay, a dis-
312 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE.
tance of some four or five miles, and then he would find
himself at once on the waters of the broad Sheepscot Riv-
er, with its straight, bold, granite shores, and almost desti-
tute of those gallant coves, that oozy bottom, and convenient
harbors which lined the whole distance from Pentecost Har-
bor up to where they went on their first excursion. Fol-
lowing this in a northerly direction, as they naturally would
do, and not toward the mountains, a single tide, together
with the help of their oars, would bring them up to the bay
where the village of Wiscasset now stands. Going up and
returning woulc( be as much as they would be able to ac-
complish during the twenty-four hours they were absent.
But in no place, as yet, had they come to a part of the river
so narrow as to endanger them from the arrows of hostile
Indians, nor would they, if they had kept on much farther.
And where, then, would be the fresh water river into which
they at that time had entered, and of whose sweet waters
they all drank and refreshed themselves ? Where, too, is
that bend in the river spoken of, and made so much account
of, by Rosier ; and also the marsh lands, the hay growing
upon its borders, and the shores sloping gently down to the
bosom of the river; the numerous gallant coves, the grav-
ing docks, and so forth ?
At Wiscasset they would be about as far from Bath vil-
lage as when they started from Boothbay. And yet, they
were not far from the same place to which the ship was
brought a few days afterwards. And the ship came to the
place in a single tide. But was there not a nearer way in
which tl^ey might have gone to Bath village, without going
round by Wiscasset ? Yes ; there is a way ; blind in these
days of civilization, and seldom navigated, except by boats
and fishing vessels of the smaller size. Weymouth, how-
ever, knew nothing about that way ; it took future times to
discover and thread its intricate windings.
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE. 313
I was born on the banks of the Sheepscot River, and
spent the days of my boyhood there ; and I am as well ac-
quainted with all the water passages, currents, channels,
coves, bays, and inlets about those parts, as I was with my
father's cow pasture ; and I know the water passage from
Wiscasset to Bath, and from Bath down by Georgetown
and Westport, into Sheepscot River, to be a tortuous and
narrow channel much of the way with cross tides, two
Hurl Gates, bold shores in most places difficult of naviga-
tion, and quite unlike that which Rosier describes when they
entered at once upon a beautiful, straight sheet of water,
sometimes a mile, sometimes half a mile wide, with numer-
7 7
ous gallant coves, and all the time going directly in range
with the mountains. Weymouth, a skillful captain, in the
limited time he was upon the coast, never would have risked
his vessel in such a passage as that which exists between
Sheepscot River and Bath, even if he had been acquainted
with it ; nor could he have gone and returned, during that
limited time he is stated to have done so.
Mr. McKeen seems to rely very much on the Indian trail
from the Damariscotta and Sheepscot Rivers, as being the
one that Weymouth followed. But what had he to do with
Indian trails, being commander of a ship which could move
only in deep water ? It is to be remembered that the Dam-
ariscotta has no more communication with the Sheepscot
River than it has with the Medomak, and Indians can go in
their light canoes where merchant and war ships would nev-
er dare follow.
Again, when Weymouth and his men landed, they came
very near to the mountains ; though they never fully reached
them. But if Weymouth's ship ever reached Bath, and
they had traveled a hot day in June in the wilderness, at
night fall, if they could have seen the White Hills, they
would have found them many a weary day's travel to the
westward of them still.
314 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE.
Mr. McK. seems to have fallen into another error. Ro-
sier speaks of part of the river which u trended westward
into the main." But the Androscoggin is a river by itself,
and emptying into the Kennebec at Merrymeeting Bay ; and
in no place till you get up as high as Brunswick would the
boat's crew be in danger from the hostile Indian arrows.
But there is one objection fatal to this whole theory,
which I will state, and then dismiss it. Two years afterward,
Sir George Popham's colony came directly to Pentecost
Harbor they knew where to find it and they found the
cross which Weymouth had set up. " They were then," says
Strachey, " environed with many islands ; " those islands
which Weymouth had discovered, and by his description
they knew where to find them. And after they had left the
island where the cross was erected, they actually " sailed to
the westward," which brought the high land Camden
Hills which had been northerly from them, more to the
eastward, and " about midnight Capt. Gilbert caused his ship's
boat to be manned with fourteen persons and the Indian
Skidawarres (brought into England by Capt. Weymouth),
and rowed to the westward from their ship, to the river of
Pemaquid, which they found to be four leagues from the
ship, where she rode. Starting from Pentecost Harbor,
they " sailed " about eight miles " to the westward." There
the night overtaking them, and the wind failing, they came
to anchor; but at midnight twelve miles rowing in the boat
lt to the westward," brought them to Pemaquid. The dis-
tance from Monhegan to Pemaquid is twenty miles.
Will these landmarks, which are the same to-day that they
were on the thirtieth of May, 1605, apply to the Penob-
scot ? Rosier says they went up a river " toward the great
mountains, beareth in breadth a mile, sometimes three-quar-
ters, and half a mile is the narrowest, and on both sides
every half mile, very gallant coves, some able to contain a
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE. 315
hundred sail, soft ooze for anchor hold, where ships may lie
in the utmost safety." They advanced twenty-six miles, then
they came to a sudden bend in the river, to a point, and to
a narrowing of the river so that they would be in danger
of Indian arrows if any were disposed to fire upon them.
Now let us see how these landmarks will apply to the
Penobscot. A boat or vessel, for they both followed the
same track, starting from Weymouth's position and sailing
up the Penobscot, instead of passing up a river of oozy
bottom, beautifully defended from all winds, from half a
mile to a mile wide, with numerous bays and coves, and go-
ing directly toward the mountains, would steer several
points of the compass to the east of the mountains, would
pass along the rock-bound shores of St. George and South
Thomaston on the left, through islands more or less fre-
quent, and with the broad Atlantic on the right ; and when
they had ascended twenty-six miles, instead of finding them-
selves at the upper end of the broad part of the river, the
land before them, the mountains ahead, the river which had
been from half a mile to a mile wide, with numerous coves
and soft muddy bottom, all at once trending to the west,
turning a point, then running northerly, and being so nar-
row as to expose them to the arrows of hostile Indians,
they would find themselves upon the bosom of the broad
Penobscot, with no codde on the east, no mountains ahead,
no bend on the west, no verdant patch of grass coming
down to the water's edge, and entirely destitute of those
landmarks which characterized the river otf Rosier.
These two theories, then, the Sagadahoc and the Penob-
scot, must be abandoned. Capt. Williams was right in his
location of the mountains, but not of the river. The com-
pass of the ship could be relied on, but not the judgment of
the master. Hosier's twenty-six miles could not by any
possible stretching be made to reach above these mountains
316 WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE.
in Belfast Bay ; neither was the codde from which the In-
dians came any inland passage in the direction of Major
Bigaduce.
The question still returns : where do these landmarks find
an application ? Our reply is, in the St. George's River,
and in no other on the coast. Here you have the numerous
islands among which Weymouth came to anchor when he
first reached the coast ; you find your beautiful island with
Pentecost Harbor ; you have a charming river of the width
described, with its numerous gallant coves, among which are
Marshall's Cove, Maple Juice Cove, Turkey Cove, and Broad
Cove ; a soft bottom j good holding ground ; excellent har-
bors ; a river entirely secure, with four different passages
leading into it. You pass up directly toward the mountains,
twenty-six miles from the first place of anchorage, and ten
from Pentecost Harbor, to where Thomaston now stands ;
you have the codde ; Mill River to the eastward, from which
the Indians came in a canoe ; also the sudden bend to the
west, in which direction the river runs perhaps two miles ;
then a sudden turning to the north, forming the point where
Weymouth erected his cross ; a narrowing of the river so
as to endanger them from hostile Indian arrows; a beauti-
ful border of marsh lands on both sides of the river ; a
passage directly up into the fresh water above ; and a con-
tinuation of the river to Montville, a* distance of forty miles
from its mouth.
Now all this is so natural, and the t application of these
landmarks so easy, that it seems a little strange they have
not been made before ; and the only objection to it seems
to be of a twofold kind : first, a disposition of Rosier to
magnify the river he discovered ; and second, a determina-
tion in many minds to connect the voyage of Weymouth to
this country, in 1605, with the discovery of one of the largest
rivers. But not every rill is enlarged to a stream not
WEYMOUTH'S VOYAGE. 317
every hill is connected with a mountain not every sea cap-
tain is a discoverer and not every discoverer can have his
name associated with some lofty mountain or magnificent
river.
Weymouth undoubtedly looked in upon Penobscot Bay ;
but there is not the least reason for supposing that he went
up to the head of it, or knew of the mighty river that ex-
tended almost direct to the vast regions beyond. Who can
reasonably believe that he went up twenty-six, or even forty
miles, and then stopped there ? And if he had supposed
himself in a river at all, he would have at once concluded
from the depth and volume of the water, that he was at the
mouth of a river of more than one hundred and forty, rath-
er than forty miles in length.
Mr. Locke, in his history of Camden, seems to suppose
that Weymouth and his men landed at Goose River. But
if it had been so, a single hour's walk would have brought
them to the foot of the mountains, the distance being two
or three miles ; whereas, from the place where the party
landed, they traveled during the day, until they became fa-
tigued, towards the mountains, and still did not reach them ;
neither did they ever come up with them, or pass them, or
have them on the right hand or the left, as would be the
case if they went up the Penobscot River j but always in
front of them, high up into the main, as would be the case
provided the St. George's was the river they entered.
Rosier says the codde from which the Indians came, when
the ship lay at anchor up the river, was to the eastward.
This, Mr. L. seems to make synonymous with Goose River
on the western side of the Penobscot.
Again: The river which Weymouth entered was com-
pletely land-locked, so that it was safe from all winds of
an oozy bottom and excellent anchor hold. This is the case
with St. George's River j whereas, the Penobscot is but an
318 WEYMOUTfl'S VOYAGE.
arm of the sea of bold, rocky shores, and affords but
comparatively few anchoring places till you get up above
Belfast, when it narrows down to a medium width of per-
haps half a mile j and in no part of it appears to answer
to the description of the river which Hosier says Capt.
Weymouth entered.
Other points might have been considered, all tending to
the same result ; but I have pursued the subject as far as it
may be profitable, and if I have succeeded in throwing any
light upon a hitherto perplexing question, my object is
gained. The more I consider the matter, the more I am
settled in the conviction, that the voyage of Capt. Wey-
mouth to this country in 1605, resulted only in the discov-
ery of the St. George's Islands and the St. George's River ;
that he gave them the name which they have inherited since,
and that all attempts to associate his discovery with any
other places or rivers must prove a failure.
ARTICLE XV.
OF
GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR-- 1753;
AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN L. LOCKE,
OF B
INTRODUCTION.
A FEW years since, .the accompanying papers were found
among the private papers of the late John W. Shepherd, of
Belfast, who was a son of one of the early settlers of Wai-
doborough. Falling into the possession of his son, they were
placed by him at the service of Dr. A. T. Wheelock, of Bel-
fast, by whom they were translated. Being unable to pro-
cure the original documents themselves, which are now
in private hands in Wisconsin, I would here submit to
the Society the translation.
The history of the Muscongus Patent dates back to the
year 1629, at which time it was granted by the Council of
Plymouth to John Beauchamp, of London, and Thomas Lev-
erett, of Boston, (England). On the death of Beauchamp,
Leverett succeeded to the estate. In 1719, John Leverett,
who was then president of Harvard College, representing
himself as sole heir of his grandfather, according to the
English laws of primogeniture, came into possession of the
whole patent.
By an emergency arising, Leverett afterwards associated
with himself ten others, when the corporation assumed the
name of the Ten Proprietors. The same year, twenty oth-
ers entered into the partnership, which gave the company
the appellation of the Thirty Proprietors.
322 GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
After the treaty of Utrecht, a difficulty arose which threat-
ened the extinguishment of the claims of the Thirty Pro-
prietors, by which they were induced to engage the services
of Brig. Gen. Samuel Waldo, to effect an adjustment of the
case. Proceeding to England, Waldo succeeded, by untiring
application at court, in accomplishing the object of his mis-
sion. On his return, the Thirty Proprietors joined in sur-
rendering to him, for his services, one half of the patent.
In 1732, Waldo caused his portion to be set off in sever-
alty, and in the following year made extensive preparations
for settlement. The first settlement was commenced on
the St. George's River, during the year 1736, and consisted
principally of Scotch-Irish people.
During his visits in Europe, Waldo had not been inactive
in circulating proclamations holding forth to emigrants the
most inviting offers to occupy the lands of his patent. In
1740, forty German families were induced by the represent-
ations of these circulars to accept of his offers. On their
arrival they located at Broad Bay, and there laid the found-
ation of the present town of Waldoborough.
In 1753, Gen. Waldo's son, Samuel Waldo, visited Ger-
many for the purpose of furthering his father's schemes,
and to that end issued and distributed the circulars now
under consideration. The inducements herein set forth had
the effect of inducing sixty families to emigrate.
" Leaving their native homes," says Mr. Eaton, in his An-
nals of Warren, " they passed more than twenty miles by
land, embarked in small boats upon the Rhine, descended
that river to Dusseldorf, where they remained awhile for
others to arrive, and then proceeded to Amsterdam. Em-
barking on board a ship, they left that city, but touched at
Cowes. Here several of their number died. From Cowes
they sailed to Portsmouth, and thence to St. George's Riv-
er. At Pleasant Point they were transferred to a sloop,
INTRODUCTION. 323
which they filled as close as they could stand, and were car-
ried round to Broad Bay. They arrived there in September.
Some were crowded into a house ; some were disposed of
among the other settlers ; and the remainder, far the great-
est number, were put in a large shed. This shed was sixty
feet long, without chimneys, and utterly unfit for habitation ;
yet here these destitute exiles, neglected by their patron,
whose promises in this instance, either from his absence or
other cause, were wholly unfulfilled, dragged out a winter
of almost inconceivable suffering. Many froze to death ?
and many perished with hunger or diseases induced by their
privations. The old. settlers were too poorly supplied
themselves to afford much assistance to the new comers,
who were fain to work for a quart of buttermilk a day ; and
considered it quite a boon when they could gain a quart of
meal for a day's labor."
In the following spring Waldo appointed an agent, Charles
Leistner, " to dispose of emigrants and deal out the provis-
ions provided for them."
It is not here necessary to trace further the history of
these pioneers. The hardships and suffering they under-
went, and the wrongs they endured, will become matters of
record for the future historian of Waldoborough.
BELFAST, JUNE 2d, 1859.
GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
Continuation of collected advices and regulations relating
to the lately settled Massachusetts, and particularly to
Broad Bay and Germantown in New England.
[Extract from the Imperial Post newspaper, number forty-
seven, March 23, 1753.]
THE Royal British Captain Waldo, hereditary lord of
Broad Bay, Massachusetts, having arrived in Germany from
New England, and having taken up his abode in the dwelling
of Hofrath Luther, this is made known to all those who in-
tend to go to New England this spring, and are seeking
permission from their respective governments, and who fur-
ther are able to pay the passage money, to the end that they
may apply either to himself, or to these already made known
places of address, viz : Luther's type foundry, and the office
of Eichenberg's newspaper in Frankfort, Leucht and Aller-
ger's printing office in Augsburg, Mr. John Lewis Martin
(merchant) in Hiibroun, and Mr. Goethel's printing office
in Spires, (all of which are hereby made known to be reg-
ularly authorized, where, also, any other information may
be obtained), and learn what is absolutely certain in regard
to their journey, and make their contracts ; while at the
same time there is not the slightest notice to be taken of
326 GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAK.
those people who go about, sending back and forth, and un-
dertaking that for which they have no authority j although
much may be undertaken in the name of New England, and-
the people stirred up by those who have not received the
slightest commission therefor. Accordingly, all other per-
sons beside the above fully empowered houses, even if they
profess to treat in the name of Samuel Waldo, Brigadier
General in the royal army of Great Britain j or pretend to
do business for the advantage of his colony, where most of
the Germans have settled ; and if even American letters
have already passed through their hands, and they have had
some useless business transactions with men, ships, &c., not
in the appointed places ; or produce other sealed documents,
attested of little worth, which savor of the old custom j all
such persons, in so far as they have received no orders from
the aforesaid houses, will be shut out from all concern in
the matter. But at the same time, by virtue of the full
power of attorney situated at Frankfort, all and everything
will be considered as binding, which may be done by the
highly esteemed son of this gentleman, the hereditary Lord
of Broad Bay, or by the aforesaid fully empowered houses.
The promised one hundred and twenty acres, German
measure, will be measured out to each, as his own property,
and that of his heirs in the same manner as if Gen. Waldo
himself had transacted the business, and had been person-
ally present. While, then, the people are warned to apply
no where else than at the aforesaid places, and not to un-
dertake the journey at once, without special papers of
assignment and acceptance, (which every man in the neigh-
borhood must obtain and thus secure himself) and thus be
sure of his free passage j because it is intended to take
only a suitable number of those who can pay their entire
passage, or at least the half of it (as in the case of some),
and not all, as affirmed in the excitement got up here and
GFN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR. 327
there, by certain utterly unauthorized persons, in the name of
New England, about which we hear of the greatest indignation
being produced at the same time it is intended to oppose
all fraud, to treat the people justly, and to confer a heritage
on those who pay the whole passage money, on which no
unfair demands will be made, as has been the evil custom ;
but what is for their advantage will be pointed out to those
who are emigrating.
The time of departure, and, the place of gathering, with
any further information, will be made known to all.
To this it is now added that the passes already made out
for this purpose in the, name of His Britannic Majesty, by
the Duke of New Castle, Secretary of State, together with
the needed documents connected with it, also the suitable
letters of recommendation to his excellency, Onslow Bur-
rish, the Royal Minister at the honorable States Assembly
at Ratisbon, are already given out.
FRANKFORT ox THE MAINE, MARCH 23, 1753.
The substance, in brief, of the principal circumstances and
conditions respecting the settlement of foreign Protest-
ants in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New
England, especially Broad Bay.
This province lies, and extends itself in breadth along
the Atlantic Ocean, in general, east-north-east and south-
south-west, from forty-one degrees to forty-three degrees
north, and five hours west, according to the meridian of
London. Its land is made up of great districts, or divis-
ions, which belong to the government itself, or to the most
prominent settlers, or to gentlemen residing in England, to
328 GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
whom it has been transferred by the crown, as Pennsylva-
nia j therefore the economy or form of government rests
upon almost the same basis as that ; except that each of
these districts can make certain domestic arrangements
without depending on the General Assembly therefor, which
otherwise might not be accomplished.
Boston, the principal city of this Province, which has
been already built more than one hundred and fifty years,
and is occupied by a great number of English inhabitants,
in good circumstances, lies about midway between Philadel-
phia and Halifax in Nova Scotia. It is distant from this
last named Province about five hundred English miles, and
separated from it by a great bay called the Bay of Fundy.
The climate is acknowledged to be healthy, and the soil is
exceedingly fruitful, since the wood which grows there is
mostly oak, beach, ash, maple, and the like, and it yields all
manner of fruit as in Germany, but hemp and flax in greater
perfection. Also, there is much game in the woods, and
many fish in the streams, and every one is permitted to hunt
and fish.
The government of Boston, from whence is a well built
road and regulated mail to go to Pennsylvania, which lies
only sixty-five or seventy German miles from it, has lately,
in an assembly held Nov. 23d, 17-9, granted to the foreign-
ers, for a beginning in its Province, four townships, each
more than twenty thousand acres (German) in extent, where
they can settle. Since, shortly after, a ship full of Ger-
mans arrived from Philadelphia, and announced that some
hundred families would follow them, and other property
holders in the same Province followed their example, and
granted a great part of their lands on similar conditions ;
in particular his Britannic Majesty's Brigadier General Sam-
uel Waldo, on these considerations, viz :
No. 1. That those who will of their own accord, and
GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR. 329
with the permission of their government, settle in Broad
Bay, shall dwell together in certain divisions, consisting of
one hundred and twenty. In every such district there shall
be given to the church two hundred acres; to the first
preacher settling among them, two hundred ; to the school,
two hundred ; and to each of the one hundred and twenty
families, one hundred acres, equal to more than one hundred
and twenty German acres. And this land, provided they
dwell upon it seven whole years, either in person or through
a substitute, shall be guaranteed to them, their heirs and
assigns forever ; without their having to make the slightest
recompense, or pay any interest for it. Unmarried persons
of twenty-one years and upwards, who permit themselves
to be transported hither, and venture to build on their land,
shall also receive one hundred acres, and be regarded as a
family.
No. 2. All such foreigners, provided they are Protest-
ants, so soon as they arrive in New England, like all other
subjects of his Britannic Majesty, will enjoy the protection
of the laws; will be authorized, so soon as the one hundred
and twenty families are together, to send a deputy to the
General Court to represent them ; will be obliged neither
to bear arms nor carry on war ; in case war should arise,
they will be protected by the government ; and the free ex-
ercise of all Protestant religions will be granted them. On
the other hand, the government aforesaid demands nothing
further than that every one hundred and twenty families
shall call and support a learned Protestant minister within
five years, reckoning from the time of the grant.
No. 3. There shall be given to the colonists on their
arrival necessary support for from four to six months,
according as they arrive early or late in the season. But
only those will have the advantage of this who shall go
thither under the direction of the places of address afore-
said.
330 GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAK.
No. 4. And if one or two Protestant preachers, provid-
ed with good testimonials from the consistories and church
meetings, and unmarried, whose care is the salvation of
souls, should resolve to trust to Providence and the good will
of Samuel Waldo, and go forth immediately, at the beginning,
with the rest, they shall receive besides their free passage
a little supply of fifteen pounds sterling, for two years, out
of the above named capital. Also, it is hoped that their
congregations will also do something in addition. Boards
for the first church which is to be built shall also be given,
and delivered to them. It is to be further remarked that
the first families going thither, although there should be
several hundred of them, can all select their residences
either in a seaport or on navigable rivers, where they can cut
wood into cords for burning, or into timber for building
material, and convey it to the shore, where it will always
be taken of them by the ships for ready money, and carried
to Boston or other cities, and from thence whatever they
need will be brought back in return, at a reasonable rate.
By means of which the people are not only able at once to
support themselves until the land is fit for cultivation, but
also are freed from the trouble and expense of making wag-
ons, and traveling by land, to which difficulties it is well
known Pennsylvania is subjected. Also, the government
aforesaid has heard from people themselves, who have al-
ready come from Pennsylvania itself, the unjust treatment
(well known to the world without any such announcement)
which befel them upon the sea, after they had sailed from
Holland, and has already made a regulation to prevent the
like, for the future, in the voyage from Holland to Boston ;
according to which, not only the ship captains who bring
the people over, but those who accompany them, must gov-
ern their conduct by the prescribed regulations, otherwise
they will receive punishment, and be compelled to give the
GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR. 331
people satisfaction ; and also the ship itself will be taken
care of. Thus are the like mischances in various ways
prevented, and every one is made secure.
In order to avoid prolixity, this is suffered to suffice.
Any one can easily gather out of what has been said, that
it has not been the intention to persuade people to this ex-
pedition ; and those who without this had resolved upon it
of their own accord, will try their best not to suffer them-
selves to be deceived; and thus can, unhindered, carry out
their journey in the name of God, upon the next time an-
nounced to the public, with governmental passports. He
who in addition to this, wishes to inform himself more def-
7
initely with regard to any point, can apply to the houses
and places of address made known in the Imperial Mail
newspaper of March 23, 1753, or by prepaid letters.
We, Thomas Holies, Duke of Newcastle, Count
L. S. of Clare, Lord of Houghton, Baron Pelham, of
Laughton, Knight of the Royal Order of the Gar-
ter, member of his Majesty's Secret Council, and first Sec-
retary of State, &c.
To all Admirals, Captains, Officers, Governors, Mayors,
Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, Commanders, Custom House
Officers, Overseers, Inspectors, and all others whom this
pass may concern, greeting : This passport, made out in
the name of the King, goes forth to desire, and demand of
you, that you allow and permit the bearer of this pass,
Gen. Samuel Waldo, one of the principal Proprietaries in
that part of the King's lands which lies on Massachusetts
Bay, New England, together with his servants, his effects,
and whatever is needful to him, to travel free and unhin-
dered from hence to Harwich, or to any other seaport in
England, that he may there embark and pass over to Hoi-
332 GEN. WALDO'S CIRCULAR.
land. Further, also, we hereby pray and desire, that all
servants, officers, and subjects of all Princes and States,
who are allied with, and friendly to the King, will permit
the said Gen. Waldo to pursue his journey to Frankfort on
the Maine, or to any other place in Germany or in Switzer-
land, with the permission of the several Princes and States
whom this may concern, in order to collect the people of
the Protestant faith, who may wish to settle in the aforesaid
Province of Massachusetts Bay. And further, in accord-
ance with this, to permit him, the aforesaid General Samuel
Waldo, and also such persons as in the aforesaid manner
shall suffer themselves to be united with him, to travel, to-
gether with their guides and all their effects, free and un-
hindered, through Switzerland and the various countries of
Germany to Holland, in order to embark at Amsterdam, or
any other seaport of this country, to be transported to the
aforesaid Province of Massachusetts Bay. Finally, all the
King's servants who may chance to be in any territory of
the aforesaid Princes and States, are hereby besought to
support and to protect the aforesaid General Samuel Waldo
in his purpose, so that he may easily carry out his plans
aforesaid, and put them into effect.
Given at Whitehall, the second day of March, 1753,
in the twenty-sixth year of the King's reign.
ARTICLE XVI.
GOV.'POWNALL'S CERTIFICATE
OF
TAKING POSSESSION OF THE PENOBSCOT ;
WITH AN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY JOS. WILLIAMSON.
GOV. POWNALL'S CERTIFICATE OF POSSESSION,
1759.
IN 1782, after the British Parliament had declared the
American Colonies independent, the question of the east-
ern boundary of the new country became one of serious
importance. It was considered by the British ministry that
the easterly boundaries of the Province of Massachusetts
should constitute those of the United States, and this posi-
tion was taken before our commissioners in Paris. The
framers of the treaty of 1783, on the part of Great Britain,
were charged with violating their instructions, " in not in-
sisting on the River Penobscot being the boundary between
New Brunswick and the United States." It was claimed
that by construction of the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, un-
der which the whole of ancient Acadie was ceded to Great
Britain, that territory extended to the Penobscot, instead
of only to the St. Croix, and that the Province of Massa-
chusetts Bay had never rightfully exercised jurisdiction east
of the former river. John Adams, who with Dr. Franklin
and John Jay were our commissioners of negotiation, main-
tained a contrary view, in support of which he cited Gov.
Pownall's act of possession, as appears from the following
extract from his diary, vol. iii., page 304, under date of Par-
is, Nov. 10th, 1782:
" Accordingly, at eight this morning, I went and waited on the Compt
(the Count de Vergennes). He asked me how we went on with the Eng-
GOV. POWNALL'S CERTIFICATE OF POSSESSION. 336
lish. I told him we divided upon two points the Tories and Penobscot :
two ostensible points ; for it was impossible to believe that my Lord Shel-
burne or the nation cared much about such points. 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 :
" * May 23, 1759. Province of Massachusetts Bay. Penobscot, dominions
of Great Britain. Possession confirmed by Thomas Pownall, Governor.'
" This was planted on the east side of the river of 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 River St, Croix," &c.
It is evident that Gov. Pownall's expedition to Penobscot
in 1759 ; and his taking formal possession of the country
east of that river, secured to our State a large and valuable
portion of territory.
The following certificate should have accompanied Gov-
ernor Pownall's journal, published in volume fifth of the
Collections of the Society, but the original, which is in the
office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachu-
setts, was not discovered until after that volume had been
printed. J. w.
BELFAST, MAINE, JANUARY, 1859.
GOV. POWNALI/S CERTIFICATE.
MAY 23, 1759.
PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY PENOBSCOT
DOMINIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
POSSESSION CONFIRMED
BY
Tno 8 POWNALL, Gov r -
We, the underwritten, do certify that his Excellency, the
Governor, Building a Fort on Penobscot River, and Pro-
ceeding thence with an arm'd Body above the Falls did there
also Establish Possession of his Majesty's Rights in behalf
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Did there hoist the
King's Colours which were saluted by the artillery at sun-
set, and as a Monument thereof, his Excellency ordered a
Leaden Plate with the above Inscription to be buried in the
Sand on the East side the River of Penobscot, above the
Falls, this twenty-third day of May, one thousand seven
& fifty-nine.
N. B. I buried said Plate at y e Root of a Large White
Birch Tree, three large Trunks springing from y one Root.
338 GOV. POWNALL'S CERTIFICATE OF POSSESSION.
The Tree is at the Top of a very high piked hill on y e East
side y e River, about three miles above ^Marine Navigation.
' (Signed) T. POWNALL.
(Signed) JEDEDIAH PREBLE, Br. General.
" BENJ. HALLOWELL, JR., Captain of his Majes-
ty's Ship King George.
" THOM S SANDERS, Capt. of the province Sloop
Massachusetts.
" JAMES CARGILL, Capt.
" ALBX R NICHELS, Capt.
" JOHN PHILLIPS, Chaplain.
" JACOB BROWN, Lieut.
" JOHN PREBLE, Lt.
" JOSHUA WARREN, Lieut.
" WALTER M c FARLAND, Lieut.
" JOHN SMALL, Lieut.
" JOHN ROBINSON, Lieut.
ARTICLE XVII.
FRENCH NEUTKALS IN MAINE;
COPIED FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
OF THE COMMONWEALTH, BOSTON,
WITH A PRELIMINARY NOTE, BY
JOSEPH WILLIAMSON,
FRENCH NEUTRALS IN MAINE.
[One thousand qf the unfortunate inhabitants of Acadie,
whose expulsion from that country took place in 1755, be-
came a public charge to the Province of Massachusetts.
The Legislature adopted measures for their relief, and dis-
tributed them according to the respective population and
valuation of the several towns. They were placed under
the superintendence of the selectmen and overseers of the
poor, and their treatment was that of paupers, rather than
as the victims of an alleged necessary State policy. The
expense of their subsistence was reimbursed from the colo-
nial treasury. After the treaty of 1763, wherein France
renounced to Great Britain the native land of these exiles,
many of them returned to it. Through an oppressive and
unwarrantable act on the part of the British government, we
have some of the most respectable citizens of our State,
who trace their descent from the French neutrals, assigned
to the County of York by the following division.]
The Committee to make a division of the French people
in the County of York, late inhabitants of Nova Scotia, in-
to the several towns within s d County, beg leave to report
they met the 17 th of July, 1760, and made the following
division :
342 FRENCH NEUTRALS IN MAINE.
The towns of York.
Francis Denset and wife, with nine children, Mary,
John, Noon, Joseph, Peter, Ann, Francis, Dennis, and
Charles. 11
Kittery. John King and wife, with eight children,
Joseph, Margaret, Alexand r > Ann, Charles, Paul, Bet-
tey, and Sarah. 10
Berwick. Peter White and wife, and five children,
Mary, Joseph, Sebbell, Francis, and Charles. 7
Wells. John Mitchell and wife, with two children,
Mary and Gregory; with .two of Peter White's child-
ren, Margaret and Madlin. 6
Arundel. Joseph Dencur and wife, with one child. 3
Biddeford. Claud Boudrin and wife, with one child. 3
Scar hour er (Scarboro'). Joseph, John, Mary, and
Margaret, children of Claud Boudrin. 4
Falmouth. Paul Leblanc and wife, and nine chil-
dren, Mary, John, Rose, Tittium, Samuel, Margaret,
Madlin, Joseph, and Oliver, and one not returned, in all 1 1
Those six not yet sent from Nantucket. 6
61
The committee desire they may be sent to
North Yarmouth, 2
Georgetown, 2
Brunswick, 2
6
The said Committee further report that they gave orders
to the Selectmen of the several towns where the French
people were destin d to receive them accordingly,
All which is Humbly submitted.
Per order,
JOHN HILL.
FRENCH NEUTRALS IN MAINE. 343
Two of the Committee, time and travel, with expenses.
John Hill and Richard Cutt, two days each, at 65 XI 40
Expenses in s d service, 0120
1 16
For which they pray an allowance, which is humbly sub-
mitted. Per order,
JOHN HILL, i
1 The whole number of French Acadians violently seized and transported
from their quiet, humble homes, was about seven thousand. Of these about
one thousand three hurtdred arrived in Massachusetts and Maine ; others
were distributed in the other colonies as far south as Georgia. Those who
were not transported, were driven houseless into the forests. In the hurry
and confusion of shipping the people on board the vessels, it often occurred
that families were separated, a husband being carried to one colony, while
his wife and children were carried to another. No provision was made for
them on their arrival, and much suffering ensued. They were sent, in Mas-
sachusetts and Maine, to various towns, and placed under the care of the
Overseers of the Poor. Among their privations was the absence of their
priests and their usual mode of worship. They were permitted to meet
for this purpose in private houses, but they were not allowed the exercise
of public worship by Roman Catholic Priests. Under these safferings and
privations, many left the colonies as soon as they could get away. Some
went to Hispaniola, where many perished from the climate in a short time ;
others went to Canada and France, and were widely dispersed. Among the
harsh incidents attending this most cruel and oppressive measure, was the
destruction of their houses, mills, and crops, so that they could have no places
of refuge, nor inducements to remain in their own country ; and no satis-
faction was ever given them for their losses. One of the most intelligent of
the victims declared that " it was the hardest case which had happened since
our Savior was upon earth." w.
ARTICLE XVIII.
OYSTER SHELL DEPOSIT
DAMARISCOTTA.
BY
PROF. P. A. CHADBOURNE, OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE.
OYSTER SHELL DEPOSIT IN DAMARISCOTTA.
Professor Chatlbourne, of Bowdoin College, last spring, at the request of
this Society, made a visit to the celebrated deposit of oyster shells, on the
western bank of the Damariscotta JRiver. The result of his examination is
contained in the following paper. On his return from his exploration, he
sent to Agassiz at Cambridge, fragments o'f bone which he had found among
the shells, with certain views and explanations on the subject. From the
specimens exhibited, Agassiz concurred in the opinion which Prof. Chad-
bourne had expressed, although he could not from the specimens and state-
ment express any more than a mere opinion, on that part of the deposit
pointed out. Afterwards other fragments were shown to him, when he ex-
claimed, " Oh, there is no possibility of a mistake."
About twenty years ago, Dr. Charles T. Jackson, who had been appointed
to make a geological survey of the State, examined this singular deposit,
and thus describes it in his report to the government.
" The bed of oyster shells forms a cliff, which is, at its highest point,
twenty-five feet above the sea level, and it slopes down to about six feet
above high water mark, and extends one hundred and eight rods in length,
and from eighty to one hundred rods in width. The shells are dispersed in
regular layers, and are very perfectly preserved, being whitened by the ac-
tion of the weather. Various conjectures have been formed as to the origin
of this deposit ; the general belief is that they were heaped up there by the
ancient Indian tribes, who formerly frequented the spot. Their regular
stratiform position, and the perfection of the shells, appear to oppose this
theory, as also the rarity of living oysters in the neighboring waters. * * *
From our measuiement, it will appear that there are no less than forty- four
million, nine hundred and six thousand, four hundred cubic feet of shells in
this bed."
It will be seen that Prof. Chadbourne has come to the same conclusion
with i)r. Jackson ; he was accompanied in his examination by his pupil,
John M. Brown, a student of Bowdoin College. W.
OYSTER SHELL DEPOSIT.
WILLIAMS COLLEGE, MAY 18TH, 1859.
John Me Keen, Esq., .
DEAR SIR :
On the twentieth of April I visited the beds
of oyster shells at Damariscotta, according to your sugges-
tions. I did not have time to visit all the beds in that re-
gion, but I believe I examined those that are considered the
most important. I have no doubt that the shells examined
by me were deposited by men. This I infer
1st, From the position of the piles of shells.
2d, From the deposit beneath them.
3d, From the arrangement of the shells in the piles.
4th, From the frequent occurrence of charcoal mixed
with the shells, even to the bottom.
5th, From the fact that fires have evidently been built
among them, near the bottom, turning a portion of them
to lime, which is mingled with charcoal.
6th, From the mixture of other animal remains, as
common clams (mya arenaria), thick shelled clams (venus
mercenaries), fragments of birds' bones, of beavers' bones
with their teeth, and sturgeons' plates.
1st, The first thing that strikes the observer is the oc-
350 OYSTER SHELL DEPOSIT IN DAMARISCOTTA.
currence of the shells in small piles, ten or fifteen feet in
diameter, and apparently two or three feet deep. They
seem to rest upon the surface, and to have no soil upon
them except that formed by their decomposition and the
other substances that would naturally collect from fall of
leaves, decay of plants, and movement of dust from year to
year. We did not have the time to dig through any of
these. I give only the impression that I gained by examin-
ing them as they now are, and that is, that they were
deposited upon the land in its present position.
2d, Where the river has washed away the bank, we have
a fine opportunity of examining the deposit beneath the
shells, and also their line of juncture with that deposit. We
find that deposit made up of sand, gravel, and boulders
mingled a diluvial deposit like all the land in the vicinity
beyond the shells ; and the line of juncture gives the ap-
pearance of shells thrown upon dry ground. There was no
appearance of wearing, or mingling of the sand with the
shells, and in one place, where a boulder was upon the sur-
face of the sand, they seemed to rest against it in a way
that precluded, in my mind, the action of water.
3d, Wherever we found a deep section of shells so lately
made that the surface had not decomposed, the open appear-
ance of the shells was marked. They were not mingled
with fragments of bone or broken shells or with sand,
presenting, in this respect, an entirely different appearance
from the great deposit of oyster shells by water at the
mouth of the St. Mary's River, Georgia, which I had an op-
portunity of carefully observing two years ago.
4th, In these places, in deep sections, we found fragments
of charcoal mingled with the shells under conditions that
showed conclusively that it could have been deposited there
only as the shells were deposited. The coal left with you
was taken out in a deep section very near the bottom. So
OYSTER SHELL DEPOSIT IN DAMARISCOTTA. 351
common did we find the coal that I feel confident it can be
found there by any careful observer.
5th, In one section a dark line was seen near the bottom
of the deposit. Perhaps a foot from the bottom, along
that dark line, fragments of charcoal were found, and the
shells for a few inches underneath were decomposed, as
though they had been acted upon by fire ; and in this same
place were found most of the fragments of bones left in
your possession. I have no doubt a fire was built upon the
shells when the bed was about one foot in thickness.
6th, The fragments of bones left in your possession are
to be submitted to any person desirous of examining them.
I consider the jaw and* teeth of the rodent animal to be
those of a beaver. There is ^certainly one fragment of a
bird bone. And I would call especial attention to the man-
ner in which these bones are broken, as though done with
some instrument. I can think of no other means by which
they could be broken into such fragments.
The large mass of shells might be used as an argument
in favor of deposition by water, but if careful examination
proves that they were deposited by men, then the great
mass only proves the great number of men or the great
length of time during which these shells were accumulating.
No man can, pronounce an intelligent opinion upon them
without an examination. From what I had heard I expect-
ed to find that they were deposited by water. There may
be beds of shells in that region deposited in this way, but
I am fully convinced that those examined by me were de-
posited by men. I would write more at length, but I am
very much pressed by my duties. Some future day I should
be glad to explore those beds more fully.
Very truly yours,
P. A. CHADBOURNE.
ARTICLE XIX.
PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY
FOR THE YEAR 1859;
OBITUARY NOTICES OF DECEASED MEMBERS.
BY
WM. WILLIS.
23
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY.
THE usual meeting of the Society was held at Augusta,
January 19, 1859. Two corresponding members were chos-
en, viz : Josiah Pierce, Jr., Esq., now resident in St. Pe-
tersburg, Russia, and Dr. Usher Parsons, of Providence, R.
I. ; and ten resident members to fill vacancies, whose names
appear in the list of members at the commencement of this
volume.
A communication was received from Dr. Usher Parsons,
making a donation to the Society of interesting manuscripts
and bound volumes j the thanks of the Society were voted
to him for the valuable present.
Joseph Williamson, Esq., of Belfast, communicated sev-
eral papers, one relating to the French Neutrals distributed
in Maine in 1763, another, a translation of Gen. Waldo's
proclamation, both of which appear in this volume ; also his
attempts to procure in England the " Relation of the Ser-
vices of Capt. Henry Mowatt, R. N., in America from 1759
to the Close of the American War," without success. Also
a most interesting paper, showing the movements, toward
the close of the War of the Revolution, 1780, toward es-
tablishing a colony of Loyalists, to be called New Ireland,
in that part of Maine which lies east of the Penobscot Riv-
er. He is investigating this subject further, to prepare an
article for the Society's collections.
356 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
The death of Prof. Cleaveland having been announced,
who had for many years been Corresponding Secretary, a
series of resolutions was submitted by the President, and
adopted by the Society, providing for a eulogy by President
Woods of Bowdoin College, &c., which appear, with the
eulogy, in this volume.
The Hon. James W. Bradbury was then elected Corres-
ponding Secretary to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
death of Prof. Cleaveland.
In the afternoon a public meeting was held at the court
house, at which a paper was read by Judge Pierce, of Gor-
ham, on the life and services of Major Archelaus Lewis, of
the Revolutionary army, in which he exhibited his original
order book and portions of his journal.
Professor Packard read a memoir of the Rev. John Mur-
ray, of Boothbay and Nesvburyport, prepared by the Rev.
Mr. Yermilye, a successor of Mr. Murray at Newburyport.
The thanks of the Society were voted to Mr. Vermilye for
his interesting paper, and it is published in this volume.
The President produced some original letters of Lafay-
ette, Talleyrand, Thomas Paine, Mary Wolstoncroft, Helen
Maria Williams, and other celebrities, addressed to Joel
Barlow and members of his family. He also read biograph-
ical sketches of members who had died within the year, viz :
the Hon. Joseph Dane, the Hon. Nathaniel Groton, and Sol-
omon Thayer, Esq., which are contained in this volume.
He alluded to the deaths, within a recent period, of other
members of the Society, viz : Ebenezer Clapp, of Bath, Jan.
28, 1856, aged seventy-seven; Zina Hyde, of Bath, 1856;
Gov. Parris, Feb. 11, 1857. aged sixty-nine; Moses Quimby,
March 7, 1857, aged seventy-one ; Dr. Theodore Ingalls,
June 9, 1857, aged sixty-seven; Judge William P. Preble,
Oct. 11, 1857, aged seventy-four ; Benjamin Randall, of Bath,
Oct. 14, 1857, aged sixty-nine; Prof. Cleaveland, Oct. 15,
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 357
1858, aged seventy-nine; Rev. Dr. Nichols, Jan. 2, 1859,
aged seventy-four.
The Rev. Mr. Ballard, of Brunswick, was called upon, and
read a valuable paper on the Abnaki Indians and their lan-
guage ; the Rev. Dr. Sheldon, of Bath, read an article pre-
pared by Mr. George Prince, of Bath, to prove that the
islands and river visited and explored by Capt. George
Wey mouth, in 1605, were those which now bear the name
of George's or St. George. This paper may be found in
the present volume.
In the evening, President Woods pronounced an eulogy
upon the lamented Prof. Cleaveland, to a very large and
deeply interested aucfience, which is in this volume, and can-
not be perused without emotion, by the numerous friends,
admirers, and pupils of that venerable and honored man.
The Rev. Mr. Ballard then read an able article on the Ab-
naki tribes of Indians, their language, customs, <fcc., prepared
by the Rev. Eugene Yetromile, of the Society of Jesus, for-
merly Patriarch among those tribes, and now Professor in
the College of the Holy Cross, at Worcester.
This protracted and very interesting meeting closed by a
paper from the President, reviewing the volume recently
printed by the Hon. George Folsom, of New York, con-
taining minutes, abstracts, and copies of documents relating
to Maine, found in the English state offices. These docu-
ments were procured and printed wholly at the expense of
Mr. Folsom, and are a valuable contribution to our histori.
cal knowledge.
The next meeting of the Society was held at Portland
on the twenty-ninth of June. The President, Mr. Willis ,
opened the meeting by the following statement concerning
358 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
the Society, and a notice of the death of the venerable Ste-
phen Thatcher, a member, which took place since the pre-
ceding meeting:
" Our Society was incorporated Feb. 5, 1822 ; the number
of corporate members was forty- nine, of whom, after a pe-
riod of thirty-seven years, twelve are now living, viz : Rev.
William Allen, late President of Bowdoin College, Judge
Ashur Ware, Dr. Isaac Lincoln of Brunswick, Robert H.
Gardiner of Gardiner, the venerable John Merrick, now
over ninety years old, Judge Peleg Sprague, now of Boston,
Rev. Benjamin Tappan, and Reuel Williams, of Augusta,
Samuel B. Smith, of Wiscasset, formerly Governor of the
State, Rev. Jonathan Coggswell, formerly of Saco, now Pro-
fessor in the University of New York, Chief Justice Ether
Shepley, and Jacob McGaw of Bangor.
" The whole number of resident members now, is seventy-
nine ; the number limited by the rules is eighty, the existing
vacancy having been occasioned by the death of Stephen
Thatcher, of Lubec ; who died at Rockland, Feb. 19, 1859,
in the eighty-sixth year of his age. Mr. Thatcher was fifth
in descent from the Rev. Peter Thatcher, minister in Salis-
bury, England, whose son Thomas, the ancestor of the nu-
merous family of that name, came with his Uncle Anthony
to this country in 1635, at the age of fifteen; and was set-
tled in the ministry at Weymouth in 1644.
'* Our deceased member was born in Lebanon, Conn., the
son of Rodolphus, graduated at Yale College in 1795, and
was educated for the ministry ; but his health failing, he
never took charge of a parish. His early life was occupied
in keeping school and occasional preaching, part of the time
at Beverly, Mass., where he formed the acquaintance of the
Rev. Mr. McKeen, the first President of Bowdoin College,
whose sons enjoyed the benefit of his instructions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOB 1859. 359
" In 1803, he came to Kennebunk, in Maine; engaged in
trade there, became a politician, and an earnest and able
writer in support of Mr. Jefferson and the principles of the
Democratic party. In 1807, he was appointed Judge of
Probate for York County, by Gov. Sullivan ; in 1810 he
was appointed Post Master of Kennebunk by Mr. Madison ;
and in 1818, President Monroe transferred him to the lu-
crative office of Collector of the Passamaquoddy District,
an office which he faithfully filled for twelve years, by suc-
cessive appointments.
" In 1804, he married Harriet Preble, of York, a sister of
the Hon. Judge Preble, a lady of superior education and'
fine qualities, with wliom he lived forty-five years. His son
Peter, a surname distinguished in the annals of the family,
is a lawyer in Rockland, and a member of our Society.
" Mr. Thatcher kept up his fondness for study, and espe-
cially of the classics, to his last days. It is said that the
midnight hour often found him engaged with his pen or his
booKs. Such examples should stimulate the young to a high-
er and more thorough intellectual cultivation, and a more
ardent pursuit of learning. The road to knowledge cannot
now be said to be obstructed by difficulties ; it is smoothed
and leveled and graded, and made almost royal, for the fre-
quent and busy feet, we had almost said, of the loiterers
therein. So smooth indeed, that what it has gained in fa-
cility, it may have lost in discipline.
" Of the associate surviving members, four were elected in
1822, the year the Society was organized, viz: Frederic
Allen, of Gardiner, Ebenezer Everett and Joseph McKeen,
of Brunswick, and Chief Justice Weston, of Augusta. Six-
teen members chosen in 1828, survive ; the remainder, forty-
nine associates, were elected in 1840 and after.
" The Society is in a flourishing condition, and pursuing a
course of honorable and useful activity. Its five published
360 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
volumes have given it an established reputation, which will
be increased by the sixth, immediately going to the press."
The Rev. Mr. Ballard, of Brunswick, being then intro-
duced, read a very interesting history of the Episcopal
Church in Maine, which is published in the present volume.
The next paper, also contained in this volume, was a mem-
oir of Dr. Benjamin Vaughan, of Hallowell, one of the cor-
porate members of the Society, and eminent in public and
private life, prepared and read by the Hon. Robert H. Gar-
diner, of Gardiner.
The Rev. David Cushman then read a paper containing a
very thorough, minute, and able discussion of the disputed
locality of Capt. George Weymouth's voyage ; in which he
fully sustained the position taken by Mr. Prince, of Bath,
in the paper read at the January meeting in Augusta. It
also ably combats the theories of the advocates of Kenne-
bec and Penobscot Rivers, as the scene of Weymouth's
explorations. This portion of the essay will be found in
preceding pages.
Mr. John L. Locke, of Camden, gave an account of Gen.
Waldo's proclamation in Germany, in 1753, for settlers and
emigrants to his patent, a copy of which he had translated,
and presented to the Society : his remarks and the procla-
mation are contained in this volume. Prof. Packard read
an exceedingly interesting original letter from Albert Gal-
latin, addressed in 1798 to Lewis F. Delesdernier, procured
for the Society by the Hon. Stephen Thatcher, which has
never before been published, and which will be perused with
pleasure and instruction in the foregoing pages.
The President then read an article in which he fully dis-
cussed the question of the conflicting claims of the French
and English to Acadia, and the adjacent countries, giving an
account of the first discovery and earliest voyages to this
part of the continent.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 361
A communication was transmitted by Prof. Chadbourne,
on the celebrated deposit of oyster shells at Damariscotta,
which he had visited in the preceding part of the summer,
accompanied by various specimens taken from the locality,
to illustrate his views. In the absence of Prof. Chadbourne
in Europe, the paper was read by Prof. Packard, and the
specimens exhibited and explained by John M. Brown, an
undergraduate of Bowdoin College, who accompanied Prof.
Chadbourne in the survey.
The Hon. Phinehas Barnes presented a proposal of the
" Portland Natural History Society," to furnish apartments
in the building which they are reconstructing for their own
uses, for the Historical Society, to be arranged and fitted
up by the Society upon such plan as they may deem expedi-
ent. The subject, after an animated discussion, in which
Mr. Barnes, Mr. Bradbury, Mr. Gardiner, Judge Shepley,
Mr. Evans, Mr. Bourne, Prof. Smyth, and others took part,
was committed for consideration, and the reception of oth-
er proposals ; the committee to report at tl^e next annual
meeting.
A committee was also chosen to revise the by-laws and
report at the next meeting.
The afternoon meeting was adjourned to the evening, and
a social levee of the members was held at the mansion of
the President.
In the evening, John A. Poor, Esq., read a paper on " Eng-
lish Colonization in America," in which he claimed for Sir
Ferdinando G-orges and his associates the honor of Eng-
lish colonization on this continent, and disputed the claims
advanced by Massachusetts historians in behalf of the Pil-
grims and the Puritans.
Rev. Rufus K. Sewall then read an interesting paper on
the historical remains at Sheepscot and Sagadahoc.
Mr. Poor presented a communication from Dr. James
362 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
Robb, Professor of King's College, New Brunswick, contain-
ing a translation of the memoir of M. Cadillac to the French
government, in 1692, on Acadia and New England, from the
archives of Paris, and translated by him. The thanks of
the Society were voted to Prof. Robb, to Mr. Sewall, and to
Mr. Poor, for their valuable papers.
Rev. Mr. Ballard made an interesting communication from
Father Vetromile, former Indian Patriarch to the Abnakis,
and spoke of an extensive vocabulary of their language
which he is preparing, which he wished to have published
under the sanction of the Historical Society. The thanks
of the Society were voted to Prof. Yetromile for his able
communications.
M. Vetromile and Dr. Robb were nominated as corres-
ponding members.
The Society adjourned late in the evening, after three in-
teresting and instructive sessions.
The annual meeting was held at Brunswick, Aug. 4th, the
President in the chair.
The committee on a revision of the by-laws made a re-
port embodying a new code of regulations, which, after long
discussion and amendments, was adopted, and is published
in the present volume.
Officers of the Society, under the new bylaws, were
chosen, and their names appear at the commencement of the
volume.
The following persons were elected corresponding mem-
bers : Rev. Eugene Vetromile, Professor in the College of
the Holy Cross, at Worcester j James Robb, M. D., Pro-
fessor of Chemistry, &c., in King's College, N. B. ; Rev. A.
G. Vermilye, of Newburyport j Count Julius de Menou, of
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOE 1859. 363
Pari?, a descendant of Charles de Menou, Lord D'Aulnay, a
distinguished officer, and appointed perpetual Governor of
Acadia, " the country he had so well defended," by Louis
XIV., in 1647.
The Treasurer's Report exhibited a fund safely invested
of $7,509.40, after paying $297, advanced towards the pay-
ment of the sixth volume of collections, now in course of
publication.
Mr. Ballard presented the original journal of a soldier in
Gov. Pownall's expedition to the Penobscot in 1759, for
which the thanks of the Society were voted to him.
At eleven o'clock, .the Society proceeded to the church,
and listened to a profound and interesting discourse on
the method and laws of history, from the Rev. Dr. Hedge,
of Brookline, Mass. We cannot do justice to this very
learned production in a brief paragraph j the student of his-
tory will probably soon be gratified by its publication ; it
was rich in thought and language, and ample in illustration.
His introduction was eloquent and appropriate to the occa-
sion, the college, the State, and the Historical Society.
This was a fitting and beautiful close of the annual transac-
tions of the Society ; and no year of its history has been
better furnished with learned, able, and interesting commu-
nications than the present. Its progress has been essen-
tially advanced, its character elevated, and its usefulness
extended ; and although its years are few, its maturity is
well nourished and strong ; its space is filled by deeds, not
lingering years. In the sweet language of Ovid,
u Actis aevum implet, non segnibus annis."
364 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
The following obituary notices, prepared by the President
of the Society, were read at the meeting at Augusta.
JOSEPH DANE.
The Hon. Joseph Dane died at Kennebunk, May 1, 1858,
aged seventy-nine. He descended from John Dane, who
emigrated from England, and settled in Ipswich, Mass.,
about 1648. His parents were John and Jemima (Fellows)
Dane, of Beverly, where he was born October 25, 1778.
They were natives of Ipswich, and died, the father in 1829,
in his eightieth year, the mother in 1827, aged seventy-six.
Mr. Dane was fitted for college at the academy in Ando-
ver, and graduated at Harvard College in 1799, with the
second honors of his class. His class contained such men
as Parker Cleaveland, Willard Hall, Samuel D. Parker, of
Boston, William H. Sumner, John Wilson of Belfast, and
Dr. Rufus Wyman. On leaving college, he entered the of-
fice of his uncle, the honorable and distinguished Nathan
Dane, of Beverly, as a student at law, and was admitted to
practice in Essex County, in June, 1802. The large prac-
tice and great learning of his uncle, and the association with
the eminent men then coming upon the stage, Prescott,
Jackson, Putnam, Story, all at the Essex Bar, could not but
have animated the aspiring student with high and honorable
motives of action, and an ardent desire to become distin-
guished in his profession.
Immediately after his admission, he opened an office at
Kennebunk, then a part of Wells, and soon became promi-
nent as a sound lawyer, an able advocate, and an upright
man. There were then in practice in that county, Prentiss
Mellen, Cyrus King, Dudley Hubbard, Benjamin Greene, Jo-
seph Thomas, John Holmes, and George W. Wallingford,
t all men of nate -at he bar and in public service, and who
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 365
have long preceded him in the crowded funereal procession
to the tomb. He continued in practice until 1837, having
maintained for more than a third of a century, a character
of spotless integrity, and of great honor and ability in his
profession ; and during the latter portion of the time, was
a leader at that bar.
Although his modesty and reserve caused him to shrink
from public employments, he was induced by the earnest ap-
plication of his fellow citizens, occasionally to take office.
In 1816, he was a member of the abortive convention at
Brunswick, on the subject of the separation of Maine from
Massachusetts j and in 1819, of the convention which formed
the constitution of tlie State, and was one of the very able
committee appointed to draft that instrument. In 1818, he
was chosen one of the two members of the Executive Coun-
cil of Massachusetts, then allowed to Maine, but he declined
accepting the office. In 1820, he was chosen a member of
the sixteenth Congress for the unexpired term of Mr.
Holmes, who had been raised to the Senate ; he was re-
elected to the seventeenth Congress, and having served out
his term, he declined being again a candidate. He served
his town as a representative in the Legislature of the State,
in the years 1824, 1825, 1832, 1833, 1839, and 1840, and the
county in the Senate, in 1829. At the close of the session
of 1840, he retired from public life altogether, having de-
clined the appointment of commissioner to revise the pub-
lic Statutes, and the office of Executive Councillor, both of
which were honorably tendered to him. He preferred the
enjoyments of private life, and the repose of his own ex-
cellent family, to the bustle and excitement of political life.
He was thoroughly and essentially conservative in all his
views, and he had a great abhorrence to a demagogue and
an intriguing partisan, in whatever guise they might appear.
He was a valued member of the old Federal party while it
366 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
existed, but in the latter part of his life he took but little
interest in politics. In every public office, and in every act
of private life, his conduct was characterized by a firm, un-
deviating sense of right, and a conscientious determination
neither to do, nor to submit to what was unjust or wrong.
No man or statesman's record is clearer than that of Mr.
Dane, among all our public men or fellow citizens, through
the more than half a century that he dwelt in our com-
rnunity.
In October, 1808, he married Mary, a daughter of the
Hon. Jonas Clark, of Kennebunk. Mr. Clark was a son of
the Rev. Jonas Clark, of Lexington, Mass., and his wife was
Sarah, a daughter of Dr. Edward Watts, a prominent phy-
sician of Portland before the Revolution, and a son of
Judge Samuel Watts, of Boston. Mrs. Dane was a lady of
great excellence of character, and still survives. They had
two sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Joseph, suc-
ceeded to his business, and in 1856 served as one of the
Bank Commissioners. His second son, Nathan, is a farmer
in Alfred, and represented his county in the Senate of the
State in the years 1857 and 1858. From a stock so sound
and healthful, we should be justified in expecting no other
than excellent fruit.
He bore his last sickness, which was attended with con-
siderable suffering, with cheerfulness and patience ; and sur-
rendered his parting breath with Christian resignation and
trust. The death of such a man, although full of years,
was felt as a public loss ; and the community in which he
lived, mourned with unfeigned sorrow the departure of a
wise counsellor, a true friend, and an honest man. His
death preceded that of his classmate, Prof. Cleaveland, just
five months and a half, and but six, from a class of forty-
four, now remain alive. Ebenezer Clapp and the Rev. Wil-
liam Frothingham, beside those before mentioned, John
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 367
Wilson and Prof. Cleaveland, adopted our State at an early
period of their lives as their place of residence, and all
died among us, after enriching our community with the fruits
of their wise and varied experience. The law, theology,
and science are their debtors for large contributions made
by them in the early period of our Commonwealth, to the
departments they ably represented. In our zeal for the
new, and the present, and the pressing, let us not forget
those wise pioneers and vigorous men, who strengthened
the foundations of our young society, and defended its bat-
tlements through the struggles of our earlier and weaker
day.
We turn now to an associate of a different type, who
leaned rather to the progressive and democratic elements
than to the conservative.
THE HON. NATHANIEL GROTON.
Nathaniel Groton died at Bath, October 25, 1858. He
was born in Waldoborough, May 9, 1791, and was, conse-
quently, a few months over sixty-seven years of age. He
was a son of William and Mary (Sprague) Groton, who
were both natives of Massachusetts, the father born in Ips-
wich, March 30, 1768, the mother in Marshfield, September,
1772. She was a descendant of Peregrine White, the first
white person born in New England, and who died in Marsh-
field in 1704. She was also connected with the large and
respectable family of the Spragues, of the old colony, one
of whom, Judge Sprague of Boston, was formerly our fel-
low citizen. They both moved when quite young, with their
parents, to Waldoborough, and with them, contributed to
promote the growth and prosperity of that flourishing town.
The fathers epitaph reads that "he exemplified through his
368 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
long life, a character distinguished for industry, frugality,
and benevolence. >r He died in 1845, and his widow in 1849,
* 7
at the age, respectively, of seventy-seven. They were both,
too, of English descent ; she through the Plymouth Pilgrims,
and he irom one of the colonists of Massachusetts. His
ancestor of the same name, with a brother Nathaniel, were
the first of the family who immigrated to New England. Na-
thaniel was an early settler at Groton, William, of Ipswich.
William, the grandfather of the subject of our notice, served
under Wolfe at Quebec, and in the war of the Revolution
was sometime a prisoner in one of the loathsome prison
ships at New York.
The parents of Judge Groton had six children, four sons
and two daughters, none of whom are living but his brother
Joseph, at Waldoborough. The only daughter who sur-
vived infancy, married Denny McCobb, and with her hus-
band, has long been dead.
When Mr. Groton was about fourteen years old, he was
possessed with the passion for a sailor's life, which often
seizes upon boys who are brought up on the margin of the
sea. The beautiful sight of a ship gliding smoothly from
the harbor, a brilliant sun above, a quiet sea beneath, and
with a full and flowing sheet, kindles an irrepressible desire
to partake the gale, and join in a scene so magnificent and
exciting. They do not then foresee the coming tempests,
nor the wrecks which strew so many strands. Our young
sailor's experience was of this character; the vessel in
which he sailed was cast away and lost, but he was fortu-
nately rescued and carried to Dublin, whence, after an ab
sence of two years, he found his way home, a wiser boy
than when he first strutted on the quarter deck. He had
found that the seas were not forever bright, nor the skies
forever fair, and he was quite willing to seek a different pro-
fession.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 369
He now earnestly prepared for college, pursuing his pre-
liminary studies at Hebron Academy. He graduated at
Bowdoin College in 1814, having among his classmates, the
Rev. John A. Douglass, Charles Dummer, Judge Stephen
Emery, and John Eveleth, all of whom survive him. l He
commenced the study of law with Col. Isaac G. Reed of
Waldoborough, and finished it with the distinguished advo-
cate and politician, Benjamin Ames of Bath.
He opened an office in Bath, where he continued to reside
in the practice of his profession to the year preceding his
death, when he removed to Portland to be near his only
daughter, who was married to the Hon. F. 0. J. Smith, of
Westbrook.
Judge Groton was elected a Senator from Lincoln Coun-
ty to the Legislature in the years 1832 and 1834. In the
latter year he was appointed Judge of Probate for Lincoln
County, which office he held by successive Executive ap-
pointments fourteen years. He also held, at various times,
responsible municipal offices in his adopted town.
Amidst the duties of his public stations, and the cares of
his profession, he found time for general reading, and for
the pursuit of his favorite studies into the remote regions
of history, and the antiquities of our country. In these he
made great proficiency, a'nd his zeal and relish increased
with the pursuit, " cresdt eundo." He gave the public the
benefit of his acquisitions in frequent articles in the news-
papers. He took exceeding interest in the German colony
settled at Waldoborough, and especially in. one of its lead-
ing members, Conrad Heyer, who died at a great age a few
years ago. The result of this labor appeared within two
or three years in numerous contributions to the Bath pa-
pers. He also published in the same papers, a series of
articles on the history of the churches in Bath, in which he
i Mr. Eveleth died in September, 1859.
2*
370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
piled up a great mass of curious facts and singular specula-
tions. All these communications were characterized by the
peculiarity of Mr. Groton's mind, which was filled to over-
flowing with facts stored up by a tenacious memory, from
varied and desultory reading, but lacking altogether a power
of combination and arrangement. He was ardent and im-
pulsive, and poured out his copious materials with a rapid
hand, without waiting to set them in special order ; and
was constantly starting into side issues and collateral in-
quiries and anecdotes, as new ideas and facts flashed upon
his imagination.
There also appeared from his pen, in the second volume
of our collections, a brief notice of Pemaquid, and in the
fifth volume, an account of the Eev. Mr. Starman, an old
and worthy German clergyman in Waldoborough, now de-
ceased. He is said, also, to have been preparing, at the
time of his death, a history of his native town. This, we
hope, may be in sufficient forwardness to be published. He
had studied well, and was more familiar than any one we
know with the annals of the whole region of the country
lying between the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, border-
ing on the sea, embracing the old county of Lincoln. He
had often visited those interesting spots, and made himself
acquainted with their early history and traditions.
In October, 1826, Mr. Groton married, at Epping, N. H.,
Miss Elizabeth W. Kitteredge, daughter of the late Dr.
George G. Kitteredge, a distinguished and successful physi-
cian of that town. By her he had two children : a son,
George, who died at the age of three years, and Ellen E.
K., the wife of Mr. Smith, of Westbrook. The mother and
daughter survive.
Judge Groton was taken suddenly away, by what is sup-
posed to have been a disease of the heart. He fell to the
ground, in a remote place in Bath, and " made no sign." He
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 371
was seen to fall by a person with whom he had been con-
versing a few minutes before, but when he reached him, life
was extinct. The disease had given him admonitory warn-
ings some months previous, but its fatal termination was not
so soon anticipated.
Judge Groton had a kind and genial nature ; his temper-
ament was ardent, but free from asperity and harshness. He
was social and communicative, and his intercourse with his
family, and in society, was marked by benevolence, truthful-
ness, and honor. If he had an enemy, it lurked within him-
self, and was the result of a complying and facile disposition
and a too easy and impulsive nature. Let the good he has
done live after him, but the evil, if he did any, be interred
with his bones.
SOLOMON THAYER.
Another of our deceased members is Solomon Thayer,
who died in Portland, Dec. 22, 1857, aged sixty-eight. Mr.
Thayer was born in Bridgewater, Mass., Sept. 4th, 1789,
and was the son of Jeremiah and Catherine (Pratt) Thayer,
both natives of the old colony. In 1800, his parents moved
to Sidney, in this State. They had several children, among
the younger of whom was the subject of this notice, whose
early life was occupied in the trade of his father, which was
that of a blacksmith. But being desirous of obtaining an
education, he engaged in school keeping to enable him to
pay his expenses at Hebron Academy, which was then in
high repute under the instruction of Wm. Barrows and Bez-
alcel Cushman. Here he prepared for college, and entered
Bowdoin one year in advance. He graduated in 1815, in a
class of eight, which included Gov. Dunlap, George Evans,
Chandler Bobbins, and Rev. John A. Vaughan. We are
told that, as a scholar, Mr. Thayer had no superior in his
372 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
class. After graduating, he entered the office of the late
Benjamin Orr, where he diligently pursued his studies, and
took charge of his office business while he was in attend-
ance upon Congress. On being admitted to the bar in
1818, he moved to Lubec, then an infant settlement, and
established himself in the practice of the law.
By a course of industry, fidelity to his clients, and a
sound, legal mind, he gained the confidence of the commu-
nity, and acquired a handsome property, the accumulation
of which was aided by a profitable office in the Custom
House, which he held for a number of years, that of Inspect-
or of Customs in the Passamaquoddy District.
He represented Lubec in the Legislature of 1844, and
served with great acceptance on the Valuation Committee,
in the years 1830 and 1845. He continued at that place,
faithful to his honorable profession and to his own high
aims, for more than a third of a century, enjoying the re-
spect and confidence of the people among whom he lived,
and of the bar of which he was a respected member.
Having acquired a competency, he retired from the prac-
tice, and wishing to enjoy more ample advantages of society
than Lubec afforded, he moved to Portland in 1852, and
continued to reside there until his death. While in Port-
land, he held for a while the office of Treasurer of the
York and Cumberland Railroad Company.
In 1821, he married Lydia Eliza Faxon, daughter of Dr.
John Faxon, then of Lubec, also a native of the old colony.
They had no children ; she continues to reside in Portland.
Mr. Thayer's final sickness was a pulmonary consumption,
which had been long undermining his constitution, and of
whose fatal result he had not been unconscious. He was a
man of stern Puritan principles and a high religious tone of
character ; but at the same time, kind and amiable, and of
a ready sympathy for all worthy objects of charity. He
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859. 373
met his death calmly, and as one whose faith and life had
given him assurance that he was passing on to a higher and
more perfect existence.
Beside those deceased members of whom we have thus
given brief biographical sketches, there died in 1857, five
other members, viz: Dr. Theodore Ingalls, June 9,1857,
sixty-seven; Gov. Parria, Feb. 11, 1857, sixty-nine; and the
Hon. William P. Preble, Oct. 11, 1857, seventy-four, all of
Portland ; Moses Quimby, Esq., of Westbrook, May 7, 1857,
seventy-one ; and the Hon. Benjamin Randall, of Bath, Oct.
14, 1857, sixty-nine. These all were natives of Maine,
while those we have 'before noticed were emigrants from
Massachusetts, except Judge Groton.
Of these respected associates, Gov. Parris received an
extended notice just after his death, in the address of the
President at the meeting at Augusta in 1857, which was
published in the fifth volume of our collections.
DR. NICHOLS.
Since the above paper was prepared, we have been called
to part with another honored and valued member of our
Society, the Rev. Ichabod Nichols, late of Portland. He
was an original member of the Society, was Corresponding
Secretary from 1823 to 1827, and President from that time
to 1833. Dr. Nichols was born in Portsmouth, N. H., July
5, 1784, the son of Capt. Ichabod Nichols, who soon after
the birth of this son, moved to Salem, Mass. Mr. Nichols
graduated at Harvard College, in 1802, at the age of eight-
een, with the first honors of a class of sixty, the most dis-
tinguished of any which had before left those venerable
walls. In 1805 he was appointed tutor of Mathematics in
the College, as successor to our late beloved associate, Prof.
374 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR 1859.
Cleaveland, and held that office until his acceptance of the
invitation of the First Parish in Portland, to become their
pastor, over which he was ordained June 7, 1809. There
he faithfully and acceptably discharged the duties of the
pastorate untilJanuary, 1855, when he was relieved from its
labors by the settlement of a colleague, the Rev. Horatio
Stebbins. The high character of Dr. Nichols for learning,
for purity, and for eloquence, needs no laudation from me.
It will long live in the memory of all who had the pleasure
of his acquaintance, and of his contemporaries ; and will be
perpetuated in a learned work on the old and new dispen-
sations of religion, which was the final labor and rounding
off of his graceful and finished life, and which will soon be
given to the public.
The details of his life and some estimate of his character
were given to this Society, in the President's address in
1857, which forms a part of the fifth volume of its transac-
tions. Dr. Nichols was elected a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was at one time its
Vice President. He was, also, until recently, Yice President
of Bowdoin College, from which, in 1821, he received the
honorary degree of D. D. He also received the same honor
from Cambridge in 1831.
We cannot now dwell longer on the services, virtues, and
attainments of this great and venerated man. They were all
devoted to the cause of his Divine Master, to whom he has
gone to render an account of his stewardship. He depart-
ed this life at Cambridge, Mass., January second of the
present year (1859), and was buried from the meeting-house
of the parish where the best efforts of his protracted life
were bestowed, with the respect and reverence which befit-
ted the solemn occasion.
ARTICLE XX.
.A. N . ETJLO a Y
ON
PAEKER CLEAVELAND, LL. D.,
t
A. A. ET S. P. A. S. ;
PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, MINERALOGY, AND NATURAL PHILOS-
OPHY, AT BOWDOIN COLLEGE; AND CORRESPONDING SEC-
RETARY OF THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BY
LEONARD WOODS, D. D.
PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
AT a meeting of the Society held in Augusta, Jan. 19th,
1859, the death of Parker Cleaveland, late Corresponding
Secretary, was announced ; and the President of the Society
thereupon submitted the following preamble and resolu-
tions, which were unanimously adopted :
" PARKER CLEAVELAND, whose lamented death occurred on the fifteenth
day of October last, was one of the earliest associates of this Society, and
one of its officers from the first year of its existence to the close of his long
and useful life, a period of thirty-six years. First, he was Librarian and
Cabinet Keeper, as successor to the eminent Dr. Payson, from 1822 to 1828 ;
then Corresponding Secretary to the time of his death ; and for many
years one of the Standing Committee.
" In all these relations, he was ever true, prompt, and faithful ; and when,
ever the honor or the interest of our Society demanded his effort, he was
not wanting. In his various public duties, as in his most inner private life,
he always bore the same clear and honorable record.
" In common, therefore, with the learned collegiate institution, which he
served so long and well ; the great body of scientific men and students, in
whose behalf his zeal never abated ; and the community at large, which he
elevated and instructed by a noble life ; it is most proper, that this Society,
378 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
of which he was ever a valued and devoted associate and officer, should lay
upon his grave an appropriate offering of respect, affection, and praise.
" Be it therefore Resolved :
" 1. That an eulogy be pronounced before this Society, in commemoration
of the virtues and services of our late beloved and venerated associate and
friend, Professor Cleaveland.
" 2. That our respected associate, Leonard Woods, of Bowdoin College,
be requested to deliver the eulogy at the adjourned meeting of the Society
at Augusta ; and that it be deposited in its archives, and published with its
transactions.
" 3. That the Hon. Mr. Gardiner, the Hon. Mr. Bradbury, of Augusta,
and John McKeen, Esq., of Brunswick, be a committee to make suitable ar-
rangements for the occasion.
" 4. That the Recording Secretary communicate the foregoing preamble
and resolutions to the family of the deceased, and to President Woods."
NOTICE.
The Address delivered at Augusta before the Maine Historical Society,
and now published in the sixth volume of its Collections, is the same, in
substance, as that which was pronounced at Brunswick a few months before,
at the funeral of Professor Cleaveland, It contains, however, some bio-
graphical details, which wefe then omitted in the delivery for want of time,
or which had not then come to my knowledge. For the means of complet-
ing the biographical sketch then hastily drawn, I am indebted to copious
and valuable manuscripts kindly furnished me by Nehemiah Cleaveland,
Esq., of New York, and by Rev. John P. Cleaveland, D. D., of Lowell,
whose opportunities of familiar intercourse with their distinguished
kinsman during the early stages of his long public life, give great interest
to their personal recollections. I am also indebted to Peleg W. Chandler,
Esq., of Boston, and to the resident members of Prof. Cleaveland's family,
for various memoranda, and for free access to the files of his letters. To
these gentlemen, to William B. Sewall, Esq., of Kennebunk, who has placed
at my service several interesting extracts from his early correspondence with
the professor, and to others who have rendered me assistance in various
ways, I am happy to make here my grateful acknowledgements.
L. w.
BRUNSWICK, SEPT. 26, 1859.
EULOGY ON PROF. CLEAVELAND.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Maine Historical
Society :
IN some remarks introductory to the first volume of our
Collections, which are understood to have proceeded from
the classic pen of Judge Ware, it is justly represented as
one object of this Society, to furnish " biographical notices
of men eminent for their public services." And it may well
be doubted whether we have any more appropriate duty than
this. The Society certainly should regard itself, not as a mere
collector of dry materials for the future historian, but also
as a living organ, through which the State represented by
it, may express its grateful remembrance of those from
whom it has derived profit or honor. Its care should be,
that as, one after another, our great men are removed by
death, their noble gifts, their faithful services, their shining
examples, should be held forth to view, and set, if I may so
speak, as jewels in the crown by which this youthful State
already aspires to emulate her elder sisters. Nor has this
duty been hitherto neglected by this Society* How grace-
fully and well it has sometimes been performed, especially
with regard to the distinguished men who have been taken
from its own ranks, need not be said to those who have at-
tended some of our recent meetings.
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
A new occasion has now arisen for the discharge of this
ever recurring duty. Within the past few months, two of
the oldest and most venerated members of this Society and
of this Commonwealth, Professor Cleaveland and Dr. Nich-
ols, have been removed by death. They were both mem-
bers of Harvard College at the same time, though not of
the same standing. They were both tutors in that College,
Dr. Nichols having been chosen to fill the place vacated by
Professor Cleaveland. From that office they were both
called to eminent positions in this State, which they, from
that time forward, continued to occupy, the one a little
more, the other only a little less, than half a century. Of
both of them it may be said, that they were foremost in the
spheres which they respectively filled. Both were members
of this Society from its origin, and held successively the
same office of Corresponding Secretary. Thus united in so
many respects in their lives, in their deaths they were not
long separated. They were gleaners with us for a while
in these solemn and shadowy regions of the Past, but have
been garnered before us, as shocks of corn fully ripe. To
both of them there have been already rendered, in the
places where they had lived so long, appropriate and dis-
tinguished honors ; but to each of them there is also due
some commemorative notice from this Society. To dis-
charge this duty toward one of them, is the object of our
present assembling; and in pursuance of the resolutions
which have now been read, I shall proceed to give a sketch
of the life of Professor Cleaveland, and to exhibit a few
of the more obvious traits of his official and personal
character.
Parker Cleaveland was born on the fifteenth day of Jan-
uary, 1780, and accordingly, had he lived, would have just
now entered on his eightieth year. He was a native of By-
field, a small parish formed out of adjacent parts of the
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 383
towns of Newbury aud Rowley, in Essex County, Mass.,
and famous as the birth-place of many eminent men, and
as the seat of the oldest academy in New England. He
sprung from a stock in which the old Puritan principles and
discipline had been revived and perpetuated, long after they
had gone into a general decline. His grandfather, Eev.
John Cleaveland, while yet a member of Yale College
(1744), had enlisted on the side of Mr. Whitefield, and had
at the same time warmly embraced the doctrines of the
Fathers of New England, which were so powerfully reas-
serted by this great preacher and his followers. But al-
though the cause of Mr. Whitefield, doctrinally considered,
was only Puritanism revived, it was conducted by measures
deemed subversive of the established order of the churches,
and was, on this account, not less obnoxious, at this period,
to the Government of Yale, than of Harvard College. And
accordingly, John Cleaveland and his brother Ebenezer,
having presumed to attend on the ministrations of a lay
exhorter of the Whitefield stamp, and having refused to ac-
knowledge that they were censurable for an act against
which there was no law known to them, and which was com-
mitted while they were at home during vacation, eighty
miles from the College, in company with their parents and
a majority of the members of the Church to which they be-
longed, were both, for this cause, expelled from the College ;
as David Brainerd had been, three years before, for an of-
fence not dissimilar. 1 As might have been expected, the
Cleavelands devoted themselves to the cause they had em-
braced, all the more zealously for the harsh treatment they
had received. It was in consequence of his zeal for the
old doctrines and the new measures for which his party was
1 See TrumbulPs Hist of Conn., vol. ii. p. 179. Also Prof. Fisher's Dis-
course Commemorative of the Hist, of the Church of Christ in Yale ColL,
Appendix, No. vi. p. 50.
384 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
distinguished, that John, the grandfather of our Professor,
received a call, shortly after he was licensed to preach,
from the separatist society in Boston, meeting in the Hu-
guenot Church in School Street, where the expatriated
Bowdoins had before worshipped ; and that, having declined
this call, he soon after received another, which he accepted,
from the separatist society in the parish of Chebacco in
Ipswich, now the town of Essex. During his long ministry
of fifty-two years in this place, he was distinguished for the
sincere, though unpolished energy, with which he maintained
that freer system of ecclesiastical order, and at the same
time that stricter system of evangelical doctrine, which
characterized the advocates of Mr. Whitefield in New Eng-
land. l
It deserves also to be mentioned, as showing the stuff
from which the stock was made from which our Professor
sprung, that his grandfather was no less zealous as a patri-
ot than as a Puritan. He served as Chaplain in the ill-
starred expedition against Ticonderoga in the year 1758,
and in the following year at Louisburg, and at several sta-
tions of the Continental army during the Revolutionary
War. To use the words of Dr. Parish in his funeral dis-
course : " The waters of Champlain, the rocks of Cape
Breton, the fields of Cambridge, and the banks of the Con-
necticut and the Hudson, listened to the fervor of his patri-
otic addresses."
The father of the Professor, Parker Cleaveland, M. D.,
was the second son of Rev. John Cleaveland of Chebacco,
and the worthy inheritor of his religious and political prin-
ciples. He settled early in life, as a physician, in Byfield,
on the Rowley side, where he continued, with the exception
of a few short intervals, to the time of his death, in 1826.
1 See his earlier controversies with Dr. Pickering, and his later controver-
sy with Dr. Mayhew.
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 385
Though a man of strong natural powers, careful and judi-
cious and for that day well read as a physician, he had
but little worldly tact, and accordingly but little success in
his medical practice. The glory of his character was its
religious element. No subjects interested him so much as
the great doctrines of theology. These he had deeply med-
itated from a child. While embracing the higher views he
had learned from his father, he was well informed with re-
gard to all the shades of theological speculation then prev-
alent in New England, and could discuss them with clear-
ness and ability. He also took a deep interest in the
welfare of his country. At the beginning of hostilities in
1775, he went as a* surgeon to the camp at Cambridge,
where he found his father and two uncles and three broth-
ers, already enlisted in various capacities. And having been
an ardent whig and patriot during the Revolution, he became
an equally ardent and patriotic federalist of the early Re-
public. In that distinguished body, the Massachusetts Con-
vention of 1780, Dr. Cleaveland represented the town of
Rowley, and again, forty years afterwards, when the State
summoned her collected age and wisdom to revise the Con-
stitution.
Shortly after his settlement in Byfield, he married Eliza-
beth Jackman, the daughter of a neighboring farmer, a plain,
sensible, good woman, retiring and reserved, and in her
physical organization singularly feeble and excitable. So
peculiarly subject was she to electrical influences, that on the
near approach of a thunder storm she was always violently
agitated, and often thrown into convulsions. It was seven
years after their marriage, and in this atmosphere of min-
gled Puritanism and Federalism, in that intenser form of
both, which prevailed in Essex County near the close of the
last century, that Parker was born, their first and only child,
inheriting the powerful intellect, and the active and cheerful
25
386 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
temperament of his father, and at the same time something
of the physico-psychological infirmity, especially the electri-
cal excitability of his mother, to whom he is said to have
borne a marked resemblance in the general cast of his fea-
tures.
He was baptized when about a month old by the Eev.
Moses Parsons, then the pastor of the church in Byfield,
and the father of the celebrated Chief Justice Theophilus
Parsons. During his childhood he gave many indications
of that clearness and vigor of mind for which he was after-
wards distinguished. On one occasion, when only four
years old, having answered a question which had been put
to him with a wisdom above his years, and being asked who
told him that, he replied, / told myself. He exhibited, too,
even at this early period, many of those traits of personal
character, which became more conspicuous as he advanced
in life. He was remarkable, even then, for a certain con-
stitutional timidity, and for great reserve in the expres-
sion of his feelings. Though he was known to have strong
affections, he never showed them in the ordinary way.
The studious tastes and peculiar temperament exhibited
by the boy, determined his father, though possessed of only
moderate means, to give him a liberal education ,* and he
sent him to prepare for college, to the famous Dummer
academy, which was situated in his native parish, on the
Newbury side, about two miles and a half from his resi-
dence. The Preceptor of the Academy at this time was
the Rev. Isaac Smith, who though esteemed inferior to his
immediate predecessor, the renowned and eccentric Master
Moody, as a disciplinarian and teacher of Latin and Greek,
was regarded as much his superior in general scholarship
and polite culture, having had the advantage of a residence
of several years in England, and of a large library which
he had collected there. No institution could be better for
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 387
one who was disposed to improve, and such an one was
Parker Cleaveland. Though living more than two miles
from the academy, he was always present in school hours,
generally walking the whole distance, though sometimes
having the privilege of riding the doctor's horse, when he
was absent from home on public business. It is, perhaps,
sufficient evidence of the student's good character and pro-
ficiency, that a warm friendship sprang up between him and
the master, and that a correspondence was maintained be-
tween them for many years after they were separated.
He entered Harvard College in 1795, before he was six-
teen years old. An incident which occurred shortly after,
is illustrative of the humble style in which he made his first
appearance at this venerable seat of learning, and at the
same time, of his tact and good temper. He wore to col-
lege a poor felt hat, so unfashionable in form and color, as
to attract general notice. There was soon a gathering of
students on the green, when one and another began to
jeer the freshman about his queer hat. At length it was
knocked off, and kicked about without mercy. Its bare-
headed owner, finding how things were going, joined in the
sport, laughing as loud and kicking as hard as any of them.
This exhibition of good nature insured his popularity. A
subscription was made on the spot, and he came out the
next day with a handsome new beaver.
The popularity which he thus early and cheaply purchased,
being sustained by his fine social qualities and his superior
talents, attended him through his whole college course. He
became the general favorite, and entered himself heartily
into the good fellowship to which he was so warmly wel-
comed. This state of things exposed him to many dangers
at a period when the prevailing spirit at Harvard, as well
as at other American colleges, was one of infidelity and
misrule.
388 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
Aware of the dangers by which his young friend was sur-
rounded, his worthy pastor, Rev. Dr. Parish, addressed to
him, a few weeks after he entered college, the following words
of admonition. " By writing, I hope to prove the continu-
ance of that friendship I have always felt. Truly you have
my best wishes for your happiness. Your genius, your
habit of application, insure literary acquisitions. You must
do violence to your own feelings not to be a scholar. Ex-
cuse my apprehensions, if I suggest that your religious
interests are more exposed, and men of sensibility are
disposed to conform to their associates. This amiable dis-
position is often a snare. Irreligious companions are dan-
gerous. There is something like enchantment in the example
of those we admire. Possibly you may hear sermons, and
sacraments, and sabbaths, treated with irreverence. Be-
lieve me, dear sir, a skeptic is a hapless being. Examine
religion for yourself; trust to no one else ; then make a
sacred vow not to depart from the religion of your fathers.
Your religious advantages have been distinguished. Call
to mind the counsels of thy dear, departed mother. Prove
yourself worthy of such counsels, of such a parent."
These godly counsels of his pastor were followed up a
few weeks later, by others in a similar strain from his for-
mer teacher. " A college life," writes Mr. Smith, " will, I
hope, be agreeable to you, and unless your tastes and incli-
nations should greatly differ from what I have conceived of
them, it cannot be unprofitable. You have appeared to me
to have naturally a considerable thirst for knowledge, and
will, therefore, value the opportunity and the means of grat-
ifying it. You have acquired, too, habits of industry which
I trust will rather increase than lessen, and than which
nothing can be more favorable to your progress in science.
Indeed, I have no suspicion of your ever becoming an idle
fellow at college ; and of course shall not trouble you with
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 389
any grave admonitions about the improvement of your time
there. My principal fears are, lest your easy temper and
cheerful disposition should make your contemporaries too
fond of you, and induce them to court your society oftener
than may be convenient. I do not wish you to be a recluse,
but at all events, I would teach my classmates and compan-
ions at college that I must be master of my room and my
time, and I would not allow of encroachments on either too
frequently, or at improper hours. They will respect you
the more, when they see you resolved not to give way to
impertinent visits, but to keep the ends of your residence
at the seminary where you are placed in view, and steadily
pursuing them. Instead of one, you have now a number of
preceptors ; you will, however, I know, behave to each of
them with decency, and not allow yourself easily to enter-
tain any little prejudices against any of them. They may
differ in some respects from one another, but will all of them
be willing to befriend you, and to give you proofs of their
esteem as long as you continue to merit it, which I flatter
myself will be the case while you have any connection with
them."
To these faithful admonitions of his pastor and precep-
tor, indicating at the same time the good opinion they had
formed of him, and the deep interest they felt in' his wel-
fare, young Cleaveland appears to have given good heed.
Though he was led by his high spirits and social nature, to
mingle freely in scenes of pleasure, there is ample evidence
that he was never seduced into any neglect of his college
duties, into any conflict with the college authorities, or any
abandonment of the moral and religious principles in which
he had been educated. So constantly was he seen in soci-
ety, and so seldom with a book in his hand, that his admir-
able appearance in the recitation room became a matter of
general wonder. But it soon came to be understood, that
390 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
if, during the day and evening, he had indulged himself in
the society of his boon companions, he would retire at night
to his chamber, darken his window, and while supposed to
be asleep, would push his studies far into the morning.
So little place had the natural sciences at this time in the
college course, that he can hardly be said, while there, to
have laid the foundation of his future acquisitions in this
department. He was, however, quite a proficient in Greek,
and his tutor in this department, the eccentric John Snelling
Popkin, is reported to have said, " that unless he himself
had got all his Greek roots well dug out before the recita-
tion, there were two in his class, Joseph Dane and Parker
Cleaveland, who were sure to screw him to death."
For all his instructors he cherished a dutiful regard, but
especially for Prof. Pearson, who was a townsman of his,
and who was always regarded by him as his model, both as
a teacher and a disciplinarian. And it was probably under
the hand of this prince of critics, who made it his boast
that he had driven bombast out of the University, that his
admiring pupil formed that pure and simple style in which
he always spoke and wrote.
He was graduated in due course in 1799, enjoying the
reputation among his fellow-students, of being the best gen-
eral scholar, and the man of most talent and promise, though
not bearing off the highest honors of his class.
In his junior year he had taught school, in vacation, in
Boxford, and in his senior year, in Wilmington. After he
left college, he taught for a few months in Haverhill. From
thence, in March, 1 800, he went to York in this State, where
he taught the Central town school for three years. In these
several engagements as schoolmaster, he exhibited the same
skill in teaching, the same strictness of discipline, the same
power to attach his pupils to himself and to awaken their
enthusiasm, which he displayed afterwards in the higher
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 391
spheres to which he was called. Years after this period,
the praises of master Cleaveland were spoken in these
places where he first taught j nor have they ceased to this
day to be heard. One of his scholars in York, who is now
living, still descants with admiration upon his excellencies
as a teacher, the mingled fear and love with which he in-
spired his pupils, the perfect subjection in which he kept
them in school, notwithstanding the familiarity with which
he indulged them out of it, and the impression which he
produced upon their minds, that the town school under
his charge was far above every other institution in the place.
These testimonies ully confirm the account which he him-
self gave in a letter to his father, March 13, 1803, of the
sensation which was produced when he gave notice to the
selectmen of York, " that he should dismiss his school the
fore part of April." "You can ot conceive," he writes,
" how difficult it is to get away. They offer me everything.
One scholar told the selectmen they had better give three
hundred dollars a month. They say they had rather lose
their minister than their schoolmaster." Such were the
humble, but auspicious beginnings of a career of teaching,
which extended through a period of sixty years, without a
single year's intermission, and which was attended from
first to last with the same high and well-earned popularity.
But notwithstanding his eminent success in his first en-
gagements in teaching, it does not seem to have occurred
to his thoughts at this time, that this was the vocation to
which his life was to be devoted. On his leaving college, it
was his purpose to study law : and accordingly when he went
to Haverhill to teach, he at the same time entered his name
in the law-office of Ichabod Tucker, Esq. He was doubt-
less confirmed in this purpose by a visit which he received
while at Haverhill from his college friend, Joseph Story.
It is reported that on this occasion, they sat talking through
392 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
the live-long night. This may be easily credited of two
men so noted for the copia verborum, and it may also be
believed, that amid the flashes of genius and good humor
with which that night was illuminated, there may have been
some serious forecasting of their plans of life, in which the
mind of young Cleaveland may have received from his
friend's eloquent advocacy, a new impulse in favor of the
law. However this may be, when he went to York, in pur-
suance of his original purpose, he engaged himself as as-
sistant to Daniel Sewall, Esq., who was at that time Clerk
of the Courts and Register of Probate, and also village
Postmaster ; and during his vacations, and at the intervals
of his school hours, gave his aid in those several offices.
In this capacity of assistant of Mr. Sewall, he sometimes
attended the courts when they were held in other places,
as well as in York, and was also occasionally engaged in
Justice business, according to the privilege usually allowed
at that day to students of the profession, to enable them
to become familiar with the forms of practice.
But although he was thus engaged during the whole time
of his residence in York, his purpose of devoting himself
to the profession of law appears to have been shaken, soon
after he went there, partly perhaps through some distaste for
the business, but more probably through the earnest desire
of his parents that he should study divinity. To whatever
cause it may be traced, it is obvious that for more than two
years after he went to York, his mind was in a state of
painful doubt with regard to his future calling, and was dis-
tracted between the conflicting claims of law and divinity,
the eloquent pleadings of Story, and the pious persuasions
of his parents, the promptings of worldly ambition, and
the dictates of a conscience controlled by the principles of
his religious education.
In this state of uncertainty, he enjoyed the counsels of a
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 393
pastor, whose judgment was not warped by any profession-
al bias, and who was only anxious that the decision to
which he should come, should be the deliberate result of his
own unbiased convictions. With this object in view, Dr.
Parish proposed to him, in a letter dated March 22, 1801,
that he should pass the ensuing summer with Dr. Emmons,
not as prejudging the question of his profession, but as af-
fording him the best opportunity of coming to a right decis-
ion regarding it. " I hope," he writes, " you are forming all
your plans with the idea of spending the summer with Dr.
Emmons. Settle this sacred link in the chain of your cal-
culations. After answering the principal object had in view
by the school, let Dr. Emmons be the next object. Let a
few months of your immortal existence be consecrated as
the still sabbath of your life. There pause, ponder, reason,
judge, determine. It will give a complexion to your future
existence. It may, I hope will be the basis of greater com-
fort, energy, and usefulness, whether it shall alter your pro-
fessional object or not."
Mr. Cleaveland appears to have been prevented from
adopting this well-meant counsel, and from joining himself
to the train of pilgrims seeking wisdom at the lips of the
sage of Franklin, and accordingly from subjecting his life to
that decided complexion which it would probably have re-
ceived from such a process. But, meanwhile, he was vigor-
ously plied by domestic influences, which were all enlisted
on the side of the clerical profession. In this state of things
he received, after a year's interval, another letter from his
ever watchful pastor, dated March 18, 1802, in which, under
the apprehension that he might be unduly influenced by the
urgency of his friends, the arguments for the three profes-
sions were impartially weighed, and " the self-denial, the
mortifications, the discouragements, the disappointments of
the clergyman " were portrayed in colors so strong, that
394 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
they were understood by him at the time, though incorrect-
ly, as designed to dissuade him from devoting himself to
the Christian ministry.
At length, after a careful consideration, the mind of Mr-
Cleaveland seems to have inclined to a decision in favor of
the sacred office. Nor can it be doubted that in coming to
this decision he was influenced not only by the wishes of
those most dear to him, but also by those higher motives
derived from a personal and heartfelt conviction of the truth
of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, as held by
the fathers of New England. 1
His decision to study for the ministry was soon under-
stood among his friends in Byfield, and led to the following
friendly proposal from his early teacher, the preceptor of
the academy: "Till of late," writes Mr. Smith, (July 3,
1802), " I was expecting to hear that you were about to en-
ter on the practice of a profession for which I thought you
had been some time preparing. But as I am told that you
now think of quitting the course of study in which you had
engaged, and serving your fellow creatures in a graver and
more serious line of life, I wish to know whether it would
be agreeable to you, in case this is your resolution, to accept
the place of assistant to me in the academy, after commence-
ment. The berth, I suppose, will then be vacant, and I
know of nobody I should be fonder of having in such a con-
nection with me, than you. The circumstance of being at
home, or nearer to it than elsewhere, would, I presume, be
some recommendation of the proposal, and I do not think
the situation would be an unfavorable one to you in the pur-
suit of your studies. Some hours must necessarily be em-
1 Ample evidence of this appears in the full, though somewhat confiden-
tial disclosures of his religious feelings and theological views, contained in a
letter written by him to his father before he left York, and now in the hands
of Rev. J. P. Cleaveland, D. D., of Lowell.
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
395
ployed in business, but you would have others to devote to
study and reflection. I have books, you know, of a theo-
logical nature, as well as others, sufficient to aid you in your
preparation for a time ; and the emoluments of the place,
though not very considerable, would be something in your
pocket." Mr. Cleaveland did not accept this invitation, his
engagement in York not having terminated until the spring
of 1803. But in the summer of that year, being at home,
engaged probably in his theological studies, he took charge
of the academy for about six weeks, during the absence of
the preceptor, " confining his attention," as he writes to his
friend W. B. Sewall, Esq., "almost entirely to the He-
brew, Latin and Greek, and French languages." On fin-
ishing this engagement, he made a short visit to York, to
assist Mr. Sewall while the courts were sitting; and an-
other short visit to his uncle, Rev. John Cleaveland, of
North Wrentham, l to place himself under his direction
in preparing for the ministry ; and then returned to Byfield,
to pursue his studies at home, availing himself, for this p.ur-
pose, of the library of the preceptor.
While he was thus engaged, he received, near the close of
October, 1803, information through President Willard, that
" he was chosen tutor of Harvard College, to succeed Mr.
(Joseph) Emerson, in the department of mathematics and
natural philosophy." He promptly accepted this appoint-
ment, which brought him back to his favorite employment
of teaching; and commenced Nov. 23d, with the instruction
of the senior class in Enfield.
The spirit with which he entered upon his new duties
may be seen by an extract from a letter of his to his friend
Sewall, written about a month after he went to Cambridge.
" The Freshmen are my particular class. They appear to
1 For some account of this excellent minister, see Panoplist, vol. xii.,
p. 49.
396 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
be excellent fellows. In general their size is small. I in-
tend they shall shine in scholarship and character. I already
begin to love them. I have already formed a pleasant ac-
quaintance with many of the students. It is not unpardon-
able for a student to sit down in my room, to converse with
freedom, to feel himself in the presence of a friend as well
as an officer. Still, however, when I command they will,
they shall obey."
His return to Cambridge, though regarded with some
solicitude by those of his friends who had hoped to see
him soon ordained as a minister, was yet acquiesced in
by them on account of the advantages it would afford him
for the pursuit of theological study. Dr. Parish thought
his tutorship eligible, as it gave him an opportunity, which
he had hardly enjoyed before, to make up his mind impar-
tially upon his profession. From the following letter writ-
ten by Mr. Cleaveland to his York correspondent about a
month after he entered on his duties at Cambridge, it is ob-
vious that, at that time, his mind remained firm in its pref-
erence of divinity, or certainly had not as yet experienced
any reaction in favor of the law. " What are the moral
causes," he asks, " why is it, that almost every young man
who has natural talents, or at least thinks he has, enlists
under the banner of the law ? Is it degrading to devote
great talents to the immediate service of Him who gave
them ? Is it degrading to study nature, and the will and op-
erations of nature's God ? Does it benumb the talents to
employ them in the means of infinite knowledge and infinite
happiness ? On the other hand, to revolve in the little cir-
cle of common law practice, to compass sea arid land to
proselyte one fee, however small, do employments like
these give play to the noblest energies of the mind ? Do
they extend the bounds of usefulness, of science, of relig-
ion ? Don't misunderstand me. I am not attempting to
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 397
raise one pursuit upon the ruins of another. The science
of law is of infinite importance. Its practice may display
every virtue. My observations are confined to its present
state in society. If you answer, the drudgery must be
done, I tell you, leave it to those who can do nothing else.
In order to be respectable in the practice of law, a man
must o'ertop thousands of his fellows who surround the fee
mint, and pick at every cent as it drops. In order to be
respectable, he must be honest, just, and virtuous. But can
you preserve your integrity, and at the same time obtain
the custom of those who are most conversant in the law,
and whose business is the most lucrative ? I mean the op-
pressive, the vicious, the idle, the quarrelsome. You must,
in some degree, connive at their schemes, or refuse their
business, and thus deprive yourself of even a scanty pit-
tance. I appeal to yourself. Do not the employments of
attorney, in the lower branches of practice, tend to check
the general improvement of the mind and the enlargement
of the faculties, at least in every department except that of
the law ? It is not pretended that the above evils take place
in every instance. They are at least great dangers, which
a friend has seen, and of which he would give friendly in-
formation to a brother, that he might guard against the
event."
It is equally obvious from such remnants as have been
preserved of his correspondence with his pastor and his
uncle of Wrentham, that so late as the spring of 1804, he
continued still actively engaged in his prcparatioii3 for the
Christian ministry. In answer to a letter of his, asking
advice how to prepare himself for the best discharge of the
duty of public prayer, he received a reply from Dr. Parish,
dated April 24, 1804, full of excellent counsel on this sub-
ject. And in answer to a letter of his to his uncle, con-
taining mingled confessions for the past and promises for
398 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
the future, he received a letter, dated April 17, 1804, indi-
cating at the same time what his professed purpose then
was, and that still some solicitude was felt lest this purpose
should be shaken. " I hope," his uncle writes, < you stead-
fastly keep in view the important object you profess to be
in pursuit of. I trust the hours which are not employed in
your official and other necessary duties, are devoted to the-
ological studies, and that you are daily making progress
therein. You will feel the object to be of too much import-
ance to allow trifles to divert your attention from it. If
your heart be engaged for Christ and his cause, the study
of that system of truth which he has revealed to men, will
be exceeding pleasant and refreshing to your soul. And
the farther you look into it, the more you will be delighted
with it. My dear friend, Christ has given you talents
which may be very useful in his kingdom, and he requires
you to occupy till he comes."
It was about this time that he made a public profession
of religion in the church in which he had been baptized.
The written relation of his religious experience then re-
quired by custom on such occasions, is said to have been
marked with his characteristic reserve on such subjects, and
to have been read, at his particular request, in his absence.
But the honest purposes of his own mind, and the godly
admonitions of his uncle, appear to have been at length ef-
fectually, though insensibly, counteracted by the influences
acting upon him at the university. That the influences at
that time ascendant at Harvard college, were unfavorable
to the stricter views in which he had been educated, will be
easily credited, when it is remembered that his tutorship
occurred exactly at that critical period when the vacancies
in the Hollis professorship and the presidency, created by
the death of Prof. Tappan and President Willard, were
filled by the election of Dr. Ware and Prof. Webber; and
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 399
when it is remembered also that the master-spirits of the
circle into which he was then introduced, were men distin-
guished for good fellowship and high culture, and for their
honorable and successful efforts to revive and elevate the
literary spirit of the times j but also distinguished for their
opposition to the traditionary theology of New England.
Mingling freely and on the best terms, in this genial society,
Mr. Cleaveland seems to have gradually lost his taste for
theological study, and to have diverged into the pursuits of
general literature. At a meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa
Society, Aug. 30, 1804, he was appointed, in connection
with Dr. Kirkland and other literary celebrities, to super-
intend the production'of the "Literary Miscellany," a peri-
odical which had been projected for twd years, and was then
about to be issued. To this periodical he contributed two
articles from his own pen, viz : a review of Morse's Gazet-
teer and of Darwin's Temple of Nature. And so neces-
sary were his labors considered to the success of the
Miscellany, that his removal from Cambridge not long after,
is mentioned as one of the reasons of its early demise.
Early in the spring of 1805, Mr. Cleaveland had deter-
mined to discontinue his tutorship at the close of his term
of two years' service, and to enter without delay upon a
professional life. Such, however, was the change of taste
which he had more recently undergone, that although he
still remained loyal to the faith of his ancestors, he could
no longer contemplate the profession of divinity with satis-
faction, and began to think seriously again of his earlier
choice of the law. Finding the question of his profession
thus unexpectedly reopened, and wishing, perhaps, to share
with another the responsibility of deciding it, he wrote
again for counsel to Dr. Parish, all the more readily, doubt-
less, because he expected from the tenor of his previous
counsels, that the advice which he would receive from that
400 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
quarter would be in accordance with his present inclinations.
But Dr. Parish was careful not to commit himself to a pos-
itive opinion. In his reply of April 30, 1805, after telling
him " that his own mind had never been fully decided what
he ought to do, or ought not to do, notwithstanding his en-
deavors to hold him back from deciding too suddenly, under
the influence of those justly very dear to his heart; " and
" that his present embarrassment in public speaking decided
nothing, as that was a branch of mechanics, and neither
Tully nor Demosthenes could declaim in their first at-
tempts j " he throws back upon him the responsibility of
making his own decision : " If thy heart be right, and thou
canst spontaneously adopt those habits necessary for a min-
ister, I neither know, nor can conceive, that any unanswer-
able objection to the calling can be made." From his uncle,
also, he- received a letter referring back the decision of this
great question to himself: "I wish to have your talents
employed in the vineyard of the Lord, but you must judge
concerning your duty."
Left thus to his own judgments, and restrained as he was
by scruples honorable to his character from assuming a sa-
cred office to which he did not feel himself to be called, he
gave his final decision in favor of the law ; and as he was
already well advanced in his preparation for this profession,
he expected to be admitted to the bar in the spring of the
following year. In selecting a place for settlement as a
lawyer, his attention appears to have been directed to this
State, then the District of Maine, and to the region of the
Penobscot, and to the fair city which crowns the head of its
tide-waters, then just emerging from the wilderness. In an-
swer to the inquiries he was making for situations eligible
for a lawyer, he received a letter from Hon. David Sewall,
Judge of the Supreme Court in Massachusetts, informing
him, that " he himself had never been further east than Wis-
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 401
casset, but that somehow he had conceived an idea, that the
Fenobscot river was the most extensive in the District, and
that a situation near the head of the tide, as it is called, in
that river, would in some future period be a very consider-
able place of commerce ; perhaps," he says, " in the vicinity
of Bangor, if I mistake not the name."
But while he was thus busy in rough-hewing his life's
ends, as best he could, a Divinity was shaping them to dif-
ferent issues. In the midst of these schemes, fluctuating
to and fro between two professions, to neither of which did
he feel any strong attraction, he received the appointment
of Professor of Mathematics and Natural -Philosophy in
Bowdoin College. "^This institution had been opened only
three years before, and had not yet celebrated its first Com-
mencement. The business of looking up a candidate for
this important office was committed to Prof. John Abbot,
then the only professor in the college. He informs us,
" that he proceeded with caution, and did not fix till he had
made very extensive inquiries, and was completely satisfied
where to fix : that he considered practical and social quali-
ties as highly important, and that the answers to his inquiries
gave him full satisfaction on that point." On his represen-
tations, Parker Cleaveland was chosen to this office, May
15, 1805, by the unanimous vote of both Boards. The ap-
pointment was at first objected to by some of his friends
in Cambridge and the vicinity, on the ground, " that it was
wrong to attempt to deprive Harvard of so useful an in-
structor ;" and it was acquiesced in by them only when they
were informed that he had before determined to leave Cam-
bridge, and that " it would do much to raise the usefulness and
reputation of that infantile seminary to which he was called."
In the first instance, too, it was declined by Mr. Cleaveland,
on the ground, " that it would involve the sacrifice of the
profession which he had chosen, and the time which he had
26
402 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAKD.
spent in preparing for. it." He intimated, however, that the
invitation might have been accepted if it had happened a
year later, after he had been already admitted to the bar,
since in that case, " should he fail in his professorship, he
would have his profession to step into." On this hint it
was suggested to him by Professor Abbot, that his object
might be answered, either by accepting on the condition
that his personal attendance should not be required until he
had been admitted to the bar, or by accepting uncondition-
ally, and taking out certificates of qualification as far as he
had proceeded in the law, and keeping them for a future
occasion, which, however, he believed would never occur.
The latter alternative appears to have been adopted by Mr.
Cleaveland, and his acceptance of his appointment was sig-
nified to the Boards at their annual meeting in September.
He was publicly inducted into office on the twenty-third of
October, 1805, being at that time scarcely twenty-five years
old. He entered immediately upon the duties of his pro-
fessorship, which he continued to discharge, without inter-
mission, and with only slight modifications, from that day
to the day of his death, a period of fifty-three years.
Within a year from the time of his arrival in Brunswick,
he had, with characteristic promptitude, married, and built
and begun to occupy the house in which he continued to
live ever after.
Although he was always faithful to the appropriate du-
ties of his department, his attention does not seem to
have been at first so strictly confined to them, as it came
to be in later years. The finer tastes he had acquired
under the higher culture of Harvard, survived for a sea-
son the effects of transplanting, and contributed much
both to the relief and embellishment of his earlier of-
ficial labors. During this period he was accustomed, in his
leisure hours, to study the ancient classics, though without
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 403
much pains taking, to read the standard authors both in the
English and French literature, and to indulge himself freely
in various literary diversions, which were afterwards, either
from habit or on principle, rigorously proscribed by him.
Nor did he at this period wholly abjure the poetic faculty.
It is reported on good authority that, not long after he came
to Brunswick, an ode was written by him for some public
occasion, which was set to music and sung. And in proof
of this impeachment, Professor Cleaveland has been recent-
ly spoken of by the late Professor Willard, l an early friend
and associate in the " Literary Miscellany," in terms plainly
insinuating an aberration of this nature, " as one who had
showed, while he was in the rapid ascent to the Temple of
Fame through the rugged paths of physical science, that he
had not become estranged from Parnassus, and that his af-
fections were not alienated from the Muses, however rarely
he might have invoked their presence."
His department, at the beginning, was simply that of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, as it had been estab-
lished at Harvard in 1727, and after that example, in the
different American colleges. But in the absence of any in-
struction in Bowdoin College at that time in the other
branches of natural science, Professor Cleaveland began
immediately to prepare himself to supply the deficiency;
and in the spring term of 1808, gave his first course of
lectures on chemistry and mineralogy. This voluntary
service was so well received, that a vote was passed at the
annual meeting of the Boards in September of that year,
" to pay him two hundred dollars for the instructions he had
already given on chemistry and mineralogy, and to contin-
ue the same sum annually, so long as he should continue to
give lectures on those subjects." From.that time, in addition
to the original designation of his office, he bore the title of
i In his Memoirs of Youth and Manhood, vol. ii. p. 147.
404 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
Lecturer in Chemistry and Mineralogy, until it was
changed in 1828, to that of Professor in these branches.
The lectures and their emoluments continued in unbroken
succession for half a century.
Among the early fruits of these scientific studies were
several papers written by him, recording certain meteoro-
logical, geological, and astronomical observations which he
had made in this region, which were published in the third
and fourth volumes of the Memoirs of the American Acad-
emy.
It seems to have been by accident, that his attention was
first turned to that branch of natural science in which he
earned his highest distinction. The lumbermen of Bruns-
wick had found difficulty in transporting their boards from
the upper mills to the landing place below. In the construc-
tion of a wooden aqueduct for the purpose of floating them
down, some excavation was necessary. As the blasting
proceeded, certain substances appeared which were new to
their eyes. They had opened a granite ledge of the very
coarsest sort. There were large plates of mica, there were
fine quartz crystals, there were cubes of iron pyrites, which
looked like something very precious. Had they really
stumbled upon diamonds and gold ? To answer this ques-
tion, they had no resort but to apply to the new scientific
professor of the college, who was supposed to know every-
thing. But how should he know, having never learned ?
After examining a small treatise at the end of Chaptal's
Chemistry, the only work on the subject then in the library
(the identical work is still there), and failing to get any sat-
isfactory information, he put up a box of the stones, la-
belled according to the best of his knowledge, and sent
them to his friend Dr. Dexter, then Professor of Chemistry
at Cambridge. Not long after an answer arrived from
the Doctor, complimenting him on the correctness of his
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 405
arrangement and description, and giving as much addi-
tional information as was possessed on the subject of
mineralogy in the oldest and highest of our colleges fifty
years ago. This letter was accompanied by another small
box, containing some minerals in return for those that had
been sent.
This account is derived from an eye-witness, N. Cleave-
land, Esq., of New York, a cousin of the Professor, who
was then residing in his family as a pupil. " I accompanied
him," says this gentleman, " in his first visit to the Falls,
and helped him bring home the first basket of stones that
he ever collected. I remember his earnest and often baf-
fled endeavors to determine the characters and names of
these rocks and stones. I was with him, too, when he
opened the little package from Prof. Dexter, and examined
its contents. Great was the rapture with which he unrolled
and handled those tiny bits of marble and lava, brought
mostly, as their labels showed, from distant and classic
shores." " Such," he continues, " was the origin of those col-
lections and exchanges which at length built up the large and
valuable cabinet which now adorns the college walls. And
thus accidentally, as it were, began that enthusiastic pursuit
of mineralogical knowledge which in a few years gave the
Bowdoin professor so high a place among the scientific ce-
lebrities of the time. It is certainly more than possible
that his mind would never have taken that turn, but for the
Topsham sluice-way excavation."
The occurrences referred to took place late in the year
1807. From this date, for many years, Mineralogy was his
ruling passion. The rocks of Brunswick and its neighbor-
hood were soon explored, and made tributary to his cabinet.
Nor did the mineral treasures of his native region long es-
cape his scientific curiosity and rapacity. On his visits to
Byfield, the country, for miles around, was laid under contri-
406 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
bution for specimens. His half-brother, Rev. Dr. John P.
Cleaveland, was an eye-witness of these scientific explora-
tions, and still lives to describe them. " I helped him," he
says, " in breaking open several composite rocks in the
street wall opposite our own door, that he might get fresh
fractures. I well remember, too, the forenoon of a warm
day in the first week of June, in 1811 (nearly forty-eight
years ago), when he made his first visit to the Devil's Den
in Newbury. This was a small cavity (you could not call
it a cavern) on the right of the old road from Dummer
Academy to Newburyport, four miles from the house where
the Professor was born. It had been visited once before
by a professor from Harvard, and once by some professor
from foreign parts ; but its riches were reserved for my
brother's eye. He returned to my father's house with one
or two candle-boxes filled ; and my mother's kitchen was at
once turned into a laboratory, and the floor strewed with
fragments of every variety which the den had yielded.
Serpentine (both common and precious), greenstone (crys-
talline), pure hornblende, simple feldspar, asbestos and
amianthus (the Professor always kept up the distinction),
quartz (crystalized), black tourmaline or schorl, were a
part of that day's spoils. No miser ever worshipped his
money as he did these specimens. Many of them, which I
helped him reduce and pack up on that day, have long had
a place in French, German, and Russian cabinets."
By researches such as these, in high-ways and by-ways,
and by the study of the few treatises on mineralogy, for-
eign and American, which had appeared at that time, Prof.
Cleaveland prepared himself for the composition of his
great work on this science. When he left college, as he
often remarked to his pupils, he did not know that there
was more than one kind of rock in the world. Nor was he
alone in this respect among his contemporaries. While the
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 407
intellectual sciences, and some branches of natural philoso-
phy, had been cultivated among us with diligence and suc-
cess, but little attention had at that time been paid to
Natural History ; and DO branch of Natural History had suf-
fered such neglect, or had been left in such obscurity, as
Mineralogy. So little progress had been made in this sci-
ence at the beginning of the present century, that it is
stated on the best authority, to have been a matter of ex-
treme difficulty to obtain even the names of the most com-
mon stones and minerals, or to find any one who could
identify even quartz, feldspar, or hornblende, among the
simple minerals, or granite, porphyry, or trap, among the
rocks. " We spealc from experience," says Prof. Silliman,
from whom this statement is taken, and well remember
with what impatient, and almost despairing curiosity, we
eyed the bleak and naked ridges that impended over the
valleys and plains that were the scenes of our youthful ex-
cursions. In vain did we doubt that the glittering spangles
of mica, and the still more alluring brilliancy of pyrites,
gave assurance of the existence of the precious metals in
those substances ; or that -the cutting of glass by the garnet
or by quartz, proved that these minerals were the diamond ;
but if they were not precious metals, and if they were not
diamonds, we in vain inquired of our companions, or even
our teachers, what they were."
A change for the better in the state of this science had,
doubtless, taken place within a few years before the publica-
tion of the work of Prof. Cleaveland. Some able articles
on the subject had been written by Seybert of Philadelphia,
Mitchell of New York, and Waterhouse of Cambridge.
Extensive and beautiful cabinets had been brought to this
country, by Dr. Bruce and Col. Gibbs. Courses of lec-
tures on mineralogy had been recently established in several
of our colleges. A geological survey of the United States
408 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
had been made by Maclure ; and a Journal of Mineralogy
had been established. But the effect of these measures had
been rather to excite a public curiosity, than to furnish the
means of gratifying it. They created a want, which could
only be met by a thorough, systematic, and American treat-
ise on mineralogy. The works of the great German and
French mineralogists had not yet been translated ; and if
they had been, could not have supplied the information
which was wanted respecting our wide-spread and newly
opened American localities. It was the good fortune of
Professor Cleaveland to furnish this needed work exactly
at the right juncture of circumstances. His " Elementary
Treatise on Mineralogy and Geology " was published in
1816. A few years earlier or later, it might have met a
less flattering reception. Appearing when it did, and being
such as it was, it was a perfect success, and placed the au-
thor at once in the front rank of living mineralogists.
The distinguishing merit of this work, in comparison with
those which preceded it, may be stated in few words. The
mineralogical world had been previously divided into two
principal schools, that of France and that of Germany. The
German school, at the head of which was the celebrated
Werner, regarded the external characters of minerals as
the proper basis both of description and classification. The
French school, at the head of which was the equally cele-
brated Abbe* Haiiy, regarded the internal composition of
minerals, or their true nature as ascertained by chemical
analysis, or their crystalline structure including the prim-
itive form and integrant molecule, as the only proper basis
of a scientific arrangement and description. Prof. Cleave-
land does not hesitate to say, with the French school, that
the true composition of minerals should be the basis of ar-
rangement, so far as it is known ; but that, when it is not
known, or until it becomes known, the external characters
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 409
may be provisionally employed for the purpose of classifica-
tion ; and further, that while minerals may be most scientif-
ically arranged according to their internal composition,
they may be best described by their external characters. In
thus combining the excellencies of the French and German
schools, Prof. Cleaveland does not claim to be original.
He refers in his preface to Brongniart, as having effected
with good success the union of the descriptive language of
the one, and the scientific arrangement of the other. But
while his work was formed on the model of Brongniart, it
was executed in a manner entirely his own, and gives assur-
ance of a master's hand. It not only placed the labors of
the great European mineralogists before the American pub-
lic in an accessible and attractive form, but by adding new
species and new localities, acquired an American character,
and did something to pay the debt of science which Amer-
ica was then owing to Europe.
The work was immediately noticed in terms of high com-
mendation by the leading literary and scientific journals at
home and abroad. Silliman's Journal of Science and Arts
sums up a long and critical examination of its principles
and plan with the following generous and hearty eulogium :
" In our opinion, this work does honor to our country, and
will greatly promote the knowledge of mineralogy and ge-
ology, besides aiding in the great work of disseminating a
taste for science generally. Our views of the plan have
already been detailed. The manner of execution is mas-
terly. Discrimination, perspicuity, judicious selection of
characters and facts, and a style chaste, manly, and compre-
hensive, are among the attributes of Professor Cleaveland's
performance. It has brought within the reach of the Amer-
ican student the excellencies of Kirwan, Jameson, Haiiy,
Brochant, Brongniart, and Werner ; and we are not ashamed
to have this work compared with those of these celebrated
4.10 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
authors." The North American also, in closing a long re-
view of the work, which is generally favorable, though mak-
ing some exceptions to its principles of classification, takes
care " to express to the author the high sense it entertains
of the value of his scientific labors." The Edinburgh Re-
view, after commending the honest manner in which it is
printed, giving on a single page the matter which in England
would have been spread over three, expresses the wish that
it might be reprinted exactly on the plan of the original,
and adds : " We have no doubt it would be found the most
useful work on mineralogy in our language."
Some conception may be formed of the interest excited
in scientific circles in Europe, by the unexpected appear-
ance among them of a treatise on mineralogy from the
New World, by the following extract from a letter writ-
ten to Prof. Cleaveland from London (April 16, 1819),
by the Rev. John A. Vaughan, then resident in England.
"Just after the appearance of your work," he writes,
" an American gentleman was sometime with Werner, and
so exhibited the design and character of the book and its
author, that the old man was quite cheered with the hope
of seeing some consolidated information on his favorite
topic from the western regions. It was promised to be
sent to him from England ; but he died shortly after, before
his wish to see it was accomplished. Mr. Humboldt, who
was in England, had a copy in his possession, and his im-
pressions must have coincided with those of all the learned,
more especially as he took care not to return it to the Ge-
ological Society, of whom he borrowed it, and who felt not
a little bereft on that account, though another was given
them. Mr. Jameson has expressed his opinion most favor-
ably ; and you have the Edinburgh Review for further testi-
mony from the North (though that article, I believe, was
written by Mr. Brande). Dr. Clarke, the Professor of
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 411
Mineralogy in the Cambridge University, and the noted
traveler, uses no other at his lectures, and recommends it
to all his hearers as the best. And further, the Geological
Society, and many private individuals, have formed or re-
modeled their collections upon your arrangement. I have
been thus particular not to flatter, or to reecho what you
have heard before, but that I may congratulate you on the
success of some years of hard labor, and that the work is
finding its level so much sooner than that of many a great
man before you."
A second and enlarged edition of his work was published
in 1822, and was soon exhausted. It had now become the
standard American aufhority in this branch of science, and
was used as a text-book in all the colleges. A third edition
was soon demanded. But owing to causes which will ap-
pear in the sequel, the demand was unheeded, and the author
gradually yielded the commanding position he had gained,
and the pecuniary profits he might have reaped. He con-
tinued, however, to enjoy the most distinguished evidences
of the world-wide reputation which he had won. In honor
of his services in this department, his name was given to a
species of feldspar before known as albite, and also to a
compartment in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which is
reached through Silliman's Avenue, and which is described
as the elysium of the cave, from the marvelous beauty of
its forms of gypsum. He received frequent and honorable
mention not only in the scientific journals, but in the works of
the most eminent savans of Europe, and among others from
the pen of Gothe, at once poet and philosopher, in his cel-
ebrated " Theory of Colors." He received letters of re-
spect and congratulation from Sir David Brewster, Sir
Humphrey Davy, and Dr. MacCulloch in England, from
Berzelius of Stockholm, Germar of Halle, Brougniurt, Bar-
on Cuvier, and the Abbd Haiiy of Paris, with most of
412 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
whom he corresponded for years. He received visits of
personal friendship and regard from Col. Gibbs, Godon,
Maclure, and many others devoted to this department
of science, and who brought from the best schools in
Europe all that was then known of mineralogy. He re-
ceived diplomas of membership from sixteen or more lit-
erary and scientific societies, including those established
in the principal capitals of Europe. He received offers
of professorships, more or less formal, and in some in-
stances with offers of salary more than double his own,
from Harvard College in Massachusetts, from Dartmouth
College in New Hampshire, from the University of Wil-
liam and Mary in Virginia, from Princeton College in
New Jersey, from the College of Physicians and Surgeons
in New York, and from the University of Pennsylva-
nia. At a later period, he received the compliment of an
appointment as Commissioner for the survey of the North-
Eastern Boundary, from President Van Buren, and of Re-
gent of the Smithsonian Institute, from President Pierce,
the grateful tribute of an honored pupil.
Contemporaneously with this splendid career in mineral-
ogy, Prof. Cleaveland acquired a high reputation by his
lectures on chemistry. These lectures, like those on min-
eralogy, were, as has been already stated, voluntarily under-
taken by him, in addition to the prescribed duties of his
department, and were delivered for the first time in the
spring term of 1808. In constructing his furnaces and pro-
curing his apparatus, he was obliged, novice as he was, to
resort continually to the friendly advice and assistance of
Dr. Dexter, which here again, as before, were cheerfully
given. Notwithstanding the difficulties which he had to en-
counter, his reputation as a lecturer on chemistry had with-
in ten years, extended far beyond the college walls. Long
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 413
before the day of lyceums had begun, and at a time when
public lectures were asked only from the ablest men, he
received urgent invitations from distinguished citizens, to
deliver his course on chemistry in several of the principal
towns in Maine and the adjoining States. He so far yield-
ed to these requests, that in the winter vacations of 1818
and the two succeeding years, he delivered courses of lec-
tures on chemistry in Hallowell, Portland, and Portsmouth.
But never after could he be induced, by any persuasions, to
deliver his lectures away from his own laboratory. Nor
will this be wondered at, when it is considered, that besides
the obstacles in his own mind which he had always to over-
come before he could* bring himself to leave home, it re-
quired in those days an ox-team to transport his appara-
tus. If we may judge from the accounts of some who were
present, never were lectures more successful than those
delivered by Prof. Cleaveland in these neighboring towns.
Though strictly scientific, they commanded large and de-
lighted audiences, and became the general topic of conver-
sation in every class of society. On the evenings when
there were no lectures, some social gathering was sure to
claim the distinguished professor, where he was sure to win
all hearts by his simple and unassuming manners, and his
free and cordial intercourse with all about him.
But notwithstanding this success, chemistry held a sub-
ordinate place in his estimation, in comparison with miner-
alogy, until the establishment of the Maine Medical School.
This took place in 1820, and Professor Cleaveland was
then appointed Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica
in the School, having for the first year no assistant but Dr.
Nathan Smith of New Haven. At the first meeting of the
Medical Faculty, he was appointed its Secretary. Under
the first appointment, it became necessary for him to extend
his course of chemical instruction j under the second, to
414: EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
assume the entire management of the internal affairs of the
School. The whole arrangement was eminently conducive
to the reputation and prosperity of the School, but at the
same time, by the new and multiplied cares which it imposed
upon him ; it presented an obstacle to his progress in what
had been hitherto his favorite science. It was this more
than anything else, which rendered him deaf for so many
years to the entreaties of his friends and the clamors of
the public for a third edition of his Mineralogy, and which
turned his thoughts and efforts into new directions. He
did not now, perhaps, love Abraham Werner less, but Na-
than Smith more ; and it was noticed, as something signifi-
cant of the change, that at a christening which took place
in Brunswick soon after the opening of the Medical School,
he gave to a son, who was to have been called after the
great German philosopher, the name of the great American
doctor.
From this time forward, his first thoughts and best en-
deavors were given to his chemical lectures. They were
delivered in the spring term, at two o'clock in the afternoon,
four days in the week, before an auditory composed of the
medical students and the two upper classes in college. Af-
ter an early breakfast, it was his invariable custom, contin-
ued to the last years of his life, to go to his laboratory,
and employ the whole intervening time in preparing for the
lecture of the day, laying out his topics, performing before-
hand every experiment, and practicing every manipulation.
These preparations were interrupted only by the frugal re-
past sent to him from his house in a small basket, when the
dinner hour had arrived. In these preparations he always
had one or more assistants. One of those who enjoyed this
privilege has enabled us to get a glimpse of the philoso-
pher behind the scenes, before the curtain was lifted. No
where else, he assures us, was he so social, so communica-
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 415
tive, so playful. The great business, indeed, of preparation
for the lecture, (and he made it a great one,) never slack-
ened. But this did not prevent many amusing episodes,
with now and then a harmless practical joke. It would be
not a little interesting, could we hear and compare the rem-
iniscences of those forty or fifty men, who have, one after
another, assisted him in the preparations of that old labor-
atory. In one thing it may be presumed they would all
agree, that he never for a moment forgot the caution, which
Dr. Dexter took such needless pains to enforce upon him,
in his very first directions, " to be on his guard in making
gases, mixing them, and preparing explosive combinations."
When at length the* hour of the lecture had arrived, and
the eager and punctual audience had assembled, and, after
seven minutes by the watch, the door was closed, and si-
lence prevailed, and the Professor stood forth amidst his
batteries and retorts, master of his subject and of the
mighty agents he had to deal with, he was then indeed in
his element and in his glory. Though clad in garments al-
most rustic, he had a dignity of appearance and an air of
command, by which the eye of every student was kept fixed,
and all listlessness and inattention were banished. His
stern and venerable features were lit up with a glow of gen-
uine enthusiasm. Forgetful of himself, he became wholly
absorbed in his subject. He professed no great discoveries,
he propounded no new theories, he made no pedantic dis-
play of learning; but with the modesty of true wisdom,
aimed only to exhibit those certain facts and obvious induc-
tions, which constitute the elements of his science. Having
clearly conceived of these, and having them well arranged
in his own mind, he produced them in a clear and orderly
manner. There was no confusion in his thoughts, and none
in his discourse. By his calm and simple style and its ea-
sy and uninterrupted flow, by his lucid order, by the earn-
416 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
estness of his manner, by the interest with which he seemed
to regard the smallest and most common things pertaining
to his theme, by his happy illustrations and never-failing ex-
periments, and by his occasional sallies of wit and good
humor, he carried along the delighted attention of his hear-
ers without weariness to the end of his hour, making plain
to them what had been obscure, investing even trivial things,
by a salutary illusion, with an air of importance, and in
short, accomplishing, in a manner which has never been sur-
passed, the great object of conveying to the mind of the
learner, definite notions and useful knowledge on the sub-
ject under consideration. At the close of the lecture many
gathered around his table to hear the explanations he was
always ready to give to those that sought them. The after-
noon had often far advanced before his lingering pupils had
dispersed, and his long day's work was over.
Such was Professor Cieaveland as a lecturer on chemistry.
It is in this capacity, more perhaps than in any other, that
he has been thought to have distanced all competition. It
is in this capacity certainly, that all his peculiar excellencies
appeared to the best advantage. And it is accordingly as
a lecturer on chemistry, that he has been for many years
principally distinguished, and that he will be most distinct-
ly and gratefully remembered by his thousand admiring
pupils.
In this ardent pursuit of physical science, and especially of
the two branches of mineralogy and chemistry, which began
as has been stated, soon after the Professor entered upon
his office, it soon came to pass that the mathematics were
supplanted, and ere long were left by him in charge of tu-
tors. In accordance with this state of things, the title of
his office was changed in 1828 to that of Professor of
Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Natural Philosophy, and was
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 417
not afterwards altered. It did not, however, fully exhibit
the extent of his official services. In the department of
Natural Philosophy, he was relieved, indeed, in some of the
branches, by the adjunct professor, confining himself princi-
pally to astronomy; but on the other hand, in addition to
mineralogy, he taught most of the branches of Natural His-
tory. While therefore one of his eulogists, the late Pro-
fessor Sydney Willard, of Harvard College, has stated in-
advertently, that the title of his professorship was more
comprehensive than that of any similar professorship in
any of our colleges, he would have been justified in repre-
senting that the actual services rendered by him, ranging
through the three great divisions of physical science, were
hardly equalled in their extent ; and he is certainly correct
when he proceeds to say, " that his labors corresponded to
the branches taught by him in due proportion, and to as
great an extent, and to as thorough a treatment of them,
as could be compassed by an intellect active, searching, and
unerring, and an industry that never tired."
Besides his lecturer, which came later in the day, he heard
recitations in these several departments, from the senior
class, at an early hour in the morning, every day in the
week, through the successive terms of the college year. In
conducting these morning recitations, he exhibited many
marked and characteristic excellencies. He always pre-
pared himself the night before for his morning lesson, espe-
cially revolving in his mind as he was going to sleep (as he
recently informed a friend), such topics of instruction as he
might wish to give in addition to his text-book. And when
the morning came, morning after morning, year in and year
out, his punctual feet crossed the threshold of the recita-
tion room, at the appointed moment, with the regularity of
the planetary revolutions, alike in summer and in winter, in
fair weather and in foul, in health and in sickness. Present-
27
418 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
ing himself thus before his classes, with this pains-taking
preparation, and with this more than military precision, he
was able to exact from them a corresponding attention to
study and regularity of attendance. This he did with an
unsparing rigor, and at the same time without giving offence.
Though he did not much occupy himself with the general
discipline of the college, he kept up the discipline of his
own classes to the highest point, and gave no quarter to
any species of delinquency.
From this great amount of service, both in lectures and
recitations, and from the zeal and fidelity with which it was
rendered, he did not " bate one jot ?> as he advanced in
years. And hence it followed, that though his fame as an
author has not been increased since the publication of his
Mineralogy, his reputation as a teacher of the elements of
science has been constantly rising, and at length had be-
come quite unrivaled.
This eminent success of Professor Cleaveland as a teach-
er, was owing, doubtless, in part, to the perfect mastery he
had acquired by patient study and long practice, in the de-
partment of instruction committed to his charge. But his
extensive knowledge of the physical sciences was rather a
necessary condition, than a proper cause of his success as a
teacher. Many well known instances might be mentioned
of men equal, or even superior to him in learning, who have
entirely failed in teaching. He succeeded where they failed,
because he had a mental constitution by which he was pe-
culiarly fitted for the vocation of a teacher. His intel-
lectual powers were of a high order, and such as would
have made him a marked man in either of the professions
between which he was so long balancing, or in any other
sphere he might have chosen to occupy; but yet were par-
ticularly adapted to the sphere to which he was so early
called, and which he actually filled for so long a time. His
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 419
mind was practical and even realistic in its turn, rather than
speculative ; clear in perception, rather than profound in in-
sight ; strong in its grasp of great principles, rather than
acute and discriminating in analysis ; better skilled in the
orderly arrangement of facts, and the plain statement of
laws, than in the deeper intuitions or higher generalizations
of science, a constitution of mind better adapted to the
teaching, than to the discovery of truth, and to the teaching
of the physical, than of the metaphysical sciences.
It has been regretted by some, that he employed himself
so much in teaching, to the exclusion of original scientific
investigation, by which the boundaries of knowledge might
have been extended. * But it is not by any means certain
that it was not best for his own reputation, and for the
cause of science, that he followed the bent of his own in-
clinations in this matter, and devoted himself more and
more exclusively to the business of teaching. It has been
regretted by others that his commanding talents were not
exercised at the bar or in the pulpit, or in some more con-
spicuous and influential position. But intellectually consti-
tuted as he was, a professorship of natural science was his
appropriate niche, in which his peculiar powers could be
most advantageously displayed, and most naturally, and
hence most successfully exercised. And accordingly, no
sooner was he providentially placed in this position, than
he was for the first time at rest, and thought no more of
law or divinity. It was a settlement for life. And this
perfect adaptation to his allotted sphere, made him happy in
it. There was never one to whom his official labors were
less a drudgery. Though eminently a man of routine in all
his duties, there was nothing perfunctory in his manner of
discharging them. His heart was in his work, and commu-
nicated a fresh glow of life to each of his successive courses
of instruction, even after so many repetitions, and kindled
420 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
a corresponding glow of enthusiasm in each of his success-
ive classes of students.
Thus far Professor Cleaveland has been exhibited as he
was in his official capacity. He was hardly less admirable
in his personal character. Indeed, he could hardly have
been so great as a teacher, had he been less noble as a man.
More even than his intellectual qualifications, did his per-
sonal and moral attributes contribute to secure to him the
eminence which he gained, and the lasting popularity which
he enjoyed, in the vocation to which his life was devoted.
It may not perhaps be justly said of him, that he was seen
to the best advantage when he had put off the robes of of-
fice ; but it may be truly affirmed, that he could not be ad-
equately estimated without being seen in his personal
character and private life.
In his external appearance, and to a casual observer,
Professor Cleaveland was stern and austere j and on a sud-
den provocation, or any obtrusive impertinence, was some-
times passionate and violent. But underlying these rugged
austerities on the surface of his character, and constantly
cropping out from beneath them, to use a term of his own,
there was a large-hearted nature, an exhaustless vein of
kindly and generous feelings. This essential goodness of
heart was often repressed and concealed by his constitution-
al reserve of manner ; but not seldom did it break through
the outward crust, and diffuse over his features a benignant
expression, and give to the tones of his voice and to his man-
ners a winning gentleness. It was manifested in his domes-
tic relations, especially in the gentle courtesy with which he
always bore himself toward the worthy partner of his life.
It was manifested to his clashes, in his friendly interest for
them, in his earnest desire for their improvement, and in
his frank and familiar intercourse with them out of the lee-
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 421
ture-room. The social qualities he had shown in his tutor
ship at Harvard, and which were so artlessly exhibited by
him in his letter to his friend Sewall, already quoted, were
among the reasons of his appointment at Bowdoin, and they
proved not less important to his usefulness and success than
had been anticipated.
These more genial traits of his character were often
shown in his intercourse with his friends and neighbors.
As lie was seen by them in his more leisure hours in his
family or in his study, or in his more private occupations in
his laboratory or his garden, in classifying and arranging
his minerals and shells, in trailing and pruning his grape
vines, he exhibited such an unaffected simplicity and free-
dom of manners, such kindness of heart uncorroded by the
rancors of religious or political strife, such readiness to
communicate information, such cheerful good humor and
contentment, such gallant courtesy, too, in plucking for his
parting guests his fruits or his flowers, that they soon for-
got the great teacher and philosopher, and thought only of
the man and the friend.
His goodness of heart appeared also in his relations to
the community in which he lived. Though retired in his
habits, he felt a lively interest in the general welfare, and
until overburdened with official engagements, took an active
part in all measures for promoting the public good. In
1814 he delivered an address before " the Brunswick, Tops-
ham, and Harpswcll Society for the Suppression of Intem-
perance," which was published by their request. " To a
part of this audience," he says, in his exordium, "I must be
permitted to remark, quod hoc genere dicendi mece vita ra~
tiones nuper prohibuerunt" In 1825, after the occurrence
of a fire in which the factory and a large part of the adjoin-
ing district were consumed, he interested himself in organ-
izing a fire company, and was chosen its first commander.
422 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
Though he was then in the zenith of his fame, and had de-
clined the most distinguished offices to which he was called
from abroad, he gladly accepted this village appointment,
and held it, to universal acceptance, for twenty years. It is
hardly necessary to say, that whenever a fire broke out, by
night or by day ; he was always first on the ground, always
managed the hose-pipe, and always stood, when duty re-
quired, in the place of the greatest exposure.
In this connection, and with the good offset which is fur-
nished by this exceptional bravery which he exhibited at
fires, it may be proper to advert to an idiosyncrasy of the
Professor too well known, and at the same time too little
understood, to be passed over in silence, his general and
excessive timidity. The stories which have been current
for the last fifty years in regard to his fear of lightning,
however apparently incredible, are yet substantially certi-
fied by the concurrent testimony of those who have kno\vn
him most intimately. It is related by persons who were
inmates of his house in the early period of his residence
in Brunswick, that during a thunder storm it was his wont
to lie on a feather bed, taking care that the bed-stead should
be removed to a good distance from the wall, and that a
rising cloud which gave signs of being charged with elec-
tricity, had in some cases kept him from his recitation room,
in others driven him home from college or from church in
the midst of the services, and that it was not until his house
was well protected by two lightning-rods, that he was able
on such occasions to maintain any tolerable tranquillity.
But it was not in regard to lightning only that he was a
timid man. It would seem, indeed, difficult to say in what
respects he was otherwise, judging from the following ac-
count of the matter from the graphic pen of a friend and
relative, so often quoted. " His cautionary bump, original!}'
large, stood out more and more, as he grew older. The
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 423
idea of danger was an ever present one. Did he hear a
dog bark on the other side of the square, his cane was in-
stantly raised and shaken. Did the wind blow a little
freshly, his throat and chin were forthwith protected by a
bandanna. He never pricked a finger, without apprehen-
sions of the lock-jaw. Under a terror of this kind, I once
saw him resort to a powerful prophylactic, which soon
proved to the satisfaction of all present, that his jaws were
limber enough. The slightest indisposition in his family
alarmed him, and the doctor was immediately summoned.
It was this extremity of caution, which prevented him from
traveling, and finally circumscribed his motions within a few
miles from his own door. Long before the stage-coach was
supplanted by the railway car, it had become too dangerous
a vehicle for him. His last journey to Boston, now some
twenty years back, was made in a one-horse chaise. It is
no wonder that he never repeated the experiment, obliged
as he was on that occasion, to make a tedious detour through
the upper counties, to avoid the long and dangerous bridges
on the lower route."
With regard to this singular infirmity, which appears to
have been a very serious matter to the Professor, though
it was an occasion to others of many a smile at his expense,
there, can be no doubt, that it had its seat in his physical,
rather than in his moral nature. It has already been stated,
that he inherited from his mother a physical temperament
highly excitable, and keenly sensitive to electrical influences.
This temperament was exhibited by him in early life, and
was no doubt born with him. So far as his fear of
lightning is concerned, it appears to have been much less an
apprehension of danger, than an uncontrollable nervous ex-
citement. A friend who was occasionally with him during
a thunder-shower has stated, that he had seen others more
afraid at such times, but none so terribly excited. The
424 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
phenomena exhibited by him on these occasions were ap-
parently as purely physical, as the cause by which they were
produced, and as much beyond his control as the storm-
cloud rolling over his .head.
Another marked characteristic of Professor Cleaveland
which deserves a passing notice, was his aversion to change,
his attachment to a settled routine, his tenacity of the ways
to which he had become wonted, in short,his intense conserv-
atism of character. Each duty of the day, from his rising
up in the morning, to his lying down at night, had its allotted
time and place ; and the pleasure with which it was perform-
ed by him, seemed to depend very much upon its occurring
when and where it belonged in the chain of events. He
loved to walk in his own beaten path, and thanked no one
for attempting to turn him aside from it. Any proposed
change from this established routine was in his view pre-
sumptively a change for the worse, and was condemned even
before it had been considered. This unvarying order, even
in matters occurring only once in a year, was insisted on by
him most rigorously in the affairs of the Medical School,
where he had his own way. On a fixed time every year he
gave a list of the Medical class to the printer for the spring
catalogue, and could be induced by no persuasion to antici-
pate this time, no, not by a single hour. When a petition
was recently presented to him by a member of the Medical
class for a change in the time of the examination, it was let
fall from his hand with an expression of astonishment at
the presumption of the act, which will not soon be forgotten.
On Commencement mornings he joined the procession to
the church at nearly the same spot every year, and thereup-
on, as Secretary of the Medical Faculty, formally presented
to the President a list, already latinized, of candidates for
degrees in medicine. To a college man, such as he was,
Commencement day was, like Easter to the Churchman, the
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 425
point by which the calendar was arranged, and from which
the whole year was unfolded. If that was unsettled, every-
thing was deranged. Nothing accordingly could, in his view,
be more portentous of evil, than any project to move it out
of its place. And when, in the progress of things, such a
project came to be entertained, it was regarded by him as
a measure not only revolutionary but destructive, and as in-
volving the whole question between a cosmic order and
chaotic confusion. In advancing such a project, the spirit
of innovation had, in his view, reached a point at which pa-
tience ceased to be a virtue, and where, if anywhere, resist-
ance should be made. The project accordingly encountered,
from its first inception, through all its stages, his determined
opposition. And after it had been adopted, in the wisdom
of the Boards, he never ceased to regard it as a well-nigh
fatal blow to the best interests of the college, and to send
in, year by year, his earnest remonstrance against it. And
he was half disposed to consider the rains which, for sever-
al years after the change, fell so heavily on the first Wednes-
day in August, as providentially sent, to mark that day as a
dies infausta, and to aid him in his efforts to restore Com-
mencement to its old and proper place. But if this con-
servatism of his nature was sometimes carried so far as to
withstand real improvements, this effect was more than
compensated by the steady and effectual resistance it offered
to pernicious innovations. It is owing very much to his
persistent adherence to the old college system, as he found
it at Harvard, and as he brought it with him from thence,
that Bowdoin College has been able effectually to withstand
the spirit of change at some points, where some other col-
leges have yielded, it may be to their hurt.
But no proper estimate can be formed of Professor
Cleaveland's character without taking into view its moral
and religious elements. These, though its least obtrusive,
426 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
were its most controlling principles. There are few men
in whom the sense of duty has been higher or more active,
or whose lives have been more strictly governed by it. It
was his great endeavor, in every condition of life, and es-
pecially in his official relations, to be found faithful. He
felt in an unusual degree the obligations by which the teach-
er is bound to give his best services to the student, and
strove as few have done, to fulfil those obligations in their
fullest extent. Never was official fidelity more perfectly
exemplified. He doubtless performed the work to which
he was called, and for which he was so well fitted, from a
love for the work itself, from a love of action and of repu-
tation, from a love of office and its emoluments, from the
force of habit, and all the common and legitimate motives
by which one follows his vocation ; but there could always
be seen mingling with these, and subordinating them to it-
self, a conscientious regard to his official obligations. His
habitual and cheerful self-denial, his constant sacrifice of
personal ease and comfort, his careful husbandry of time
in which even the fragments were gathered up, his stern
disallowance of all light reading and unnecessary recrea-
tion, his midnight toils, his careful preparation for his recita-
tions and lectures, his punctual and never-failing attendance
upon them, and the earnestness which he carried into them,
were all inspired and ennobled by his sense of official duty.
This, perhaps, more than any other principle, was the deep-
est spring, and the crowning excellence of his character.
Nor was the sense of duty in him a mere ethical senti-
ment, with no source or sanction higher than itself. On the
contrary, it sprung from his religious convictions. In every
relation and in his whole work of life, he regarded himself
as standing in his great Taskmaster's eye, and as account-
able first of all to Him ; and he strove most of all so to
act as to merit His approbation. Through his constitutional
EULOGF ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 427
reserve lie gave little utterance to these religious convic-
tions. But there is good reason for thinking, that with
regard to them he did not feel less, than many who profess
more. Though to a singular and excessive degree he made
his religion an affair between himself and his Maker, no one
who knew him ever doubted, that he was a devout man and
a sincere Christian. Instructed by his venerated father in
that system of doctrine which had been established in New-
England by its Puritan founders, and had been revived by
Mr. Whitefield and his coadjutors, he had never swerved
from it. While he was eminently tolerant of those who
differed from him in the articles of the Christian faith, and
opposed to every species of theological dogmatism, he kept
no terms with infidelity, either in its grosser or more re-
fined forms. Baptized in his infancy, and admitted to the
church in full communion in his early manhood, he walked
blameless in all its ordinances through a long life. His re-
ligious duties on Sundays and week days, were discharged
by him with the same precision, regularity, and order, which
were exhibited in his secular affairs. His Sundays wero
kept after the Puritan manner, and with a routine appropri-
ate to themselves. On this day he banished himself from
his study, and interdicted to himself all his ordinary occu-
pations. After the public services, he might always be
found in his parlor, with his family, when and where he al-
ways read the Christian Mirror and the Missionary Herald,
which he had taken from the beginning. On week days,
after his morning recitation, he attended family prayers, and
after breakfast spent a short season in private devotion,
before entering on the business of the day. On these occa-
sions, he took his Bible and Scott's Commentary from the
place where they were always kept on his shelves, and read
in order the allotted portion of the day. The same copy
was used by him for forty-eight years, and judging from its
428 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
well-worn covers and leaves, must have been read by him
through and through. The last chapter which he read in
course just before his death, was the seventh of Exodus ;
the last psalm, the one hundred and nineteenth, from the
seventy-third to the eightieth verses, closing with the words,
"Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not
ashamed."
Passing as he did from these seasons of devotion, in
which he sat in a child-like spirit at the feet of the Divine
Oracles, and carrying the savor of them with him into his
scientific pursuits, it was proved in his case, as in so many
others, that " it is the aroma of religion which keeps science
from corrupting." The natural tendency of science to be-
come vainly puffed up ventuosis symptomatibus, and to take
an infidel direction, was effectually counteracted in him by
his reverence for the Holy Scriptures. No sooner did the
course of speculation in any department of science begin
to run counter to the plain teaching of the Bible, than he
began to grow cautious and distrustful ; and when it came
to an open breach between science and Revelation, he was
always found firmly enlisted for Revelation, in company
with all those, whose hearts, like his, were " sound in the
Divine Statutes." This was especially apparent in the de-
partment of geology. At an early period, he had embraced
warmly the Neptunian theory of his great master, Abraham
Werner. He afterwards seemed more inclined to adopt
the Plutonian theory. But when he saw that these theo-
ries, and their later modifications, were advanced with an
undue confidence, and that they were assuming an atti-
tude hostile to Revelation, he withheld assent from them
all. He went so far in his efforts to keep clear of the the-
ories, while teaching the facts of geology, that he would
say in his lectures, that a rock enclosed a vein of feldspar,
rather than was traversed or perforated by it, preferring a
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 429
term by which the phenomena were simply described, with-
out suggesting any theory as to the order or the manner of
their existence. In answer to some questions addressed
to him on this subject by his brother, Rev. Dr. Cleaveland,
he replied emphatically, " that he did not believe that facts
enough had been ascertained to warrant the sweeping gen-
eralizations of modern geologists ; that the more his knowl-
edge of the facts of the science increased, the less confidence
had he in any of the theories ; and that, for his own part,
he was ready to subscribe to what Baron Cuvier had said
to him in his last letter, that every added fact in geology
increased his confidence in the Mosaic account of the crea-
ation, taken in its true and obvious acceptation."
It only remains to speak of the closing scenes of the life
of this veteran and venerable teacher. It is appointed
to all men once to die : but to some men, favored beyond
the common lot, death comes at a time and in a way so fit-
ting to the tenor of their lives, that it seems rather a con-
summation to be wished, than an evil to be deprecated : and
so it came to him. Between the close of life's active ser-
vices, and the final rest of death, there often intervenes a
dreary season of infirmity and decrepitude, in which the
vital flame flickers faintly in its socket, before it goes out.
The old man often lives to witness the wreck of his powers,
and to see himself laid away on the shelf, long before he is
laid in his grave. From such a fate, which to him would
have been more dreadful than death itself, he was happily
exempted. Until within a few weeks before his death, his
mental and physical powers were in such full and healthful
action, that he seemed to have taken a new lease of life,
and to have entered upon a new cycle of service. At that
time, near the beginning of the last college year, in Septem-
ber, 1858, some unfavorable symptoms began to appear.
430 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
These, though not very alarming, would probably have been
considered by almost any other person in his place, as to-
kens that his work was done, and his end was at hand ; and
might most reasonably have been urged by him as a plea
for a suspension of his labors, if not a release from them.
His years, by reason of strength, were now almost four-
score. All those who had been associated with him when
he entered on his office, had long since gone to their rest.
He had already accomplished a work of which no man need
have been ashamed. And now, having stood so long at his
post, he might have justly construed his incipient infirmities
as signals for retreat and laying down his arms in an honora-
ble surrender, might have enrolled himself among the milites
emeriti. But such a thought does not seem to have occurred
to his mind ; and had it occurred, would not have been for a
moment entertained. Having entered on another year's
course of instruction, he insisted on pursuing it, notwith-
standing the friendly remonstrances and warnings which he
received. Day by day, for several weeks, this aged man was
seen as aforetime, walking over to his laboratory in the
dusk of the morning, to hear his recitation, although by this
time his disease had become so far developed, that he was
obliged to stop several times on the way, to rest himself
and get breath. In a few days more, his limbs having be-
come swollen, and his chest suffused, and his sight being
almost gone, it was no longer possible for him to walk, and
he was conveyed over in his chaise, consenting at the same
time, though with much reluctance, that during his illness
the exercise should be postponed till nine o'clock. And
when it appeared, as it soon did, that even with these
reliefs, he could not hear his recitation through, he still
insisted upon hearing it as far as he could. The day be-
fore his death he had been absolutely unable to meet his
class. But in the afternoon he drove out ; hoping to recruit
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 431
sufficiently to resume his duty the next morning. Meeting
him at this time, I implored him in the name of his associ-
ates and of his class, to give himself the relief he so much
needed. He replied, with great feeling, and they were the
last words I heard him speak, that there had not been an
absence in his class since he had been ill, and that he should
not be absent himself if he could help it. And accordingly,
the next morning, which was Friday, the fifteenth of Octo-
ber, having slept better than usual, and eaten his breakfast
with better appetite, he was getting ready to go to his rec-
itation, when, at a few minutes after eight o'clock, his dis-
charge came from the only Power from whom he would
accept it. Until this summons reached him, his work was
not even suspended. He ceased from his labors only when
he ceased to breathe. He died with the harness on. He had
reached an age beyond the common limits of human life,
but had not survived his usefulness by an hour. He stood to
the last at the post of duty, with his loins girded about, and
his lamp trimmed and burning, and may well be believed to
have inherited the blessing pronounced upon that servant,
whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
The funeral took place on the forenoon of the Tuesday
following. It was the loveliest day of the season, and all
the air, even during the busy morning hours, " a solemn still-
ness held ; " while the fading tints and falling leaves of au-
tumn, spoke affectingly to the heart of the passing glory of
the world, these gentle voices of Nature sweetly chiming
in with the harsher accents of God's holy providence.
The mortal remains were carried to the village church,
and rested there for a brief hour, while the Scriptures were
read, the prayer offered, the eulogy pronounced, the dirge
sung, and then were borne away to their last resting-place.
The occasion was surrounded with an unwonted profu-
sion of all the outward symbols of public respect and sor-
432 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
row ; and nothing was omitted which taste or feeling could
suggest to add to its impressiveness and solemnity. But it
was most honored by what was least displayed, the awed
and reverent aspect, the hushed stillness, the suppressed
emotion, with which the services were attended by all class-
es of the vast concourse assembled from far and near,
and especially by the students of the college, to whom, as
chief mourners, the chief place in these solemnities was
justly assigned. As the revered form of one who had
been so long a pillar of strength to the college, lay pros-
trate before them, their heads were bowed under the sense
of an irreparable loss. As his great career, filled out to
his last hour with useful and honorable service, passed in
review before them, the righteous verdict sprung unbidden
to every lip, " Well done, good and faithful servant." Nor
was there wanting the costly tribute of tears, wrung from
many a manly heart, to wash his way-worn feet for his bur-
ial. But when they had taken their last look of his vener-
able features at the grave, and all was over, they went their
way, sorrowing indeed that they should see his face no
more, but still rejoicing in the rich inheritance they pos-
sessed in his name and his example.
RESOLUTIONS.
The following Resolutions were offered by Hon. Charles S. Daveis, LL. D.
at a meeting of the Alumni held in Portland, on the Monday after the
death of Professor Cleaveland, and were adopted by them.
RESOLVED, That the alumni of Bowdoin College in this place, as they will
everywhere, learn with lively sensibility and regret the late sudden death
of Professor Cleaveland, and meet m to manifest our regard and attachment
for his virtues, and testify our respect to his memory.
RESOLVED, That having finished his earthly course in the fulness of his
years, his faculties, and fame, it may become us less to lament a loss, which
with all his constitutional vigor and vitality might not have been long post-
poned than it may behoove us to acknowledge the hand of a benignant
Providence which has preserved his days hitherto, and has prolonged the
strength and activity of his mind to such a remarkable term among us,
shedding lustre upon the cause of science in the community where we live,
and abroad throughout the world.
RESOLVED, That while we 'recognize in him the almost sole connecting
link with a bygone age, the friends of learning and original generous pat-
rons of this institution, especially its early governors and instructors ; and
while he has been particularly a bond of union and attraction among the
successive graduating 'classes from' its first Commencement his high de-
sert to all our minds is as the old and faithful servant of the college in his
own peculiar sphere, which he has so much adorned by his genius, enriched
by his labors, and distinguished by the splendor of his name and attain-
ments.
His was an eminent and conspicuous position a light steady, clear, and
refulgent, always to be seen in its true place, with polar directness and con-
28
434 EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND.
stancy, beaming forth with unfailing and undeviating radiance, and replying
to every call of duty and responsibility. To discriminate and do justice to
his varied talents in all their detailed applications, assigned and assumed,
might demand an analysis, scarce less varied and happy than his own.
It was his singular felicity to inspire a pride and awaken an admiration and
enthusiasm in the pursuit of his favorite branches of study and science)
which produced a gathering interest about the institution, redounding no
less to its advantage than reflecting credit on all associated in its adminis-
tration and instruction.
The master of those departments of natural science which he most culti-
vated, so far as the limits of life and human faculty would allow, he was no
less successful as an author than as a pioneer and experimenter, and he ex-
celled alike in the lyceum, the laboratory, and the lecture^ room. With an
uncommon command of powers the most apt for such a province gifted
with extraordinary ease and tact in imparting or extracting information
aided by the mathematical and almost military exactitude and precision of
the teachings which he inculcated, and enforced no less by his example
blended also with those kindly, genial, and social qualities by which he
was endeared to the youthful circle constantly formed around him, he was
equally reverenced as a faithful instriictor, guide, and friend.
RESOLVED, That there are those, and they are many among us, who well
remember the period, when crowned with the laurels of his growing renown,
he resisted the superior inducements held out to draw him hence, and when
he resolved to abide in his former chosen lot, and to devote the best and
last of his days to the office in which he was engaged ; a resolution to which
he held, with characteristic truth and fidelity to the classic precept
" Servetur ad imum
Qualis ab tncepto et sibi constet"
RESOLVED ALSO, That to the weight and influence of his character, and
the prestige of his wide-spread celebrity, we are largely indebted for sus-
taining the College in a period of doubt and depression in its fortunes and
prospects, when the favor of the parent community was withdrawn from us
"by our separation from the ancient Commonwealth; and when, moreover, to
the same,'if not more than any other prevailing cause, we owe the benevo-
lent establishment of the Medical School as a department of scientific in-
struction, second to no other branch of special skillful education, the pros-
perity of which has been maintained with such incessant assiduity by his de-
voted services.; and which will stand a monument to his merit, without im-
EULOGY ON PROFESSOR CLEAVELAND. 435
pairing the sensible value of his general service to the mother institution
or materially preventing the prosecution of those other active, or more
silent scientific labors in which he was so long occupied.
RESOLVED, That at the close of so long a career, and having set his seal
upon some of the most important departments for the advancemeit of
scientific knowledge and the good of human life, we bow in reverent sub-
mission to the merciful dispensation which brings so gentle and peaceful
a release.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That these proceedings be communicated to the
Academical Government, and the family of the venerated departed Profes-
sor at Brunswick, and to our brothers there assembled, with whom we will
unite in any services appropriate to the funeral occasion, as a body, and fol-
low the remains to the grave.
The same resolutions were afterwards united in by the graduates assem-
bled on the day of the funeral at Brunswick, and carried into observance
on the occasion.
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