Memorials of the bar of Lincoln County, maine, 1760-1900

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lOHN A. PKriK>

MEMORIALS

OF THE

Bar of Lincoln County

MAIXE

1760-1900

H V K. K. S K AV^V L T^.

" Bcnciiicta est expositio qiiaudo ns redimitiir a destnictione.'''' — 4
Coke, 26.

WISCASSET:

TiiK SH::i:rscoT Echo Print

1900

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riemorials of the Bar of Lincoln County.

SECOND EDITION.
ILLUSTRATIONS.

1 Chief Justice John A Peters i

2 Pemaquid Harbor, site of Jamestown i8

3 Town of Popham's Fort St. George, by sketch of a

Spanish Spy .■ 19

4 Jamestown and St. Charles, Capital of Cornwall

County, A. D. 1665-1677 24

5 Samuel Denny's Homestead, Arrowsic Island, First

Lincoln County Judge 30

6 Wiscasset, Shire of Lincoln County, as seen from

Edgcomb Heights in 1858 3 i

7 Court House Lincoln County, Wiscasset, erected

18^4 33

8 Water View of Old Fort Edgcomb and Batteries.

from the quay and Penobscot Oak on Folly
Island 36 and 38

9 Court Room Lincoln Bar 40

Tragic Death of Judge Thomas Giles 26 and 29

At a meeting of the Lincoln County Bar Association, held at the
Court House, in W'iscasset, on the sixth day of March, 1900, it was

I'oicd : That Messrs. R. K. Sevvall, Cieo. \\. Sawyer, and Emerson
Hilton be a committee to negotiate and provide for the printing, for
the use of the Bar. of one hundred copies of the report of the proceed-
ings on the occasion of the banquet given by this Bar. Nov. 3, 1899,
in honor of the Hon. John .A. Peters, the voluntarily retiring Chief
Justice.

Memorials of Lincoln Bar.

INTRODUCTION.

I'.V K. K. SEWAI.I., ES(^).

Under the administration of the late Charles Weeks,
Esq.. as Clerk of the Courts, Lincoln bar held an historical
reunion at Squirrel Island on Saturday, August 18, 1883.
Organized and executed with success by the clerk, the
literary exercises consisted of an historical sketch by R.
K. Sewall, a poem b)- Benjamin F. Smith, and "post
prandial exercises" by addresses from Judge Barrows,
Nelson Dingley, Jr., M. C, and gentlemen of the bar
of Lincoln and Sagadahoc. The entertainment was served
at the Samoset House, on Mouse Island. It was the
first service of the bar relating to its historical incidents,
and a formal, distinguished and successful gathering
under conduct of the Sheriff of Lincoln County and a
Judge of the Supreme Court of Maine.

The suppletor)- matter of the present issue was then
and there elaborated and is now introductory to the
colonial narative of this memorial issue.

As an outgrowth of pre-existing conditions of
colonial civil life, forces prevailing in England, having
organic effect in the charter of the loth of April,
1606, the charter part)- of the Popham voyage and
landing on the coasts of Maine, in August, 1607, and
practicall)- applied on the peninsula of Sabino of
Sagadahoc, in a formal act of "seizure and possession"'

I (lorgfs. Mass. Hist. cul. \ul. iS.

of New England under the English theories and
application of the law of valid land title, Lincoln bar is
the legal representative of this English common law
antecedent in New England. In its personals eminent
men have practised more or less at Lincoln bar. John
Adams attended Court at Pownalboro in i 765.' William
Gushing, a graduate of Harvard, 1737, came to Lin-
coln and was the only resident lawyer prior to 1769.
He was Chief Justice, and Sargent, Sewall and Sumner,
associates, at the opening of the S. J. Court in 1786.
Cushing was created associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the U. S. on its organization in 1789. Daniel
Webster, it is said, attended a case at Lincoln bar and
George Evans, John Holmes, and Benj. F". Butler have
practised at Lincoln bar; and our honored senator, Wm.
P. Frye, acting president of the Senate of the U. S., was
admitted to practice law at Lincoln bar.

Our record of notable men at this bar would be
incomplete without the names of Hon. Samuel E. Smith,
for four years governor of the state ; Hon. John Ruggles,
late of the senate of the United States ; and the fact
that the Hon. Chief Justice of J;he Supreme Judicial
Court of Massachusetts died on the bench in this County
of apoplexy on the second day of the court, whose
monument in marble is yet standing in the old Wiscasset
graveyard, inscribed "Erected by the members of the bar
practising in the Supreme Judicial Court of this Common-
wealth, to express their veneration of the character of
Hon. Samuel Sewall, late Chief Justice of this court,
who died suddenly in this place, June 8th, 1814."

I Frontier Missionary, p. 82.

CHAPTER I.

La7u of ''Seizin and Posscssioii' as a Factor of I'alid

Land Title. Jts Origin and Application as a

Colonial Factor in Xcio England.

LAW AS A ( 1\ IL ELEMENT.

Law and the Christian rehgion are types of the
highest developement in human civilization, and are not
only props but pillars of state. Both are rooted in the
principles of natural right and justice ; and summarily
expressed in the Mosaic code of the rock-written
decalogue.

It is a philosophical axiom that order is nature's
first laio. Hut order is a fruition — the creation of law.
Back of all order, in the chaos, where cause and effect
w^ork out issues, there must be a law-maker ; and while
law marshals organic relations of each molecule of matter,
every throb of thought, all acts of the will, in material,
mental, moral, social, civil and religious organism, it is
only an expression of purpose, developement of design,
movement of a plan by force of an intelUgent cause. The
law^-maker is behind all. Law links the chain which
holds all creation to its activities, and in its proper place
all its forms, natural, moral and civic. Society is one of
them, and the state an aggregation thereof, an outgrowth
of law. The integrity of the state is upheld by force of
law which keeps in proper action to their true functions
the underlying forces of right and wrong in life's drama.
Law is therefore a science, and right and wTong the
sphere of its operations.

Law as related to valid land title in English juris-
prudence, known as that of "seizin and possession" is. of
ancient origin and as held and applied, is a common law,
appurtenant to, and safeguard of, homestead rights in
land. This common law force was brought into use as
a factor in colonial adventure in foreign lands early in
the history of North American empire, by England as an
initial step.

In 1492 the fact of a new continental world in the
west from Europe was revived and certified to the
niaritime nations of Europe. In 149^^ the lands of the
new continent were partitioned to Spain and Portugal in
virtue of alleged Divine vice-geral authorit)-, by Pope
Alexander VI, as a dotal act. This act startled and
excited England and PVance. The question of the
validity of such title was raised. France wanted Adam's
will produced and the clause in it shown by which she
was barred from a share in the new world. England
appealed to natural right, and declared there was no
good title in newl)- disco\'ered land without possfss/o;i.
It was her common law doctrine of scizhi and possession.
A legal issue of international scope was started and grave
questions of homestead holdings abroad opened among
the nations. The British lion shook his mane in
parliamentar)- ferocity. Bristling with resentment at
Papal presumption, England roared : ^'prcscriptionc sine
posscssionc Jiaiid valcat'' and prepared to enforce her
common law jjostulate of homestead holding, as an
element of international law applicable to trans-atlantic
titles instead of Papal dotal title. The English dogma
was novel. It was also revolutionary. Spain was
supreme in prestige and power on land and sea and a
favorite of Rome.

9

National issues of trans-atlantic title had become
involved with other matters of state. England was
resolute. The issue narrowed to more or less of religious
prejudice and church perquisite. Spain was incisive and
led oH, not only as the champion of her right to the
exclusive possession of her church dotal in the choice
lands of the American continent, but also in the
assumption of the Divine vice-geral authorit)- and
persquistes of the Pope. More than a centur)- had
passed since the Papal grant, when, in 1580. England
declared' that by the law of nature and nations seizin
and possession were the sole grounds of good title to
newly discovered lands ; whereupon this issue became
the battle ground of statemanship and diplomac\- in the
leo^al arena of international ri^ht.

THE CRISIS.

The argument ended in 1588. Spain decided to
cut the Gordian knot with the sword. She marshalled
an "Armada," heralded the invincible, and called her
great American captain and dog of war, Pedro Menendez,
to lead it. Death intervened to defeat his leadershij-,
and the fleet entered the English channel on the 19th
of July, 1588, under another command.

Encrland fathered her wooden bulwarks, massed her
guns in defense, to storm the channel waters under her
Admiral Drake. On the 21st of Jul)- battle was joined.
Fifteen different engagements were fought. The con-
flict raged to the 27th of July. For six da)s a cyclone of
fire and shot swept the sea around the shores of England.

I Holmes annals \'ol. i. p. i.

lO

Spain lost five' thousand men and seventeen ships
of war, sunk, burned and scattered. This catastrophe
of arms and storm cleared the sea of Spanish supremacy ;
and Eng'land vaulted to empire and became herself
mistress of the sea, a position she has ever since held.
Thereafter the English common law of "seizin and
possession" became a great colonizing force.

England and France at once applied the beneficent
principle to trans-atlantic homestead life on North
American shores. English maritime restlessness and
enterprise in the west organized to discover and take
"seizin and possession" of eligible sites in the new world.
In 1602 the Concord, Gosnald, master, was chartered
and started in execution of the enterprise. This ship-
master conceived the plan of a new and direct route
across the sea to American shores as the winds and
currents would permit. It was within the parallel of the
43d degree N. L. In seven weeks he struck New England,
on the coast of Maine, in a land full of hillocks,, an out
point of tall grown trees ahead north, a rocky coast at a
point fringed with white sands. It was a sunrise view
of a May morning. A Spanish sloop with native sea-
men, some clad in European costume, came along side
and chalked a map of the country on the Concord's deck
and called it "Ma-voo-shan." The relation of Gosnold
arrested the attention of the commercial circles of Eng-
land. In 1605 a "new- survey" of this Gosnold land
was projected, and the ship "Arch-Angel," Capt. Geo.
Weymouth, was sent out from the west of England to
execute it, which was done before autumn and in latitude

1 I'eig's Hist. Chronology.

2 Strachv.

1 1

north, 43 and 44 degrees. This survey made discovery of
a magnificent harbor, the Httle River I'emaqiiid and the
notable River Sagadahoc, the great river of the country
of Mavooshan. the landfall of the Gosnold voyage of
1602. This landfall of harbor facilities, hillocks, rocky
shores, fringed with white sands, and rivers described,
became in England a coveted point of commercial and
colonial attraction, valuable for "seizin and possession."
The relation of Gosnold supplemented by the Wey-
mouth survey fixed in England the 'louts in quo of emi-
nent domain for a "great State."

The spacious harbor, grand river tributaries, mag-
nificent woods of great mast trees and oak ribs for ships,
abounding seashore fisheries, beaver haunts and otter
ponds, were the appreciated features of commercial and
industrial promise "of places fit and convenient for
hopeful plantations."'

Gosnold's landfall of the Ma-voo-shan country, the
beaver haunts of the Sheepscot and Kennebec, Pema-
quid and Muscongus, environed with the "strangest of
fish ponds" in the sea, and land marks most remarkable
from Monhegan and its island archipelago with hills north
and east and the twinkling mountains of Aucocisco in the
west, in 1606 had become a land of promise to the
commercial industries of England for a seat of empire in
North America.

But France had forestalled England in the applica-
tion of her law of seizin and possession to the lands of
the new w^orld and planted colonial foothold in New
F^no^land on the St. Croix River, east of Ma-voo-shan
in 1604. Nevertheless, recognizing the legal tenure of

I L barter, 1620.

12

the French occupancy, England hastened to make good
her legal hold in the lands west. On April loth, 1606,
the English purposes to utilize her common law of seizin
and possession in North America in the latitudes of her
surveys took form and expression in legal muniments of
contract.

The Chief Justice, Popham, of the bench of England,
organized a corporate body on a crown grant hedged
with specific agreements. "We do grant and agree,''
is the opening of the contract. In tenor it was a license
conditioned to the issue of future and further conces-
sions. The grantees were government contractors. The
transaction was a formal, legal conception of a valid
permanent title of possession of homestead holdings of
the English race at the points of seizure, discovered and
seized as "fit and convenient"' places for making of
habitations and leading out and planting of volunteer
subjects of Great Britain. The contractors agreed to
build and fortify where they should inhabit ; and could
lawfully colonize onl)- such residents as would voluntarily
emigrate. Permanency of possession, homestead estab-
lishment of English people, alone could fulfill the
conditions precedent of the colonial undertakings. Such
a colonization accomplished, insured, under ro)al stipula-
tion, endowment of plenary- right to the fruits of their
undertaking to the contractors, their heirs, assigns and
successors, in letters patent or crown deed to the lands
by them seized and occupied, which issued in the great
New Elngland charter of 1620.

I need not say the facts above stated were a practi-
cal-expansion and enforcement of the English common

I Cliarter, 1606.

law doctine of valid land title to North American soil, to
serve purposes of state as well as corporate interests.
The contract of the loth of April, 1606, pregnant with
the forces of English common law land title, at once
began to untold the era of English colonization north of
Florida, in E^nglish cartography marked "Verginia."

Two colonial adventures were started within definite
bounds for the shores of North America, known as the
first and second colonies. This scheme for seizing and
• establishing a legal land title in right of the English race
on North American soil, was applied in Maine and set
to work (Hit natural results with all the machinery of
law into which the civilizing forces of Christian ethics,
natural right and justice fully entered to shape an embryo
state on the 20th of August, 1607.

TME RKiHT ASSERTED.

The PVench, who had forestalled the English in a
'"seizure and posscssioir east, alert to extend the posses-
sion of the Celtic race in New England, some three years
after the English seizure witliin the 43d degree and a
supposed abandonment, on rumor thereof at St. Croix,
planned an expedition to seize the abandoned region, led
by Captain Plastrier, the French commander. Reaching
Monhegan, a dependency of Pemaquid off Popham's
Port, two PLnglish ships from the little harbor of Monhe-
gan captured Plastrier and held him prisoner by force
and arms till he promised to return east and abandon his
purpose of expansion of French territory ^t the expense
of English rights of possession in the latitude. The
Englishmen produced letters of royal authority in
justification of their acts,' saving" they were masters of

I Caryon's letters. Dairil's narrative.

H

the place," probably the charter of the loth of April,
1606, of the Popham colonial enterpise. This public
assertion of land title in rioht of the English race was
the earliest outgrowth of the English law of seizin and
pessession recognized as an element of international law
now put in force in the colonization of North America.

The charter licence of April loth, 1606, (and
charter party of the Popham colony), is therefore the
guarantee of land titles to colonial life in New England.
The common law of land titles in P^ngland applied as an
international right to the soil of the North American
continent, in its expansion and application to colonial
holdings prior to 16 19 and in virtue of the Popham
colonial startat Sagadahoc, established legal possession
of New England in right of the P^nglish race and settled
English homestead life in more tJian one place, agreeable
to the desire of the colonial settlers on the coast of Maine.
On the 20th of August. 1607, the climax of P^nglish land
title was consumated, on Thursday, when all the colonists
landed at Sagadahoc, and the President, Popham, ''sef f/ie
first spit of ground^' to fortif}', and after him all the rest
followed, thus waiving and merging the ancient symbolic
act of seizure by "turf and twig," by breaking the soil
with a spade.

CHAPTER II.

LINCOLN" (nLMNE) UAK.

lis Colonial Rootlets i6oj. and Climax iSy(^.

In English jurisprudence the bar represents a
conception and contri\ance in the administration of law,
founded on the Roman idea of a tribunal of justice. The
bar is a factor of our civilization. It is, in fact, a duly
organized body of men. schooled and skilled in the
principles of justice to be an organ of sovereignty, to
determine questions of right and wrong in society, and
enforce the demands of natural justice, agreeably to good
conscience and fair dealing'.

Lincoln bar is the representative of legal procedure
in the earliest appliances of the common law of England
in New England as a colonial factor. Originally its
jurisdiction embraced a section of the coast of North
America in and about 44 degrees N. L. : — a country
specifically located between Cape Small Point and the
eastern expansion of Pemaquid dependencies, on dis-
covery, in 1602. called b\- the natives "Mavoo-shen"' ; in
the PZnglish colonial transactions of 1607 contracted to
"Moashan"^ ; and in the annals of colonial P^nglish
literature described as "The Kingdom of Pemaquid. "^
The earliest civil organization for general legal jjrocedure,
was formed into a ducal province, as the count)- of
"Cornwall." after that of England, the home in the
fatherland of man\- of the earK" imm it-rants thereto.

1 Hutchinson Hist. Ma[)

2 Popham's despatch.

3 Strachy.

i6

Lincoln was applied to the same civil jurisdiction in
1760, in honor, (it is supposed), of the ancestral home of
(jovernor Pownal, who signed the act creating the county.

With these facts relating to the origin, succession,
name and jiwisdictiojial territory of Lincoln bar, we
proceed to the facts of antecedent administration of law
and justice within its bounds; together with the princi-
ples of civil polity on which the administration vested
underlying legal rights.

We therefore go back to the reign of Queen Eliza-
beth of England, when her nobility besieged the throne
with calls of urgency for English colonial seizure and
planting of North American soil. "The wings of a man's
life," they cried in her ears, "are plumed with the feathers
of Death,"' till the hesd of the English bar was autho-
rized to act in the premises, and the Royal Licensure of
April 10, 1606, was issued, — the charter-party of
the Popham colonial exodus from England, in 1607,
embracing a code of civil principles which were organized
on the colonial landing, and into its Pemaquid expansion,
and enlarged in the patent of February 20, 1631, and
there reduced to practical use in the judicial construction
of a civil polity on the basis of the common law of
England.

The hrst court organized in New England was
within the ancient jurisdiction of Lincoln County and in
Popham's town of Fort St. George, where first were
applied the forces of the common law of England as a
colonizing agency. The antecedents of Lincoln bar were
the outgrowth of the royal charter aforesaid : — an inden-

I Brown's Genesis.

ture drawn up by Lord Chief-Justice Popham of England.

Its execution began in the English seizure and
possession August 20. 1607, of the peninsula of
"Sabino," the west shore of the mouth of the Kennebec
river, then, as now, known as the "Sagadahoc," its
Indian name. The colonial grant was a pregnant act,
having fuller expansion at Pemaquid and old "Sheepscot
farms," up to 1689; ^^^'-^ matured in the administration
of law, as now\ at Wiscasset Point in i 794.

The unfolding of the charter of April 10, 1606,
started English homestead life and industries on North
American shores in lat. N. 43 to 44 degrees. One
hundred and twenty English colonists landed under
the English tlag. The site of a town was chosen. The
hrst act was solemn consecration of the spot by the
worship of God and a sermon, according to English
canonical law and formularies of the English Episcopal
Church. A code of law was promulged and civil polity
organized, and a court of law^ opened.

Sir George Popham was nominated, not as a vicero)-,
governor or mayor, but as president of the embr\o
state, to wield the sovereignty thereof, and duly inducted
to office, with subordinates, by solemn oath.

The material fruits of the movement were an English
hamlet of fifty houses, a warehouse, a church with a steeple
to it, an elaborately entrenched fort, well mounted with
guns, a ship)ard with a thirty-ton vessel on the stocks
and a court of law.

The president, with sworn assistants, were the Court
officials. It had a seal. "Sigelluni Regis Magnae Brit-
ianiae, Franciae .et Hiberniae,"' was the legend of one

I l''ipham Memorial vol., Appendix S. p. 133.

i8

side ; and on the other, "Pro ConciUio Secundae Colo-

niae, V^irginiae,"

All the rights, privileges and liberties of English
home-born citizenship were guaranteed. Trial by jury
and the writ of habeas corp2is were grants of right to the
people.'

Every safeguard of life, personal liberty and
l)roperty, to the English common law appurtenant, was
set about the new homestead life of the English race here,

n

^

PEMAQUID HARHOK.

(Site (if "Jiuiiestown." Capital nf Conwall County. (1665), and Fort Charles. )

as a hedge, even to the use oi the elective franchise in
the civil office of chief magistrate.' So all the forces of
Christian civilization were planted at Sagadahoc. Tumults,
rebellion, conspiracies, mutinies, sedition, manslaughter,

1 hleni, Appendix A, p. 94.

2 "These my loving subjects shall have the right annually to elect a president and
make all needful laws for their own government," etc. Memo. vol. page 94.

19
incest, rape and murder were capital crimes. Adultery,
drunkenness and vagrancy were penal offenses."

All offenses were required to be tried within the
colonial precinct. Magistrates were ordered to hold
sentence on judgments recovered, in abeyance for appeal
to royal clemency to secure a chance for pardon. To

ao of Si Ge5rg-c e rjf( I Pop*^a"

» Spar-'

facilitate this feature of legal mercy, the court was
required to keep full records and preserve the same.
Preaching of the Christian religion was ordained as
matter of law, as well as Christian teaching- and civili-
zation of the Indians.

It will be seen the scope of jurisdictional issue of the
court at its colonial start in this county was substantiallv,

1 See Charter, April lo, l6o6.

20

as relates to crime, the same in its cognizance as now.

No records of the adjucHcations of the court of
Pophani's town of F'ort St. George have yet been re-
covered.

The only legal public paper extant is a dispatch of
President Popham to the King of England, dated at the
old town, December 13, 1607, detailing present success
and incidents of promise of the colonial holdings, written
in Latin, the then language of state papers.

Lord George Popham, the first president of a civil
magistracy (shall we say within the United States?) and
first chief justice of a court of law within the ancient
jurisdiction of Lincoln County, is described as having'
been an aged, God-fearing man,' stout built, honest, dis-
creet and careful, somewhat timid and conciliatory ; but
he was the life of the colony, made up of London men
and West of England rural life.

Rawley Gilbert, second in command, representative
of the London city element of the colonial adventure, is
said to have been a very different man from his chief.
He is described to have been a "sensual, jealous and
ambirious man, of loose habits, small experience, poor
judgment, little religious zeal, but valiant," and a mis-
chievous factor in colonial affairs.

The prudent Popham, nevertheless, reconciled
differences and soothed friction during his administration,
which ended with his life in February, 1608. The last of
January, fearful thunder, lightning, mingled rain and
snow, hail and frost, for seven hours in awful succession
overwhelmed with cyclonic winter rigors the colonial

I Brown's Genesis of the United States.

21

hamlet at Sagadahoc. It survived the climatic rigors, but
encountered, the death of its godly chief on February 5,
1608. further to experience catastrophe in the selfishness,
irresolution and caprice of the Gilbert succession to the
management of the life issues of the new beginnings.
Popham was no doubt a victim to the climatic convul-
sion of the January storm.

The spring brought timely supplies from England.
Capt. Davis reported "he found all things at Sagadahoc
in good condition : — many furs stored, and the "\lrginia."
a prettt)-, thirty-ton vessel, built, launched, ready for
service."

Nevertheless Admiral Gilbert planned a return to
London ; and ha\ing the s)-mpath)- of the London faction
of the colonists, set sail in the London ship "Mary and
John." with the pretty "Virginia" and her master-builder.
Digb}- of London, laden with colonists in s)-mpath)- at
least with Gilbert, — abandoning the colonial Sagadahoc
river site. "The colonial president was dead, and Admiral
Gilbert had sailed awa)- on or about the eighth of October,
1608. with all but 'fort)-five' of the colonists,"' is the
story of Captain John Smith. So it is not certain there
was entire consent to the return of all the colonists on the
official abandonment. It is certain the Popham Hagship.
the "Gift of God." and her fly-boat or tender, are not
mentioned in the return.

But the Lord Chief Justice of P^ngland, Sir John
Popham, had died, and his son F"rancis had succeeded to
his father's estate ; and by him it seems this abandonment
was protested. It is certain the Popham interest in the
colonial adventure did not concur in the Gilbert move-

I Smith, Mass. Hist. Soc. vol. i8, p. 1 15.

22

ment. Sir Francis . withdrew his father's ships and
interest from the corporation, and put them in service on
the same coast in the fur trade and fisheries, out of which
a "Port" was created and opened at Pemaquid ; and of
sucli influence, importance and extent, that the great
historian of our colonial life in New England, Strachy,
recorded "that to the north in the height of (lat.) 44
degrees lyeth the country of Pemaquid : — A kingdom
wherein our western colony upon the Sagadahoc was
sonie time settled."

History so connects Pemaquid and Sagadahoc in the
Popham colonial planting of English life, law and civiliza-
tion here and within the ancient jurisdictional limits of
Lincoln Bar.

The settlements were of the same colonial parentage ;
and we must now turn to Pemaquid in further search of
colonial court procedure.

Prior to 1625, the Popham interest at Pemaquid had
grown to an expansion as well as a concentration of
commercial industries, absorbing the entire trade of
Indian peltries on the main ; and population had increased
at and about Popham's "Port," described on John Smith's
great map of New England, and sketched at the head of
John's Bay named "St. Johnstown," so that land had
become valuable for speculative purchase.

In 1 6 14, when Smith made his surveys from Mon-
hegan Island, for the great map of New England, he
found the Popham "Port" and describes and sketches it
at the head of John's Bay, and gave it the name of "St.
John's Town. Here one John Brown, a mason, had
settled, and began the purchase of large bodies of land,

under Indian titles. "Sa-ma-a-set"' the "Lord of Pema-
quid," favored Brown's greed for land. Popham's port
of "St. Johnstown," had now become "New Harbor," in
the annals of the day.

Robert Aldworth, mayor of the city of Bristol, Eng-
land, had established a trade plantation at the mouth of
Pemaquid River, and transferred a branch of the mer-
cantile hrm of Aldworth <& Elbridge, of that city, to the
west shore of Pemaquid Point, to utilize the harbor trade.
Abraham Shu rt was the resident agent of the firm, and
an English magistrate of the plantation.

Brown, Sa-ma-a-set, Ungoit (probably Samosset's
wife), and Shurt here executed the first deed of a great
land deal, with the neat, compact formulary of acknowl-
edgement still used in New England, of which Abraham
Shurt was the author, and probably used a formular)- of
the common law of England, as follows, viz : "July 24,
1626, Captain John Samoset and Ungoit, Indian Saga-
mores, presonally appeared, and acknowledged this
instrument to be their act and deed at Pemaquid, before
me, Abraham Shurt." This is the only record of a formal
legal transaction, with the implied existence of a magis-
trates' court and record, earliest in the Pemaquid
section of the Sagadahoc colonial settlement.

In 1 63 I, the AkKvorth and Elbridge Plantation had
grown to the importance of an emigrant depot, with a
ship of 240 tons, sixteen guns, in current trade with
Bristol, England, called the "Ano^el Gabriel," unfortu-
nately driven ashore and wrecked in the harbor of
Pemaquid in an August gale, 1635. ^^^ business

I M Historical Collection, vol. 5, pp. 16S, iSC), Sam )ss=t <>( riyiiiouth History.

24

expansion of this harbor site had reached the sea-island
dependencies of Monhegan and Damariscove and a
proprietor's court was organized and held there, of
which Thomas Elbridge was the judge, to which the
inhabitants of these islands (and no doubt the neighbor-
ing mainland communities) resorted for redress of legal
grievances. We have yet found no records of this court
extant. Its charter privileges and scope of civil rights
are found in the Pemaquid patent, granted Feb. 29, 1631.
A census of the year preceding shows eighty-four
families, besides fishermen, appurtenant to this planta-
tion.' Indeed this Pemaquid settlement was larger and
more important than the capital of Canada." The bill of
civil rights to the people of Pemaquid recites that its
issue was made with a view to "replenish the desert with
a people governed by law and magistrates !" It author-
ized a democracy in scope and practice as perfect as that
of this day, of which our existing concessions of civil
rights, we think, are offshoots.

The principle of a majority rule was set in the
machinery of civil power at Pemaquid. "PVom time to
time, (it was declared), the people may establish such laws
and ordinances for government, and by such officer and
officers as most voices shall elect and choose."'-^ Such
w^ere the principles of civil right and law, laid as the basis
of legal enforcement and adjudication of the proprietors'
court at Pemaquid till Sept. 5, 1665.

On the twelfth of March, 1664, the great fishing
plantation of Aldworth and Elbridge, and Popham's

1 5tli vol. Mass. Mist. Soc. Col., p. 197.

2 5th Vol. Mass. Hist. S.ic. Col., p. 190. rhoniton.

3 See I'eniai|ui(l Patent.

^ M

^ Q

•* JS

25

estate on the east side possessions, were acquired by the
Crown of Great Britain, and converted into a ducal
province for the Duke of York, under the st)le of
"Pemaquid and Dependencies." A new civil organiza-
tion was created Sept. 5. 1665, by a royal commission at
*'Sheepscot Falls," which held its sessions at the house
of John Mason.

Pemaquid and its dependencies were erected into a
county, called Cornwall, and two towns as centers of
administration of civil affairs were created. The chief or
capital embraced the Pemaquid Harbor Plantation,
Islands and "New Harbor," the old Popham Port, and
named "James Town" of Pemaquid, probably in honor of
James, Duke of York, the royal proprietor of the
Province.

The "Sheepscot F'arms," were created a shire town,
called "New Dartmouth," probabl)-. from the fact that
most of the population were immigrants from Devonshire,
and its river "Dart."

A new legal tribunal was organized, called "Court
of General Sessions," and made a court of record. Its
sittings were held on the last Wednesday of June and the
first Wednesday of November. The November session
was at Jamestown, where the chief justice resided. The
circuit was held at New Dartmouth.

Sullivan sa)s this court had jurisdiction of ecclesias-
tical affairs. In disagreements of opinion. Chief Justice
Jocelyn decided. William Short' was clerk of court at its
Jamestown sessions ; and W'alter Philips, at the New
Dartmouth sessions, who resided in Newcastle, near the
bridge.

I M. f list. Col .J vol. 5, p. 57.

26

The records were described "Rolls and acts and
orders, passed at sessions, holden in the territories of the
Duke of York." John Allen of Sheepscot was high
sheriff. This important record has ■ not yet been found.
May it not yet exist among the title papers in the royal
family or archives of York in England ?

The precepts of this court, with a declaration of
claim, authorized a capias against a respondent.
We have notes of one trial for murder at Pemaquid, in
November, 1680. Two parties were arraigned, Israel
Dymond and John Rashley, for the murder of Samuel
Collins, master of a vessel called the Cumberland, by
drowning him. Of final results, we have no record.

But we have record of this court of the trial of John
Seleman of Damariscove in the New Dartmouth shire,
Nov. 16, 1686, for assault on the sheriff, and threats of
murder of his wife. On plea of not guilty issue was
found for the king ; Seleman was fined and placed under
bonds for future good behavior.

CHIEF JUDGES OF COURT OF CEXERAL SESSIONS.

Henry Jocelyn, a magistrate of the Province of
Maine, under Gorges, moved to Jamestow^n, Pemaquid,
and in 1677 ^^^ ^^^^ him holding court as chief justice of
the session and head of the judiciary of the ducal state.
At Jamestown, he lived and died prior to 1683. Eminent
for loyalty to the crown, peace and good order, fidelity
to his public duties and uprightness of life. Chief Justice
Henr.y Jocelyn died in his judicial robes, unsullied, and
was buried at Jamestown, Pemaquid, between the 24th of
August, 1682, and the loth of May, 1683, his remains
still laying within the confines of the Old Fort cemetery..

27

Public necessity required the vacant chief's seat at the
head of the court of general sessions to be filled and on
the 28th of April, 1684, Thomas Giles was commissioned
chief justice of the same court.

Judge Thomas Giles was a land owner and of
agricultural habits, residing near the F'ort. with outlaying
farms near Pemaquid F"alls above. He was a strict
observer of the Sabbath, and otherwise seems to have
been a conscientious and God fearing man, and exerted
himself, not without difficulty, in correcting abuses of
military authority. During his administration the revo-
lution of William and Mary occurred. The English
throne, under the Stuart dynast\-. tottered and fell, ending
the Duke of York's jurisdiction at Pemaquid in 1689.

The P"rench were alert to suppress English suprem-
acy in New England, and stirred up Indian allies to
improve the opportunity of public confusion and anarchy
incident to a change of dynasty. The combined forces
planned invasion and overthrow of British rule and to
seize the P^nglish P'ort Charles of the ducal province, and
subdue the old county of Cornwall. It was the 12th of
August, 1689. Judge Giles had gone to his farms at the
Ealls with his little sons to superintend harvesting of
crops and the care of his corn field. It was noon. Dinner
had been served to his workmen. Giles and his sons
were still at the farm-house and workmen dispersed to
their labor. Suddenly the guns of Fort Charles sounded
an alarm. All were startled. The Judge said he hoped
it heralded good news of reinforcements arrived at the
F"ort, with soldiers returned who had been drawn off.
The next moment a savage yell and the war-hoop with
crash of volleys of musketry froni a hill in the rear

28

shocked the ear. This din of war brought the Judge to
his feet, crying, "What now ? What now ?" It is the
story of his boy, a child, his youngest, an eye-witness.
His father seemed handhng a gun. Moxus, sachem of
the Kennebec Indians, led the fray. The child tied. A
painted savage with a gun and cutlass, the glitter of
which dazed the child, who, falling to the earth, was
seized and pinioned. Led back to his father he saw him
walking slowly, pale and bloody. The men at harvest in
the field were shot down where the)- stood or as they Hed
to the flats, and others were tomahawed, crying, "O,
Lord ; O, Lord." Those taken captive were made to
sit down till the slaughter ended and then led towards
the Port, a mile and a half distant, on the east side of the
river. Smoke and crash of fire-arms were seen and heard
on all sides. The old Fort Charles was in a blaze which
with the roar and fiash of cannon added to the din and
dismay.

The Judge was brought in. Moxus expressing his
personal regrets, saying. "Strange Indians did the
mischief." The Judge replied : "I am a dying man ; and
ask no favor but a chance to pray with m)- bo)s !" Then
earnestly commending them to the care and favor of God,
with the calmness of assuring faith, took leave of his
children with a blessing, encouaging them with the hope
of a meeting hereafter in the better land. Pale and faint
with the loss of blood now gushing from his shoes with
tottering steps he was led aside. "We heard the blow of
the hatchet, but neither sigh nor groan." is the story of
the child. Seven bullets had pierced the body, which was
buried in a brush heap where he fell. It was in view of
the Fort where the smoke and thunder of battle ragged

29

till surrender of the Fort antl town was achieved, and
some twenty houses of Jamestown were burned to the
ground. This catastrophe ended the civil, religious and
industrial existence of old Cornwall County with its
Pemaquid dependencies of Popham's Fort. Smith's St.
Johnstown, the Aldworth and Elbridge Plantation of
Jamestown, and the new Dartmouth municpality of
"Sheepscot Farms" of near three-quarters of a century's
standing and growth. With the death of Chief Justice
Giles, the ancient aristocratic organization, social, civil
and religious, with old Cornwall County passed away.

REVIVAL OF CIVIL ()R( LWIZATK )\.

The result of the fall of Fort Charles made the ducal
province subject to Massachusetts Bay jurisdiction under
Governor William Phipps, a native of Pemaquid, who
erected the famous stone fort, William Henry, in 1692.

The civil existence of the county of Cornwall was,
however, ended in the catastrophes of French and Indian
assault, upon the capture of Jamestown and the fall of Fort
Charles of Pemaquid, 1689 - collapse of the Stuart
dynasty, involving the tragic death of Chief Justice
Thomas Giles at Pemaquid Falls, and the capture of his
wife and children.

Town and court records, title deeds, and public
papers were all scattered and destroyed ; the coimtr\-
made desolate and waste. The ancient plantations of the
ducal province became solitudes, and so remainetl till
1 7 16, when Georgetown, embodying the Arrowsic Island
re-settlements of 1 7 14, was incorporated by Massachu-
setts and made the shire of a new^ county called Yorkshire.

Anno Domini, 1728, Samuel Denny became a citizen
of the New Town and had his Garrison House near the

30

Watts Fort, head of Butler's Cove, where a meeting
house stood in a hamlet of some twent)- or thirt)- home-
steads. Denny was an educated Englishman, industrious
and thriftful. and also a civil magistrate. There he held
a court and, it is said, acted as his own bailiff. John
Stinson, also, was a Yorkshire magistrate, whose jurisdic-
tion covered Wiscasset ; and Jonathan Williamson of
Wiscasset was a deputy sheriff. But no court of record
existed till the organization of Lincoln County, June 19,
1760.

The interest and intluence of the old Pl)-mouth land
company fostered the new county developement, caused
to be incorporated a new town on its lands, called
Pownalboro, as the shire town of the new count}- of Lin-
coln, and erected a court house and jail on the east bank
of the Kennebec, built of hewn timber,
succeeded

Lincoln succeeded to
the jurisdictional territory
of old Cornwall, the
province of 1664, embrac-
ing the kingdom of Pema-
quid, of the colonial trans-
actions of 1607.

The oroanization of a
court of record for Lincoln
in 1762, laid the founda-

tions of Lincoln bar. The
court retained the st)'le of
the old Cornwall courts,
court of sessions, with sit-
tings on the second Tues-
days of June and Septem-
ber.

Sa.miki. Dknnv Fort.

The Homestead of ihe first ludge of
Lincoln I'lar, Samuel l)enny, near Hutler's
Cove, Arrow sic Island, 172S — 30

3^

Samuel Uenii)-. William Lithoow, Aaron Hinckley
and John North were its judges. Its first session opened
as follows, viz :
"Lincoln SS.

Anno Regni Regis tirtii, Magnae Britainiae, F"ranciae
et Hiberniae primo": and the first order declared Jona-
than Bowman clerk ; and the next the establisment of a
seal, thus : "At his Majesty's court of general sessions of
the peace at Pownalboro, within and for the count)- of
Lincoln, on the first Tuesday of June, being the first day
of the month, 1762, it was further ordered, that a seal
presented b)- Samuel Denny, Esq., the motto whereof
being a cup and three mullets (being the lawful coat of
arms of the said Denny's family) with said Denn)'s name
at large in the verge thereof, be accepted, and that it be
established to be the common seal of this court. '

Li 1786, the supreme court of Massachusetts beg^an
sessions in the old Pownalboro court house.

\n 1794, court holdings were changed from the
Kennebec to the Sheepscot Precinct of Pownalboro, at
W'iscasset Point, with alternate sittings at Hallowell.
Gushing, Sewall, Sargent and Sumner were justices
presiding. The first session after this change had a
formal and dignified opening. Three sheriffs in cocked
hats, armed with swords and bearing long white sta\es,
marched in procession before the judges, the bar follow-
ine to the beat of a drum. From then till now, Lincoln
bar has worked out the issues of law and justice here, at
Wiscasset Point, a site of one of the old Sheepscot
Farms, granted b)- Governor Dougan, a go\ernor of
Pemaquid and dependencies of the old ducal i)ro\ince of
1664.

THE CLIMAX.

Cr.OSE OF THE ACORX TERM. THE FAREWELL.

The planting" a baby oak on the court-house lawn at
Wiscasset, and an evening banquet, in honor of Chief
Justice Peters, were the concluding exercises of the
occasion. A thrifty five-foot sprout from the Penobscot
Oak had been carefully selected, prepared and nursed
for the occassion by the Lincoln bar, to be set out and
fostered as the "Peters Oak."

During the court recess of Friday, the third of
November, 1899', the bar gathered at the place of plant-
ing. Headed and led by the Wiscasset Cornet Band,
the youth from the Wiscasset academy, the children from
the grammar schools and primary depatments of the
village, and their teachers, two hundred strong, marched
in procession to the planting ground, and formed a
hollow square about the bar members and the little tree.
Geo. B. Sawyer, Esq., set the sprout with a new spade,
cheered by cadences of appropiate strains of soft music
from the band. He also explained the novel scene.
William H. Hilton, Esq., formally dedicated the little
tree as the "Peters Oak," as the president and in behalf
of the Lincoln bar ; whereupon R. K. Sewall, Esq.,
moved that the transaction be entered of record on the
bar registry, which was adopted. R. S. Partrdge, Esq.,
made a spirited address of thanks to the school children
for their sympathy and aid, and in eulogy of the honored
chief justice ; and the whole closed with the song of
"America." and three cheers for the Chief. At 9 o'clock,
1'. M., the banquet at the Hilton House was opened.
There were a dozen courses. "The brains and fame of

33

the State of Maine were there," to participate in the
quiet, heartfelt farewell of Lincoln bar to the justice.
Most of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of
Maine added to the eminence of the occasion, with the
United States senator, Eugene Hale. The post prandial
exercises were opened by President Hilton in a brief,
appropritate address of welcome, as follows : —

Brethren and Friends: — In behalf of Lincoln bar
it affords me great pleasure to euXtend to you a cordial
greeting. We are glad to find you within our borders ;
we are happy to meet you around this board. It is well
that we should occasionally lay aside the cares and per-
plexities incident to our profession and cultivate the so-
cial side of life. While your neighborly, brotherly and
social qualities are universally recognized, yet it is well
known and understood that a special purpose promjjts
us to gather here this evening. We have assembled to
do honor to our worthy Chief. We wish to demonstrate
and emphasize our profound respect and affection for
him.

I have always believed and have often declared that,
in m\- judgment, the highest attainment to which a man
may aspire is, that after a long, useful and successful
business career, with a mind richly stored with knowledge,
and a heart full of kindness, and personally radiating
warm sunshine, he shall in the afternoon of life become
a living magnet, drawing to and around him not only
men, but children, who will delight in his companionship
and in his entertaining and instructive conversation.
Very like such a man is our distinguished guest. Chief
Justice Peters.

Brethren : Salute your Chief. I propose the health
of Chief Justice John A. Peters, with the hope that many

years of usefulness, content and happiness may be added
to the years already so well spent.

His honor was greeted by a standing recognition of
the propriety of the toast, and rising said in reply : —

"I thank you for this dinner and this assemblage of
friends. As you all know, I am about to retire from the
bench of Maine. I am proud to say, I am doing it while
I have mind and sense enough to know what I am doing.
I have always been facinated by old Lincoln, and held
more terms of court here than in any other county in
the State, except, possibly, Penobscot. Lamb has said on
a like testimonial it 'was like passing from life into eter-
nity.' Well, I am not ready for eternity ; and I do not
believe that eternity is ready for me. But I have a sort
of indescribable feeling of being buried alive, in thus
taking leave of my duties on the bench. Yet I tell you,
gentlemen, if I am to be buried alive, I would rather be
buried in old Lincoln county than anywhere else in the
world.

An eastern monarch offered a reward for a new
pleasure. Were he alive today, that sought for pleasure
would be his, were he to come to old Wiscasset . . . stroll
to the quiet old court house . . . ramble across the long
bridge to the island . . . and bring up uncier the old oak
'Penobscot.'

The toast master for the occasion was R. S. Partridge,
Esq., who introduced the bar speeches by proposing
"Lincoln County, the Mother of Counties," and called
for R. K. Sewall, Esq., who responded as follows : —

May it please the court, members of the bar and
gentlemen of the jurisprudence of Maine : As I rise to
answer this call, I am deeply impressed, almost startled,
with the fact, that we are standing on this occasion among

the centuries, makino- histor)-. at work on the capstone of
a new niche, as a chmax in the life of Lincoln bar. if not
in the jurisprudence of our State !

I am oiven the motherhood of Lincoln as a theme.
''Mother!'' Who does not appreciate its import? IIk-
word itself is an epitome of all that is true and tend(T in
affection, faithful in nurture, enduring in sjmpath)-, in
humanit)! It suggests a look into the cradle, at the in-
fancy of law within the ancient jurisdictional territory of
Lincoln Bar.

On the twentieth of August, 1607, was organized the

first court of record, with a seal and marshal, in New

England, and within the jurisdictional precints of Lincoln

bar of old, under royal charter dated April 10, 1606,

drawn up by the chief justice of the bar of England, to

plant the soil of New England with the privileges and

principles of the common law of England, as a colonizing

factor. The proceedure of the administration whereof

Lincoln bar was representative, has reached a climax this

term of court. Having brought forward the skeleton of

legal proceedure and principles of colonial antecedents of

the jurisdictional territory of Lincoln bar, to be crowned

with memorial s)mbols ; shall it be with oak ?

■Hark ! Is it a scnig of echoing centuries?

On the banks of the Sheepscot near the old fort,

Chief Justice Peters was caught in an oak.

Not like Absalom by the hair of his head,

But in toils of beauty and strength it is said.

This oak responsive to the judicial caress

Put out its fronds with a view to impress

A due sense of gratitude and promised fruit.

Acorns soon fell in copious showers

To win the judge from all other bowers.

And give a new name to judicial sitting,

A name in fact of rural fitting.

So we have it now in full, and firm

36

Onr Chief Justice Peters' "Acorn Term."

The oak and its acorns have blocked the way,

To close a term with a gala day :

Not with Longfellow hanging his crane,

Illustrative of life's domestic train :

Nor yet with fronds of the old tree top,

But the hanging of an acorn drop.

Or it preferred, you soon shall see

Memorial hidings in a junior tree ;

And that none shall ever doubt or croak

It's a scion true of the "Penobscot Oak" !

The stor)' we will give in a summary of this judicial
finding.

In his service on the bench of Lincoln bar, at Wis-
casset, his honor became enamored of the pure spring
water of the old town ; also, of its rural environments.
The labors of the day suggested recreation and exercise,
by rambling in the woods, and extensive walks. Lured
by the long bridge to quaff refreshing sea airs across the
Sheepscot tides, and to revel in the scenic beauties of
landscape and forest attractions of "Folly Lsland," the
site of the ancient military defenses of Wiscasset Harbor
and the heart of Maine as well, the island still pitted with
earthworks frowning over the narrows, and through the
port-holes of the gun deck of a wooden castle, known as
the "block house," the judge encountered an oak tree of
remarkable features. It excited interest and commanded
admiration. Members of the bar were wont to share his
honor's athletic perambulations.

It was the October term of Lincoln bar, A. D. 1873,
and Wales Hubbard and Hiram Bliss, Esqs., were with
the judge at the oak finding of the court. It was a beau-
tiful October afternoon, the party came upon the tree.
The sight of the tree arrested the party, striking them
with awe and the judge with inspiration.

37

In its proportions, the tree seemed majestic ; not ^o
exceptional!) tall as it was massi\-e and heav)-. Its wide-
spreading branches were large and ponderous.

The character of its fruit was a matter of admiration,
and won marked attention of all as it lay spread on the
ground. Its acorns were then and are now the largc^st
ever seen in Maine. Ever)- nut ])ick(xl in season, is
thoroughly sound and handsome in shape: shells smooth
as if varnished, and almost uniformly exact in size with
each other.

There was then no evidence that the place where the
tree stood had been frequented. It appeared a stranger
to humanity.

Its site is one of the most picturesque spots on the
river or ba)-. Fhe judicial tramp had been one of dis-
covery. The discovery called for a name. What should
the tree be called ? The discussion suggested a variety
of names. The judge was in doubt. He thought the
most appropriate name would be "Neal Dow Oak," be-
cause it drank nothing but water and takers an)- cpianity
of that ! Finall)- the problem was solved in a call for
"Penobscot" ; and Penobscot Oak has ever since attach-
ed. It has been the charm of the venerable chief justice's
October term, for )-ears ; and this term he; has been wont
to call "Acorn Term."

In the plentitude of his inspiration, the judge has
profoundly and instructively soliloquized, ravished with
visions of psychological novelties, in possible virtues of
vegetable life iii his favorite oak, he asks, "Has it sen-
sation, or the function of thought ^ "

His answer, "Certainly! an) thing that is alixe, has
sensation to a certain degree. This monarch looks as if
it might know something! It can adapt itself to storms

3^

and wind. It is said the difference between man and the
tirades of animal Hfe below, is, that while animals may
be conscious they do not know they are conscious, but
man is conscious that he is conscious.

So vegetation in the form of a huge oak, may have
consciousness. Who knows?

"This great tree has likewise in form and shape its
twists and turns, its straightness and crooks, its upward
slopes and downward declensions, its vigor and weakness,
its beauties and deformities, like to many a human being,
illustrative of character, mentall)' and bodily. Most any
character, from the judge on the bench himself, to the
court crier, or janitor of court room where the judge
sits, may be found in the multifarious limbs of this great
oak tree ! And there, innumerable, are both beauties
and deformities yet to be discovered in the manifold
branches thereof, illustrative of human character through
the imagination of the philosophic humorist and investi-
gator."

Such lessons are the judicial suggestion of the find
of a Penobscot oak on the Sheepscot, in a niche of the
history of Lincoln bar.

But the oak has a history as a memorial. In vege-
tation it is the forest king. In industrial hands, it is the
strongest rib of the builder's art. In the annals of hu-
manity, it has been the hiding place of precious memo-
ries : a beacon light to retrospection : a charm to sacred
association, a symbol to inspiration of immortality !

This forest king to the Roman was "Ouercus," and
to the Greek "Druis." Near two thousand years before
Christ, and more than thirt)'-six hundred years ago,
an oak stood a memorial factor to the family of Jacob, the
Hebrew^ a monument of fraternal goodwnll, in a family

39

jar; and was made a memorial of the piirL^^ation of liis
household of heathanism.

The strange gods of his family — "their earrings" and
trappings of idolatry, offensive to the conscience of the
old patriarch — "he hid under an oak of Sechem." This
endowed it with a religious character, and so made the
oak a hiding place from sin in aid of reformation.

The dead nurse of Jacob's mother was buried under
an oak to mark the spot as a "jjlace of weeping," and so
made it a memorial of departed worth and a keepsake of
affectionate regard.

But the oak has been used to have legal matters in
memorial keeping. Joshua, the great flebrew cajjtain,
during the Canaanitish wars, codified rules of govcn-n-
ment for his nomadic race ; and when he had written up
the book of the law of the Lord, he took a great stone
and set it up under an oak. (Jos. xxiv. 26.)

The stone and the oak were used as memorials of a
legal crisis in the nation, viz : codification of its laios.
Gideon too, in a crucial stage of servitude of the Hebrew
race, in seeking divine relief, met God under an "oak of
Ophra."

These facts show the early eminence of the oak, in
use for memorial service, in the dawn of civilization.
Hallowed memories were its secrets.

The oak in history apjK^ars to hold no mean distinc-
tion as a memorial of beneficient events in societ)-, worth)-
of perpetuity.

Its robust durability is suggestive of fitness for me-
morial uses. It has therefore been built into human
history as a rib of perpetuity of atfcxtionate and sacred
r('minisct;nces.

40

Humanity has voiced the idea of immortahty : and
in the oak, in the ideaHsm of nature, to our Saxon fathers,
its symbol.

The Druids of Britain hung their memories of the
past, as well as hopes of the futiu'e, on the oak in the
tree tops of sacred groves.

Is it not fit, therefore, that the bar of old Lincoln,
crowned with hoary memories of the colonial local civil
life of New England of near three centuries, — the suc-
cessor of old Cornwall in jurisdictional service of the
common law of England, should take the oak as its
memorial keepsake and adopt the family of the Penob-
scot oak (a loan from the Sheepscot,) and make it a liv-
ing symbol of the service of the venerable chief justice
of the bench and bar of Maine?

Shall we not adopt its scion, or acorn, in perpetuity
of the respect and affection of Lincoln bar, for our hon-
ored chief justice of the judiciary of Maine, John A. Pe-
ters, of Bangor, whose "acorn terms" have so honored
and adorned our bar?

Shall we not hold these living symbols in perpetuity
of his services to society and civilization (and of partial-
ity to our bar), of the green old age of our venerable
chief, and in memorial of a useful life, in conserving the
peace and good order of society, the stability of our civ-
ilization, the eminence of Maine, in a wise and just juris-
prudence and adornment of her bench with decisions of
law, of merit and sense ?

To Lincoln bar it will be a crown of honor that the
honored chief of the judiciary of Maine has made it the
sittings of the "acorn terms" of his court, and so given it
a place in the niche of the legal history of New Eng-
land ; and the name of Peters a worthy place in the
crowning eminence of the grand old past of Lincoln
county.

Now, gentlemen, with an apology for the use of
your time and patience — and of the thunder of the chief
justice, to get the lightning for this occasion — I take my
leave of the motherhood of Lincoln bar.

18 1

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