USA > Maine > Hancock County > Stonington > Deer Isle's history, comprising that territory now the towns of Deer Isle, Stonington and Isle au Haut, Me > Part 1
USA > Maine > Knox County > Isle au Haut > Deer Isle's history, comprising that territory now the towns of Deer Isle, Stonington and Isle au Haut, Me > Part 1
USA > Maine > Hancock County > Deer Isle > Deer Isle's history, comprising that territory now the towns of Deer Isle, Stonington and Isle au Haut, Me > Part 1
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Gc 974.101 H19a 1848158
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01088 2261
DEER ISLE'S Me.
HISTORY
Comprising that territory now the towns of Deer Isle, Stonington and Isle au Haut, Maine
BY MILDRED SELLERS ALLEN
Of Stonington, Maine
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/deerisleshistory00alle
1848158
PUBLISHED BY
MILDRED SELLERS ALLEN STONINGTON, MAINE
Courier-Gazette Press Rockland, Maine 1934
Penobscot to go straight ahead via Bluehill or turn right through Penobscot and South Penobscot, after passing through which the
TO13 .
Bucksport 300 land
Ferry
01
ge
Verona
Pattini
NOTTE Penobscot>
and
West P. P.O.
Ellsworth
North
Surry
Casting
Blue Alla .
N.B
Brooksville
B.H
WaWer
Sargentville + Fany
Bluebill
Reac
DEEr
East
North
Haven Bay.
stoning's
Viñal Haven
Jericho Bay
1920)
B.L.N.
Isle au Haut.
" Mount DES "Heavy filled lines indicate best routes from Bucksport and Ellsworth State Highways to Deer Isle and Stonington. From Ells- worth route 15 leads to Bluehill, then follow 172 through North Sedgwick to the "Reach Ferry." From Bucksport one chooses at North Island
North Brooksville and Walker's Corner route is best."
To Bangor
motscon River
Penabient
RoAS
South
-
Cafe Rogier
union River
Long Island
38 Little Desertole
sedgwick
(Brooklin
Bri
FOREWORD
All data in the following Deer Isle history is documentary, having been taken in many instances from the original papers, all preserved in very fine condition and on display in the "East Penobscot Bay Archives," owned by Dr. B. L. Noyes, Stonington. We believe there are few Maine towns that can boast of such a collection of valuable material. For instance, here, in a neat old-style frame, may be seen the first town warrant, showing the holes where it was tacked up, warning the inhabi- tants of the meeting to take place April 6, 1789, at 9 o'clock in the fore- noon. It is written on heavy, handmade, rag stock paper with indelible ink, in the legible hand of Gabriel Johonnot, Esq., and as easily deciph- ered today as when it was written 144 years ago. Every town meeting record has been preserved, along with selectmen's accounts, books showing various expenses of the town, and tax schedules.
My work having brought me in contact with the old vital records of nearly all the early settled Maine towns, I can truthfully, and with great pleasure, say that in no town have I found a more complete set of early vital statistics than we have at home, mainly to the credit and painstak- ing care of our past town officials.
I have aimed to publish in this little sketch only an outline of the most vital points of local history in an endeavor to arouse interest in the wonders and possibilities of the Penobscot Bay region and the little island on which we dwell. The boys and girls should realize that they do not have to follow "Seth Parker" in far-off places for stories of adventure and of men and women who have accomplished great feats, for a careful study of the growth and development of their immediate surroundings will reveal much they had heretofore overlooked and contribute something to their store of knowledge.
This is by no means a complete history of the island and the reader should appreciate the fact that it has been rather difficult to condense so many years of historical activities into these few pages. Possibly, in the future, these pages will be elaborated, and much available material added that has not even been touched upon here. Its compilation into a larger volume should prove especially interesting to those who love their island home and cherish its traditions, and respect and honor their brave, courage- ous ancestors who lived in such a way as to make possible an evolutionary development that has brought the island to the present stage of perfection in modern conveniences and social welfare.
MILDRED SELLERS ALLEN
Stonington, Maine, December 15, 1933.
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"AUNT SALOME" SELLERS AT AGE OF 101
"Aunt Salome" Sellers, who lived to be the oldest person in Maine and probably in New England, was born on Deer Isle, Oct. 15, 1800, a daughter of Capt. Edmund Sylvester and Deborah Cushman. She died at her home in Sunset District, Jan. 9, 1909, in her 109th year, the widow of Joseph Sellers, 2nd, having enjoyed the distinction of living in three centuries. Her homestead is yet in the hands of her descendants.
DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
TRACED FROM THE DAYS OF THE EARLY EXPLORER AND INDIANS
There is much uncertainty regarding the early history of Deer Isle. As early as 1556, Father Thevit, an adventurous Jesuit missionary, is said to have sailed along the shores of Penobscot Bay and made a survey of this island. If he gave the island a name no official record was made, so that we have no proof on which we can base any interest being taken in this wild, Indian inhabited, locality before Martin Pring sailed along our shores in 1603. Before reaching this spot he became greatly amused by seeing some foxes disporting themselves on the shore, the incident being so peculiar to him that he named the place Fox Island, and thus it has borne the name down to the present day.
Journeying on he soon came to another spot where deer could be seen from the deck of his pinnace, and from this incident came the name of Deer Island, later called Deer Isle. His were the first English eyes to rest upon these shores as he preceded Champlain by a full year. Wey- mouth and Rozier came in 1605, but they could add nothing to the story of the others and about the only evidence of their visit that is now left is the little peninsula known as Cape Rozier, on the main.
This was but the beginning and naming of an island that was des- tined to become famous throughout the country-for its fisheries, agri- culture, unequaled granite products, used in the world's most wonderful structures; and for its daring, hardy sailor boys who established for Deer Isle a national reputation of able seamanship never to be forgotten. There is something about the atmosphere of the sea that develops a rugged con- stitution and stern mental and moral virtues.
Stretching along Maine's 1000 miles of rugged coast line is a perfect network of islands. Famous among all these oases that have been lifted by volcanic force from the old Devonian waters stands Deer Isle, near the mouth of the Penobscot. Not only is this beautiful island the mecca towards which many a pilgrim foot may turn, but it is also the home of a hardy people, who are suigeneris to the soil. Intelligent, brave, kindly and courteous, it is a pleasure to mingle among them, to enjoy their unstinted hospitality and listen to the wild tales of the sea.
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
Deer Isle is second only in size and importance to the many large and inhabited islands on the coast of Maine. Mt. Desert comes first with its larger acreage and easy bridge access to the mainland but it does not surpass Deer Isle in natural beauty, historical lore, hospitality of its people, and industrial advantages. The public spirited citizens of this smaller island are cherishing the hope that time is not far distant when they will likewise be "bridged across" and have a fair chance to compete with Mt. Desert and surrounding towns and open up this now partially isolated territory to those who are seeking recreation and health along the secluded shady nooks of the Maine coast. We have them at Deer Isle- not Ford-made roads or pine-strewn trails but all those wonderful things that nature has endowed to gladden our hearts and make a peaceful, restful landscape and wholesome community.
Deer Isle is but a short distance from the mainland, perhaps, at its narrowest place, not over half a mile across Eggemoggin Reach to Sar- gentville. It was once the home of an Indian tribe, and the deposits of clam and oyster shells are almost equal to those at Damariscotta. These shell fish were easily obtained, and undoubtedly this was one of the reasons that led the early natives to choose this place for their home. How many centuries they may have lived here cannot now be told, but it is estimated that some of the shell heaps must have been 500 years in accumulating. ;
Stone implements, arrow heads (some purely white) and skeletons are frequently exhumed, and several years ago one of these latter was taken from under the roots of a huge tree. It was the framework of a man who must have been fully eight feet in height, and in close proximity to the location of the heart was an arrow head made of copper. Here is a mystery. The Indians belonged to the stone age and there is no evidence that they knew anything of the metals. By the side of this skeleton was another one of a much smaller man and it is evident that from his bow was sent the arrow on its deadly mission.
The Indians disappeared from Deer Isle long years before the first white settler came to build his cabin of logs and rocks. These pioneers were obliged to live a simple life and one of sacrifice and privation, all luxuries being unknown to them and this desolate country. Shellfish and water fowl were their principal sustenance and these could always be had in abundance. They had but to push their boat off from the shore to catch all the fish they needed.
But little is known of this territory from 1603 to the time of the first settlement shortly before 1762, but it is doubtful if any white man ever
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
lived upon its shores before that time. Major William Eaton is usually given the credit of making the first permanent white settlement upon the island, having come from the vicinity of York, Me., with his family and settling on what was later known as the "Scott Farm," near the North Deer Isle steamboat and ferry landing.
Documentary evidence seems to show that the Greenlaws preceded the Eatons by a few months, both having come about 1760, though a list of early settlers erroneously gives the year as 1763 when Wm. Eaton and the Greenlaws became squatters on the "Reach" shores of North Deer Isle. Rather than sign the oath of allegiance to British power, Eaton is said to have abandoned his home and moved away, as did others, returning after the strife was over to take up his abode on Little Deer Isle. He sold out his first possessions to Nathaniel Scott (then of Ward), the property, ever since, remaining in the hands of the Scotts. William Eaton's cellar can yet be seen near the shore, not far east of the present ferry landing.
There is a well cherished tradition preserved by the descendants of William Eaton that before the birth of Meribah Wardwell (Eaton's wife), her mother, Ruth, was taken captive by the Indians in the vicinity of York, and while in captivity became the wife, by compulsion, of one of the chiefs, and that Mrs. Eaton was the fruit of their union. On the return of peace between the contending forces, the tribe through which she was held in captivity delivered Mrs. Wardwell up to her husband, Eliakim, with the child they named Meribah. Many of her descendants, even to the present day have a skin, hair and physiognomy that betray such an origin.
Michael Carney, an Irishman, previously squatted awhile on the northern shore of the island in the vicinity of the farm of Elmer, son of George C. Hardy, in a short while moving to an island lying between Great and Little Deer Islands, which to this day bears his name. He soon removed and nothing more is known of him, but he did not tarry here for a sufficient length of time to acquire a settlers' right.
The first task of the settler was to provide a rude shelter for himself and family, the sides of this hovel being of logs with a roof of bark if it happened to be during the season when the bark could be peeled from the trees, and the walls were chinked with mud or clay, and oftentimes moss was used. Rocks were piled up at one end for the fireplace and a hole left in the roof for the smoke to pass out.
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
Later, when time permitted, a larger and more commodious house was built, which was much more comfortable during the severe winters then experienced by the early colonists. This new house was fitted out with a big chimney of rocks topped out through the roof with sticks and clay. Lumber and saw mills, a little later, enabled the settler to build a frame dwelling. The first is said to have been built by Ezekiel Morey which was later known as the "Hallet House" at Hallet's Corner.
In these rude, humble huts many children were born and reared and taught to take upon their young shoulders their share of the household burdens and the raising of the crops; developing into strong, husky, stal- wart men and women, fit ancestors to the descendants they have left behind who are still striving and giving their best to the soil and industries of the island, making it the Deer Isle of today.
No easy task was the lot of these determined men to clear the virgin forests and raise food for their families. It was many years after the first tree was felled before land was ready for the plow; meanwhile, planting was carried on, all by hand, around the stumps; corn usually being the first crop, for it grew bountifully in the new land, and the ashes left from the burnt boughs provided wonderful fertilization.
There were no gristmills in the early days so that the corn was pre- pared for food by pounding it with a stick in a wooden or cast iron mortar prepared for the purpose. As soon as enough fodder could be raised, sheep and cattle were kept. Flax was raised for clothing, and the steady hum of the flax and spinning wheel issued forth a merry song from every abode telling that all was well within; the infant hushed to sleep in its low hand-hewn cradle and the mother doing her part to keep the starving wolf from the door.
The people who came to dwell in this desolate land were well aware of the many hardships they would be forced to endure but they were a determined, industrious band of settlers who came prepared to meet reverses and to find happiness and comforts for themselves and families. Though the island was an unbroken wilderness, it was near the fishing grounds, and the Reach shoreline became fast dotted with little huts, their mode of travel being always by boat. When time permitted them to make roads through the forest they began to see the advantages and wealth of the soil and cleared farms, and so a town became rapidly settled.
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
PETITIONS TO COMMONWEALTH-LAND GRANTS REVOLUTIONARY WAR
News must have spread fast of the bounteous living to be had on this newly settled island by those who were willing to work hard, for the Eaton and Greenlaw families had not long to remain in solitude. By the middle of the year 1762 there were several families settled here, shown by a petition sent in to the General Court, Aug. 4, 1762, whereby 16 of them "had been to considerable expense in transporting themselves to a Certain Island at the Eastward within this Province, situate on the southwest of Egemogen Reach, known by the name of Deer Island, etc., and pray that the Court for encouragement for so good a work make us a grant of the whole of said Island or that end of it settled upon as aforesaid, etc."
Some of the 29 signers of this petition stayed awhile, then moved on, their names never becoming associated with early Deer Isle history, while others learned to so love the land on which they toiled that they lett descendants down through the generations to the present day, many liv- ing here now tracing their ancestry back to those brave men who laid the cornerstone of this now busy little settlement-such as the Greenlaws, Eatons, Torreys, Lowes, Clossons, Staples, etc., the Wardwells and others, later crossing the "Reach" to make permanent settlements in the Penobscot region.
This petition was presented without avail, for reasons set forth in a later one dated 1785, being a petition of 58 inhabitants of Deer Island, the first one presented to the Provincial Congress after "Colonial Inde- pendence" from Deer Isle. The printed volume of Resolves of the General Court (Commonwealth of Mass.) respecting the sale. of eastern lands gives the full petition, reports of the committees appointed to sell said lands and list of signers. This list of 58 names corresponds exactly with the list of "Original Proprietors" found in the volume of "Pro- prietors and Town Clerk's Records of Ancient Deer Isle," who were entitled to 100 acres of good tillable soil ; swamp, ledges, and roads being deducted in the summing up of each of one's total acreage ; thus accounting for some having so much more acreage in their "100 acre tracts" than others.
This grant was given only to those who had settled on Deer Island and Sheep, now Jordan's Island, previous to the first day of January, 1784, Messrs. Joseph and George Tyler, Esquires, having been chosen a committee, or agents, to have the lots of land surveyed and allotted to those entitled to same upon the receipt of 30 shillings to defray the expense of the survey. Most of these deeds will be found on record in
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
the Hancock Registry of Deeds, bearing the date of Jan. 1, 1789, from the Commonwealth of Mass. per the Tylers. Others who settled between Jan. 1, 1784, and Jan. 1, 1786, received a 100-acre allotment upon the payment of one dollar per acre.
The Messrs. Tyler instead of obtaining the remainder of the island for the settlers, acted for themselves at the General Court in Boston and obtained a grant for the purchase of the land for a small sum. But they failed to pay according to contract and the proprietors after- wards purchased it. This balance of land, amounting to about 34 acres for each proprietor, was afterwards surveyed in lots of 19 and 15 acres and put up at lottery, the lots given numbers to correspond with the tickets, so that each proprietor drew a lot. This accounts for so many owning a small strip or plot of land in a different locality than his original grant, as seen on the "Peters Plan."
The first topographical survey was made by Wm. Tupper and the lots laid out to actually contain more than 100 acres. John Peters, Jr. (under the guidance of Rufus Putnam of the Eastern Land Commission centralized at Boston), made the second survey of the settlers' lots and cut each settler's quota to exactly 100 acres. The "Peters Plan," while it is a very valuable and indispensable chart, showing the divisions of permanent settlers' rights, cannot be exactly relied upon to give the pre- cise location where the proprietor settled or took up his first land, for in some instances the original settler had already transferred his right to some other party so that whoever held the lot at the time of the survey was credited with the same on the chart, and the first owner, excepting some who were early deceased, was settled elsewhere. This last grant to the settlers provided that 400 acres of land be reserved for ministerial purposes and the same amount for schools.
In 1775 came the Revolutionary War, finding the island with about 69 male inhabitants of nearly 20 years of age and upwards. The British were encamped at Castine from 1779 to the end of the war in 1783, causing considerable anxiety to the inhabitants here, though they were not molested. Dr. Wheeler's "History of Castine" portrays this affray very vividly.
EARLY RELIGION AND FIRST CHURCH
These early settlers were religious people and, notwithstanding their insulated situation, enjoyed the regular ordinances of the gospel at a period considerably earlier than any other town eastward of the Penob-
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Fattura
Methodist Church, Stonington, erected about 1891
"Third Congo Church of Deer Isle," erected at Green's Landing, 1885. It was used first as a Union Church, and burned Aug. 15, 1910. The shell was afterwards remodelled into a modern struc- ture, replacing the one seen above.
"Second Congo Church," built about 1858, North Deer Isle
DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
scot. The first church in the East Penobscot Bay region was erected in Bluehill, being Congregational, about 1768, and Deer Isle came next in the organization of the First Congo Church, the first meeting held Aug. 20, 1773, at which Francis Haskell and Thomas Stinson were unani- mously voted to act as deacons in the newly erected church "as occasion shall serve," the church people having previously been gathered together by Rev. Oliver Noble with Thomas Stinson chosen as moderator, on Aug. 1st.
There are no records, extant, to show the doings of the church from this time until a call was sent, Aug. 23, 1785, to Rev. Peter Powers, then in New Hampshire, inviting him to settle with them in the office of the ministry. As compensation, he was to receive 100 acres of land, and a yearly salary of £100, together with the erection of a dwelling house 20×34 feet.
Rev. Powers accepted the call, the full text of which, together with the invitation, are found recorded in full in the town record books, per a vote of the town passed Oct. 20, 1791, and also on pages 264 to 266 Hosmer's History of Deer Isle, new edition. In this station, Rev. Powers continued to labor with zeal, activity and success for about 14 years, when he was removed from service by death, May 13, 1800, in his 72d year, interment being in Old Deer Isle cemetery.
In the year 1798 a revival of religion commenced at Deer Isle and continued into the next year. A letter written by Mrs. Powers, dated March 20, 1799, is presented in Backus' History of the Baptists in which she states that there were then 40 "Subjects of the work" and many more "under pressing convictions." Mr. Powers was at that time con- fined to his home and Ebenezer Eaton, a licentate preacher of Mt. Desert, going there from Deer Isle, was laboring among the people.
After the death of Mr. Powers the property described in the above offer passed to his son, Prescott Powers; a part of it, including the house later coming into the possession of Levi Greenlaw. The Powers domicile yet stands where the branch road turns off to go to Mountainville and the Greenlaw District, it being the same now resided in by "Dickie" Greenlaw, grandson of Levi, and is, undoubtedly, the oldest house standing on the island.
For ten years after Powers' administration the church was destitute of a regular pastor, being supplied part of the time by any preacher who happened to be traveling this way-Page, Johnson, etc. Phineas Randal declined an invitation to settle here but in 1809 Rev. Joseph Brown
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DEER ISLE'S HISTORY
became installed as pastor and continued for ten years, dying suddenly in September, 1819. Following this, Rev. Abijah Wines preached here and performed many marriages, found entered with those of the two pastors mentioned above in the Deer Isle record books. Previous to about 1773 parties contemplating marriage must have gone to what is now known as Fort Point in Castine, as the chaplain of the garrison there, Dr. Wm. Crawford, was the nearest person by whom the cere- mony could legally be performed. opposite
It might be of interest to mention here that the first meeting house stood upon the spot later occupied by the old Town Hall that was erected on ground almost excavated by a gravel pit nearly across from the Old Deer Isle cemetery. When the new Town Hall was built in the village the old one was sold to Win Thurlow who tore it down and erected same as a barn at the rear of the Pythian block in Stonington.
May 25, 1808, Hezekiah Lane, James Eaton and 31 others, petitioned the General Court of Mass. for permission to be incorporated into the First Baptist Society of Deer Isle. Though the town sent in a protest to this petition, signed by the selectmen, an act was passed in 1809 to allow them to be incorporated. Not long after this they built a church and a branch (under the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Allen) extended to Isle au Haut. This religious spirit increased until several churches were built on the island in different localities.
FIRST TOWN MEETING
An "act for incorporating Deer Isle plantation, Little Deer Island and the Isles of Holt in the county of Lincoln into a Town by the name of Deer Isle," was passed Jan. 30, 1789, and approved by the governor, John Hancock. Accordingly, Deer Isle became a full-fledged town on Feb. 18, 1789, and the first town meeting was held in the old meeting house before mentioned, April 6, at 9 o'clock in the forenoon. Rev. Peter Powers was chosen town clerk, but resigned, and Nathan Haskell held the office until 1803. The first selectmen chosen were Thomas Stinson, Esq., Wm. Foster, Capt. Thomas Robbins, Nathan Haskell, and Joseph Sellers.
Matters of grave importance were taken care of in this first little gathering-voted the minister's salary as £100, according to contract; to build his house 34x20 feet, one story and finished in "same manner that houses commonly are in country towns ;" £60 voted to be laid out on roads, a man's labor being four shillings, and three shillings per day for oxen; Geo. Tyler, Esq., chosen representative to General Court.
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