USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > History of Bath and environs, Sagadahoc County, Maine. 1607-1894 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
Gc 974.102 B32r 1952018
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01085 8097
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
: https://archive.org/details/historyofbathenv1607reed
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4092 0
HISTORY
.OF
BATH AND ENVIRONS, 4
SAGADAHOC COUNTY, MAINE. - -
-
1607=1894.
i
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY PARKER McCOBB REED.
PORTLAND, ME : LAKESIDE PRESS, PRINTERS, 1894
1952018
1.
WilliamKing
COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY PARKER MCCOBB REED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
PREFACE.
The author has devoted much time and labor for some years to the object of placing on permanent record, so far as he has been enabled to do so, the important history of this city of commerce and navigation. In preparing this work for the press, the truths of history have been sought for, official records, and researches have been patiently and perseveringly instituted among the voluminous documents in the Massachusetts and the Maine archives, as also among the records of Old York and Old Lincoln Counties, the Maine Historical Society, and the Sagadahoc Society. Valuable assistance has also been courteously rendered by such historians of repute as the Rev. S. F. Dike, D. D., the Rev. H. O. Thayer, also from Gen. Thomas W. Hyde, Hon. John Hayden; the Hon. J. P. Baxter and the Hon. H. W. Bryant of Portland, in the tender of invaluable maps, papers, and other documents. The "Dates" of Mr. Levi P. Lemont, the brief historical sketch of Gen. Joseph Smith of 1833, and the newspaper writings of Judge Nathaniel Groton have been of much value, and there have been many others who have rendered courtesies that have been appreciated. Special acknowledgments are due to Mr. John O. Patten and Capt. Charles E. Patten for valuable assistance.
It has also been the pleasure of the author to record traditions given him by the few aged people now living, and their number is
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HISTORY OF BATH.
growing less year by year, who have remembrance of local events and historic men of the past.
As in all historical works errors are found, it is not claimed that this history will be faultless in this respect; there has been no end to difficulties found in verifying names, dates, and data which were not matters of official record, within reach of patient and perse- vering research.
BATH, MAINE, 1894.
P. M. R.
CORRECTIONS.
Schools. - The list of principals of the high school, as given on pages 206 and 221, was from the recollection of high authority, the city records not giving a full list of teachers. All records of the High street academy and the earlier years of the high school have been lost, and the memories of those who were students in those schools in years past differ as to their recollection of the full list of teachers. Some of these old pupils confound the principals of the academy and high school on the basis that as the academy was merged into the high school they were essentially one and the same. Combining the principals of both schools, verbal authorities give the list as Jonas Burnham, F. Yeaton, Hawes, Granger, Blanchard, A. B. Wiggin, J. T. Huston, J. L. Newton, L. Dunton, S. B. Goodnow, Wood- bury, Crosby, Galen Allen, George E. Hughes, H. E. Cole, which, as far as can be gathered, includes all those who have been the teachers without regard to order of dates of their employment or in which school they taught. The most reliable list of principals of the high school alone, as obtained from the recollection of several who have been students, is: Goodnow, Woodbury, Wiggin, Crosby, Newton, Dunton, Allen, Hughes, Cole.
In 1892 a fifth grade was instituted in the grammar department, making one year's additional drill and adding book-keeping and geometry, to the better prepare pupils to enter the high school.
Ship-builders. - In the list of prominent builders, on pages 177-8, should have been added William D. Crocker, Charles Crocker (C. & W. D. Crocker, 1826 to 1854), Stephen Larrabee, James Hall, John Lowell, Har- rison Springer.
In this book, where appears the name of G. C. Deering, it should be G. G. Deering.
Page 12, third line from bottom of the page, fifteen acres should be fifteen miles.
Page 20, sixth line from top, it was Simon Lines from whom "Lines Islands " at North Bath takes its name.
Page 34, fifth line from top, at the battle of Arrowsic of Sept. 10, 1722, there were eighty soldiers and men, instead of seventy, that left the fort to attack the Indians encamped a short distance to the north.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Page 37, in the account of the supposed formation of a town of "George- town on Arrowsic Island " in 1716, and the record book of the town having been lost, documentary evidence has since come to light from Massachusetts archives that an organized town did exist at that period which comprised only the island of Arrowsic, "Georgetown on Arrowsic Island." The re-organization of the town, in 1738, was for the purpose of comprising in its territory what afterwards became Georgetown (Parkers Island), Phips- burg, Bath, West Bath, and Woolwich. These documents show that there were town officers of the town that was incorporated in 1716, and that Samuel Denny had been one of its selectmen. It has been the belief of his descendants that Samuel Denny came to ancient Georgetown in 1719, whereas there has been found in Massachusetts archives a document signed and testified to by Denny that he was living at Arrowsic in 1717.
Pages 120 and 121, Chandiere should be Chaudiere.
Page 156, 2,500 tons burden should read 1,500 tons burden.
Page 182, Collector Snow should be Berry.
Page 204, High street academy should read North street academy, in connection with Anderson, who was not a professor.
Page 205, Martin Anderson did not teach in the High street academy, and it was his son, Martin B. Anderson, who became president of Rochester University.
Page 208, J. W. Hayes should be J. M. Hayes.
Page 209, Charles O. Bryant should read Curtis Bryant; Thomas T. Moses should be Thomas F. Moses.
Page 257, Mayor Putnam should read Mayor Bailey.
Page 273, Governor Strong should be Governor Brooks.
Page 285, John W. Mclellan should be James A. Mclellan.
Page 376, Olive Moses should be Oliver Moses.
Page 383, Samuel Eaton Duncan should be Samuel Duncan.
Page 384, Josiah Prescott should be Benjamin Prescott.
Page 487, Pastors, F. Winter settled 1767 instead of 1766.
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1
BATH AND ITS ENVIRONS.
MANY years ago the city of Bristol, situated on the river Avon, was the great sea-port town of England. Long Reach, then as now active in the shipping interest, sent her vessels constantly to that mart of trade and commerce.
Bath, twelve miles from Bristol, was a favorite resort for the bene- fit of its medicinal waters, healthful climate, and fine scenery. Its fame was carried to the banks of the Kennebec by its sea-faring cit- izens, and when the " Reach " was to be incorported as a town and a name more acceptable to the inhabitants was sought, Bath was suggested and accepted as most desirable and appropriate, and was adopted.
The city is situated on the west bank of the Kennebec River, twelve miles from the Atlantic Ocean and two miles south of Merry Meeting Bay, fronting a two-mile, direct stretch of water, termed by the Indians a Long Reach over which to paddle their canoes.
There are few if any towns or cities in the entire width and length of New England, of the like number of inhabitants, whose men of business have acquired larger estates in the same length of time than those who have made Bath the scene of their operations; and their best acquisitions have been not in lines of speculative ventures, but notably in legitimate undertakings. The basis of this prosperity has been the building and sailing of vessels, and these of all descriptions from a yacht to the largest wood constructed ship afloat, and which has led to the building of United States govern- ment naval vessels.
Absent Natives .- Bath has been a place from which many young men have believed it their interest to leave on their out-start in life for broader fields, in which to achieve fame and fortune. As a general rule these absent sons of this pleasant city have met with the success they sought, and the exceptions are few wherein these
At Aux
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HISTORY OF BATH.
sons of noble ancestry have not made careers creditable to them- selves and reflecting honor upon the place of their nativity. And yet it is only justice to believe that these sons and daughters of Bath cherish fond memories of the place of their birth and early manhood and womanhood. Many of them may say with the poets:
Often I think of the dear old town That is seated near the sea ; Often in thought go up and down The pleasant streets of that dear old town, And my youth comes back to me.
Where'er I roam, whatever realnis to see, My heart untraveled fondly turns to thee.
Bath can be said to be a good city in which to live, as well as from which to emigrate. There are those who, long absent, have returned to it to pass their later life, while others seek it as a most desirable place to pass a summer. It is a place of great longevity; it is not unusual for its residents of both sexes to live from eighty to ninety, and in some instances over one hundred years.
IMMEDIATELY after the discovery , of the mainland of the New World, England, France, Spain, and Holland became rivals for the establishment of title to this unexplored dominion. To accomplish their purposes each sent exploring expeditions to our coast, which set up crosses at prominent points to indicate possession by the as- sumed right of discovery.
Of these early voyages that of Waymouth is distinctive as relating to the subject matter of this volume. In 1605, some noblemen of England fitted out the ship Archangel of sixty tons, placing in com- mand George Waymouth, the most notable navigator of that day. Taking his departure from Bristol he took his course direct to the shores of Maine, with orders to find a place " fit for any man to inhabit."
Anchoring his ship among the islands of Booth Bay, he manned a boat for exploration and came into the Kennebec through the Sasa- noa River. Believing that he had then found the sought-for Eldora- do, he returned to the ship and reported that he had discovered a great river trending along into the main forty miles, and by the
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HISTORY OF BATH.
breadth, depth, and strong tide he believed it to run far up into the land. He then brought his ship by the outward passage into the Kennebec and anchored in the long reach of water fronting the coming city of Bath.
First Footsteps on Bath Territory .- He immediately sent a boat ashore with seventeen men to explore the adjacent territory, the description of which, as given by them, quite exactly corre- sponds to the little stream (at Bath) they entered and the territory they traversed as far to the north as the Whizgig River (whizzgigg, a whirling stream). It was in the month of June, when nature was at its best, and they were charmed with the view of the land in its primeval beauty, pronouncing it equal in attractiveness to the "stately parks" of England, with arable land, magnificent trees, and "runs of fresh water at the foot of every hill."
Captive Natives .- Before leaving his anchorage in Booth Bay, Waymouth had abducted five natives, together with their canoes and bows and arrows, to carry in his vessel to England as vouchers for the truth of the report he should render of his discoveries. Con- sequently, just before leaving this river for home, Waymouth was confronted with the appearance of an Indian canoe that had come up through the Sasanoa passage from the " Islands " to attempt the recovery of their captive brethren.
It contained a body of savages gorgeous in all the glory of new paint and gaudy mantles, with the white-feathered skin of some wild fowl bound around their heads. They approached the ship with be- coming dignity, and earnestly entreated that their people be released, begging that, at least, one of the ship's company be surrendered to their keeping as a pawn for the assured safety and return of their brethren.
Waymouth Home .- But Captain Waymouth was inexorable, refused the request, and the savages had no recourse but to return to their tribes in sadness. He then set sail for home.
Waymouth called the river he had discovered the Sagadahoc. He gave a glowing account of it. By his report it wanted nothing
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HISTORY OF BATH.
to render it a most desirable place to settle a colony. A bold coast, a harbor in which the royal navy might safely ride, fresh water springs, fine timber trees, fish and game in great abundance, with a navigable river stretching a highway for commerce with the natives far into the interior, were the features of Sagadahoc as Waymouth described them.
Upon his return to England and making such glowing accounts of this region of country, vouched for by his captive natives and sub- sequent explorers, induced Sir Ferdinand Gorges to organize a com- pany to plant a colony upon the shore of Sagadahoc, which resulted in securing to the English crown title by possession of the New World.
BATH is identified with the early settlements of the Lower Kenne- bec, as at 1607 its territory was comprised within that of the an- cient Sagadahoc. The first attempt to make a settlement on this river was by the famous Popham Colony that came from England and made a landing in August, 1607, at Hunniwells Point, occupy- ing Horse-catch Point on the south side of Atkins Bay. They came in the ships Mary and John, Captain Raleigh Gilbert, and the Gift, Captain George Popham, and comprised one hundred men strong. Their settlement was included in a palisaded and intrenched fort which they named St. George. Here they built the ship Virginia of thirty tons, which was the first English vessel that was built in America. At that time any deep sea-going vessel was termed a ship. Popham, who was president of the colony, died the next win- ter, and other misfortunes following this event, the colonists became disheartened, broke up, and returned to England the next season, 1608.
The Plymouth Company .- After the departure of the Pop- ham Colony, the next attempt at settlement on the Kennebec River was on the southwest extremity of Arrowsic Island. A com- pany formed from the Plymouth Colony procured a grant on the Kennebec in 1630 that secured the valuable trade of the river in fish and furs with the Indians. This grant covered fifteen acres on both sides of the river to the distance of one hundred and twenty miles inland from its mouth as was claimed.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
In 1633, the company selected the southwesterly section of this island as the chief point for their business, which was prosecuted some years, and were succeeded by the historic firm of Clark & Lake, who established a vast business for the time over the entire island, in trade, mills, building and running vessels, with its nucleus at "Rowsick Town." In 1670, there were thirty families on the east side and twenty on the west side of the Sagadahoc, not count- ing Woolwich. When the Indians first became openly hostile to the white settlers in 1676, their first attack entirely destroyed this set- tlement, as they did subsequently "New Town " the first town or- ganized on the Kennebec River in 1679.
THE first titles to the territory on which Bath stands were ob- tained from the aboriginal inhabitants. The great sachem whose rule extended over many tribes of Indians inhabiting the region of country on and adjacent to the Lower Kennebec was Robin Hood, whose residence was at Nequasset. From him and subordinate sagamores Robert Gutch obtained title to territory that mainly comprised what is now the city of Bath, as is shown in the following . deed:
The Gutch Deed .- " This Indenture made this twenty ninth of May 1660 Between Robin Hoode alias Rawmeagon Terrumquin Wescomonascoa Seawque Abumheanencon ye one party & Robert Gutch alias Rawmeagon Wesomonascoe & Terumquin Sagamores and we ye Rest above mentioned for divers consideration to their- unto moveing have given granted & delivered over & by these pres- ents Do give grant & deliver over & forever alinese quit Claime from unto ye sd Robert Gutch his heirs Exec: administrators & as- signes to ourselves-our heirs Exec administrators & assignes all ye tract of Land lying and being in Kenebecke River and Right over against tuessicke ye Beginning of ye Lower part of ye Bounds Thereof. Being a Cove Running by ye upper Side of a point hav- ing Som Rocks lying a little from ye sd point into ye sd River & from ye sd Cove to run upwards by ye waters Side-towards James Smiths unto a point and Being Right over against Winslows Rock Commonly known and called by ye name together with all ye woods underwood & all other previledges their unto beloning as also ye one
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HISTORY OF BATH.
half of all ye meadow ye Either is on may be made and lyeth within ye Land from ye waters side part behind ye aboves tract of Land & a part Behind a tract of Land granted unto Alexander Thwait & lyeth near a Little pond & further ye aboves Sagamores and we ye meadow yt is and may be made by ye River Sides commonly known and called by ye name of Wennigansege all wch aboves tract of Land to Run into ye Land Three Miles. To have & To hold to him ye sd Robert Gutch his heirs Execrs & administrators & assignes ye aboves tract of Land with ye privileges aboves as also all hawking hunting fishing &c. forever without any mollestations or futer demand what- soever and hereby do bind ourselves our heirs Execrs Administrators & assignes forever any more from this day forward to make any more Claime Challinge or pretence of tittle unto ye aboves Tract of Land and to maintain this against all other Claimes Tittles Chal- linges and Interests whatsoever. In witness whereof we ye abovesd parties Sagamores and we ye rest of ye abovesd Indians have here- unto set our hands & Seals ye day above written.
"Sealed signed & Delivered in
ye presence of us Alexander Thwat X
Mary Webber X John Verine X
.Alexander Tressell.
"The Marke X Robin Hoode " The Marke X Terrumquin "The Marke X Weasomanascoe " The Marke X Scawque " The Marke X Abunhamen
" Robin Hoode and Terrumquin acknowledged this to be their Act and Deed before me Nicholas Rewallds Jus. Peace.
A true copy of this deede above written transcribed out of ye orig- inal and therewith compared this 27 October 67 P Edw: Richworth Recorder.
" Vera Copia as of Record Exm: Jos. Hammond Reg."
In various deeds of land the name of the above grantee is written Gutch, Gouch, and Goutch; the former seems to have been the most correct.
£
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Boundaries of the Gutch Tract .- Like all Indian deeds the boundaries of the Gutch deed of the territory largely compris- ing Bath are loosely defined. The starting bound as described would indicate at or near some rocks, that have sometimes been termed the "Jiggles," that exist in the river near the western shore, opposite the foot of Pine Street.
There is no "cove " as named in the deed now in sight touching these "rocks," whatever cove there may have been nearly two and a half centuries since. There is, however, a cove immediately above these rocks, into which Trufants Creek empties-now the Ropewalk Creek-which may comport with the indefinite wording of the deed in locating bounds. But the "rocks" are there and possibly define the southern extremity of the "cove" as named in the deed.
" From this lower part of the bounds " the line "runs upwards by the water's side " to what is undoubtedly the "point" on which stands the old Peterson house, which is "right over against Wins- lows rock " that lies in the river nearest the eastern shore. This would make Harward Street the north boundary of the Gutch tract. This street is the dividing line between the Peterson and the Har- ward farms.
The James Smith named in the deed in connection with the north- ern limit of the tract owned land on the Woolwich side of the river and lived at or near the locality known as Days Ferry of later years.
The south boundary apparently connects with Alexander Thwaits' territory, wherever that may have been, he having had two Indian deeds. It seems to touch Winnegance Creek somewhere, apparent- ly south of Hospital Point, and there is no pond to which the deed alludes now in existence but the Lilly Pond; if another pond is meant it may have filled up by the operations of nature in the course of 230 years. This entire tract, as stated in the deed, runs westerly from the Kennebec River three miles, which it was evi- dently calculated, would extend to the New Meadows River.
Titles to lands composing the heart of the city of Bath are found- ed upon the Gutch deed. Thwaits claimed to have had an Indian
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HISTORY OF BATH.
deed covering about the same territory, but it appears that the Gutch title took precedence.
Gutch .- The Reverend Robert Gutch was the first white man who settled the central portion of what became the city of Bath. He was the first clergyman subsequent to the Popham Colony, who preached on the Kennebec and its contiguous territory, of which there is definite account. His antecedents trace his coming to this country from Wincanto, England, where there is a Church of Eng- land, to Salem, where he became a member of the first Congre- gational church of that town March 21, 1641. As was the rule at those days, a man must be admitted a freeman to be allowed to vote, and he was admitted as such the following year. It is stated that becoming involved in debt induced him to come down to this then wilderness country to locate. He seems to have entered upon missionary work, but under what ecclesiastical auspices is not known.
The location of his residence has been placed by Lemont as the present site of the second house on the west side of Washington Street, immediately south of the railroad track, now the residence of Dr. A. J. Fuller, formerly the George Marston house. Joseph Sewall names the Levi Houghton homestead as the spot where Gutch planted his dwelling. He little thought, probably, that com- ing down to the Kennebec was to bring him fame, if not wealth.
There is nothing on record to show to what localities his mission- ary duties extended. Traditions hand down the stories that he preached somewhere on Merry Meeting Bay, at Prebles Point, and Spring Cove, where Clark & Lake had a settlement. As this firm had, also, a settlement on the lower extremity of Arrowsic it may, in reason, be inferred that he preached at that locality. Together, these places would compose a round of ministerial duties.
Traditional accounts state that he was accustomed to cross the Kennebec in a canoe to Prebles Point to preach. Some people have believed that there was a church building there in which Gutch preached. "There is evidence in black and white that there was a church somewhere on Long Reach in Gutch's day, and good tradi- tion tells where " (vide Thayer).
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HISTORY OF BATH.
At the Jeffries-Donnell trial in 1766 to determine the ownership of the land composing the larger part of Bath, as detailed in Vol. I. of Williamson's History of Maine :-- " It was testified by old Mr. Preble, living on the eastern bank of the river opposite, that he ' could remember to have seen Mr. Gutch's meeting-house' and that he was often told ' he was a preacher to the fishermen and drowned nearly 100 years ago.'"
It is generally conceded that there was a garrison house at Prebles Point occupied by the elder Jonathan Preble, " who died there in about the year 1769" (vide Sullivan). Documentary evi- dence showing where it was built is quoted by Sullivan as in " Preble's deposition, on supreme court files, and Dunning's evi- dence." Lemont records in his profuse manuscript books that the Preble garrison house was occupied as late as 1800, and that it was sold to a Mr. Wiggins in 1804 or 1805, and that it was taken down and its materials of wood and bricks transported to Abagadasset, where they were utilized, the timbers proving to be perfectly sound. In connection with this account there is a pen drawing purporting to be that of this old garrison house with two stories, not showing the two flankers originally attached to it. Williamson says that Preble Garrison was built contemporaneous with that of the Watts house, which was in 1714 or 1715.
According to statements of past historians, this clergyman lost his life by drowning in 1666 or 1667 (vide Mr. Thayer). One account places the scene of this fatality in the Kennebec River while he was crossing in a canoe to preach at Prebles Point (vide Lemont and J. Sewall). Another story relates that the accident occurred while he was attempting to cross the lower Back River from Spring Cove on horseback, where, getting into quicksands, the rush of the tide swamped him. This last version comes down, it has been said, from Jonathan Preble and the White family, both early residents of Arrowsic. This is the most reliable account.
He was a man of family, having one son and six daughters. This son was named John and was the eldest of the children. It is stated that a portion of the Gutch farm was given to this son by his father
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