USA > Maine > Cumberland County > New Gloucester > New Gloucester, Maine, centennial, September 7, 1874 > Part 1
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(Cumberland Co.)
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974.102
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Gc 974.102 N36h 1136481
MIL
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 9823
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
https://archive.org/details/newgloucestermai7187newg
1
THE
New Gloucester Centennial,
SEPTEMBER 7, 1874,
BY
T. H. HASKELL.
REUEL SMALL, Stenographer.
PORTLAND : HOYT, FOGG & DONHAM.
1875.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1875, by
T. H. HASKELL, 1
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
STEPHEN BERRY, PRINTER, PORTLAND.
1136481
TO THE SONS OF NEW GLOUCESTER
THIS BOOK
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
.
PREFACE.
-
The publication of this volume has been undertaken at the request of many citizens of New Gloucester and others, who are interested in the welfare of that beautiful town, where perhaps, like the writer, they were born, or their kindred used to dwell, and a lingering tie still draws their affections thither.
Doubtless errors and omissions may be found by the reader, but the writer asks that no offense be taken, as he has carefully endeavored to record truly, from all the information within his reach.
PORTLAND, January 1, 1875.
T. H. II.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS, 9
CENTENNIAL DAY, 12
THE WELCOME, BY JOSEPH CROSS, ESQ., 14
THE INVOCATION, BY REV. W. R. CROSS, 15
CENTENNIAL HYMN, " ODE ON SCIENCE," 17
HISTORICAL ADDRESS, BY T. H. HASKELL, EsQ., 18
" AMERICA," SUNG BY THE ASSEMBLAGE, . 52
THE BLESSING, BY REV. H. M. PERKINS, 53
DINNER, 54 ·
LETTER FROM HON. NELSON DINGLEY, JR., 54
RESPONSE, BY HON. W. W. THOMAS, JR., 55
" HON. J. J. BABSON, . 58
" MR. C. P. HASKELL, 63
LETTER FROM HON. P. W. CHANDLER, 65
RESPONSE BY HON. W. W. THOMAS, 78
LETTER FROM HON. S. C. FESSENDEN, 82
RESPONSE BY HON. GEO. W. WOODMAN,. 83
LETTER FROM HON. T. P. CHANDLER, 88
1
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
RESPONSE BY OSGOOD BRADBURY, ESQ., 89
. " REV. JOHN F. MORGAN, 93
" JABEZ H. WOODMAN, A. M., 96
LETTER FROM BENJ. H. CORLISS, EsQ., 99
RESPONSE BY ELDER OTIS SAWYER, 100
" MR. AUGUSTUS P. MARTIN,
.
109
REMARKS BY ALFRED HASKELL, ESQ.,
112
DOXOLOGY,
.
116
APPENDIX.
RECORD OF FALMOUTH CONVENTION, 1774, 117
VOTES OF THE TOWN DURING THE REVOLUTION, . 123
SCHEDULE OF PRICES FIXED BY GENERAL COURT, 124
ROLL OF CAPT. PARSONS' COMPANY, 126
VOTES OF THE TOWN DURING WAR OF 1812, 127
PETITION TO THE GENERAL COURT, 1809, 127
REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT, .
129
AND SENATORS IN THE LEGISLATURE, 130
POLLS AND ESTATES, 130
POPULATION, SURPLUS REVENUE AND TAXES, 131
JOHN MEGQUIER, 131
JOHN L. MEGQUIER,
132
BENJAMIN HAMMOND,
132
AGED PEOPLE,
133
PRELIMINARY ARRANGEMENTS.
The town of New Gloucester was organized Septem- ber 7, 1774, by choice of the necessary town officers, under an act of the General Court of Massachusetts passed that year.
At the annual March meeting, 1874, the town voted to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of that event, and appointed a committee for the purpose, viz :
JOSEPH CROSS, EsQ., AMOS H. NEVINS, ESQ., AND DEA. ANDREW C. CHANDLER.
The site of the old block house on the south side of the Gray road, a short distance south-west from the center of the town, was selected as the place for the celebration. The present owners of the spot, S. H. and A. C. Chandler, tendered the use of the same for the purpose, and Dea. A. C. CHANDLER, at his own expense, removed all fences and obstructions from the vicinity, thus providing a large smooth common of several acres, with its surface slightly sloping to the south, covered with green sward smooth as a carpet .. Here a mammoth canvas tent of an oval shape,
2
10
INSIDE THE TENT.
one hundred and fifty feet long by sixty broad, was pitched. At the entrance swung the ancient sign of New Gloucester's hospitable inn, once kept by that public spirited citizen, Peleg Chandler, inscribed " BELL TAVERN, 1776, P. C." Within, a large platform was raised upon the north-east side, a long table ex- tended through the center lengthwise for the refresh- ments, and all the remaining space was filled with seats conveniently arranged. The inside was tastily decor- ated with flags, bunting, evergreens and flowers, giving an appearance of beauty and comfort seldom equaled. The stars and stripes floated from a staff above the center of the tent, and streamers from the top of the tent poles at each end.
JOSEPH CROSS, EsQ., was selected for President, AMOS H. NEVINS, EsQ., for Toastmaster, and CAPT. WIL- LIAM P. EVELETH for Marshal of the day.
The Mechanic Falls Brass Band was engaged for the occasion, and a choir was selected from the singers of the town to furnish vocal music.
Invitations to be present were extended to all former citizens of the town, and their descendants.
The financial success of the celebration is due to the following public spirited citizens :
Andrew C. Chandler, Solomon H. Chandler, Nicholas Rideout, Otis C. Nelson, Gilman Martin, B. N. Merrill,
Nathaniel Eveleth, .
Sewal N. Martin,
A. D. Harris,
J. F. Churchill,
A. G. Merrill,
Elbridge Foss,
11
SUBSCRIBERS TO THE CELEBRATION FUND.
George Blake,
C. H. N. Rowe,
F. A. Spring,
W. H. True,
H. N. Spring, Nathaniel Rideout,
G. W. Ricker, Stephen Rowe,
Thomas Clark, T. W. Brewer,
J. L. Davis,
Chas. P. Haskell,
P. A. Downing,
Walter Berry,
J. T. McCann,
Lemuel R. Fogg,
M. J. Rogers,
Chas. H. Wharff,
Chas. S. Estes,
Charles Sampson,
Amory Leach,
Charles Schillinger,
Jos. Tarbox,
Sewall Gross, Peter Haskell,
T. J. Dawes,
Ozias M. Lunt,
Joseplı Cross,
Z. A. Rowe,
Amos H. Nevins,
Wm P. Taylor,
Isaac H. Keith,
Clas. Small,
Henry Fogg,
D. J. Prescott,
Enoch Fogg,
Wm. Greely,
Jos. E. Bailey,
A. C. Underhill,
Simon Wells,
John M. Haskell,
Ammi Wells,
James Jordan, Thos. M. Haskell,
D. W. Merrill,
N. S. & N. L. Shurtleff,
Clark Curtis,
David A. Bennett,
Moses 'True,'
Benj. F. Woodbury,
A. D. Nevins,
Jabez True,
Wm. Eveleth,
J. G. Bennett,
E. H. Morgan,
S. F. Record,
George Pendexter,
A. F. Cole, Jolın Whitman, S. H. Hurlbut, Hewett Chandler,
Jacob Rowe,
Moses Wharff,
A. W. Gooding, William Haskell,
L. C. Berry, Jonalı Jordan, Wesley Strout,
Silas Bickford, James Merrill, Leroy Fanar,
Ira C. Chandler, Edward Small, J. P. Stinchfield,
Samuel F. Hilton, William Taylor, George Washington Chandler, James Webster,
Ivory Jordan,
Theophilus Rowe,
12
CENTENNIAL DAY.
John Preble, J. C. Lane, Thos. G. Haskell,
Charles Merrill,
G. W. Keirstead, David Weymouth,
Augustus J. Haskell,
Wm. L. Morgan,
Amos H. Eveleth,
Chas. Megquier,
Jolın Jordan,
B. A. Merrill, Ephraim Hilton, Alfred Nevins, James Hewlett, Geo. Eveleth, Hanson Bailey,
Seth P. Snow,
S. D. Watts,
Geo. H. Bailey, Isaac Blake,
T. J. Stevens,
Mark T. Clark & Son,
John B. Bennett,
Fred. Larrabee,
Wm. E. Blake,
Peter Stevens,
Simeon Wells,
Benj. Webber,
Seth F. Sweetser,
Jolın B. Wells,
S. A. Plummer, B. Wells, Ephraim Stinchifield,
Alfred Larrabee,
Benj. Morse,
Herman Webber,
David Jordan,
Jabez H. Woodman,
Nathaniel Tufts,
Monroe Polister,
Philip Blake,
Emery J. Mitchell,
Hiram White,
S. II. Hackett,
Geo. W. Haskell,
J. W. Woodman,
Seth L. Haskell,
II. S. Bennett,
John H. Ward.
Elias Lane,
CENTENNIAL DAY.
A still, clear, warm, lovely day in early Autumn blessed the occasion. At morning, noon and night, the village bells spoke loudly of this joyous anniversary.
The former sons and daughters of the town came in goodly numbers. Early, carriages filled with people arrived from all directions. The ladies of the town loaded the spacious tables within the tent with all kinds of food, the Shaker sisters liberally providing a share.
13
INVITED GUESTS AND FORMER CITIZENS.
At a quarter before ten o'clock in the morning the seats within the tent were filled, when the band, escort- ing the President, Committee, Orator of the Day, in- vited guests and Reporters, arrived at the tent, and these, with many prominent citizens of the town, took seats upon the platform. The Choir occupied the right and the band the left of the stage. Immediately in front a square of seats was filled by aged people, and upon the platform was seated MISS JUDITH ROWE, aged ninety-two years, the oldest person in town. All the standing room in the tent was filled, and it is esti- mated that from twenty-five hundred to three thousand persons were present.
Among the invited guests and former citizens of the town present, beside those who took an active part in the celebration, were noticed the Hons. William Wirt Virgin, Thomas B. Reed and Charles H. Haskell, Rev. B. P. Snow, and Alfred Woodman, Samuel Fogg, Isaac P. Whitman, Daniel W. True, John True, Samuel D. Bearce, John C. Proctor, Chas. M. Harris, Albion Keith, Samuel Rolfe, Thomas Nichols, E. N. Perry, and Merrill E. Haskell, Esqrs., and Dr. Charles S. D. Fessenden, of Portland ; John S. Webber, Esq., of Gloucester, Mass. ; Messrs. Allen Preble, William P. Haskell and J. W. Haskell, of Boston ; Prof. Carmichael, of Bowdoin Col- lege, Dr. Sturgis, Seth P. Miller, Daniel Field, D. S. Tobey and B. A. Rideout, Esqs., and Hon. Robert Martin, of Auburn ; David N. True, Esq., of South Paris; Haller
14
THE WELCOME.
Little, of Chelsea, Mass., and John L. Little, of Boston, sons of Dr. Timothy Little, a former prominent citizen of the town; Charles J. Rice, of Winchendon, Mass., son of the Rev. Benj. Rice, a former pastor in the town ; George W. Merrill, Esq., of Bangor, Hon. Henry Pennell and John D. Anderson, Esq., of Gray.
At precisely ten o'clock the President called the assembly to order, and after lively music from the Band, gave the following
WELCOME.
FELLOW CITIZENS :- The pleasant duty has been assigned me of bidding the strangers present to-day a hearty welcome. We welcome those who have once more returned to their native town to join in the festivities of the day. We welcome the descendants of those men and women who once made this their home.
We welcome all to this festive board, and to the hallowed associations of this, the one hundredth anniversary of the organization of this town.
It is a joyous day which brings so many of us together on the spot where our forefathers first made a permanent home. A common bond unites us ; we all cherish a grateful re- membrance of our ancestors, and especially of those whose hardships hallowed this spot more than a hundred years ago.
Ladies, we hail your presence with joy. The grand- mothers and great grandmothers of many of you endured great privations with their husbands and fathers here in an unbroken forest. They were nature's noblemen and women, possessed of courage, integrity and perseverance. Their
15
THE INVOCATION.
deeds bring no blush to our cheeks, but rather pride and satisfaction. They were the architects of all that is truly valuable to their descendants, and we have reason to thank God for such a blessing.
I say to all, WELCOME ! THRICE WELCOME to this anniver- sary !
The Rev. WELLINGTON R. CROSS, of Orono, formerly Pastor of the Congregational Church and Society at New Gloucester, offered the following
PRAYER.
O Lord ! Thou hast been our dwelling place in all genera- tions, Thou art great and good, Thy throne is in the heavens and Thy tender mercies are over all Thy works. Grant us Thy presence and Thy blessing this morning, we pray Thee, as we are assembled here for the memorial services that are now to engage our hearts and our thoughts.
We rejoice that so many of the citizens and former resi- dents of this venerable town, from all parts of the State and our land, have been permitted in Thy good providence to assemble here to-day, to honor the memory of its early settlers, to look again upon their childhood scenes, and to renew the friendships of former years. The heavens are bright and beautiful over our heads; the hills and these fertile valleys around us are luminous with Thy presence and Thy love ; and our hearts are glad and grateful within us because of these, Thy special mercies, unto us as individ- uals and as a people, on this most auspicious day.
O Lord ! Thou art our God and our father's God. Our hearts trust in Thee and our lips praise Thee for the nation that is ours, for the glory of our New England history and
16
THE INVOCATION.
our New England inheritance,-for the fair fame of our own beloved Pine Tree State; but more than all do we thank Thee at this time, for the sacred memories and the hallowed associations that cluster around this historic and consecrated spot. We thank Thee that here our fathers worshipped Thee and found a refuge from their foes and inspiration for their toils. We bless Thy Name for all Thy care over them while they cleared for us these fertile fields and built for us these pleasant homes, securing to us the institutions that are still our blessing and our pride. We thank Thee for all their deeds of heroism and of self-denial, for all the principles of truth and virtue and religion which they manifested in their lives, and have handed down to us, their children. And now, as we commemorate their deeds and rehearse their fame, may we drink still more deeply into their spirit and their faith.
Bless him who is to speak to us to-day of these things ; and may his words be eloquent, truthful and wise, and so, eminently worthy the occasion and the themes which it suggests. Let all who shall address us be guided and helped by Thy Spirit and Thy grace.
O Lord ! Thou art the God of nations and of men. Our hope is in Thee and our strength is in Thy Word. Sanctify unto us, we entreat Thee, the lessons of this hour. Make us loyal to Thee in all our rulers, our institutions, our hopes and our lives, that Thy beauty may be enkindled upon us as a nation, as a town,-and we be forever established in the work of our hands. Before another hundred years shall have come and gone, these places that now know us shall know us no more. Then we, too, shall have gone to our fathers and the everlasting awards for which we have lived. Help us to remember this tender and solemn reminder of
1
17
CENTENNIAL HYMN.
our immortality and its great responsibility ; and when we go hence may it be with a new and fixed determination to live henceforth under the power of the endless life, and not so much under the power of this present temporal life.
Hear us, O Lord, in this our prayer. Forgive us all our sins, and be Thou with this people in all the future as Thou hast been with them in all the past, and finally receive us and them to reign with Thee in Thy kingdom above, to go no more out forever.
And Thy Name, Father, Son and Spirit, shall have all the praise, now and evermore. Amen.
The Choir, led by NICHOLAS RIDEOUT, EsQ., with voice and violin, sung the
"ODE ON SCIENCE."
"The morning sun shines from the East, And spreads his glories to the West, All nations with his beams are blest, Where'er his radiant light appears. So Science spreads her lucid ray, O'er lands that long in darkness lay, She visits fair Columbia, And sets her sons among the stars."
" Fair Freedom, her attendant, waits To bless the portals of her gates, To crown the young and rising States, With laurels of immortal day.
18
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The British yoke, the Gallic chain, Was urged upon our sons in vain ; All haughty tyrants we disdain, And shout, long live America."
The President then announced the orator of the day, THOMAS HAWES HASKELL, EsQ., of Portland, a native of New Gloucester.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
My Friends and Fellow Citizens :
One hundred years ago, when the voters of this township assembled in the old meeting house to organize this town agreeable to a warrant in the the name of His Majesty, George the Third, little did they suppose that their descend- ants would celebrate the event, at the end of a full century, in the manner of to-day.
Those men are gone. Their final resting place is in yonder churchyard ; and a simple headstone marks the spot, but their characters still remain, bright as the fixed stars in the dome of heaven, unobscured by the lapse of time, a guide to virtue. Their memories have kept pace with the roll of the century, and to-day call to us as we return to visit the old homestead, changed, perhaps, and vacant, but still the place of our childhood and their toil. Oh! the memories that crowd through the mind and stir the soul ; memories of the dear ones that are gone, memories not re- called for years. With Longfellow can we say :
"This is the place, stand still my steed, Let me review the scene, And summon from the shadowy past, The forms that once have been."
19
ORIGINAL GRANT, 1736.
Turn back with me a century and a half. Then these hills were covered with the giant oak, maple, beech, and birch. The stately pine flourished on yonder plains, and the noble hemlock in the valleys. The meadow, skirted by the majestic elm, and covered by a yearly growth of verdure, was watered by the noiseless current of the winding stream, waiting to bear upon its bosom to the sea the growth of centuries ripe for the woodman's axe, and hurrying on yet unvexed by the wheels of industry. Here the lordly moose, the surly bear, the ravenous wolf and timid deer, roamed unmolested, and here, too, the sleek beaver found a secure retreat, and the eagle reared her young secure from harm.
Then no pioneer had gone further north-west. All here and beyond was a wilderness. A few settlers at Gorham and Windham had just begun their clearings ; while at North Yarmouth a "provincial garrison was kept," and the only considerable settlement was at Falmouth, now Portland. This whole country was infested with Indians, whose favorite hunting and fishing grounds were in this town.
Then it was that the General Court of His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, on the 27th of March, 1736, granted to sixty inhabitants of Glou- cester in that Province, a township six miles square, exclusive of water, in the eastern part, where it could best be spared, reserving one right, or sixty-third part, for the first settled, learned, Orthodox minister, one for the ministry and one for the support of schools.
These grantees first located the township where Gorham and Gray now are, but finding that locality claimed under prior grants, they located the township above North Yar- mouth, and the General Court confirmed the same to them the 5th of July, 1737. That year a road was bushed out
20
NAMED NEW GLOUCESTER.
from Cousin's river in North Yarmouth, on the east side of Royal's river, to the township, and one division of lots was laid out, extending north-east and south-west from the center of the town. These were drawn by the proprietors, on the 17th of February, 1738. Lot number forty-four was set apart for the first settled minister, and one was drawn for the ministry and one for schools. The persons who drew lots number one, two, twenty-one and twenty-two, near "Stevens' Brook," were required to give bonds to build a saw mill within two years, and saw lumber at the halves for seven years.
The proprietors, doubtless calling to mind the cheerful associations of their homes, on the 27th of February, 1738, called the township New Gloucester, as an earnest that it should prove what old Gloucester had been to them and their ancestors before them. The township now having taken a name, and the lots being ready for settlers, the Pro- prietary sent JOHN MILLET to make a good way from Cousin's river in North Yarmouth, to the meeting house lot in New Gloucester (where we now are), twelve feet wide, and fit for a cart and horse, and to build a bridge over the river (now Woodman's bridge), and paid him 170£ old tenor. This road and bridge were completed in 1739, and the next move was to induce the hardy yeomanry of the province, to leave their comfortable homes to carve out new ones in a wilderness, then farther distant in time and con- venience, than the extreme west now is. To accomplish this end the Proprietary offered 30 £ to each proprietor, who in the Spring of 1739, " would go forward with a settlement for three years, and 20 £ to those who would go the next year, and 10£ to those who would go the third year." A few of the proprietors came and put up frames of houses, began clear-
21
FIRST CLEARING, 1739.
ings, and then for the first time civilization made its mark in this wilderness.
The first clearing was begun on lot number ten, upon the easterly slope of " Harris Hill," at the spot now known as the " Washburn place," by JONAS MASON, who afterwards settled at North Yarmouth. During the years 1739 and 1740, the settlers were furnished with provisions and stores from the old home in Gloucester, although the meat of the moose, then plenty here, was a constant diet upon their tables. Its hides made excellent clothing and shoes, and its tallow bountifully supplied their larder.
The families of the settlers, with their goods, were brought down to North Yarmouth by a vessel, in the fall of 1742, and from thence poled up Royal's River, on rafts, to the great bridge ; and the winter of 1742 and 1743 was the first, when upon the sunny slope of these hills, the smoke curled upward from the log cabin of each settler, nestling near the edge of its clearing in the forest, and beside the blazing fire upon the hearthstone within, sat the matron with children clinging to her knee, while the mastiff watched at the door, as the sturdy blows of his master's axe echoed in the wood, and told the mother that all was well.
In the spring of 1743, the terms of the grant not having been complied with, the Proprietary offered 14£ to each proprietor who would within eight months build a log house, according to the terms of the grant, and the following August, 20£ to each proprietor who would settle in the township during the next winter, and engaged Capt. ISAAC EVELETH to build a way suitable for carting from the great bridge (that Millet made) to the center of the town- ship, and early the next Spring, 1744, offered 12£ to each proprietor who would build a log house within ten months,
22
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
as provided by the grant, and determined to build a meet- ing-house.
Already the tocsin of war rang out its alarm; the whoop of the savage echoed in the clearings, and his dusky form, darting from thicket to thicket, sent terror through the settlement that had struggled for five years to subdue the obstacles of nature and to turn the forest into a garden ; twelve miles of road had been built, with nineteen bridges, two of which were over Royal's river, and cost £400; a saw-mill had been built on Stevens' brook, below the road, where its remains may now be seen ; when, the Governor of the Province, through the commanding officer of the fort at North Yarmouth, ordered the settlers off, who either scat- tered among the coast settlements, or returned to their old homes, leaving the product of their toil, and the result of their privations to the savages that fell upon the eastern frontier, as the plague sets upon the land it is to desolate, stalking where it will.
This French and Indian war entirely broke up the settlement. The dwellings and mill were burned. The bridges were carried away by a freshet. The roads again sprang up to bushes. For five years the axe of the pioneer was unheard. The smoke from his cabin ceased to curl upward. The family hearth stone was desolate. Here again the wild beast and Indian were unmolested as they roamed upon these hillsides and wandered in the meadow.
In the Fall of 1749, the French and Indians having been driven from the frontier, the Proprietary sent JOHN ROBERTS with four men to repair the way from North Yarmouth and rebuild the great bridge. He was prevented from doing this by the Indians, until the Fall of 1752, when he was joined in this laborious service by four others, and received orders
23
OLD BLOCK HOUSE, 1754.
from the Proprietary to also rebuild the saw mill and cut timber for a meeting house ; that is to say, a block house, which would afford a protection from the Indians, and serve the conditions of the grant in being used for a " meeting house in the public worship of God."
The grant was renewed in the Spring of 1753 upon petition, and then the Proprietary offered £26, 13s. 4d. to be divided among ten families that would settle and remain in the township two years, and the same sum to be divided among them in the Fall, and a like sum in a year after.
During the Fall of 1753, and Spring of 1754, the " OLD BLOCK HOUSE" was erected on this spot by the Proprietary, and furnished with two swivel guns, twenty-five pounds of powder and seventy-five pounds of lead. Here then, just one hundred and twenty years ago, was completed a secure home for the settlers. Its thick walls of hewn pine timber, closely fitted together and dovetailed at the ends, were bullet proof. Its solid door from hewn oak, prevented ingress by the lurking foe. Long slots in the wall let in the light of day, and made port holes for the gunners within. A blazing fire upon the hearth cooked their food and lighted the apartment by night. Here for six long years the settlers lived, never leaving the place unguarded. Their rifles were their constant companions as they went forth to their daily toil. It was to them a home, a fort, a church.
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