USA > Maine > Hancock County > Traditions and records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert island, Maine > Part 1
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TRADITIONS AND RECORDS
SOUTHWEST HARBOR AND SOMESVILLE
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND MMAINE
Gc 974.101 H19t 1132148
M. L.
att GENEALOGY COLLECTION
S
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01091 7463
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/traditionsrecord00thor
Clark Point, Southwest Harbor, from Manset. Taken about 1889. The large building in the middle distance is the remodelled Island House.
TRADITIONS and RECORDS - OF -
SOUTHWEST HARBOR and SOMESVILLE MOUNT DESERT ISLAND, MAINE by MRS. SETH S. THORNTON Nellie C. Thornton
"I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. Sayings of old which we have heard and our fathers have told us, that the generation to come might know them; even the chil- dren which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children."-Ps. 78.
"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."-Joel 1: 3.
1938
二
1132148 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
SECTION I. History of Mount Desert
Mount Desert Island, 1
Early Visitors at Mount Desert, 19
Origin of Land Titles at Mount Desert, 23
Early Settlers of Western Part of Mount Desert Island, 27
Mount Desert Plantations, 28
Mount Desert Towns, 33
Manners and Customs, 36
Population, 42
SECTION II. Southwest Harbor
Churches-Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Christian Science, Sewing and Benevolent Societies,
45
Schools,
78
Industries,
88 94
Mount Desert in War,
Mails,
102
Professional Men,
105
Physicians by Dr. J. D. Phillips,
107
Libraries at Southwest Harbor and Manset,
114
Village Improvement Association,
118
Lodges, Orders and Societies-Masons, Odd Fellows, Eastern Star, Rebekahs, Good Templars, K. of P.,
Boy Scouts, Red Cross, Friday Club, Chamber of Commerce, 121
History of the Houses of Southwest Harbor, 124
To the Old Cemetery by Grace Duffield Goodwin, 208
Old Burying Grounds, 209
15.00
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION III. Somesville
Betwixt the Hills, or Somesville,
239
Church, 244
Schools,
248
Shipbuilding,
249
Lodges, Orders and Societies,
252
Indians, 254
Houses of Somesville,
256
Brookside Cemetery,
275
SECTION IV. Cranberry Isles
The Cranberry Isles, 279
Lighthouses on Southern Coast of Mount Desert by Sarah C. Kittredge
291
Town Hill,
294
Hall Quarry, 295
Purchase of Mt. Vernon,
296
SECTION V. Song and Story
How Shall We Pronounce Mount Desert ? 300
The Story of Isabel Asbell, 301
Bear Hunters of 1836 or Hadley and the Bears, 309
Legend of the Jesuit's Ring, 311
Mount Desert Pioneers by Caroline R. Lawler, 315
A Fish Story by Harriet R. Murphy,
325
A Persistent Tradition, 327
Southwest Harbor's Most Famous Legend, 329
Coming on Allowance by Susan Gott Babbidge,
334
The Flying Place, 339
Mount Desert Bridge, 340
Index of Names, 342
FOREWORD
"No part of a book is so intimate as the Preface. Here, after the long labor of the work is over, the author descends from his platform and speaks with his reader as man to man, disclosing his hopes and fears, seeking sympathy for his difficul- ties, offering defense or defiance, according to his temper, against the criticisms which he anticipates." So runs the intro- ductory note to the volume of Prefaces in Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf.
In sending out this collection of the history, tradition, etc., of our beautiful island, I am aware that it has many imperfec- tions, and though all possible care has been taken in the inter- ests of accuracy, there are doubtless many errors which will be recognized. I can but borrow from the works of William Cax- ton, first printer of England, who closed many of his Prefaces with such words as these: "And I require and beseech all such that find fault or error, that of their charity they correct and amend it."
The intimate local history of but two of the settlements on Mount Desert Island is herein given; that of Somesville and Southwest Harbor-the two oldest of them all.
Dr. George E. Street in his excellent History of Mount Desert Island, gives much of the local history and genealogy of Bar Harbor, Hull's Cove and vicinity ; the Women's Club of Northeast Harbor is collecting material for a history of their village, and a history of Tremont is being written by a former resident of that town.
Therefore, to avoid repetition, I have confined my account of local happenings to the two communities mentioned above. Manset and Seawall are a part of the town of Southwest Harbor. For the greater part of the local details I am indebted to the
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FOREWORD
late Miss Mary Ann Carroll and Mrs. Ella L. Whitmore, whose rich store of memories yielded material which could not be obtained elsewhere. I am grateful to the many who assisted me with the loan of valuable books, letters and papers, as well as with the treasures of their memories. Some of those to whom I am under obligations are Mrs. Kate L. Pray, Mrs. A. C. Fer- nald, Mrs. J. A. Somes and Mrs. George A. Somes of Somesville, Mrs. Fred P. Barker of Brewer, Mrs. S. Louise Smallidge of Northeast Harbor, Freeman J. Lurvey of Somerville, Mass., Mrs. Cora Kelley of Bernard, Mrs. Harriet Murphy of Rumford, and among the many in Southwest Harbor who cheerfully lent me much aid are Mr. and Mrs. Everett G. Stanley, Mrs. Clarence Clark, Mrs. Lucinda Johnson, Mrs. Elmer A. Stanley, Mr. and Mrs. B. T. Dolliver, Mrs. Mattie Moore Dolliver, Mrs. Mary Kaler, Mrs. Lyman Harper, Mrs. Ella Robinson, Mrs. Sarah Billings Robinson and many others.
I thank also those who permitted me to use articles which they had written. To those who were able to direct me to sources of assistance I am also grateful. In the words of an- other, "I thank not only him who has digged out treasure for me, but also him that hath lighted me a candle to the place."
My thanks are due to Rachel Field, who allowed me the use of a quotation from one of her poems ; to Dodd, Mead and Com- pany of New York, who permitted me to quote from Holman F. Day's poem, "Heavenly Crown Rich"; to the authorities of Acadia National Park, who gave me the privilege of using some of their material and to many other friends who assisted me in numberless ways.
Prof. William O. Sawtelle has given me valuable information on many subjects.
And so, with the assistance of these friends and many others, as the Psalmist says, "I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times."
Nellie C. Thornton.
Southwest Harbor, Maine March 1, 1938.
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
The first appearance of the name Mount Desert on the pages of written history is in September of 1604 when Samuel de Champlain of France, soldier, sailor and explorer, records his discovery of the island sixteen years and more before the coming of the Pilgrims to Cape Cod. He had come out the previous spring with the Sieur de Monts, a Huguenot gentleman, a soldier and the governor of a Huguenot city of refuge in south western France, to whom Henry IV .- "le grand roi"-had in- trusted, the December previous, establishment of the French dominion in America. De Monts commission, couched in the redundant, stately language of the period, is still extant, and its opening words are worth recording, so intimate and close is the relation of the enterprise to New England history :
"Henry, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, to our dear and well-beloved friend, the Sieur de Monts, gentleman in ordinary to our chamber, greeting : As our greatest care and labor is and has ever been since our coming to this throne to maintain it and preserve it in its ancient greatness, dignity and splendor, and to widen and extend its bounds as much as may legitimately be done, We having long had knowledge of the lands and territory called Acadia, and being moved above all by a single- minded purpose and firm resolution We have taken, with the aid and assistance of God, Author, Distributor and Protector of all States and Kingdoms, to convert and instruct the people who inhabit this region, at present barbarous, without faith or religion or belief in God, and to lead them into Christianity and the knowledge and profession of our faith and religion. Having also long recognized from the accounts of captains of vessels, pilots, traders, and others, who have frequented these lands how fruitful and advantageous to us, our States and subjects might be the occupation and possession of them for the great and evident profit which might be drawn therefrom, We, in full confidence in your prudence and the knowledge and experience you have gained of the situation, character, and conditions of the aforesaid country of Acadia from the voyages and so- journs you have previously made in it and neighboring regions, and being assured that our plan and resolution being committed to your care you will diligently and attentively and not less valorously and courageously, pursue
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TRADITIONS AND RECORDS
them and lead them to completion, have expressly committed them to your charge and do constitute you by these presents, signed by our hand, our lieutenant general, to represent our Person in the lands and territory, the coasts and confines of Acadia, to commence at the fortieth degree of latitude and extend to the forty sixth degree. And We order you throughout this territory as widely as possible to establish and make known our name and authority, subjecting to these and making obedient to them all the people dwelling therein, and by every lawful means to call them to the knowledge of God and the light of the Christian faith and religion."
De Monts, sailing in the spring of 1604, founded his first col- ony on an island in the tidal mouth of a river at the western entrance of the Bay of Fundy-"Baie Francoise", he named it, though the Portuguese name "Bahia Funda", Deep Bay, in the end prevailed-which, two centuries later, in memory of it was selected to be the commencement of our national boundary. While he was at work on this he sent Champlain in an open vessel with a dozen sailors to explore the western coast. A sin- gle long day's sail with a favoring wind brought him at night- fall into Frenchman's Bay, beneath the shadow of the Mount Desert mountains, and his first landfall within our national bounds was made upon Mount Desert Island in the township of Bar Harbor.
Champlain writes thus in his journal published in 1613:
"Setting out from the mouth of the St. Croix and sailing westward along the coast, we made, the same day some twenty- five leagues and passed by many islands, reefs and rocks which sometimes extended more than four leagues out to sea. The islands are covered with pines, firs and other trees of an inferior sort. Among the islands are many fine harbors but undesirable for permanent settlement.
The same day (Sept. 5, 1604) we passed near to an island some four or five leagues long in the neighborhood of which we just escaped being lost on a rock that was just awash and which made a hole in the bottom of our boat. From this island to the main land on the north the distance is not more than a hundred paces. The island is high and notched in places so that from the sea it gives the appearance of a range of seven or eight
3
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
mountains. The summits are all bare and rocky. The slopes are covered with pines, fir and birches. I named it Isle des Monts Desert."
The next day he writes, "We sailed two leagues and saw smoke in a cave at the foot of the mountains. Two canoes with savages in them came within musket range to observe us. I sent out our two savages in a boat to assure them of our good will, but their fear of us made them turn back. On the morning of the next day they came alongside and talked with our savages. I ordered biscuit, tobacco and other trifles to be given them. These savages had come (to the island) to hunt beavers and catch fish. We made our alliance with them and they agreed to guide us to their river of Pentagoet (Penobscot)."
To commemorate the three hundredth anniversary of Cham- plain's visit to Mount Desert there is erected at Seal Harbor a rough granite boulder upon the front of which is a bronze tablet inscribed with the dates of his birth and death and the added information that it was this "Soldier, Sailor, Explorer and Administrator who gave this Island its name." Upon the re- verse of the monument is another tablet containing those lines from Champlain's Journal written 5 Sept. 1604, where he notes the discovery and naming of the Island.
And an imposing, everlasting memorial to Champlain is the easternmost height of the Mount Desert range, now named Champlain Mountain, which stands sentinel-like at the entrance to Frenchman's Bay; a fitting tribute, steadfast and resolute to the memory of this man, founder and first Governor of Quebec, Queen of Cities, discoverer and godfather of Mount Desert, Queen of the Isles.
The next summer, June 18, 1605, Champlain in company "with de Monts, several gentlemen, twenty sailors and an Indian with his squaw" set forth from St. Croix on a voyage of dis- covery and went as far as Nausett Harbor on Cape Cod. It is of interest to realize that de Monts was seeking for a better spot than St. Croix in which to found his colony and that in this voyage along the beautiful New England coast he found no place that was any more to his liking than the little island in the river where his followers had settled.
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TRADITIONS AND RECORDS
The first attempt to make a permanent settlement on Mount Desert Island began when, on March 12, 1613, the little ship Jonas sailed from Honfleur, France, for the shores of New Eng- land. The expedition had been financed by Madame de Guer- cheville and her Jesuit friends who were prepared to take posses- sion of the lands across the sea. Wealthy penitents poured out their money for the enterprise. The Jonas had on board forty- eight sailors and colonists including two Jesuits-Father Quen- tin and Brother Gilbert Du Thet. She carried also horses and goats and many stores of necessaries and comforts for the new colony. A courtier named La Saussaye was chief of the colony and Capt. Charles Fleury commanded the ship. His written account of the voyage is still in existence. The Jonas crossed the ocean, touched at La Heve for religious services, then to Port Royal where they found the colony making a desperate struggle to find enough food to keep them alive. The two Jesuits of the Port Royal settlement were glad to come on board and cast in their fortunes with those on the Jonas.
Well for us of later days that they did so as Father Biard's Journal is the source of information regarding incidents of the experiences to come.
"We were detained" writes Father Biard, "five days at Port Royal by adverse winds, when a favorable northeaster having arisen we set out with the intention of sailing up Pentagoet (Penobscot) River to a place called Kadesquit, which had been chosen for our new residence and which possessed great advan- tages for this purpose. But God willed otherwise for when we had reached the southeastern coast of the Island of Menan the weather changed and the sea was covered with a fog so dense that we could not distinguish day from night. We were greatly alarmed for this place is full of breakers and rocks upon which, in the darkness, we feared our vessel might drift. As the wind did not permit us to put out to sea, we remained in this position two days and two nights, tacking sometimes one way, sometimes another, as God inspired us. Our tribulation led us to pray to God to deliver us from danger and send us to some place where we might contribute to His glory.
5
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
He heard us in His mercy, for on the same evening we began to discover the stars and in the morning the fog had cleared away. We then discovered that we were near the coast of Mount Desert, an island which the savages call Pemetic .* The pilot steered toward the eastern shore and landed us in a large and beautiful harbor. We returned thanks to God, elevating the Cross and singing praises with the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We named the place and harbor St. Sauveur."
While they were anchored, probably near Schooner Head, the sailors fell to arguing about the terms of their engagement. The agreement made with them in France was, that they were bound to put into any port in Acadia that should be designated by the Jesuits and remain there three months. The sailors wished to know if the time of their stay should be reckoned from the landing at La Heve, the anchoring at Mount Desert or the proposed arrival at Kadesquit. Capt. Fleury took the part of the sailors but nothing was decided.
"While this question was pending", writes Father Biard, "the savages made a fire in order that we might see the smoke." Biard lost no time in visiting them and recognized them as some whom he had met on his exploring trip of two summers before.
These savages asked the colonists to settle at Pemetic (Mount Desert) saying that it was "quite as good a place as Kadesquit." Then, seeing that the French had no intention of settling there, they urged the priests to go with them to their village, as their chief Asticou was very sick and wished for Christian baptism, adding that if they did not come to him "he will burn in hell and it will be all your fault."
So Biard entered a canoe and was paddled away "for three leagues" to what is now Northeast Harbor. They came to the
* Mrs. Fannie Hardy Eckstorm of Brewer, Maine, a well known authority on Indian languages says of the name Pemetic-"A better modern form would be Pemadnek, from pem-, extended; adn, inseparable root for mountain; ek, locative ending, equivalent to a capital letter in English-"The Mountain Range". Of course this implies that it is seen from a distance as a landmark.
If you prefer a briefer form, then say, "A range of hills (as seen from a distance.)" This indicates that the phrase in parentheses is not in the roots of the word but is merely explanatory.
D and T are often very hard to distinguish when an Indian is speak- ing and the N is easy to elide. Hence the two names Pemadnek and Pemetic. The old explorers were not careful philologists and often thought it made little difference how they took down a word.
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TRADITIONS AND RECORDS
Indian village on Manchester's Point where the Great Chief was found to be suffering from a heavy cold in the head. The astute Indians had used this as a pretext to induce the white men to view the place where they wished them to settle. This scheme proved successful. It was unanimously decided to settle there.
The ship was brought around the hills, the company landed, planted a cross and began their labors. Father Biard describes the site thus :
"This place is a beautiful hillside, sloping gently from the seashore and supplied with water from a spring on either side. There are from twenty-five to thirty acres covered with grass, which in some places reaches the height of a man. It fronts the south and east. The soil is rich and fertile. The harbor is as smooth as a pond, being shut in by the large island of Mount Desert, besides sheltered by certain smaller islands which break the force of the winds and waves and fortify the entrance. It is large enough to hold any fleet and ships can discharge within a cable's length from the shore. It is in latitude 441/2 degrees north, a position more northerly than that of Bordeaux. . . When we had landed in this place and planted the Cross, we be- gan to work and with the work began our disputes, the omen and origin of our misfortunes. The cause of these disputes was that our Captain, La Saussaye, wished to attend to agriculture and our other leaders besought him not to occupy the workmen in that manner and so delay the erection of dwellings and forti- fications. He would not comply with this request, and from these disputes arose others, which lasted until the English obliged us to make peace in the manner I am about to relate."
Father Biard's description plainly identifies the site of Saint Sauveur and it is agreed by all historians that the place was at Fernald Point, Southwest Harbor, at the entrance of Somes Sound. On the opposite shore at Manchester Point are found heaps of clam shells and arrow heads, sinkers and other Indian relics. These too are found at Fernald Point.
But the little Jesuit settlement was not destined to endure. Sailing north from Virginia to the islands on the coast of Maine on a voyage "to fish for cod" as he wrote in his letter to Nicholas Hawes, came Capt. Samuel Argall in the ship Treasurer of
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MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
Jamestown, Va. He really had a more important errand for he had been commissioned by the Governor of Virginia to expel the French from any settlement which they might have made within the limits of King James's patents.
Some Indians fishing in Penobscot Bay, boarded the vessel and made known to the Captain that "Normans were building houses at Pemetic." Argall by questions and signs learned the position and number of the colonists and felt that his ship of one hundred thirty tons, his sixty men and fourteen guns and himself were more than a match for them. He told the Indians that the Normans were friends of his and that he longed to see them. So he persuaded one of them to be his pilot and steered for Mount Desert.
The Treasurer sailed into the broad harbor, drums beating and flags flying and there was the little French ship anchored off the shore at the mouth of Somes Sound and four white tents on the grassy slope between the water and the woods.
The horrified Indian, who thought he was guiding a friend to a delightful reunion with old acquaintances, broke into a howl of lamentation when he saw Argall's men preparing to fight.
Now imagine the distress and confusion on the shore. The pilot of the French ship, whose name was Bailleul, put off in a boat to meet the incoming craft, but the sight of the fourteen guns, seven on a side and the very evident preparations for hostilities, made him hide behind Greening's Island. La Saus- saye lost presence of mind and could give no orders for defence. La Motte, his lieutenant, with Capt. Fleury, the Jesuit Du Thet, an ensign, a sergeant and a few others managed barely to get on board the Jonas when Argall bore down upon them with noise of drums and trumpets and replied to their hail with a volley of cannon and musket shot. Capt. Fleury shouted to his men to return the fire, but there was no gunner to obey. Du Thet, the ardent one, seized and applied the match but forgot to aim the cannon so, although Biard's record says, "The cannon made as much noise as the enemy's" there was no other result. Another volley from Argall's ship and Brother Gilbert Du Thet fell mortally wounded. Other shots rattled across the deck of the Jonas from which there was no reply and then the English lowered a boat and boarded her.
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TRADITIONS AND RECORDS
Dead and wounded men lay strewn about the deck. La Motte with sword in hand showed fight to the last. Capt. Fleury was wounded and La Saussaye had fled to the woods where he was hidden .* The English landed on the shore and observed the preparations, the stores and supplies, the buildings and tents. Argall asked for the commander but he could not be found, so the Englishman searched his chests and boxes, found his letters and commissions from the French authorities and took posses- sion of them.
The next morning La Saussaye ventured forth from his hid- ing place realizing that death by starvation would be his lot if he remained in hiding. The English Commander received him ceremoniously, telling him that the country belonged to King James of England and asking for his authority for encroaching upon it, assuring the frightened French leader that he would "respect the commissions of the King of France that the peace between the two nations might not be disturbed." Therefore, he requested that the commissions might be shown to him.
La Saussaye opened his chests. The royal letters were not to be found. Then Argall's courtesy was changed to wrath. He denounced the Frenchmen as robbers and pirates and took their property on board his ship where it was divided among his followers.
The French on the shore were in a distressing situation. The English sailors had taken most of their clothing with the other spoils. "It is difficult", says Father Biard, "to believe how much sorrow we experienced during this time for we did not know what was to be our fate."
Parkman says that "in other respects the English treated their captives well-except two of them which they flogged;" and says of Argall, "He took the Jesuits to his own table and showed no unkindness to any."
The question of how to dispose of the prisoners was a serious one. Argall had no desire to take them to Virginia and he could
+ With Gilbert du Thet two sailors were killed. Biard writes, "They were both promising young men". Their names were LeMoine from Dieppe and Nenon of Beauvais. Evidently the English victors must have remained some time at the scene of conflict as the Jesuit Relations say that the bodies of the two young men mentioned above, who were drowned when attempting to swim ashore from the Jonas, "were found nine days afterwards and carefully buried".
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