USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in early days : historical notes pertaining to the old town on the Sheepscot River > Part 1
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Gc 974.102 W75p 1242409
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 3123
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Wiscasset In Early Days 1
HISTORICAL NOTES PERTAINING TO
THE OLD TOWN ON THE SHEEPSCOT
RIVER
By William Davis Patterson
Printed by THE TIMES COMPANY Bath, Maine
Copyright, 1929 By William Davis Patterson
1242409 WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
FOREWORD
To those who have had the privilege of listening to the many of the sketches contained in the following pages at the meetings of the Wiscasset Fire Society, they have seemed so full of interest that the possibility of a wider circulation will be a cause of much satisfaction.
To those who enjoy descent from the men and women who lived in this part of Maine a century or more ago, these stories will sound more like echoes of the tales of their ancestors than like historical sketches. The writer has entered with such a keen personal zest into his tireless investigations in the line of the unusual and interesting that what he has written has the real flavor of personal contact. It is like finding a chest of old letters that have been tucked away under the eaves of the old attic for generations, and are now brought to light, carefully culled, supplemented by clippings from old newspapers, and then put together in fascinating shape. He tells us the stories of the merchant princes and sea captains of a century or more ago in such an intimate manner that we cannot help feeling that they are all old acquaintances of his, and that he is now pass- ing on to us the tales they have told him, of how they lived and what they did in the days of long ago.
To the historian, the accuracy of these sketches will be of value. Every in- cident and every description is the result of delving into a mass of public reports, private letters, business account books, and no end of almost unattainable ma- terial, such as few writers have the patience to undertake. It is the author's love of such difficult research, and his capacity for scenting the interesting that have made it possible for him to produce so interesting a book.
HORACE E. HENDERSON
Wiscasset, Maine, July 9, 1929.
$ 3.00
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
The reported purchase by the Wis- casset Public Library of the brick house standing at the corner of High and Main streets attracts our atten- tion; and it can but be a matter of real satisfaction to all in this commun- ity that a building so well situated and that can so readily be adapted to the use of the Library, and for the purposes of other organizations whose interests may be in sympathy with the objects of the Library, has been acquired by those having the vision and the courage required to take the initiative therefor.
The present may be a fitting time for recalling historical facts relative to that old building, the first banking- house erected in Wiscasset, with brief reference to the officers, directors, stockholders and patrons of the first institution by which it was owned and occupied.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century there had been but one bank incorporated to do business in Maine. That was the Portland Bank, operated under a Massachusetts charter to run for the term of twenty years from 1st July, 1799, with a capital of $300,000. On the 23d of June, 1802, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts- for we were then governed from Massa- chusetts-granted charters for two other banks in Maine, one to be called the Maine Bank and to be located in Portland, and the other was called the LINCOLN AND KENNEBEC BANK and was located in Wiscasset.
A glance into the records of this So- ciety will show us that at our quarter- ly meeting held at the house of Mr. Nymphas Stacy, the ancient Stacy's Tavern where gusts of smoke from Stacy's great fireplace so often mingled with the enticing fumes rising from Stacy's punch bowl or flip mugs, on Monday evening, 5th April, 1802, the Treasurer was
"directed to Subscribe for two Shares in the Bank and Insurance Office about to be Established at Wiscasset, for the use of this So- ciety;"
whereupon,
"Orchard Cook, Esqr gave notice that if in Case the money in the funds should be appropriated for the purpose Above mentioned, he should with draw and wish, not to be Considered as a member of this Society."
The record quoted is evidence that early in its existence the Society's aid was extended in forwarding the in- terests of the community, an example
which has been followed in our own day. The account of Moses Carlton, Jr., Treasurer of the Society for the year 1803, shows that in paying for the two shares of bank stock he was obliged to advance a small part of such pay- ment from his own funds, for his ac- count exhibited a balance due him at the end of the year of $26.0112. And, good as his word, Orchard Cook ceased to be a member in October, 1802.
Some of the preliminary correspond- ence concerning the movement having for its object the establishment of banking facilities here has been pre- served: On the 20th of March, 1802, John Merrill, Jr., who was associated with Silas Lee in the practice of law wrote to William King at Bath:
The Petitions for the Insurance & Bank Companies are circulating at Kennebec they will be here in a few days.
And on the 18th of April, 1802, he wrote to King as follows:
Dear Sir,
The Petition for a Bank which Mr. Lee lodged with Mr. Wilde & Dummer for the subscription of the Kennebec gentlemen is not as yet returned altho' Mr. Lee has written for it three times; if it does not come by Wednesday's Mail we shall take measures for obtaining it by express-we deem it of some consequence to have the original Petition instead of a new one, as we can then state that our Bank Petition is of elder date & that the Hallowell Augusta Gentlemen have had an opportunity to be- come stock holders-
Mr. Lee received a few days since a line from Mr. Wilde' in which Mr. Wilde observes that the Petition was not forwarded to Wiscasset as they wished to have a Meeting on the Bank business-Why there should be a meeting is inexplicable; it corrobborates the information given by Mr. Davis of some other plan hostile to us being in agita- tion-
Mr. Lee thinks with you that it will be best to let the Insurance Corporation lie dormant until the fate of the Bank is determined.
No measure perhaps will be more politic than to obtain a full repre- sentation of the towns in this quar- ter-Bath I should suppose could send two Representatives-George- town two-and if Woolwich would send Tallman it would be quite an acquisition-In Topsham we can
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
rely. on Dr. Porter's reelection-in Brunswick on Dunlap's. I think a quite formidable Phalanx might be raised to oppose the Bantling of the mighty town of Hallowell-
Soon as the Petition comes to hand we shall use due diligence to give it the proper : circulation among its friends here & transmit it to you as soon as possible.
With best respects to Mrs. King and your worthy family I am with sentiments of respect
yr. most obet. humble Sert. JNO. MERRILL, Jr.
On the 19th of April, 1802, Samuel S. Wilde wrote from Hallowell to King:
You have probably before this been informed that a Petition is in circulation for a Bank at this place as well as at Wiscasset, we are in- formed that your Patronage will be extended to Wiscasset, but we hope not exclusively, and we flatter ourselves, that the Gentlemen of Bath will feel an Interest in every thing which may concern the upper settlements on the river x x x X
We feel no disposition to throw any obstacles in the way of the Gentlemen at Wiscasset, but we feel very desirous that our Petition may prevail and we certainly have no objection to their's
About three weeks later James Bridge, being at Wiscasset, made a proposition to Lee that the Augusta gentlemen unite in the proposed bank at Wiscas- set, a branch of which to be kept at Augusta for loans, discounts and de- posits; the people at Augusta, Hallowell and Pittston not to subscribe for more than one-third of the capital; the managers to procure preliminaries, legislation, &c to be Lee, Merrill, Bailey and King. This was communi- cated to King by letter from Lee. The following named authorized Lee to sub- scribe for stock under such a proposi- tion :
Joseph North-12 shares
Thomas Bond-20
Nathaniel Hamlen-6
Theos. Hamlen-20
James Child-8 Thomas Dickman-8
William Robinson-30 Henry Sewall-10 Seth Williams-12
Samuel Cony, 2d .- 12 John Jones-20
Daniel Cony-80 James Bridge-60
George Crosby ..... 54
Benjamin Whitwell-40
John Davis-24
John Eveleth-20
William Brooks-24
Thomas Bowman- 25
Arthur Lithgow -- 35
Joshua Gage-40
Peter T. Vose-40.
The proposal for power to establish a branch was not passed in the Legis- lature, although it would appear from the correspondence that at least one bank had such power under its charter, and the charter granted located the bank at Wiscasset.
The Lincoln and Kennebeck Bank, as its name implied, was designed to provide banking facilities for people of Lincoln and Kennebeck Counties, the interests of the latter, which had but recently (1799) been set off from our own County, being still closely con- nected socially and commercially with those of Lincoln. Of the incorporators named in its charter, Thomas Rice, Abiel Wood, Jr., Moses Carlton, Jr., John Anderson, Silas Lee and David Payson were residents of Wiscasset and with the exception of Judge Rice they all were members of this Society; James Bridge, Samuel Howard and Daniel Cony were residents of Augusta; those in Hallowell were Thomas and David Agry, and John Odlin Page, the latter being represented in this Society by our beloved associate, Erastus Foote, who is a great-grandson of Major Page; Gardiner and Pittston were rep- resented by Peter Grant and Jedidiah Jewett; Topsham by Benjamin Jones Porter; Brunswick by John Dunlap; Bath by Peleg Tallman and William King: and Alna, or New Milford, as it was then known, by that sturdy old pa- triot, Moses Carlton. Other leading citizens of the two counties became subscribers to the capital stock which, by the terms of the charter, was to be not more than $200,000, nor less than $100,000, in specie, in shares of one hundred dollars each.
The charter prescribed
That no money shall be loaned, or discounts made, nor shall any bills or promissory notes be issued from said Bank until the capital subscribed and actually paid in, and existing in specie, in their vaults, shall amount to one hundred thou- sand dollars;
That one-eighth part of the whole funds of said Bank shall always be appropriated to loans to be.made to
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
citizens of this Commonwealth, not resident in the town of Wiscasset, and wherein the Directors shall wholly and exclusively regard the agricultural interest; which loans shall be made in sums of not less than one hundred, nor more than five hundred dollars, and upon the personal bond of the borrower, with collateral security, by a sufficient mortgage of real estate, for a term not less than one year, and on con- dition of paying the interest an- nually on such loans, subject to such forfeiture and right of re- demption as by law is provided
Pursuant to a requirement of the charter the first meeting of the sub- scribers to the capital stock was called by notice published in Jenk's Portland Gazette and in the Kennebec Gazette printed by Edes at Augusta, there be- ing no newspaper printed at that time in Wiscasset, where that meeting was held and Directors elected in August, 1802, which Directors were Silas Lee, of whom much might be written in ad- dition to what was presented to you concerning him last year and who, it will be remembered was in 1802 living in his stately mansion now known as the Governor Smith house; Abiel Wood, Junior, then thirty years of age, had already become a power in shipping and mercantile circles and in political life, who is today represented in our Society by Erastus Foote, a great- grandson, and by our dear friend on my left, Samuel J. Sewall, a great- great-grandson; David Payson, a pros- perous shipowner then resided in Water Street, but soon afterwards to purchase and occupy until his decease the Lee mansion before mentioned; Moses Carlton, Junior, another great-grand- father of Mr. Foote, distinguished far and near as a merchant and shipowner, then lived in the substantial old house now occupied by our fellow member, Mr. Marston, but he soon after pur- chased and occupied until his death in 1857 the mansion in High street which was for so long a time called the Carl- ton house; from Augusta came James Bridge, the eldest son of Sheriff Bridge, afterwards senior partner of the well known law firm of Bridge & Williams and a Judge in one of the Kennebec County courts; Capt. Thomas Agry, of Hallowell, an able master mariner, sometime in command of his own vessel, who afterwards became president of a bank in one of the Kennebec County towns; Maj. John Odlin Page, also of Hallowell, an importer of drugs, medi-
cines and other merchandise, then thirty years of age, was distinguished, as one may read in Old Hallowell on the Kennebec, "for his elegance of per- son, urbanity of manner, ardent phil- anthropy, and love of liberty;" Capt. Peleg Tallman, then a resident upon Tuessic Neck in Woolwich and later of Bath, was a notable character in ship- ping, commercial and political circles who had served his country in the Rev- olution, in which service he lost an arm; and last, but not least, came the great Mr. William King, who later be- came the first Governor of our State, whose promotion in 1808 in the space of eight and forty hours from the ranks of the privates in Massachusetts mili- tia to that of Major-General, caused certain of his political opponents to derisively call him "a Military Rocket." Such was the personnel of the first board of Directors of the Lincoln & Kennebeck Bank, of Wiscasset. They chose Mr. King as President and Henry Roby as Cashier; and very soon there- after the business of banking was be- gun. As early as 21st August, 1802, Mr. Lee wrote to Messrs. Porter & King, "the vault is dug-scant six feet brings us to the Ledge."
Tradition Says that within the memory of men now living there was still to be seen in a part of the Lee- Smith house a vault which it is said was that used by the bank when it be- gun to do business. On the opposite side of High street Lee had his law office, for it iz so recorded in a book belong- ing to this society; and when, upon the 16th of March, 1805, he sold to the bank the land upon which the bank buildings was afterwards erected he be- gun the description of that land with the words,
"beginning on high street, so called, on the Southeasterly side thereof at a place where a line drawn at right angles with said street shall strike the front of said Lee's Of- fice";
and he reserved liberty to remove the building then standing on the lot so conveyed. The preliminaries to the choice of a site may be of interest. On the 20th of December, 1804, Lee wrote to King that it would be indispensably necessary for him to be absent the next discount day,
When you & Maj. Page proposed that the business of a Building for a Bank &c should be settled-I think it high time that this should be done-And am apprehensive it will be necessary that the out of
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
Town directors should settle the place to them I would like to refer it-The Merchants & traders here are very anxious that it should be below Whittiers, they no doubt have or will urge the in Town directors to favour it-they urge that it ought to be near so as to make it con- venient to get change &c-this certainly is in my mind an argu- ment against it-I think that Mr. Richardson yourself & Capt. Tall- man ought without fail to attend -I think I am unprejudiced when I say that it ought never to go be- low Whittiers-And I do believe it will be hundreds of Dollars saving to set it in the corner where my office stands-The ledge for the foundation will be a great saving besides the security. A sufficiency of ground for this purpose I will sell at a much cheaper rate than can be purchased below-I should suppose it would be low price at five hundred dollars-I however will take such sum as you & Page on enquiry as to the comparative values, shall say it is worth-for any other purpose than a Build- ing of this kind, I certainly would not take double the amount-
In consequence of what you said to me I have engaged the Brick, & the money for about thirty thou- sand must be paid by the tenth of Jan. next-The residue are to be made in June-these Brick are of the large legal size, the price is six dollars & a half per thousand & to hall or gundalo about a mile and a quarter-I think considering the size, they are very cheap-
Judge Lee appears to have been charged with responsibility during the construction of the building: in Jan- uary, 1806, he wrote to King who was then in attendance at the General Court in Boston, that Maj. Wood was very much in earnest that the bank should have a mahogany counter and he sent specifications therefor; also, A Mr. Gridley who contracted to do the iron work for the State prison agreed with me to make the door & casings & bolts all com- pleted for twenty cents per pound & the locks for fifty dollars all completely fitted to the door
And so it would appear that the building must have been ready for oc- cupancy early in the year of 1806.
The Lincoln and. Kennebeck Bank was chartered at a time when as we have heretofore seen, Wiscasset had
entered upon a very lively period of roaring trade which continued without any noticeable diminution for several years; the average annual number of sea letters issued by Mr. Collector Cook, of the Wiscasset Customs Dis- trict, for the years 1804, 1805 and 1806 having been 49, and in 1807 he issued 67. All the vessels to which such let- ters were issued were principally laden with lumber. It was in that period that several of the notable mansions of Wiscasset were erected and many of our beautiful elms were planted, all of which we very properly treasure as priceless legacies from the oldtime Dons who built and planted so well.
Of the original stockholders, nineteen belonged here in Wiscasset and besides this Society they were Capt. Wil- liam M. Boyd, Moses Carlton, Jr., Capt. Alexander Cunningham, Capt. Henry Hodge, Hon. Silas Lee, Capt. Thomas McCray, John Merrill, Jr., Capt. Sam- uel Miller, Capt. William Nickels, Col. David Payson, Maj. David Payson, Wil- liam Pike, Henry Roby, Nymphas Stacy, William Taylor, Abiel Wood, Sr., and his sons, Abiel Wood, Jr., and Joseph Tinkham Wood. This list of names may be of interest to you who are fa- miliar with the early roll of our mem- bership, for in it you will find fourteen names of members of this Society. Later, the Lincoln & Kennebeck Ma- rine Insurance Company, which was lo- cated in Wiscasset of which Peleg Tall- man was President and John Merrill, Jr., Secretary, became the holder of 371 shares; and among residents of Wiscasset, who became shareholders were Dr. Samuel Adams, Rev. Alden Bradford, Jeremiah Bailey, Esq., Fran- cis Cook, Robert Elwell, Capt. John Hodge, Samuel Hubbard, Thomas Nick- els, Manasseh Smith, Esq.
In addition to the out of town stock- holders who were Directors, Bowdoin College was an original holder of one hundred shares, and among individuals appear the names of Ebenezer Farley, Samuel and Jane Nickels, all of New- castle; Levi Peterson, John and Joseph Sewall, Isaiah Crooker, John Richard- son and David Stinson, all of Bath; Nathaniel Dummer, Peter Grant, Ru- fus K. Page, Arthur Lithgow and Seth Williams in Kennebec towns. Hallowell Academy was also a stockholder.
It may well be imagined that to gather together and actually pay into the vault one hundred thousand dol- lars in specie in the year 1802 was an unusual undertaking. So far nothing has been found to show what reserve,
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
in any, the Bank was required to carry in its vaults. Extracts from entries in the Bank's books inform us that it became customary to borrow consider- able sums in specie, as well as to make remittances to Boston to obtain specie: One entry in May, 1810, recorded a re- mittance of $16,170.54 for that purpose; another entry shows that the President, Abiel Wood, Jr., who had succeeded King in 1807, and others gave their note for specie borrowed in November, 1809, of William Bartlett, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, for the Bank, which note was collaterally secured by a deposit of fifty thousand dollars. These items are selected at random: 31st December, 1810, the Cashier drew his checks on the Union Bank, of Boston, in favor of R. D. Tucker to the amount of $25,- 710.08 for the purpose of obtaining specie; specie to a smaller amount had also been borrowed of John Borland, who resided at Damariscotta Mills.
As indicated by a quotation from its charter, the Lincoln and Kennebeck Bank was a bank of issue; and prob- ably one of the earliest orders given for the equipment of the Bank was sent to London for copper plates from which its notes were to be engraved, for here is the plate for the notes for one hun- dred dollars, which you will see was obtained of Whittow & Son, No. 31 Shoe Lane, Holborn, London. Here, also, is the plate from which the notes for five dollars were printed, and one of the unissued notes. Plates for notes of the denominations of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine dollars are said to have been in use, some of which are in the possession of the Maine Historical Society. It will be observed that upon one end of each note is shown a river scene with ves- sels of the period, a saw mill, a lumber yard, a ship on the stocks, a back- ground of forest. Many types of ves- sels are pictured on the notes of differ- ent denominations, among which are included a brig, a schooner, a topsail schooner, a sloop, a bark and a ship. On some of the notes the denomination is indicated by figures which appear on engravings of a fish between the sig- natures of the President and Cashier. In discussing the device for the bills Mr. Lee disclaimed skill on that point and left it to Messrs. King and Tall- man, but suggested that it be
something new & yet expressive of the Energies of this country, if I may be allowed to use the word as other Democrats do, & to extend
the meaning beyond what was ever thought of by linguists.
In a few years, however, steel plates for engraving came into use and, being more durable than copper, almost en- tirely supplanted the latter; and in 1811 we find that the Bank "Paid Mr. Perkins for blank Bank Bills" $58. This note was engraved from the stereotype steel plate patented by Jacob Perkins, a well known Yankee inventor, who was subsequently engaged for several years in furnishing plates for the Bank of Ireland. The New England agency for engraving bank notes from the steel plate was established at Newburyport in charge of Abraham Perkins, who at one time printed notes for about seven- ty banks. A distinguishing feature of the back of the note is a multiplicity of letters most intricately arranged in a dozen groups. On the face of the note, at the left hand end, appears the coat of arms of the Commonwealth of Mass- achusetts. The margins are ornament- ed with lathe work and show the de- nomination of the note expressed in the word TEN, the figure 5 and the Roman numeral X repeated many times. The words Ten Dollars are re- peated many scores of times in very small tyne in the body of the note. The peculiarities of the notes from the
Perkins press and the quantity of work upon both sides of them are such that it is said to have been almost impos- sible to counterfeit them with success.
One of President King's Boston cor- respondents in a letter relating to the subject of banking wrote:
The principal difficulty in making Bank stock productive arises from the almost impossibility to loan suf- ficient to yield a profitable divi- dend, and to prevent the bills from returning to the Bank.
In the rapidly expanding business of this section at the time of the founding of the Lincoln & Kennebec Bank there was no difficulty in loaning; but in the matter of the return of bills proved as predicted by the Boston man: As early as January, 1803, Captain Tall- man wrote from Boston upon this sub- ject, suggesting that they may "expect Loving squeeses" from holders of the Bank's bills and further,
Circumspection with us in Dis- counts, will, I think Be necessary unless you are willing to be milk'd. Messengers were from time to time sent from Boston with large batches of the Bank's bills for which Boston bills, funds, or gold would be demanded, sometimes to half the whole issue, and
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WISCASSET IN EARLY DAYS
it is stated that after one such raid the amount of specie in the vault was reduced to $10,000. At one time, when a report of the condition of the Bank was to be made, Major Wood suggested that the Bank send a messenger to Hallowell with bills of the Bank to pur- chase of the Hallowell & Augusta Bank, of which Maj. John Odlin Page was president, specie and bring it to Wis- casset where it could be reported as be- ing in the vault, and that in turn the Hallowell & Augusta Bank send to Wis- casset and purchase the specie and get it back to that Bank's vault the same day; a course that would in this day be called window-dressing.
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