USA > Maine > Knox County > Union > A history of the town of Union, in the county of Lincoln, Maine : to the middle of the nineteenth century, with a family register of the settlers before the year 1800, and of their descendants > Part 27
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April, 1817, voted to pass over an article to see if the town would " allow Jonathan Sibley to have his proportion of the school-money, and apply it to school- ing his own children in his own way." July 4, 1820, upon a proposition to " let Leonard Bump receive his proportion of money that his scholars drawed in 1819, and what they will draw in 1820 from School-district No. 7," the money was granted, " provided he satisfied the selectmen that it had been expended in schooling his children." In 1822, it was again granted ; but " he was first to produce a certificate from the master or mistress that the same had been expended in schooling his children, they being duly qualified as the law re- quires for school-instructors."
It appears from the preceding votes, that there were brought forward, in advance of the times, some con-
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HIGH SCHOOLS.
siderations which have since been reduced to laws; and that, whatever may have been the motive or the result, there was vigilance that the money should be spent for the general good. There are, however, some evils yet to be remedied. One of these is the sub- division of districts, and the consequent shortness of the schools; another is too great lenity in examining into the qualifications of teachers. Thorough teachers are the cheapest ; and long schools, though considerably large, are much better for a town than short schools with but few pupils. Two neighboring districts might unite, and let the scholars in each attend both the schools, which might be taught in different months. By the union of several, there might be grades and one high school in town, without additional expense.
HIGH SCHOOLS.
The liberally educated men in town have always been ready to aid any person who wished to pursue studies not ordinarily taught in the common schools. There have sometimes been private schools for teach- ing the higher branches of education. During the latter part of each of the years 1824, 1825, and 1826, Noyes P. Hawes kept a private school on the com- mon. The first strictly classical school was probably taught by J. B. Pitkin.
" He came to Union on foot, with his earthly effects, real and personal, in a bundle under his arm, in the fall of 1828. He was poorly clad, and had the appearance of one far gone in consumption. He announced himself as a writing- master, and soon opened a writing-school. He did not take the pupil's writing-book and reverse it when he wrote, but penned the copy across the desk, not only inverted but backward. His writing, though done in this way, was pre- eminently beautiful. The proceeds of his school supplied. his wants, and he continued to live among us. There was about him an air of great reserve; and no one knew his acquirements, his history, whence he came, or whither he was destined. After teaching a writing-school for some time, in the fall of 1829 he opened a school for the higher
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EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
branches, such as Latin, Greek, grammar, geography, &c., in the Round Pond School-house. And there for the first time we learned that he was a good classical scholar, who had received an education at the seminary in Quebec. After teaching several months, he commenced preaching, and connected himself with the Universalist denomination. He remained at Union the next year preaching. Early in the year 1830, Mr. Pitkin left Union for the south. His health was much improved, though the seeds of consump- tion were too deeply rooted in his constitution to be eradi- cated. He went to Richmond, Va., became connected with the Unitarian denomination, and a fine church was erected for him in the city, where he preached for several years, and died some years ago, universally lamented and beloved by all who knew him. Mr. Pitkin was distinguished for his reserve, for his quiet, unassuming demeanor, and his gentle, unoffending manners." 1
With the exception of the summer months, a high school has been taught for the most part of the time, during several years, by Joshua S. Greene, who for about two years was a member of Bowdoin College. Here studies are pursued which are required for ad- mission to College.
During five or six months in the year 1832, a high school for young ladies was taught by Susan B. Owen, a native of Brunswick. She afterwards mar- ried Rev. James B. Britton, of Dayton, Ohio, who in 1849 declined the bishopric of Illinois.
LYCEUM.
In the winters of 1830-31 and of 1831-32, there was a Lyceum. Dr. Jonathan Sibley was the president. Of the lectures one was by Dr. Harding on quackery ; one by Dr. H. A. True on a library, and its beneficial influence; and two were given by the president on his- torical incidents and events connected with the town of Union, and the early settlement of the country.
1 MS. Journal of A. C. Robbins, Esq., of Brunswick. Mr. Pitkin died early in 1835, probably at St. Augustine, Fa., where he went for his health. See Christian Register, March 28, 1835.
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LIBRARIES.
LIBRARIES.
At the close of the last century, there was a library, which contained several valuable books. March 3, 1800, an article was brought forward "to see if the town would choose a committee to meet a committee of the 'Federal Society' on the subject of turning the Union Library to the town." The article was dropped. The volumes were kept together many years afterward; but no additions of consequence were made to them. Finally, the proprietors in town severally took what they considered their share of the volumes, and the library was broken up.
In 1814, the young men made a movement to form another library. It was carried on with considerable spirit for some time. Their constitution was signed by Noyes P. Hawes, Walter Morse, Joel Hills, Otis Hawes, John Bowes, Whiting Hawes, Reuben Hills, jun., Ebenezer Barrett, Robert N. Foster. To these were subsequently added Jonathan Eastman, Ezra Bowen, Isaac Hills, Barnard Morse, Galen Hawes, Thomas A. Mitchell, and Russell Sargent. Several of the young men moved from the town in two or three years, and the interest subsided.
The Union Library Society was organized in 1825, with about forty members. In the course of a year or two, the library contained nearly two hundred vo- lumes. At the present time, there are, including large and small, several hundred volumes, belonging to the Sunday-schools of the different religious societies.
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER XXXV.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
College Graduates. - Lawyers. - Physicians. - Indian Doctor. - Urine Doctor. - Singing Masters and Singing Schools. - Brass Band.
COLLEGE GRADUATES. 1
ISAAC BOWEN, Brown University, 1816.
JOHN LANGDON SIBLEY, Harvard University, 1825.
HENRY AYER TRUE, Bowdoin College, 1832.
AUGUSTUS COGGSWELL ROBBINS, Bowdoin College, 1835. HENRY FISKE HARDING, Bowdoin College, 1850.
LAWYERS.
ROBERT MCCLINTOCK, an educated Englishman or Scotchman, having a wife and two or three children, was in town, according to the tax-bill, as early as 1791. He lived near Hills' Mills, and occasionally " did law-business." Not being able to adapt himself to the Yankee mode of getting a living in a new country, he became poor, and, it is said, lived for some time in a barn, in the McGuier neighborhood in Waldoborough, and finally died in it.
WILLIAM WHITE, of Chester, N.H., a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1806 ; commenced practice in August, 1809; and in September, 1812, moved to Belfast, where he died.
LITHGOW HUNTER, a graduate of Bowdoin College in 1809; in town from November, 1812, to March 13, 1813 ; now lives in Topsham or Brunswick.
1 The first four graduates were born in one school-district. The second, third, and fourth were born on the Robbins Neck ; the first two of them in the Truc House, so called, now owned by Mr. Fog- ler ; and the other, sixty or eighty rods north of it. Another native of Maine, Freeman Luce Daggett, son of Edmund Daggett, for many years resident at Hope, is an undergraduate of Bowdoin College. In comparison with the neighboring towns the number is large. In the vicinity are some towns which have not furnished any college graduates.
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LAWYERS.
GEORGE KIMBALL, probably of Harvard, Mass., a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1809; began to practise March 12, 1813; went to the Bermuda Isles in the early part of 1815, where he taught a singing- school, and was married. He returned and settled in Canaan, N. H., became distinguished in the anti-slavery movement, and went to Alton, Ill.
DANIEL FISKE HARDING, a graduate of Brown Uni- versity in 1809, commenced practice in November, 1815, and still resides in town.
JOHN BULFINCH, of Lynn, born in Boston, a graduate of Harvard University in 1812; read law in the office of the Hon. Samuel Thatcher, of Warren, and with B. P. Field, Esq., of Belfast ; opened an office here in January, 1816. He remained till November, 1823; then removed to Waldoborough, where he now lives. In 1825 he married Sophronia, daughter of Thomas Pike, of Camden, and has six children, the oldest son a graduate of Bowdoin College in 1850.
JOHN S. ABBOT, a graduate of Bowdoin College in 1827, began practice in 1831, moved to Thomaston in 1833, and now lives in Norridgewock.
AUGUSTUS C. ROBBINS, after graduating, studied law six months with Jonathan Thayer, of Camden, and subsequently with John S. Abbot, of Thomaston ; and was admitted to the bar, at Topsham, in August, 1838. He immediately commenced business in Union, and continued till late in the fall of 1839, since which he has practised in Brunswick. From November, 1841, to Dec. 31, 1850, he was cashier of the Bruns- . wick Bank. Jan. 1, 1851, he entered on his duties as cashier of the Union Bank at Brunswick. He has for many years been an unwearied and successful advo- cate of thorough, extensive, and elevated common school education.
ELIJAH VOSE has been in business since 1842.
ELISHA ESTY RICE, now Governor's aid, commenced practice in May, 1843, and was deputy-sheriff. He left town in 1845, and is now engaged in manufac- tures at Hallowell.
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
RICHARD DRURY RICE was by profession a printer, edited an anti-masonic paper at Hallowell, after which he kept a bookstore several years in Augusta. He then studied law with the Hon. J. W. Bradbury, United States senator, afterward was in partnership with him, and in 1848 was appointed Judge of the Middle Dis- triet Court of Maine. He resides at Augusta. 1
NELSON CUTLER,2 a farmer till twenty-one years of age, then lime-cask-maker two years, trader from 1827 to 1837, also at the present time; began to practise at the bar about May, 1843, and still continues in the profession.
PHYSICIANS.
It was many years before any physician was per- manently settled in the town. Dr. Dodge, of Thom-
1 James Rice, born June 24, 1758 ; died April 3, 1829. He came from Framingham, Mass. He was the son of Richard Rice, born Oct. 21, 1730 ; died June 24, 1793. Nathan Drury Rice, son of the before-named James Rice, was born Aug. 29, 1784; and married, Feb. 10, 1806, Deborah Banister, born June 9, 1786, died Nov. 1, 1843. He married second, in 1851, the widow Emery, of Augusta. The children are - I. Harriet, born Nov. 19, 1806 ; married Amos Bar- rett. II. Albert Perry, born June 14, 1808; died March 27, 1834. III. Richard Drury, born April 11, 1810 ; married Anne R. Smith, of Hallowell, April 12, 1836. She died June 15, 1838, leaving Albert Smith, born April 4, 1837. He married, Nov. 8, 1840, Almira E. Ro- binson, by whom he has Abby Emery, born May 18, 1842. IV. Nathan Foster, born March 25, 1812; baker in New Orleans, La. V. James Banister, born June 14, 1814; died Sept. 15, 1835. VI. Sarah, born June 25, 1816 ; married, Sept. 4, 1847, James Hodges, of Washington. VII. Cyrus Cushman, born June 14, 1818 ; married, Oet. 17, 1839, Emily S. Wade; lives in Bangor. Children : Abby Celestia, born Aug. 13, 1840 ; Deborah Caroline, born Sept. 9, 1843 ; Emma Eveline, born Dec. 26, 1846. VIII. Elisha Esty, born May 7, 1820 ; married, Jan. 2, 1842, Almira W. Sampson, of Winthrop. IX. Lyman Lyon, born July 21, 1822 ; died at the Marine Hospital, Liverpool, England, Feb. 23, 1842. X. Eveline, born July 3, 1824; married Simeon Savage, and resides at Lowell. Mass. XI. Ann Maria, born April 6, 1828 ; married, December, 1847, James French ; residence Lewiston.
? N. C. born at Lewiston, April 25, 1805; married, in Warren, March 8, 1827, Love Thompson, born in Hope, April 3, 1810. The children, all born in Union, are - I. Ethelbert Nelson, born Feb. 19, 1828. II. Malinda Ann, born June 16, 1829 ; died May 30, 1848. III. John Emery, born Nov. 1, 1831. IV. Mary Celeste, born April 23, 1834. V. Caroline Matilda, born June 21, 1836. VI. Charles Henry, born Oct. 19, 1839. VII. Frank Melvin, born June 22, 1842. VIII. Clara Augusta, born March 27, 1846. IX. Coraella, born 1849.
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PHYSICIANS.
aston, and subsequently Dr. Buxton, of Warren, were occasionally sent for in difficult cases: At an early period, probably about the year 1787 or 1788, Dr. Isaac Bernard was in town a short time. He settled in Thomaston, and married a widow Hanson. He was captain of a company of light-horse, frequently moderator of the town-meetings, and was chosen rep- resentative to the Massachusetts General Court, at least in 1806, 1807, 1809-13, 1815-17, and 1819.
Mrs. James, of Warren, was sent for occasionally. But the wife of Philip Robbins, better known as " Aunt Mima," did more business than all of them. In the autumn of 1786, Mr. Samuel Hills agreed to announce to " Aunt Mima " the expected arrival of a little stranger, by going to the pond and blowing a conch. When the time came, Aunt Mima respond- ed to the call. The ice was thin. Amariah Mero, holding a long pole by the middle, so as to recover himself if he broke through, drew his mother-in-law on a hand-sled to the place appointed. The little stranger, Jabez F. Hills, was the first person born in Union after it was incorporated. Aunt Mima ac- quired considerable skill as a doctress. If a person was wounded, commonly he was carried to Aunt Mima, who had medicines and lancets, and prescribed and bled, as the case required.
JONATHAN SIBLEY was the first physician who estab- lished himself here permanently. After studying his profession with Dr. Carrigain, of Concord, N. H., he was examined and admitted to the New Hampshire Medical Society, Jan. 9, 1799; receiving, it is said, the first diploma ever given by the society. Subse- quently he became a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is supposed that he is not only the oldest man, but the oldest physician, who prac- tises any in this part of the country, and possibly in the State. Many years since, he published several articles in the medical journal printed in Boston.
WILLIAM DOUGHERTY, of Framingham, settled here about the year 1807, and continued several years.
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
Dr. PELATIAH METCALF came from Massachusetts in 1809, remained one or two years, and went into a fac- tory at Pawtucket, R. I. He now lives at Smithfield, R. I.
Afterward came Dr. BRACKETT, from Vassalborough. He continued but a short time, moved to Thomaston, and afterward to Virginia.
ELISHA HARDING, M. D. at Brown University in 1819, was here from the spring of 1819 till 1842, when he moved to Thomaston, where he died in 1850.
ISAAC FLITNER, M. D. at Bowdoin College in 1837, came in 1837, and is still in practice.
GAVINUS HENDERSON came in 1842, and moved away in two or three years.
Dr. THOMAS GORE was here a short time, moved to Cushing, and was representative from that town in 1844, and senator in 1846 and 1847. He now lives at East Boston, Mass.
EDWARD ALDEN attended one course of medical lec- tures at Bowdoin College in 1844. Afterward he at- tended two courses at Cincinnati, Ohio, and received a medical degree from the Botanico-medical College of Ohio, Feb. 21, 1845. After practising two years at Providence, R. I., he came here in April, 1848.
The following physicians went from Union, and settled in other places : -
ISAAC BOWEN, son of Ezra and Experience (Tol- man) Bowen, after graduating at Brown University in 1816, taught an academy at Providence, R. I., and afterward at Taunton, Mass. He went to the South in October, 1818, to teach ; settled in Applington, Ga., and subsequently in Augusta, where, having attended medical lectures in Philadelphia, he practised medi- cine. His wife kept a boarding-school, in which he took an active part when his practice permitted. He died in Augusta, in 1839, of the yellow fever, after five days' sickness.
CYRUS HILLS, son of the late Reuben Hills, is a prac- titioner in Friendship, Cushing, and on the islands.
HENRY AYER TRUE, son of the Rev. Henry True, stu-
323
PHYSICIANS.
died medicine with Drs. Estabrook, of Camden, and McKeen, of Topsham or Brunswick; attended one course of medical lectures in Boston, and two in Bruns- wick; and received his medical degree at the latter place. He was then appointed assistant superintending physician at the McLean Asylum, Somerville, Mass. Afterwards he was in a dispensary, and subsequently was a druggist, in New York city. He moved to Marion, Marion county, Ohio, where ill health obliged him to abandon an extensive medical practice, and where he is now a merchant.
JOHN HAWES, born Dec. 31, 1810, died at Grenada, Miss.
BENJAMIN HIRAM BACHELDER, son of Capt. Nathaniel Bachelor, was born Sept. 18, 1811; graduated at the Bowdoin Medical School in 1836; and in December, 1836, settled in Montville, where, in October, 1837, he married Betsey White Ayer, daughter of Perley and Polly (White) Ayer. In 1848 he adopted the homœo- pathic system of practice.
JOHN BAYLEY WALKER, son of Amos Walker, re- ceived a medical degree at Bowdoin College in 1847. April 21, 1849, he married Bertha E. Rust, of Wash- ington, where he is settled.
INDIAN DOCTOR. - During the summer and autumn of 1805 or 1806, an Indian doctor, named Cook, was here. On the east side of White Oak Pond, called by the Indians Ponoke or Pawnoke, the Indians once had a garden, in which they cultivated many medi- cinal plants. From this deserted garden, Dr. Cook obtained most of his medicines. He had a pipe made from a maple-sprout. The bulb where it ad- hered to the stump was hollowed out for the bowl, and the sprout pierced for the passage of the smoke. He was sent for to visit a patient; and, it never being con- · venient for him to pass the tavern without making a call, he stopped there on his way. After " taking a little refreshment," and lighting his pipe, he attempted to mount a horse from the off side. Not able to keep his balance, he pitched over the animal, and thrust the
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
pipe-stem through his neck. It was extracted, and he visited his patient; but, in consequence of the injury, he died about a week afterward, and was buried. not far from the Methodist Meeting-house, in a north- westerly or westerly direction, on the pitch of the hill near the road which runs west, and in the vicinity of his wigwam.
URINE DOCTOR. - As the inhabitants have some- times consulted physicians in the neighboring towns, it may perhaps be excusable to insert two extracts from letters respecting a doctor who in his day proba- bly was as much celebrated as any man ever was in the vicinity. The first extract is dated Nov. 18, 1819 :
" A German urine-doctor has lately come from Virginia to Warren. The people flock to him by hundreds ; his house has been so thronged that some days he could not attend to half the applicants. It has been reported, that he had an hundred people under his care at the same time. Samuel Bennet died at his house. The body was brought to this town, and opened by Drs. Sibley and Harding, to find a great worm which the learned doctor said was in him; but none was to be found. The fellow says Micajah Gleason has a worm as many feet long as Gleason is years old, and that the worm adds one foot to its length every year. He says Gleason has not got the asthma. He says he shall certainly cure Mr. Gleason, if he can obtain the aid of a seventh son."
The second extract is from a letter dated March 12, 1820 :-
"Dr. Lambricht, of Warren, has buried his wife and both his children. Some of the people think he poisoned them. A jury of inquest was had on one of the bodies ; but no discoveries were made. His house is continually thronged with people, some with bottles of urine, some with lame legs, and others with diseased livers, rotten lungs, and crazy brains. His practice extends more than fifty miles, and I think I might say more than an hundred. Many of his patients have died, and several at his own house. He is so much engaged in business that many peo- ple have to call several times before they can have their
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SINGING-MASTERS AND SINGING-SCHOOLS.
urine inspected. I hear he has a box or barrel, in which he keeps salts and brimstone pounded together, and feeds all his patients from the same mess. Some are directed to take it in brandy, and some in rum, and others in different ways ; but those who have diseased livers must swallow it dry, so that it may adhere to the liver and heal it. He calls Dr. Brown [of Waldoborough] a fool, and says the physicians in this country ought to be hung for their ignor- ance. He says in Germany there were several hundred men appointed to translate the Bible; and, after they had fin- ished the work, they submitted it to him to see if it had been correctly done. Public opinion seems to be divided . concerning him : while some call him a great physician, others say he kills a great many and cures none."
SINGING-MASTERS AND SINGING-SCHOOLS.
The first singing-school was taught by Ebenezer Jennison, in Moses Hawes's log-house. Candlesticks were scarce, and potatoes, with holes in them, were sub- stituted. Afterward, in cases of emergency, candles were tipped till the melted tallow dropped on the long board which served as a table, and then the bottoms of the candles were held in the tallow till it cooled, - a practice not uncommon in new settlements at the present day. The Rev. Mr. Starr, a carpenter and Calvinistic Baptist preacher, and John Fairbanks, taught singing in the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury.
In the early part of the nineteenth century, funds were raised by subscription, and the schools were free for all. About the years 1814 and 1816, Benjamin Franklin Waters, from Ashby, Mass., was the teacher. His compensation was one dollar for an afternoon and evening. He was employed in three towns; and he so arranged his schools as to teach in Union on two days in each week, from two to nine, P.M., with a recess from five to six o'clock. The school was kept in the hall of the " Mallard House," which stood on the spot now occupied by the house of Elijah Vose, Esq. In the evenings, sixty or seventy persons were commonly present. Some of them lived four or five miles dis-
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PROFESSIONAL HISTORY.
tant. They were dismissed at nine o'clock, then con- sidered a late hour, to go home in the searching cold, through snow-drifts and along dreary roads.
Two evenings thus spent in each week relieved the winters of the monotony which frequently prevails in country-towns. There was no satisfactory substitute for the enjoyment. Sometimes there was rudeness at the meetings ; but it was more than counterbalanced by frankness and kind feelings. After the school was ended, if it was in winter, the singers commonly met on Sunday evenings, at different private houses within a mile or two of the Common. Before Sunday-schools were established, there was singing in the meeting- house, between the morning and afternoon services, on the Lord's days, in summer. Two or three persons would make a beginning. Occasionally there would be a " break-down;" but, as other singers came in and joined them, the music became better. Marcus Gill- mor was commonly present with the bass-viol, bought by the Rev. Mr. True for the use of the society, and occasionally there were other instruments; but the want of skill in the performers was often the occasion of sundry discords. Gillmor always could be relied on to sustain his part. In summer there was generally a singing-meeting at five o'clock, at the old hall. A maiden lady, who afterwards became dependent on the town for support, lived in the house part of the time, and, for an occasional gratuity of a dollar or two, kept the hall well swept and sanded. Some persons may possibly recollect the elastic step and perpendicu- larity with which she was regularly expected to go out and come in, two or three times at each meeting.
Singing-schools have been kept in later years ; but they have been, for the most part, confined to the par- ticular religious societies. They have not been got up and sustained on the broad and free principle on which they were conducted thirty-five years ago.
BRASS BAND.
Very early in the present century, a school for in- strumental music was taught, and some steps were
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REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
taken towards forming a band. Subsequently, teach- ing was given by Mr. Whittemore. About the time the war of 1812 closed, a fifing-school was taught by Edmund Daggett. But nothing of importance was effected till 1845 or 1846, when several young men - amateurs - took hold of the subject in earnest, em- ployed a very skilful teacher, and were organized Aug. 8, 1846, as the " Union Brass Band." It has had a high reputation ; though, of late, it has lost some of its members by their removal from town.
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