USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bremen > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 36
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > A history of the towns of Bristol and Bremen in the state of Maine : including the Pemaquid Settlement > Part 36
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It does not appear that they ever had occasion to exercise the functions of their office; but this may be only the fault of the records.
But little information, except what is given above, has come down to us of the doings here through the war, but Wm. Rodgers in 1811 testified that about one-fourth of all the able bodied men of the town perished in the service, either by sea or by land. Fortunately we have the names of thirty-four. Moses Eddy, Wm. MeLean, (MeLain ?), Isaac Randall, Wm. Coleman, Thaddeus Ames, Ebenezer Bowman, Job Pronty, James Low, (or Law) James Condon, James Ronght, Joseph Wascutt, Moses Harvey, Timothy Weston, Benjamin Crooker, Thomas Farrow, Jacob Partridge, Robert Morton, Thomas Morton, David Bryant, James Elliot, Thomas Smellage, Timothy Sylvester, Jacob ILooper, John Holden, Zebulon Howland, John Reed jr., Jacob Bryant, Jacob Smith, John McGlathery, James Mc- Caffrey, Ichabod Doughty, Ezra Harrow, Michael Fountain. 1
The first constitution of the state of Massachusetts was formed by a convention which met in Cambridge, in Sept., 1779, but 1 Files, Secretary's Office, Boston ; Lin Rop., 1811, p. 157.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
did not adjourn finally until carly in the following year. The constitution agreed upon was subsequently submitted to the popular vote, article by article, each article to be considered adopted if two-thirds of the votes cast should be found in the affirmative. No particular day was named for the citizens of the towns to meet and vote upon the subject, but cach one acted at his own pleasure. June 14th, it was found by returns from 186 of the 290 towns and plantations in the state, that a suffi- cient majority of the people had voted in favor of every article ; and the constitution was therefore declared adopted, and the last Wednesday of October designated as the day when it should go into operation.
This town does not appear to have taken any action upon the question of the adoption of the constitution; but embraced the opportunity to vote for state officers, at the time appointed, (Sept. 4th.) and the record of the transaction is as follows, viz :
" Voted the Honorable John Hancock, Esq., Governor, voted the Honorable James Bowdion, Esq., Lieut. Gov., and Samuel Thwing, Esq., Senator."
Such unanimity in these our times would be truly wonder- ful; but if the return to the state canvassers was made in the same style as the record, it is not probable that the vote of Bristol, unanimous as it was, availed anything for the benefit of their favorite candidates.1
The spirit of reform was abroad in those days, as well as the present ; and some of the people of Bristol deeming it proper to attempt something practical in a particular direction, caused an article to be inserted in the warrant for a town meeting, Oct. 3d, 1780.
" To see if the town will choose a committee to instruct their representatives to get the order of lawyers entirely abolished." The decision was in the affirmative; but whether the com- mittee was ever appointed, or anything further done, we are not informed. But it is certain that " the order of lawyers" still survives.
The movement, inaugurated in 1785, to separate the counties of York, Cumberland and Lincoln, then constituting the whole of Maine, from Massachusetts, and establish therein an inde- pendent state government, ultimately failed, as is well known ; but the matter was kept in debate two or three years, during
1 Euton's An. War., p. 171.
.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
which time two conventions were held in Portland, both of them being attended by Wm. Jones, as delegate from Bristol. The people of the town never manifested any enthusiasm in its favor, but when the question was submitted to vote in town- meeting (Oct. 3, 1786), there were 19 yeas and 1 nay. The meeting was held at the house of Richard Jones.
CHAPTER XXIX.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR TO THE WAR OF 1812.
- Commodore Samuel Tucker --- Jacob Eaton jr. - Rev. A. McLean - Murder of Cleary or McClary by John O'Noil -Trial and execution of the latter -- Sheriff Goudy.
The revolutionary war produced only a few naval heroes; but there were several whose names will live for all time. Among these was Samuel Tucker, who ten years after the war came to reside in Bristol, in the part subsequently set off as Bremen, and spent here the rest of his life. He was born in Marblehead, Nov. 1st, 1747; and when a mere boy began the life of a seaman. He was in London when news of the battle of Bunker Hill was received there ; and for a time was in great danger of arrest, because of some patriotic, but incautious words, but escaped by a stratagem, and found passage homeward on board a vessel belonging to Robert Morris of Philadelphia, and bound to that city. Morris gave him letters to Washington, then at the head of the army at Cambridge, to whom they were presented on his way homeward, near the close of the year, 1775. Having been married several years before this, he has- . tened to join his family at the old homestead.
Congress, in October, passed a resolve authorizing the fitting out of some armed ships, which were greatly needed in the cir- cumstances of the country ; and it may be that the matter was not forgotten when he had his interview with Washington. However this may be, a favorable impression had been made
مخيماً به البيعيه متقد . .
Samuel Tucker~
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
upon the mind of the great American leader, whose judgment of men at sight was almost miraculous ; and when it was de- termined to fit out some armed vessels to prey upon the enemy, one of the first commissions issued was to our hero, Samuel Tucker. It was dated January 20th, 1776, and sent by a spe- cial messenger ; it appointed him captain of the armed schooner Franklyn, then lying in the harbor of Beverly and nearly ready for sea. It was signed by Gen. Washington as commander of the American army.
Though this was late in the afternoon, early the next morn- ing he was on his way to assume the command thus conferred upon him. He did so good service in the Franklyn that, Sept. Sd, he was transferred to the armed schooner Hancock, and at a later period to the frigate, Boston. This last commission was dated March 15, 1777. In his several commands he was very successful, and during his few years of service made a large number of prizes; but a full list cannot now be made out. Some of them were of great value, and his share of the spoils amounted to a large sum.
In 1778, while in command of the frigate Boston, he was ordered to convey the Hon. John Adams to France, to which he had been appointed minister, and successfully performed the duty, taking several prizes on the voyage. The late Dr. Ben- jamin Brown, of Waldoboro, was surgeon of the ship during the voyage. In the autumn of 1770, the Boston was ordered south, as one of Commodore Whipple's squadron for the de-> fense of that coast; and with all the commodore's squadron, was obliged to surrender to the enemy in Charleston harbor, when that place was captured in the spring of 1780. Tucker was allowed to return home on parole, and very soon was ex- changed for Capt. Wm. Wardlow, whom he had himself cap- tured about a year before, in the Thorne.
There being now no vacant ship to which he could be ap- pointed, he requested and obtained permission to take command of the Thorne which he had captured (commanded by Wardlow just mentioned), and which was now commissioned as a pri- vateer, and in her did excellent service, making many valuable prizes, and greatly distressing the enemy. But fortune is not always propitious ; the Thorne, with all on board, in the summer of 1781, was obliged to surrender to a superior force of the enemy, while on a cruise near the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
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ILISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
The prisoners were landed on Prince Edward's Island, from which Tucker and some others escaped in an open boat, and arrived safely in Boston.
.
When he returned from Charleston, in 1780, he found himself a rich man, as a result of the many prizes (probably as many as sixty at least) he had captured, and he removed his family to Boston, where they lived, " rather extravagantly," one ac- count says, for a number of years. He had proved himself to be a bold and successful fighter; but he had no tact for busi- ness, and, at the same time, was generous to a fault. He lost largely in different ways, and especially by loans to pretended friends, whose solicitations he never could deny. To relieve himself from embarrassment he sold his property in Boston, and engaged in business in his native place ; but with little suc- cess. He therefore sold out his interest there and purchased a farm in Bristol of Daniel MeCurdy, on which he resided the rest of his life (this was in 1793). The farm is a little north of the mills at the outlet of Muscongus pond, and the house into which the family moved, was a small wooden building of a siu- gle story only. This he pulled down many years ago, and erected in its place a larger house of two stories, which in turn gave place to the one now standing there. The property some years ago passed entirely out of the family.
The people of Bristol received the commodore among them with great cordiality : and ever treated him and his family with the greatest respect, the forty years of his life spent among them. They also showed their appreciation of him by his frequent elec- tion to office ; eight times he represented them in the legislature of Massachusetts, before the separation, and twice afterwards in the legislature of Maine. He was also a member of the con- vention that formed the first constitution of Maine. In 1820 he was chosen an elector of president and vice president of the United States, and was appointed messenger to carry the vote of Maine to Washington, where he was received with the honors due him for his former services. Having many years before received the thanks of congress for his gallant services in the war of the revolution, he was, by the rules of congress, entitled to admission at all times to the floor of both houses.
His public services in the troubles with the " Proprietors" and also in the war of 1812 will be related hereafter.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Other minor offices he often held, as that of selectman of Bristol, and of Bremen after the latter was incorporated, as his residence was in this town. He died at his home, after a short illness, March 10, 1833, in his 86th year, and was interred with others of his kindred in the rural cemetery of Bremen. His wife died less than two years before him. They lived together 63 years.
Knowing, as we do, the great services of the commodore in the revolutionary war, we are surprised that he was not remembered subsequently for some appointment in the navy or in the cus- toms service. Having no tact for business he was always poor, and such a recognition would have been doubly welcome to him ; and we experience a feeling of surprise, bordering on in- dignation, when we learn that even an appointment as captain of a revenue cutter was refused when applied for by his friends.
We are, however, obliged to make some concessions in regard to him. MIis qualities, as simply a fighter, were of the highest order, as his great successes in the revolutionary war clearly showed; but for cool judgment, that leads to a cautious adap- tation of means to ends, he did not excel. His perfect dare- devil mode of fighting did, indeed, give him wonderful success, in many desperate fights; but it is very questionable whether a similar result could be expected to follow a continuation of the same tactics even by himself.
But though strangely neglected he was not utterly cast off by his country. By a general law of congress, passed about 1820, he afterwards received a pension of $20 per month, or $240 a year, and still later, about 1832, by another general law, he be- came entitled to a pension of $50 per month ; but he lived only a single year to enjoy it. Had such a pension been bestowed 40 years earlier it would have been only a just recognition of his services.1
1 Sheppard's Life of Samuel Tucker, Commodore in the American Revolution, Boston, 1868. Most of the above facts have been taken from this excellent work, though many of them were familiar to the writer from carly boyhood. Though generally very accurate in his statements, the respected author occasionally mis- takes. Page 224, " In 1816, the town voted to choose no representative." The town record, on the contrary, says that Samuel Tucker was chosen representative May 16th, that year. The author also fails to inform us that Tucker represented the town of Bristol in the legislature, in the years 1798, 1799, and 1800, as well as those years mentioned by him.
The author also entirely ignores one utterly inexcusable fault in the character of the old hero, which ought not to pass unnoticed. Throughout his long life,
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Jacob Eaton jr., was elected selectman of Bristol in 1772, and afterwards filled several important trusts. Heor his father occu- pied the farm in the very N. E. corner of the town, and his name is mentioned in the act of incorporation, or rather the amended act of incorporation. Joseph Eaton, probably another son of Jacob sr., married Jane McGlathery of New Harbor, Feb. 28, 1769.
Jacob Eaton (probably jr.,) at the very beginning of the revolutionary war, was captured by the enemy and taken to Europe, but with another man, Joseph Berry of Topshan, made his escape as described below. The family soon after the war removed from town, probably to Camden 1 and little more is known of them.
All that is known of Eaton's capture and return is contained in the following joint petition of Eaton and Berry for aid, ad- dressed to the Massachusetts legislature then in session. It is dated Boston, Jan. Sth, 1776.
They say " that they were taken by Men of War belonging to Britain, viz., the said Eaton, the 5th of November, 1775, and the said Berry in August, 1775, and brought into the Port of Boston, afterwards they were put on board the Boyne Man of War to help work her home to England, and they arrived safe in Plymouth, and from thence your petitioners ran away and got to France, where they entered on board a Continental vessel bound to America. That on their passage they were taken off the Capes
even in his old age, he was in the habit of using language grossly profane. At the time of the troubles with the non-resident proprietors, to be described here- after, one summer, when much excitement prevailed, extempore meetings were occasionally held in the open air, and the various aspects of the subject discussed. Those familiar with political meetings, in times of high excitement, may form some idea of the character of the impromptu speeches on these occasions. Such fearful denunciations of the hated proprietors, and such hints at deeds of valor and renown, if an attempt should really be made to compel by force the running of the disputed lines, we will not undertake to record. At one of these meetings, after several had spoken, there were loud calls for "Tucker, Tucker," who, though seldom inclined to undertake such a performance, felt obliged to comply. So mounting the same rostrum the other speakers had used, a farmer's empty cart, that stood by the road side. he began his speech, " I'll be d-d." This was too abrupt to be endured, and a vociferous and long continued burst of laughter from the audience prevented further progress, and he retired from the rostrum .- Hon. Arnold Blany.
For the accompanying portrait of the old commodore we are indebted to the excellent author of the Memoirs, the reading of which no student of American history can afford to omit.
2 Lo ke : Hist. Camden, p. 212.
e
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
of Philadelphia and carried into New Yorke from New Yorke, they got to New Haven, and there obtained a pass to get home.
And your petitioners, being now above two hundred miles from home, and neither money nor Cloathing, and being now in their own State, from which they were taken, having lived upon charity ever since they left New Yorke.
They hambly pray your Honors would be pleased to take their dis- tressed Case into your compassionate consideration and to Grant them a Supply of Money and Cloathing to get home to their Families, or releave them in such other way as your honors in your known wisdom shall see meet."!
Rev. Alexander McLean, whose name has already (p. 343) been mentioned, was the first minister regularly settled in Bris- tol; but before he came to the place different clergymen had been employed for limited periods by the selectmen or by committees appointed for the purpose, and their services paid for out of the treasury of the town. Thus, in 1771, mention is made of money paid to Mr. Niles, Mr. Potter, Mr. Austin and Mr. Jackson " for preaching." The Rev. John Murray, the very popular minister of Boothbay was also occasionally em- ployed here, as in other places in the vicinity, at times when he could be spared from his own people.
Mr. McLean made his appearance here probably early in the. year 1772; and as soon as the people had become a little ac- quainted with him, he was invited to become their settled pastor. This was done by vote of the citizens in town meeting, Aug. 5th. It was voted also to pay his expenses in coming to the place, and a committee was appointed to settle with him, and make such arrangements with him as might be necessary.
Previous to this, June 23, 1767, the citizens in town meeting had voted to adopt the " Westminister Confession of Faith and Presbyterian Rules," and now, May 1, 1773, in town meeting at the house of Wm. Burns, they voted " that the Rev. Mr. McLean be installed in the town," and that " the people of this town submit themselves to the Boston Presbytery." At the same time Patrick Rodgers was appointed "delegate to the presbytery with the minister."
Col. Wm. Jones entered a protest against the movement as not being legal.
1 Mass. Archives, vol. 180, No. 281.
47
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
July 7, at a town meeting at Henry Fossett's, the installation was appointed at " Wm. Sproul's inn ;" but a proposition to make an appropriation to pay incidental expenses, was refused, and Patrick Rodgers and Edward Young offered to entertain the ministers expected to attend on the occasion gratuitously, as before mentioned. The installation probably took place in accordance with the vote, but no record of the transactions has been found.1
The records of the town indicate that no regular salary was established at first, but money was appropriated occasionally as was deemed necessary.
Born in the Island of Skye, as has been before stated, Alex- ander McLean entered Kings' college, Aberdeen, in 1758, pro- bably in his fifteenth year, and graduated in 1762. He came to this country in 1770, and was cordially received by the lead- ing ministers of the Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and by them recommended to this place.2 After his settlement he preached successively in the three meeting houses of the town ; and his public services were well appreciated by the people, though on account of some of his peculiarities he was never popular as a man.
January 9, 1779, he was married to Miss Sarah Given, daugh- ter of Robert Given who lived at the Falls, and was probably at the time the most wealthy man in the town. She was a beautiful girl of seventeen ; and her marriage to a man so much her senior (about 34) could not fail to occasion many disparag- ing remarks among his parishioners. Soon after his settlement
1 The date is not mentioned in the record, but elsewhere it is said to have been August 18th, 1773.
" According to a tradition among his descendants his father was twice married, and had a family of more than twenty children, most of whom were sons, and were liberally educated. One besides Alexander, named Donald, entered Kings' College in 1763, and graduated in 1767 ; but no mention is made of any others in the college record. ( Letter from Rec. Dr. Campbell, principal of the University of Aberdeen, May 10, 1871.)
Several of the sons were physicians, and three of them were surgeons on board of Nelson's fleet in the battle of Trafalgar. One of them was surgeon general of the fleet, and perished with his ship, which was sunk by the enemy.
Another son, Francis, was a general in the British army, and commanded the British forces in the siege of the Penobscot in our revolutionary war. After the close of the war, and before the British forces were withdrawn, his brother Ales- ander made him a visit, at his head quarters, and was kindly received. (Miss Hannah McLean, daughter, and Capt. Israel Cox brother-in-law of the parson, Mrs. Wm. Russell, Wm. Johnston, Win. Hackelton, and many others.)
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
he had purchased a farm at Round Pond, of Joshua Soule, which is now owned and occupied by David Chamberlain. To this place they removed immediately after their marriage and it was his home the rest of his life. His wife died, Feb. 8th, 1791, at the age of twenty-nine ; and his eldest daughter, Jenny, a very capable girl, then only 12 years of age, was entrusted with the care of the household.
June 6th, after the death of his wife, at a town meeting. he requested permission to be absent until the next spring, in order to visit his friends in Scotland ; and in the meantime the select- men were authorized to " supply preaching." He accordingly made the voyage to Scotland; but the precise dates of his de- parture and return have not been ascertained.
It has been said (and probably with truth) that he originally left Scotland because of his failure to secure the hand of a fair lady to whom he had offered himself, and now, being a widower, he returned with the view of renewing the suit, but found, to his great mortification, that she had just been married to another. He had good reason to expect success in renewing the suit, as the opposition had been from the lady's friends, and not from herself.
Jenny MeLean was fond of reading and had adopted the very objectionable practice of reading by the light of a candle after retiring in bed, and unfortunately lost her life in consequence. Having fallen asleep while thus reading on the night of May 25th, 1796, her bed clothes took fire from her candle and she was so badly burned that she died at 9 o'clock the next evening. Mr. McLean was absent but the Rev. Mr. Riddel, who was boarding in the family, hearing her screams rushed into her room, and carried her out in his arms ; the others of the family were also rescued, but the house was entirely consumed, and with it Mr. McLean's library and correspondence, and also the records of the church.1
On Mr. McLean's return from Scotland, sometime in the year 1702, he resumed his labors as pastor, but found them so severe that at a town meeting, May 6, 1795, he requested that an assistant should be provided ; but not succeeding in this, he asked a dismission, which after some hesitation was granted,
Tradition. Rev. Mr. Parsons of Bristol, July, 1860. Letter from Rev. W.m. Riddel, Feb. 26th, 1847. Mass. Hist. Coll., [2] [, p. 97. Greenleaf's Ecclesiasti- cal Sketches, p. 63.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND BREMEN.
Sept. 30th. At the same time, himself with Thos. McClure, and Thos. Johnston were appointed a committee to "provide preaching." Another committee (Wm. MeIntyre, James Sproul, and Thos. Johnston), was appointed to settle all claims he might have against the town; and his receipt in full, dated Nov. 24th, is to be found in the town record,
Subsequently, after much negotiation, it was agreed that Mr. McLean should withdraw his resignation, and retain his place as pastor of the church, but should have settled with him as colleague, Rev. Win. Riddell, a brother minister with whom he had recently became acquainted. By McLean's generous offer he was to preach one half of the time in the town gratui- tously.
After the settlement of his colleague, Parson McLean, as he was familiarly called, continued his labors according to promise, at the same time systematically supplying the pulpits of some of the weaker churches in neighboring towns, under the direction and pay of the "Society for propagating the Gospel." It is believed that, by agreement with his colleague, he made himself responsible for the due amount of service in the Broad Cove meeting house, while Mr. R. supplied the other two on alternate sabbaths. He died in Newcastle, January 11th, 1808 ; but his remains were brought to Bristol and interred with those of his wife and daughter in his own field, where a beautiful headstone was placed at his grave only a few years ago, by some descendants of his former parishioners. His age was 63 years.
Mr. McLean, when leaving college, it is said, inclined to- wards Unitarianism in his views, but his studies and reflections on his voyage to this country resulted in a considerable change ; he became decidedly evangelical in his sentiments, so that he was cordially received in the Presbyterian church. He was a man of considerable ability; and his education more ex- tensive and thorough than that of almost any of his brethren in the ministry, in this region of the country. Among his brother ministers his piety was undoubted, but he had some very objectionable peculiarities that greatly, injured his popu- larity.1 Trained among the aristocracy of his native country, he had high notions of the respect due to the clergy and of their authority over their flocks. In his intercourse with his people Panoplist, for February, 1808.
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