USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Winthrop > An Account of the centennial celebration at Winthrop, Me., May 20, 1871 : embracing the historic address and poem in full > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
--
-
16
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
who might desire, to come in and partake, which invitation was extensively accepted, so that in the end the whole crowd was fed without money and without price.
All having been amply fed, a short season was devoted to
After-Dinner Sentiments and Responses.
The sentiments were given by Rev. E. P. Baker, and were responded to by Governor Perham, Rev. A. Bosserman, Arnold S. Richmond, and B. S. Kelly. Numerous other sentiments had been prepared, which were not read, on account of the early depart- ure of the train, which took away many who had been engaged to respond. However, the few that were read and the responses to them, together with the music from the Winthrop Band which was interspersed, constituted a very pleasant episode to the day's exercises.
Votes of thanks were then extended to Hon. S. P. Benson, for his able and elaborate Historic Sketch; to J. W. May, Esq., for his lively and pertinent poem; to Ex-Governor Chamberlain for his brief but finished address ; to Governor Perham for his presence on the occasion and his kindly and weighty words; and to the Winthrop Band which freely gave its services for the day ; after which, the national air having been played, the President of the Day declared the assembly ADJOURNED FOR ONE HUNDRED YEARS.
There were on exhibition at the Town Hall, during the after- noon, Rare and Ancient Relics, to wit :
Genuine autographs of Gen. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Edwin Randolph and Andrew Jackson, executed on parchment. Exhibited by S. C. Robbins.
Indian relics-stone hatchet and chisel, found near the shore of Cobbossee- contee pond. Exhibited by E. Mank.
Continental money, ancient coins, a concordance 212 years old. Exhibited by Henry Winslow.
Lady's shoe, with wooden heel, worn in 1777.
Fire shovel made and used in town in 1768. Exhibited by Ransom Bishop.
MSS. of D. Allen's and Stewart Foster's services in the Revolution. Ex- hibited by Mr. Wilbur.
Village map of Winthrop, made in 1810, and Indian tools, exhibited by M. B. Sears.
17
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
The Close.
At sunset all the bells in the village were rung and fifty guns fired, making, together with the fifty of the morning, one hundred in all, in honor of the one hundred years of the town's existence. And thus ended the 20th of May, 1871, the day to the town of Winthrop, the most marked and memorable of the century.
General Remarks.
It is now admitted by all that the Winthrop Centennial Cole- bration was a success. The proposition to have such a cele- bration, when it was first broached, encountered apathy in all directions, insomuch that the enterprise at the outset had to be pushed forward almost single handed. Gradually, however, as the matter came to be agitated, apathy gave place to interest, and interest to enthusiasm, until at length, the morning of the day opening so splendidly, a resistless tide of town patriotism swept nearly all the people from their homes to the scene of the day's festivities. There was scarce an absentee from the celebration. throughout the town, except a few who were detained at home by sickness or other causes beyond their control. There was a hearty cooperation in preparing for the celebration. The Committees were made up from both political parties, and all religious de- nominations. Persons of unlike views and tastes found it a pleas- ure to work together for a common object.
And among those who thus labored, the ladies of Winthrop, perhaps before all others, deserve special mention. But for their skillful planning and vigorous effort, the celebration could have been scarce else than a failure. They spread the dinner table .. concerning which, a distinguished guest who saw them remark. 1, " that he had never seen tables so sumptuously spread, va >>> large a scale." They, too, were chiefly the authors and arrangers of the procession, of which, and of the celebration, as a whole, a 2
18
WINTHROP CETNENNIAL.
widely circulating public journal remarked : "It was a marvel in its conception and execution."
Extended accounts of the celebration were published in the Lewiston and Kennebec Journals, and accounts less extended in the Boston Journal, the Portland Press, Argus, Christian Mirror, Maine Farmer, and other papers; nearly all the abovementioned papers having reporters on the ground.
It is estimated that between two and three thousand people dined in the tent, and that upwards of five thousand people were present at some portion of the exercises. And yet among all that multitude there was for the entire day, absolutely no disorder and no visible drunkenness. Now, that it is passed, the general feeling of the inhabitants is one of gladness that the town has witnessed so dignified and grand a celebration, and of confidence that the memory of it will be a lasting benefit to the place.
Addresses, Poem, &c., at the Speakers' L Stand.
Introductory Address by the President of the Day, H. Woodward, Esq.
Fellow Citizens :- We turn aside from the ordinary labors and pursuits of life, that we may observe this day in such a manner as shall appropriately mark it as an epoch in the history of our good old town.
We would here on this day and this occasion, recall to mind the events of its early history-the labors and sacrifices-the heroic virtues,-and the intelligent foresight of its early settlers.
Our hills and valleys, and the very spot on which we now stand, were once covered with the dense, unbroken forest. There were here no schools, no churches, no village with its busy hum of industry. Into this wilderness came those noble men and women who bravely met and endured the privations, toils and hardships of a wilderness home, that they might make more comforable homes for the children that should come after them, and plant here those institutions that, outliving their founders, are a blessing to us who gather here to-day.
One hundred years ago to-day, in yonder farm-house over the hill -then a tavern-was born the young town of Winthrop. And now she has called home her sons and daughters, and invited her friends, that she may celebrate her one hundredth birthday.
Brothers and sisters-sons and daughters of Winthrop-and honored guests-with heart and hand we bid you welcome to the festivities of this occasion. We have killed the fatted calf, and with you would rejoice and make merry ; not, indeed, over the returning prodigal, but over the return of those sons and daugh- ters, who, by virtuous lives and noble deeds, have honored the town that gave them birth. May we all be the better for this day '- f. .. tivities ;- our patriotism more ardent-our piety deeper-and our lives purer-for the emotions which the exercises of this day shall stir in our hearts. And long may the good old town of Winthrop -old did I say ?- though she to-day celebrates her one hundredth
20
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
birthday, she has still the vigor and freshness of youth-and long may she live to bless the world by rearing her sons and her daugh- ters to noble achievements in the great drama of life.
Prayer by the Rev. E. P. Baker.
We thank Thee that while "one generation passeth away and another cometh," Thou, O Lord, "art our dwelling place in all generations." Not in vain do we ask the question, " The Fathers, where are they ?" for while their forms have vanished from our sight, their memories are still fragrant in our hearts. ' We thank Thee that while this land was yet a wilderness, the white man came to it, bringing with him civil and christian institutions ; that a century ago this day was formed that municipal organiza- tion under the ægis of which good order and virtue have dwelt secure ; and that now our people from near and from far, are gath- ered in formal convocation, to recall the past and honor the memo- ries of one hundred years. Grant that this celebration may be conducted without disorder and in a manner befitting the dignity of the occasion. May the words of orator, historian and poet, be winged by Thy inspiration ; and in the music of choirs and band, may we devoutly praise the God of all the earth. May this day be to us a Pisgah height whence we shall more intelligently view the solemn and mysterious future that lies before us ; and from this brief halt in life's journey may we set out with a fresh enthusiasm · to pursue our several careers of usefulness. And when at length we are gathered to our Fathers and our bodies repose beneath the sod, grant that our memories may be still precious to those that survive us, and that our souls, washed in the Redeemer's blood, may soar aloft to realms of glory, to join the great and good in all ages who have gone before us. And to the triune God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, be honor and praise, forever and forever. Amen !
CENTENNIAL HYMN. [Selected for the occasion.] Father! to Thee we raise Our hymn of grateful praise In long arrears ! We sing Thy blessings sown, In all our pathway strewn, And every kindness shewn These Hundred Years.
21
O
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
Where once the Indian trod, The House to worship God Its altar rears : We at its shrine appear, Whose fathers worshipped here, In faith and holy fear, These Hundred Years.
Upon this native soil Our fathers erst did toil, In hopes and fears : We love their pleasant vales, The hill-sides and the dales, The legends and the tales, These Hundred Years.
We love our verdant hills,- The gently-rippling rills Delight our ears : We love the blood that runs In veins of noble ones,- The fathers and the sons, These Hundred Years.
How many a stricken heart Has felt death's keenest dart With bitter tears ! In his cold arms have slept The friend our hearts have kept, The loved ones fondest wept, These Hundred Years.
O God! we know how brief Our life of joy or grief To Thee appears. Compared with Thy Forever ! How short the space we sever, To be recovered never :- A Hundred Years.
Our Father! may Thine hand Still bless the beauteous land Our love endears. In falling, pray restore us ; In blessing, hover o'er us ; Make glad our path before us :- A Hundred Years.
-F. Poole.
---
-
-
----
22
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
-
Historic Address of Hon. S. P. Benson.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
One hundred years ago to-day, at 8 o'clock in the morning, a little band of pioneers, who had made their home in an almost un- broken wilderness, assembled at the house of Squier Bishop to hold their first town meeting in Winthrop.
We meet to-day in this prosperous, beautiful village, on this bright Spring morning, in the same town of our birth or adoption, to trace the history, and to recall the virtues, the toils, the suffer- ings and the triumphs of our ancestors.
I greet you all, fathers and mothers, young men and maidens, aye, and the children too, with a warm and hearty welcome to the pleasures and festivities of this joyous day. For I am sure we are all of one heart and one mind in celebrating our first Centennial Anniversary.
Pond Town Plantation was the original name of the territory, comprising Winthrop, Readfield, and part of Wayne, and whoever will stand upon some elevated spot in this picturesque region, and survey these lovely sheets of water, eleven in number, might well apply this term. No, he should not say Pond Town, they are lakes, and he should say Lake Town Plantation. Mr. Boardman, in his Sketches of the County of Kennebec, says there are forty- nine ponds within its limits, nine of which are worthy to be called lakes, and I add, three of these are our own, in Winthrop or upon its margin. Why not lakes ? They are larger than some of the lakes or lochs of Scotland, so celebrated in story and song. Cob- bosseconte is twelve miles long and two wide, with many islands of surpassing beauty, while there are lakes in Massachusetts so small that you might drop one of them bodily into Cobbosseconte and it would hardly make a ripple upon its shores.
This beautiful chain of ponds and lakes in Winthrop and the ad- jacent towns, was the great water road of the Indians from the Kennebec to the Androscoggin river and the interior of the State. Cobbosseconte stream, which empties into the Kennebec at Gar- diner, is the outlet of them, twenty in number.
In an article on the language of the Eastern Indians, by the late Mr. Willis, * whose labors in the Maine Historical Society are above
* See Collections of the Maine Historical Society, vol. 4, pp. 113, 114. I am also indebted to Dr. N.
T. True for many more facts pertaining to the Indian language aod habits, than I have used.
-
23
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
all price, I find two depositions taken in 1763 and 1765, in both of which one point is, that the Indians applied Cobbossecontecook to the mouth of the stream as it empties into the Kennebec, because Kabassa means Sturgeon, conte, abundance of, and cook, place : and that it took this name from the sturgeons jumping plentifully at the mouth of this stream. From this originated the corruption of that name, Gumscook or Quamscook and Cobscook, applied to our Cob- bosseconte lake, not because sturgeons visited it, but as the first of the chain of ponds that empties into the Cobbossecontecook. The same depositions give to our south pond the Indian name of Annabescook, translated "Fish Water Place," or "Near the beau- tiful Water Place," which may have been originally applied to some Indian village near this lake, and then very naturally to the lake itself. So we call it Annabescook lake because it is Fish Water Place, and near this beautiful Water Place, our village. By the same authority the name of our north pond was Maroonscook or Maronocook, meaning the "Deer Place," and as it is said, one of these timid creatures within a few years was seen to come from the west as if chased, and running for dear life make rapidly for this pond, plunge into its waters and disappear forever. We will hence- forth call it Maronocook lake.
The Indians evidently had their camping grounds and villages on the shores of these waters. On the south shore of Annabescook at East Monmouth, several skeletons have been disinterred, and numerous stone implements discovered. Dr. James Cochrane of Monmouth has a curious and valuable collection from this spot, and the foundations of their wigwams are said to be still visible at that place. "Sears," of the Lewiston Journal, our M. B., from whose correspondence I have derived many important historical facts, has found in his " Garden of Eden " on the shore of Maron- ocook the same kind of implements.
The great thoroughfare of the Indians was through the Win- throp to the Monmouth waters, and by a short carry to the Great Androscoggin Pond in Wayne-where the historian Williamson says " there is an island upon which there is a burying ground of the natives"-and so easily down Dead river into the Andro-eng- gin ; while by way of Maronocook lake they could pass along the chain of ponds through Readfield and Mt. Vernon to the Sandy river at Farmington Falls, called by them Amasagunticook.
Such are the natural channels of communication which the
:
24
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
Indians had, our own immediate neighborhood occupying a con- spicuous place. Written history is almost entirely silent respect- ing those who dwelt in this vicinity. It is probable that the Nor- ridgewocks and other Kennebec tribes, and the Amasagunticooks on the Androscoggin river met in common here, as their language was almost identical.
We can well imagine that lively scenes were enacted on these beautiful waters by the red men of the forest; but history and legend even, fail to give us the knowledge we desire. We leave them with the cheering thought that civilization and Christianity have taken the place of savage life, and that the change of scene which one hundred years have brought about in this town is but a tythe in the progressive history of the human race.
The whole white population of the Province of Maine in 1760 did not exceed 17,000. The war-whoop and the scalping knife in some portions, and the unsettled state of the land titles in others, had signally retarded its growth. But the cessation of hostilities at the close of that year between the New England Provincials and the French and Indians, which had overspread the land with blood and desolation for nearly ninety years, gave a new impulse to the settlement of the eastern portion of the Province. The boundaries of the Kennebec or Plymouth Purchase were also adjusted, with Clark and Lake and the Pejepscot proprietors in 1758, the Wiscas- set company in 1762, and the Pemaquid proprietors in 1763. A liberal policy was adopted by the company towards settlers, and Pond Town Plantation, embraced within their established limits, was laid out agreeably to their plan. No large tracts were sold to speculators; every other lot was marked Settler and Proprietor, with mill privileges and larger grants to those who would erect mills. Settlers were thus attracted from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, most of them young men, the sons of substantial far- mers, who established themselves in this territory and gave it an agricultural superiority which it still retains.
The first settler was Timothy Foster. Thomas Scott, a hunter, had been here before for the purpose of getting furs, and had erected a hut on the margin of Cobbosseconte lake, on the farm now owned by Jacob B. Robbins, which Mr. Foster bought of him and paid thirty dollars, but failing to take a proper conveyance he was afterwards sued by Scott's creditors for the property and imprisoned for about six months-rather severe, in addition to the
25
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
.
other hardships of this sturdy old pioneer. He came from Attle- boro', Mass., some time in 1764, brought his wife and ten children in 1765, and June 11, 1766 had granted to him his lot of land one mile long and one hundred poles wide, containing two hundred acres. The conditions of his grant were : " That the said Timothy Foster build an house not less than twenty feet square and seven feet stud-[none too large surely for the ten children he brought with him, and the subsequently born to him, for it was the fashion here in the early days to rejoice in such olive plants in the home ] -to clear and bring to, fit for tillage, five acres of land within three years from the date hereof, and actually live upon the premises during said term, or in case of his death that his heirs, or some person under them, shall dwell on said premises during said term, and that he or they, or some person under him or them, shall live thereupon for seven years after the expiration of said three years ; reserving to this propriety all mines and minerals whatsoever within the hereby granted premises, with liberty of digging and carrying off the same." Thus he was anchored for ten years at least at farming, for he had no right to the gold or silver, or other mineral ores, if as plenty as in California. On the same day grants of land of the same size and on the same conditions were made to Squier Bishop, of lot number 17 (on McKicknie's plan) and of lot 18 to Ebenezer Bly.
Mr. Bishop came with his wife and six children in 1766, from Rehoboth, Mass., settled upon his lot (the old Bishop farm) and was the first innholder in town, at whose house the town meetings were held for many years. The same year Stephen Pullen, Nathan- iel Stanley and Benjamin Fairbanks, all young men, came from Mas- sachusetts.
In 1767 John Chandler with his wife and eight children (four others were born to them here), and Amos Stevens, then eighteen years of age, hired by him, came from New Ipswich in New Hamup- shire. To encourage him to build mills, a conditional grant of ian 1 was made on the following terms, viz: "We, the subscribers, the Committee of the Kennebec Purchase from the late Colony of Now Plymouth, do hereby agree that Mr. John Chandler shall have a grant of two lots of land, of two hundred acres each, near the mill stream in Pondtown, and also one other lot in some other place in said township, upon condition that he gives bonds to build a saw-mill in one year, and a grist-mill in three years, and make one
26
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
settlement on said four hundred acres, and another settlement on the two hundred acre lot, both on the conditions aforesaid." Signed Boston, June 11, 1767, by James Bowdoin, Benjamin Hallowell, Sylvester Gardiner, James Pitts, John Hancock; a fac simile of the last name shows the same bold hand with which he signed the Declaration of Independence. In the course of the year 1768 Mr. Chandler built a saw-mill and grist-mill on the site of the woollen mill now owned by the Winthrop Manufacturing Company, and on the 12th of April, 1769, his two lots of land, numbers 51 and 52, embracing a large part of the territory of our village, were con- veyed to him.
Before the incorporation of the town, I find the evidence of about twenty-five deeds to as many settlers. I wish I had time to read one of them to you, but it occupies six and a half pages in the His- tory of Winthrop written by the venerable and beloved Father Thurston, to which I am indebted for many of my facts. About two-thirds of these lots were in what is now Winthrop, and one- third in Readfield.
Mr. Boardman, in his History of the County, says the Readfield part of Pondtown was settled about 1760. That many other per- sons not in the list, to whom deeds were given, had settled both in the Winthrop and Readfield portions of the plantation there is no doubt, for we find names to whom no record evidence of a title to land is found.
Gideon Lambert from Martha's Vineyard, Ichabod How from Ipswich, and Jonathan Whiting from Wrentham, Mass., were all early settlers, influential men in the plantation, and among the first officers of the town. They probably came with their families in 1766, 1767 and 1768. Mr. Lambert, though a farmer mainly, first shod their oxen, even if Moses Chandler was the first regular black- smith. He settled on the lot now occupied in part as the depot of the Maine Central Railroad. He had been a soldier in the British army, in the old French and Indian war; was under the command of Abercrombie when defeated at the battle of Ticonderoga in 1758, and served in the Revolutionary War after he came to Pondtown. Mr. Whiting, in the language of Col. Fairbanks, was "a worthy, good man," the first Justice of the Peace in town, the first Repre- sentative to the General Court, and a man of strong moral and religious principles. At one of the many times when the people were suffering almost a famine, he had a surplus of grain for his
27
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
family's use, and yet he put them on an allowance that he might be able to render more relief to others, and though he might have had almost any price for his grain, no consideration would induce him to exceed his established reasonable prices.
Ichabod How had been accustomed in "old Ipswich," to the luxury of apples and cider. After having determined to emigrate to Pondtown, as he ate a choice apple he carefully saved the seeds, and when he came brought them in his pocket and sowed them on his farm, now owned by John Stanley and Wyman Hanson. From this nursery sprang the famous Winthrop Greening, the How Apple, Nelson's Favorite, the Lambert Apple, and I know not how many other excellent varieties. His daughter, Melicent, the wife of David Foster, and the mother of my informant, Nathan Foster, not now but for more than fifty years our townsman, twice our Representative, a veteran nurseryman and fruit grower, (I am happy to see him here) partook in the general joy of that first cider made in town, pounded out in a sap-trough and squeezed out in a cheese press, and lived to see her husband make on his own farm one hundred barrels a year, and her town the first in the county, if not in the State, for the abundance and excellence of both apples and cider. This mother delighted in telling her children that she used to count every morning all the apples growing in Winthrop, to be sure that none had disappeared in the night.
The three brothers, Nathaniel, William and Thomas Whittier, came early from New Hampshire, and taught the Massachusetts men a lesson in clearing land and raising crops, which they had not learned on the old cultivated farms of their native State,-that corn, wheat, and other crops would grow better on burnt land than on old worn out ploughed lands, and that every day's labor in fell- ing trees would yield at least a bushel of wheat.
The number of settlers could not have been large in 1768, as I learn through the late Col. Fairbanks, who came in 1767, but not one of the number to whom deeds of land had been given-oc came as a tanner, not farmer-that it took the whole strength of the place, both of men and oxen, for a week to haul Chandler's mill stones from the Hook, now Hallowell. They were taken .... at a time, in summer ; the party encamped where night overt.nik them, and when they came to a bad gulley they filled it with trees and brush as best they could, and so passed on. Until that year there had been no road, bushed out even, to Kennebec river, and
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.