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 3
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
28
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
.the nearest grist-mill was at Cobbossee, now Gardiner. Oxen could not go for want of a road, and there was not a horse in town, so all the grists had to be carried upon the shoulders, I will not say of men, for Mrs. Foster, the wife of the first settler and the mother of Stephen, the first white child born, as a true helpmeet, once went to mill for her husband. She crossed the Cobbosseconte in a canoe, which was taken back. By some means she was detained so late that on her return to the shore of the lake it was too dark to find the horn used to call for the boat,-(of course she had not taken a horn of any other kind)-a cup of tea and social chat with some Cobbossee family had beguiled the time, and the penalty was a night alone in the woods.
The early settlers generally selected for their farms the hills and elevated swells of ground, probably because the growth of wood was better adapted to felling and burning off, and yielded more valuable first crops. The spotted-line paths from house to house gradually grew into town ways, so that the first roads were crooked and over the hills, and it has been very expensive to straighten and level them ; and you will all say not very level yet, though well wrought. Old Major Wood has told me that it took the peo- ple fifty years to learn that a kettle bail was no longer lying down than standing up. This was his quaint way of showing that the highways should have been built around instead of over the hills.
At the incorporation of the town in 1771, with the boundaries, which I will not read, ( Wint. Ilist., p. 215), the name Winthrop was very naturally taken. The settlers from the old Bay State had learned to revere the character of John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, and of his son and grandson, each for years governor of Connecticut, and all learned scholars, able states- men, Christian gentlemen. Thomas L. Winthrop, a descendant, was one of the proprietors of Kennebec Purchase, and subsequently lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts. And I may add, the name is still worthily borne by the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop of Boston. So we had a good name to, start with. Let us see how our town has maintained it.
At the first town meeting, May 20, 1771, the following officers were chosen, viz : Ichabod How, Moderator ; John Chandler, Tim- othy Foster, Ichabod How, Robert Waugh and Jonathan Whiting, Selectmen ; Jonathan Whiting, Town Clerk ; Stephen Pullen, Con- stable ; Ichabod How, Gideon Lambert and Jonathan Whiting,
20
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
Assessors ; Jonathan Whiting, Treasurer; Gideon Lambert and Josiah Hall, Wardens ; Abraham Wyman and Gideon Lambert, Surveyors of Highways.
You see his fellow citizens remembered Mr. Whiting's kindness in dealing out his grain ; and for years he retained their confidence, for he was almost or quite every year associated with one or more of these same men in the administration of town affairs.
Down to this period we have had no records at all to appeal to, and for many years after the town records are so worn and gone, the very first meeting lost, that but an imperfect history can be given. But we do find at a meeting held seven days later, £20 raised to support preaching and other necessary town charges, and a committee appointed to hire a minister ; and at a subsequent meeting £50 were voted for the repair of highways, and provision was made for a burying-ground near Isaac N. Metcalf's ; and the "town ordered John Needham, Gideon Lambert and Ephraim Lane into the box to serve as jurors." Thus early were they called upon by the Court to aid in the administration of justice. And an old deputy sheriff has told me that one of the judges, long upon the bench, not many years ago said in his hearing that among the best jurors were those from Winthrop. The reasons we may see as we progress.
At the regular March meeting in 1772, John Blunt was chosen moderator and selectman,-the other officers were nearly the same. The proceedings of this meeting do not all appear by the record. But the warrant shows six articles to be acted upon. 1. To elect town officers. 2. To confirm, if they see cause, the report of the selectmen on highways laid out. 3. To pay the town's just debts-no discretion here-no repudiation. 4. To re- vise the jury box. 5. To choose a committee to solicit Mr. Gar- diner to open a place through or round his mill-dam to let the fish up for the benefit of the town ; and 6th, To provide for the repair of highways.
This matter of fishways was followed up by committees and otherwise, for thirty-five years at least. At a meeting, January. 1806, the Representative to the General Court, Col. Fairbanks, who was nine years elected to that office, was instructed to " .... having Cobbosseconte stream exempted from the fish law of the Commonwealth." But all their efforts were unavailing. Though salmon, shad, and alewives were plenty before this dam was built, no fish from the river came into these ponds after that.
-
30
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
In January, 1773, a meeting was held " to consider a pamphlet in which the rights and charter privileges are maintained, and instances wherein they think they are infringed" by the British government. It was "several times read, considered and deliber- ately weighed." They then answered four questions in the affirm- ative, responding to the statements of the pamphlet and the mode of redressing the grievances of the Colonists, and ordered an at- tested copy of their proceedings sent to the town clerk of Boston.
Provision was first made for schools in 1774 ; and in the warrant for 1775 was an article "to see if the town will hire schooling this year and how much," but the record is defective as to what action was taken; and besides, the War of the Revolution was upon them.
Immediately on hearing of the battle of Lexington (Apr.19,1775) Nathaniel Fairbanks, generally known as "the Colonel," four sons of Timothy Foster, Billy, Eliphalet, Thomas and John, Elijah Fair- banks and twelve more young men from Winthrop, whose names I have not learned, in the language of the Colonel, "repaired to Headquarters at Cambridge to defend our beloved country." No more money was voted for schools from this time till March, 1782. War had begun, and school was dismissed. Their energies were taxed to the utmost in the support of their families, in all their hardships and poverty, and the security of their rights against the encroachments of the British Crown. That they were intensely patriotic no one can doubt who will read the town records of that period. But that they felt, too, their dependence on God in this great crisis, is apparent by their efforts to maintain the institutions of the gospel. They had voted in 1774, to build a house for pub- lic worship on lot 57, (in the Metcalf neighborhood, ) nearest the center of the town; raised £20 towards it, and £28 to support preaching and other necessary town charges. The preaching of the gospel, in the judgment of our forefathers, was a necessary town charge. In 1775 they instructed their committee "to hire Rev. Thurston Whiting to preach three months after his time was out, and one day in a month in the winter, and to effect the finish- ing of the house."
But they did not forget to maintain the war as well as the gos- pel. They voted £13, 6s. Sd. to purchase a town stock of powder and lead, and instructed Ichabod How, their Representative in the Provincial Congress, to be sure and bring home the town's stock of ammunition. They also voted to pay the Province rate of money
-
31
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
into the hands of Henry Gardiner, Esq., "as recommended by the Provincial Congress," and then proceeded to elect military officers "to discipline the inhabitants." And again in 1775 they chose a committee to provide preaching, and voted to raise £30 to pay old arrearages and support the preaching. And to teach a lesson in punctuality, they voted, "that all persons who do service for the town shall bring in their accounts in one year or they will not be paid, but will be deemed generously given to the town."
During the same year, at different meetings, committees of cor- respondence, of inspection, of safety, to procure provisions, ammunition and other necessary stores, and to consult with com- mittees of other towns on the public good and general welfare, were chosen, with power to engage any sum of money they may think proper for the purpose.
At the annual meeting in March, 1776, the record is peculiar. They chose the usual town officers, a committee of correspondence, inspection and safety, voted not to raise any money for preaching nor for schools, nor to defray town charges ; elected Billy Foster captain, William Whittier 1st lieutenant, Josiah Hall 2d lieutenant, and Benjamin Fairbanks ensign ; but before they got through with the meeting, voted "to employ Mr. More to get Mr. Thayer to preach four sabbaths." With all the embarrassments of the war they could not forego public worship entirely.
In August I find recorded at length the Declaration of Indepen- dence, which was most heartily received and fully endorsed by the people. Before that, the town meetings had been warned in the name of His Majesty the King of Great Britain, afterwards the war- rants were issued in the name of the government and people of Massachusetts Bay and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
It would seem that His Majesty the king had at this time some friends, for I find on record January 29, 1777, a humble and yet honorable confession, signed by two prominent citizens, renouncing allegiance to " the King of Britain and all his laws as unjust," .. ' asking the forgiveness of their townsmen and neighbors. That they were forgiven is to be inferred from the fact that one of them was elected a selectman two years later.
At a town meeting in April, 1777, Ichabod How was chosen a Delegate to a County Convention to be held in Wiscasset, and instructed to do all he can "to prevent sending a Remonstrance to the General Court against their taxing this State." And the
- -4
----
- --
32
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
records are full of votes of supplies for men and the means of car- rying on the war. At one time 74 pounds of powder, 250 pounds of lead, 250 flints ; at another, 2856 pounds of beef, 12 shirts, 12 pairs of stockings and shoes, " agreeably to a Resolve of the Gen- eral Court."
I regret that my limited time has not enabled me to ascertain the names and number of men who served in the war. In addition to those already stated, Joseph Hezelton was under Gen. Gates in all his battles until the surrender of Burgoyne. Daniel Allen was in Lee's army. Reuben Brainerd was also a soldier, and "Capt. Blunt was ordered to a perilous post of duty, which he bravely performed."
And thus it is believed that the men of Winthrop, then em- bracing Readfield, contributed according to their numbers and ability their full share of men, arms and ammunition in fighting out the Revolutionary War, and procuring an honorable peace. And at its close their ardent patriotism was expressed by voting " that the Refugees and declared Traitors to the United States of America ought to be forever excluded from returning among us." Nor had they been unmindful of affairs at home. Without stating specific votes, liberal provision had been made for the support of - preaching. A church had been formed September 4, 1776, with twenty-six members, and after two unsuccessful attempts to settle a minister, the Rev. David Jewett of Candia, N. II., on the 17th of October, 1781, was invited to become their pastor, and accepted, was installed January 2, 1782, and became the first settled minis- ter in town.
At the close of the Revolution many new settlers came, some fresh from the battle-fields, and others from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from educated communities, men of intelligence, who felt the importance of schools for their children. The Stanleys, Aden, Rial and Solomon, the Fairbanks brothers, Benjamin, Elijah, Joseph and Nathaniel, with their thirty-right children, Stevens with his eighteen, Robbins with his ten, the Woods, Samuel, Elijah and Enoch, Dr. John Hubbard, the Pages-Robert and Simon, the Beans and Craigs, and Jedediah Prescott with his thirteen children-these, with others already mentioned, became the man- ·agers of municipal affairs, and took a lively interest in education and the general welfare.
I must not pass over the death of Capt. Timothy Foster in the winter of 1785. It illustrates the hardships of the early settlers.
33
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
In cutting down a tree it fell upon him and fractured his skull, 80 that he became speechless. His son Stewart went on snow shoes to Portland for a surgeon, but could not get him to come. He did obtain an instrument for trepanning, with instructions for its use, so that after the broken skull was raised the captain roused up and spoke rationally, but so long a time had intervened and the intlam- mation was so great that death ensued, and thus ended the life of the first settler of Winthrop.
During the war the selectmen.and committee of correspondence, in compliance with an existing Colonial law "to prevent monopoly and oppression," set the prices on labor, and more than forty articles besides, almost everything to eat, drink and wear, includ- ing New England Rum, at five pence a gallon. The catalogue is a curiosity, and may be found in the History of Winthrop, showing that living in those days was very cheap, if one had money.
After the war liberal sums for schools were raised, from £30 in 1783 to £320 in 1790, for teachers and school houses. Nor were the morals of the town neglected. In 1789 they began to put in force a law authorizing them to " warn out of town" persons who came into it without their consent. Two females, perhaps of doubt- ful character, were ordered by a warrant under the hands and seals of John Hubbard and Samuel Wood, Selectmen, to depart the limits thereof within fifteen days, and this was duly served by the constable of the town. A little later, John Clark, fiddler, "a tran- sient person," was served with a similar process.
During the ten years from 1781 to 1791, the division of the town was in almost constant agitation. The work on the first meeting- house, that the people had tried so hard to erect in the center of territory, was suspended, and attempts were made to build two, one for the Readfield, the other for the Winthrop part, neither of which succeeded, and the first was sold to David Woodcock and taken down ; a part of the timber is said to be in the cider mill of Columbus Fairbanks, now.
In March, 1791, the town was divided by an east and west line. five-ninths of the territory retained the old name, and four-ninths became the town of Readfield.
At the annual town meeting in March, 1792, the following officers were chosen, viz :
Samuel Wood, Moderator. Nathaniel Fairbanks, Clerk. Na- thaniel Fairbanks, Samuel Wood, Philip Allen, Selectmen.
1
3
34
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
John Comings, Treasurer. Nathaniel Fairbanks, Philip Allen, John Wadsworth, Assessors. Squier Bishop, Constable.
The death of Rev. David Jewett occurred a little more than a year after his settlement, and from that time until 1800 there was no settled minister, and less preaching than during the Revo- lutionary War,-to be accounted for, perhaps, upon the same principle with the devotional spirit of the sailor in the storm, but forgotten when safe on shore. Impending danger makes men seek the aid of a Higher Power than any arm of flesh. But if our ancestors during this period neglected the heart, they did not fail to cultivate the intellect of their children.
- In 1792, the town was divided into six school districts, com- mittees of three were chosen for each, and liberal sums of money expended in the support of schools. In the Snell district, em- bracing many of the first settlers, in 1797-8, after expending their proportion of $333 raised by taxation, many of the parents sub- scribed from $2 to $10 each, and prolonged their school the principal portion of the time for twenty-one months, making it free for all the scholars in the district, and that the banner district in town.
During this year, 1792, twelve heads of families and their chil- dren formed the Society of Friends, according to the usage of their denomination, and in 1798 erected a house of worship in the neighborhood now known as Baileyville. In 1794 a Methodist class was formed in the Fairbanks' neighborhood, under the care of Rev. Philip Wager. Nathaniel Bishop, son of the second settler, and himself the first trader, had been a local preacher of this denomination. Through his efforts the class had occasional preaching in the school-house there, and mainly by his indomitable perseverance, a very neat house of worship was erected on an eligible site in the village in 1825, a Methodist society of seven- teen members having been incorporated in 1811.
In 1794 the town meeting-house, so-called, the first built in this town, was so far completed as to be fit for use in the summer sea- son; and at a meeting in April, the town voted that the Baptist church, organized in 1792, in the easterly part of the town, " may have the improvement of the meeting-house two sabbatbs out of five, and to begin the third sabbath from that date." They occu- pied it a portion of the time prior to 1500, and occasionally had preaching in the school-house at East Winthrop, until 1823, when
1770109
-
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
35
their meeting-house was erected. The house first built stood on almost the highest point of land in town,-a spot of surpassing beauty. The late Dr. Benjamin Vaughan of Hallowell, an early settler there, formerly a member of the British Parliament, but obliged to flee from England because of his sympathy for and in- terest in the American Colonies, was accustomed to take his dis- tinguished visitors to Winthrop, especially to this spot. Ile would come by the charming view of Cobbossecontee lake at East Winthrop, over the old meeting-house hill, and returned by the Narrow's pond. And he often said this ride gave him the most interesting scenery in New England.
I have a very vivid recollection of this house in my boyhood. It was where I was taken to meeting by my parents regularly every sabbath, a distance of two miles, summer and winter, rain or shine. The house had only a single floor, no carpet of course, the underpinning in many places gone, and not a spark of fire for years. I do not remember how many before stoves were put in ; but I do recollect most distinctly sitting by my blessed mother and seeing her clothes sway back and forth by the winds. She had a foot stove for her comfort, but we children were without. and thus taught to buffet the hardships of life by our good father who shared them with us. The poor horses, too,-no sheds were provided for them. They were obliged to take the northwest wind upon that bleak hill, without shelter, except so far as the first comers could hitch them under the lee of the house. Lucki- ly for the men, bad for the horses, no societies existed "to prevent cruelty to our dumb animals "
I mention these facts to show the habits of the second generation. What must have been hardships of the first ?
A post office was first established, and Silas Lambert appointed postmaster, in 1800.
The opinions of the people at this time were so various on re- ligious subjects, and so divided on denominational views that they could not act as a town in the settlement and support of a minister. A poll parish was therefore formed, consisting of ninety members, and incorporated by the name of the First Congregational Society of Winthrop. Rev. Jonathan Belden, a graduate of Yale College, commenced preaching in the winter; in May he was invited to settle, and on the 27th day of August, was ordained as their pas- tor, and continued until 1805, when his ministry closed on account
...
36
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
of the failure of his health. His pastorate seems to have been successful, as forty-five members were added to the church. The poll parish was dissolved in 1806 by an act of the Legislature, and the society again became a territorial parish ; its affairs for many years were managed by the annual town meeting.
Rev. David Thurston came here in May, 1806, and preached a few sabbaths so acceptably that on the 10th of November the town concurred with the church in a call by them previously given to him, "to settle in the work of a gospel minister, and to give him $400 a year so long as he shall continue, and $400 as a settlement." In January, 1807, he accepted the call, was ordained the 18th of February, and continued in that relation more than forty-four years, until October 15, 1851, when it was dissolved at his request. My fellow citizens have recently placed a tablet to his memory, pre- sented by the Hon. Seth May, in the rear of the pulpit of the church, where he had preached the gospel so ably, so faithfully and so long. That tablet bears an epitome of his character and labors ; but as I read the inscription and have studied the history of this town, I felt that it should have borne one more tribute to his worth, as the ardent, efficient and constant friend of education. On the 6th day of April, less than two months after his ordination, he was elected one of a committee to "draw up a plan about the instruction of youth," and to report at the next town meeting ; at which, held May 4th, there is entered upon the record a report which was accepted, signed Samuel Wood, David Thurston, Hu- shai Thomas and Dudley Todd, making a radical change as to the admission and classification of scholars. And during almost his entire ministry he was a member of the school committee, under whatever name the law called it, and for years when the law pro- vided for no such office. To be sure men of all the professions, and thinking men of all classes cooperated with him, but to him we are indebted more than to any other man for the elevated char- acter of our common schools and the high standard of education in town.
August 7, 1808, the first Sabbath School was established in town, mainly through his efforts; and I believe, also, the first in the Com- monwealth, and that before the separation of Maine. My belief of this important fact rests upon the Celebration of the 50th Anni- versary of Sabbath Schools in Beverly, which I attended in 1860. The occasion drew together an immense concourse of people to
37
WINTHROP CENTENNIAL.
do honor to Beverly as the first to establish a Sabbath School in New England in 1810, (two years later than ours here.)* A public dinner was given, and speeches were made by the most eminent men of the State, in which all honor was given to Beverly, and especially to the two young ladies who commenced the school as teachers, the late Mrs. Everett of Brunswick being one of them. For be it remembered always to their honor, that through all the intervening period, and now, ladies have been most numerous and earnest in Sabbath School instruction, and have thus as otherwise blessed the world. God bless them for it.
As Mr. Webster, t in a letter near the close of his life, expressed
* Since writing this Address, I have seen " The Sunday School Times" of September 15, 1860, published in Philadelphia, containing a full account of the Beverly Semi-Cen- tennial Celebration, "reported expressly" for that paper. The Rev. A. B. Rich read & "historical sketch " of the first school established in Beverly, and fixed the date as of September 5, 1810, by quotations from the History of Beverly by Rev. Edwin M. Stone, and from Memoranda of Hon. Robert Rantoul, Senior. He then says, "two years after Mr. Rantoul made these memoranda the Rev. Asa Bullard prepared a History of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. In this work he says, "The first Sabbath School, so far as we are able to learn, in this State, and probably in New England, intended for moral and religious instruction, was established in Beverly in 1810." On page 124 of the History of Winthrop, written by Mr. Thurston, I find this statement, "The first Sabbath School in town, and probably in the State, was established by this church, Aug.7, 1808. It has been continued in different forms and with various success until the present time." I submit, therefore, that whatever honor is due to the town first estab- lishing a Sabbath School in New England, belongs to Winthrop.
t Instead of giving in this address the extracts I made from Mr. Webster's letter, it seems to me better to preserve the whole in this note. The opinions of these two dis- tinguished statesmen cannot fail to impress upon the public mind the value of the Bible and Sabbath Schools.
JEFFERSON AND WEBSTER-THE BIBLE AND SABBATH SCHOOLS.
MARSHFIELD, June 15, 1852.
PROF. PEASE-Dear Sir :- I have received your very able and interesting annual report of the condition of the New York Sabbath School Association, and read it with great pleasure and instruction. It is gratifying, very gratifying, to learn that in ". city where vice and immorality run riot with impunity," a few bumble Christ ..... . .... devoted their time and energies to the cause of religion, and I fervently pray that your labors may be crowned with success.
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.