USA > Maine > Knox County > Warren > Annals of the town of Warren; with the Early History of St. George's, Broad Bay and the Neighboring Settlements on the Waldo patent > Part 35
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 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
'The winter of 1834-'5 was marked by great variations of temperature. About the 9th of October, 1835, Halley's comet, whose periodical revolution had been calculated at 75 years, made its appearance for the third time ; but was visible here for a few nights only, on account of a dense fog, which overspread the country, almost without interruption, through October and a part of November. During this time, the weather was calm and mild, without wind enough to shake the leaves from the trees, which, particularly on the oaks, re- mained with all their brilliant tints till the very commence- ment of winter. This began November 20th, by a sudden transition from good wheeling to good sleighing, and, with a slight relaxation in January, when robins were heard singing
340
ANNALS OF WARREN.
their vernal notes, continued with great severity to the end of March, 1836. The spring of 1836 was late, with a scarcity of hay ; ice was observed June 3d, when apple-trees were in blossom ; the crop of potatoes was small, and that of maize greatly injured by frost. January and February of 1837, were remarkable for extreme cold weather, furious storms, and deep and drifted snows. The roads here were frequently impassable, especially January 22d, and February 17th and 24th, from immense drifts said to be fifteen feet in depth. Triangular machines, then first required by law, were used in opening the roads. Snow-shoes were resorted to by Dr. Buxton, who, by their aid, February 25th, visited J. Rokes's neighborhood. During this severe winter, many birds usually confined to the arctic regions, made their appearance here, especially the beautiful pine grosbeak, or bulfinch, (Pyrrhula enucleator) which came in large flocks about the woodpiles and barn-yards ; and several specimens of the snowy owl, (Stryx nyctea) were shot in the vicinity. Masses of snow long remained in the woods and gullies, some of them till June. Spots were plainly observed on the sun April 28th, and again in July. January 26, 1839, a tremendous S. E. storm of wind and rain overturned many sheds here, and, in some parts of the country, dwellinghouses and churches. On the 12th of July, the house of E. V. Lermond was struck and somewhat injured by lightning ; but the family all escaped unhurt. From August to October, the dysentery raged in the town with great mortality, carrying away not less than sixteen persons of all ages.
The winter of 1839-'40 was a perpetual fluctuation be- tween extreme warmth and cold, with destructive storms in- tervening at intervals of about two weeks, the most notable of which were December 16th and 28th, and January 23d. August 23d, a severe thunder shower from the S. W. did considerable damage, burning the barn on the Isaac Libbey farm, and in Waldoboro' one or two more. Two days after- wards, some damage was done in Hope, and R. Rokes killed. In 1841, a summer drought, together with caterpillars and grasshoppers, seriously injured the crops, except winter rye ; and many wells which never failed before, were dry. This was broken Sept. 4th, by the most copious shower of rain ever remembered in so short a time, the brooks overleaping their banks, covering their bridges, and carrying along stones of many pounds weight. The winter of 1841-'2 was, with short intervals, warm and mild. A violent storm from the S. W., February 17th, blew over some chimneys, sheds, and old
341
ANNALS OF WARREN.
buildings ; and cast up quantities of fish on the islands and coast. On the 11th June, a storm of rain ending with snow, destroyed some sheep by the sudden chill. On the 14th, a remarkable change of weather from cold to heat, took place suddenly about nine in the evening. The year is distinguish- ed in this town as presenting the greatest mortality of any since its incorporation. The scarlet fever prevailed in the winter and spring ; and in autumn the dysentery, with other diseases, swelled the number of deaths to threescore.
On the 28th February, 1843, a comet in the day-time was observed by a few persons near the S. E. limb of the sun, with a train, as described by them, about two feet long in ap- pearance. It soon became too faint for observation by day ; but on the 7th March, its splendid train, in spite of the bright moonlight, was seen extending for more than 200 above the horizon, beneath which its nucleus had sunk before the dark- ness rendered it visible. On the 22d, its train was estimated at 30 degrees, with no apparent nucleus. It was a brilliant and beautiful phenomenon. With the exception of a fortnight of warm weather and bare, unfrozen ground in January, the winter was cold, and abounded with deep snows till April 8th ; when spring birds arrived, though there was little bare ground till the 23d of that month. On the day of the annual fast, April 6th, and the preceding night, there fell about two feet of moist snow blown into drifts in some places as high as the houses, rendering the roads impassable till cleared out by the shovel. The mail stage went on runners as late as April 16th, at which time the average depth of snow was judged to be about 3 feet, and that of the drifts from 5 to 8 feet. Sleighs continued to run on some roads till into May. In that month, the season made good progress ; but there was frost and frozen ground again June 1st, when fruit trees were beginning to blossom. The crop of hay was abundant, and the season propitious till Sept. 9th, when white frost occurred every night till the 15th. The following winter was also cold and snowy. The mercury at sunrise, January 26, 1844, stood at 13º below 0, the 27th 9º below 0, the 28th 150 below 0, the 29th 3º below 0, the 30th 11º below 0, and the 31st 7º below 0. The spring was an early one, with some remarkably hot weather on April 13th and 14th, when the mercury was up to 78º in the shade. This year, 1844, was distinguished for the first appearance of the potato disease ; though the crop here was abundant and remarkably fine. In 1845, this disease destroyed nearly the whole crop in the town ; since which a much smaller quantity of this 29*
342
ANNALS OF WARREN.
root has been raised. The month of April, 1845, was remarkably dry and windy, producing great losses by fire ; the village of Damariscotta being entirely consumed, and other places in our neighborhood suffering considerably. The winter of 1845-6 was somewhat peculiar, and in many places disastrous. It began after the heavy rains of Novem- ber, with warm weather succeeded by thunder, moderate snows, and continued cold weather ; frost penetrated the ground to a great depth ; and springs never before known to fail, became dry. Anchor-ice was abundant, producing at Bangor, in connexion with the spring freshets, a memorable inundation. The spring of 1846 was early and delightful ; the crops of English grain fine ; but the unusual heat, com- bined with an unprecedented drought which lasted into Octo- ber, injured the crop of maize and prevented the growth of potatoes ; so that, although not diseased, they were as scarce as in the preceding year. In July, August, and September, the mercury frequently reached 88º, 900, 94º and 96° in the shade. At Rockland, water was carried through the streets
and sold by the gallon. The George's Canal Company availed themselves of the low state of the water during this season, to build locks, and open the navigation of the river as far as Senebec Pond. During this drought, a calamitous fire occurred at Waldoboro', Oct. 10th, which raged that and the following day, and reduced nearly the whole business section of the village to ashes.
On the 22d of March, 1848, there was a slight, but very perceptible, shock of an earthquake about 7 o'clock P. M. On Friday, June 23d, a little after 10 o'clock A. M. a rare and brilliant phenomenon was observed in the heavens. The morning had been hot, and the sky at first clear, but soon pervaded by a thin hazy cloud, which came over from the west. The wind, which had been N. W., was, at the time mentioned, fresh from the S. W. As the haze passed over the sun, it slightly obscured its radiance, and, when attention was directed that way, two bright concentric circles were observed surrounding that luminary ; the one, at a rough estimate, about 15° distant from it, and the other 300 or more. They presented, especially the outer one, all the prismatic colors, well defined as in an ordinary rainbow. In the inner circle, these colors seemed mixed with the common sunlight, and, though more luminous, were less distinct. These were intersected by a third circle, whose centre was situated to the north of the other two, and whose circumfer- ence passed between the inner circle and the sun. This
343
ANNALS OF WARREN.
soon faded and disappeared ; but the others continued some time longer, the inner one apparently drawing nearer the sun, and the outer one appearing less regular and concentric. As the haze passed off southerly, the outer circle became broken and then disappeared; but the inner one remained visible till noon.
The weather of 1849 was remarkable for its sudden alter- nations of heat and cold. On June 22d, the mercury rose to 96° in the shade, and July 13th to 98º at this place, whilst at Rockland and at Newcastle it rose to 1020 in the shade. Both these days, especially the latter, were followed by a sudden depression of temperature, rendering fires and great coats desirable. Such changes, during this and the preced- ing year, proved fatal to many elderly people ; besides which, in 1849, the dysentery and typhoid fever were prevalent, and at Thomaston and Waldoboro' very mortal. May 6th, 1850, an easterly storm terminated in showers from the S. W. attended with much lightning, which struck a tree near I. Spear's, and splintered telegraph posts, in some places 10 or 12 continuously, in the borders of this town and Waldoboro'. Freshets were high; and on the 15th a loaded canal-boat, missing the lock at the upper falls, was precipitated over the dam, the crew escaping with slight in- jury. On the 10th and 11th of June, a violent storm de- stroyed some newly shorn sheep ; and the consequent freshet carried away the shingle and stave-mill at N. Cobb's. After eight successive days of wet weather, Sunday, July 21st, was so fine, and so much hay was in danger of spoiling, that most farmers felt justified in working to save it. The dysen- tery and cholera prevailed in summer and autumn.
During the present period, an evident, though not very sudden or striking, improvement has taken place in the physical, moral, and social condition of the town. In regard to the population, for which the reader is referred to Table III, and which exhibits an increase of 600 during the period, or 200 every census, Warren now, as in 1840, ranks as the 8th town in the County of Lincoln ; while, according to the State valuation of 1850 it ranks in point of property as the 5th .* Wealth has evidently increased ; pauperism, especially since the temperance movement, diminished ; schools are better provided with books, and the amount of reading, particularly of newspapers and periodicals, greatly
* The City of Bath being reckoned as one.
344
ANNALS OF WARREN.
extended. But as education has been too much regarded as a mere preparation for business and the great art of money making, rather than a means of perpetual satisfaction and mental improvement, it is not wonderful that the higher walks of literature and science should find fewer votaries here than in many more retired and less wealthy places, where education, with less facility, has a stronger prestige. The college graduates which this town has thus far furnished, are the following ; viz. David and George Starrett in 1818, Benjamin B. Thatcher and Manasseh H. Smith in 1826, all at Bowdoin College, Lucius H. Chandler in 1831 at Water- ville College, Samuel E. Smith in 1839, G. Snow Newcomb in 1848, and Samuel L. Hodgman in 1850, also at Bowdoin. The degree of M. D. was conferred at the last named college upon Benjamin F. Buxton in 1830, Jonathan Huse in 1832, and Joseph Huse, 1833. Sunday schools are now better patronized, and more generally attended. Gambling, if not wholly suppressed, has been confined to secret and disreput- able places. One species of it, that of lotteries, the more pernicious for being sanctioned by law and openly advertised in all the newspapers and post offices of the country, has, since the sale of tickets was prohibited in 1826, ceased to tempt the young and simple to venture their hard earnings upon an ocean of blanks in hope of gaining the prize at the bottom. Dwellings are more comfortably, not to say luxu- riously, finished, furnished, and arranged ; and supplied with convenient out-buildings. Cooking stoves found their way here not much after 1820; friction matches succeeded, and soon displaced the old tinder box and steel. Windlasses and pumps have banished the unsightly well-sweeps that formerly stood at every dwelling. Agriculture has advanced as well in the quantity of land cultivated, as also in the skill and implements with which the labor is performed. Threshing machines were introduced about 1837 ; horse-rakes, a little earlier. The use of compost, lime, gypsum, and other manures, has greatly increased the crops. Hay has become an article of exportation, as potatoes also were, until checked by the prevailing disease. A machine for compressing hay was first obtained here by J. L. Patterson and others about 1842, and one or more have since been added. The agri- cultural bounties paid to this town by the State, amounted in 1838 to $159,98, on 1882 bushels of wheat; in 1839 to $226,20, on 2370 bushels of wheat, and to $280,00, on 6035 bushels of Indian corn. These bounties, being offered at a time when the high prices of provisions, the sudden revulsion
345
ANNALS OF WARREN.
of credit, and consequent embarrassments of trade and all kinds of business, rendered it difficult to procure the usual supplies from the south, gave a very opportune impulse to agriculture both here and throughout the State. The crop of wool has fluctuated, both in quantity and value, with the pro- tection afforded or withheld by the National government. The erection of a woolen factory, raised April 16th, 1842, by A. H. Hodgman, I. G. Allen, and others, has to a consid- erable degree, silenced the music of the domestic loom and spinning wheel. There were at the old clothing mill, as estimated in 1828, about 10,000 yards of cloth annually dressed, and about as many pounds of wool carded. The present factory, in 1843, manufactured 18,000 yards of cloth, besides dressing 2400 yards more, and carding 5000 pounds of wool for customers. This is about the amount still man- ufactured ; but an addition to the factory building has been recently made, with a view, we presume, to an increase of busi- ness. It now employs 8 male and 9 female operatives. Other manufactures, particularly those of brass, tin, and leather, have somewhat declined of late ; partly perhaps from want of governmental protection, and partly in consequence of other improvements, such as the use of stoves, glass lamps, and the new modes of dressing leather. For many years, about 1828 or '30, Dea. Webb and son manufactured be- tween $1000 and $2000 worth of brass lamps, fire-sets, &c., for the Boston market ; and more recently large quan- tities of copper spikes and other fastenings have been furnished by them for ship-builders, amounting on the part of the younger of them, according to the census of 1850, to $770. As near as can be gathered from the census, there were, in the year ending June 1, 1850, not less than 66 or 70 tons of iron worked up by the different blacksmiths in town, into ship-irons and other articles, including $700 worth of edge tools by J. Mallett. An iron foundry was established at the village about 1842, but has since been removed to Thomaston. Besides nearly $500 worth by J. Leeds, R. W. Jarvis and sons manufacture annually about $1800 worth of shoes and boots ; and their labor, as well as that of Mr. Hinkley in the tin plate business, has been greatly facilitated within the last five years, by the use of machinery. M. Huse, an ingenious machinist, produces looms and other articles to the amount of $800; C. N. Page, horse wagons $550 ; J. Grafton, harnesses and saddlery, $590; Crawford & Kirkpatrick, bricks, $800 ; James Libbey, leather, $550; J. W. Smith, $2222, and S. B. Dockham, $2025 worth of
346
ANNALS OF WARREN.
clothing ; besides other wheelwrights, tanners, and saddlers, whose business falling a little short of $500 was not enumer- ated. The annual product of the six saw-mills included in the census, amounts to $14,808 worth, besides many others omitted as producing less than $500 worth. In the manufac- ture of lime, there has of late years been an apparent de- cline ; partly from the fact that those most extensively engaged in it have found it for their advantage to carry on the work at Thomaston, where the rock is easily obtained and the lime shipped, and where the many new roads and bridges render it easier than formerly to collect wood and other materials. There were burnt in this town, 4200 casks in 1821, 7,527 in 1822, 13,326 in 1823, 17,260 in 1824, 24,120 in 1825, 28,211 in 1826, 35,812 in 1827, and 37,421 in 1828. For a number of years past, no accurate account has been kept ; but the quantity at present manufactured is not far from 10,000 casks, besides 12,000 or more, burnt at Thomaston. Ship-building has steadily advanced not only in the number, but the size and quality of the vessels built ; and, being the only branch of industry from which foreign competition is excluded, its success would seem to afford a strong argument in favor of extending protection to other mechanical and agricultural productions, for which the coun- try is equally well adapted. There were built here in the year 1849, 2 ships, 5 barks, and 3 brigs, measuring 3708 tons, and valued without the sails and rigging at $138,436. The present year, 1850, the number of vessels has been less ; yet, as three of them were large ships, one of which exceeded 1100 tons, it is believed that the aggregate tonnage is nearly equal to that of the preceding year.
The coasting trade between this place and Boston, which in the early part of this century employed some half dozen or more sloops and schooners in transporting wood, lumber, and lime, has, after a gradual decline, at length entirely ceased ; and these vessels have been succeeded by those of a larger class, mostly employed in the freighting business from southern ports to the northern States, Europe, and the W. Indies. The hay, lime, and other articles which these vessels carry out southward, are generally taken on board at Thomaston ; and vessels are now rarely seen at Warren, except those newly built. The earnings remitted by these vessels from abroad, have, for some years past, not only been the principal means of restoring the money drained off in the purchase of W. I., European, and domestic goods in Boston, but have greatly added to the capital of the place; which is
347
ANNALS OF WARREN.
now more than sufficient for the business done, and is forced to seek employment elsewhere, or investment in public stocks. Prior to the present period, a great want of capital was felt in this and the neighboring towns, manifested by the high rate of interest, the great profits of trade, and the extensive credit everywhere in use. People, prior to the war of 1812, frequently resorted to Messrs. Bryant or Borland at Damaris- cotta for loans at twelve per cent. ; and it was a common practice to have demands sued, and continued from court to court, merely for the use of the money in the interim. A a later period, cargoes were purchased on credit, and lumber- men and lime-burners forced to wait payment from three to six months, take their pay in goods, or dispose of their notes at an extravagant discount. But on the incorporation of the Thomaston Bank, Feb. 22, 1825, all this floating credit was made available as currency by discounting securities there, in exchange for the bills of the bank. Several citizens of this town became stockholders in that bank, and one of them has been for a considerable portion of the time its president.
The mercantile business has, from different causes, been subject to some fluctuation. The temperance reformation brought with it in 1830, and at subsequent periods, a great diminution of the trade in ardent spirits, particularly at the village ; and this, together with the increase of business in Thomaston and Waldoboro', has diverted to those towns much of the trade which formerly centered here. The com- mercial embarrassments following the land speculations which terminated in 1836, operated as disastrously upon traders of small means here as elsewhere. It was partly for increas- ing the trade of the place, and partly perhaps with a view to the superior water power it would afford, as well as from regard to the general prosperity, that many of the public spirited citizens of the town were induced to take shares in the George's Canal Company, which was incorporated in July, 1846, for the purpose of opening the navigation of the river to its sources. Shares in this corporation were taken by citizens of this town to a large amount ; and the whole cost of the work was not far from $80,000. The locks in this town and Union were completed in the summer and fall of 1847 ; and on the 25th December of that year the first canal boat, the " Gen. Knox," which had come down from Appleton, passed through the lower lock on its way to Thomaston, where its arrival on the following day was hailed with ringing of bells and other demonstrations of joy. A steamboat was added, and the upper locks completed, in
348
ANNALS OF WARREN.
1848. The works have since been attached and sold for the debts of the company, and, we believe, purchased by a second company formed for the purpose.
On the 1st December, 1848, the Telegraph wire on the line between Portland and Eastport, was put up through this town, and the same day went into operation between Thomaston and Bangor, though its connexion with Portland was not completed till a short time after.
To the Mexican war which followed the annexation of Texas in 1846, this town contributed nothing in the way of soldiers ; although Edward B. Leeds, Albert G. and James Burton, former residents here, enlisted in the service, and shared in the operations directed by Gen. Scott. The first was killed at Hualmantla by a musket shot; the other two returned. The profits of the war had more attraction ; and the marine of this place participated largely in the transport- ation of men, provisions, and munitions of war.
The gold vainly sought in Mexico having been found at California, several from this place, in 1848, joined the general rush of adventurers to that country. These were followed by others in 1849 and 1850 ; and the whole number of our townsmen who have visited that country is not less than thirty or thirty-one, including the principal, and at that time only, physician in the place. These have met with various suc- cess, and have begun to return, some in precarious health, same satisfied with the amount of their gains, and some in the regular course of their business as seamen. Others still remain to complete their fortunes ; and two promising young men, Spofford Leeds and William Mathews, have fallen vic- tims to the diseases, dangers and discouragements of a miner's life. To these may be added, as one of the town's most gifted sons, though not a resident, the Rev. Amariah Kelloch, who died at San Francisco in the summer of 1850.
During this period of thirty years, many of our highly valued and distinguished citizens have been called away by death. Besides many already mentioned, Col. Benjamin Burton, whose name has often appeared in these pages, died in 1835 at his residence in this town, now that of P. Fuller, where and in that of F. Seiders he spent a few of the last years of his life. He was distinguished for a quickness of invention and a promptness of action which fitted him for any emergency, and for that independent conscientious- ness which led to the performance of what he conceived to be his duty, whether so regarded by others or not. As a Baptist, his course was unwavering, and his services in Cush-
349
ANNALS OF WARREN.
ing, where he resided till about 1797, and in Friendship, whither he removed about that time, were eminently useful to the churches in these places. Of several children who came before him to this town, one, recently deceased, has left valuable donations for missionary and other purposes, in the sect to which he belonged.
John H. Counce, who died March 10, 1848, deserves a passing notice as an example of what industry, frugality, and perseverance, with no uncommon advantages, are capa- ble of effecting. Brought up on a farm, with but a limited education, he turned his attention to ship-building, as before noted, and became master workman when about 28 years of age. In the course of his business, he superintended the building of 2 sloops, 24 schooners, 19 brigs, 1 bark, and 12 ships ; of which the following were built in Thomaston and Rockland, viz. - sch. Mary Spear in 1815, schs. Jane Spear and Katherine in 1816, sch. Dodge Healy in 1817, schs. Thomas and Halsey in 1818, sch. Ann and brig John in 1819, brig Sylvester Healy and sch. George in 1820, brig Iddo in 1822, brig Montpelier in 1823, ship Georges and brig Dodge Healy in 1824, and ship Hewes in 1827; whilst the remaining 34, exhibited in Table XIII, were built in War- ren, making in all a fleet of 58 sail. With a prudence equal to his judgment, it is not strange that he became the wealthiest man, so far as known, and paid the highest tax, in town. His estate at his death was estimated at $100,000, and paid a tax of $310,38, besides a highway tax in labor of perhaps an equal amount. His success in business he attri- buted in a great measure, under Providence, to a rule which he early formed, of taking no more property than he had the means to pay for and have enough left to carry on his busi- ness ; so as to pay no extra interest and lose no time in bor- rowing money. Honored by his townsmen, whom he thrice represented in the Legislature, esteemed as a valuable mem- ber of the Baptist communion, he bequeathed his estate to his family and his example to the community.
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.