USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Holden > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 23
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Eddington > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 23
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Orrington > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 23
USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Brewer > Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington : history and families > Part 23
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Fannie was educated in the public schools of Brewer, went on to Abbott Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and finally went to Smith College, where she was graduated in 1888.
She garnered much valuable material for her later writing when in company with her father. She made one trip with him down the East Branch via Northeast Carry in the summer of 1888 and another down the West Branch a year later. While on these trips she met many of the guides and heard many stories of the wilds of Maine. She also gathered much first hand material
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which she later used in her tales of the river drivers. These were first printed in the Atlantic Monthly and later they were collected in the book The Penobscot Man, in 1904.
For several summers she studied botany with her father at Camden. At first they tented; but later they built a cottage at Dillingham Point.
Fannie Hardy married the Rev. Jacob A. Eckstorm of Chicago in 1893. They went first to a pastorate in Portland, Oregon; then to Eastport, Maine. The Rev. Eckstorm died in Providence, R. I., in 1899, leaving Mrs. Eckstorm with two small children. She came back to Brewer to her old home on Wilson Street, where she studied and wrote for the next 47 years. Her writings included the subjects of ornithology, local history, genealogy, the Maine Woods, woodcraft, pedagogy, literary criticism, the Maine Indians, and others. Outstanding among her writings are:
1888, "The Great Auk in New England", The Auk, September, 1888
1889, "Out of Door Papers", eleven papers in Forest and Stream
1891, "In the Region Around Nicatowis", ten papers in Forest and Stream
1891, "Six Years Under Maine Game Laws," eleven papers in Forset and Stream
1893, "The Baron of Pentagoet", a historical tale of St. Castin, in Historia, Chicago, March to December.
1901, The Bird Book, D. C. Heath & Co.
1901, The Woodpeckers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
1902, "Description of the Adult Black Merlin" in the Auk
1904, "The Death of Thoreau's Guide", Atlantic Monthly, June, 1904.
1904, The Penobscot Man, Jordan-Frost Printing Co., Bangor
1907, "David Libbey", American Unitarian Society
1908, "Thoreau's Maine Woods," Atlantic Monthly
1913, "The Wasted Years," Atlantic Monthly
1932, "The Handcrafts of the Modern Indians of Maine"
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1939, Maine Maps of Historical Interest
1941, Indian Place Names
1945, Old John Neptune
For much of the information on both Manly Hardy and Fannie Hardy Eckstorm as well as many of the brief biographical state- ments, we are indebted to Miss Charlotte Hardy, beloved daughter and sister, who makes her home in the old homestead on Wilson Street and takes an active interest in the affairs of the City.
Daniel Rooney was prominent for fifty years in the grocery business in Brewer. He began work as a clerk in Mr. William Richardson's store, in 1889. He worked here for a few years and in 1893 left to go to Waltham, Massachusetts, where he had employment in the Waltham Watch Factory. He stayed there but one year and left at the time of the financial panic when 1700 out of a total of 3000 employees were discharged in one day.
Mr. Rooney, or "Dan" as he was known to both young and old, then went to Hurricane Island. He worked in a general store there and acquired much knowledge that was valuable to him in his own store late. In 1897 he bought the store owned by L. G. Pollard at 150 South Main Street directly across the street from the Old Dirigo Hose House.
Mr. Rooney must have had a side line about which we had not heard, for in the Bangor Daily News of 1900 we found an item stating that Mr. Rooney had for several months been manufactur- ing washboards for the local demand and at this time had added snow shovels. The item went on to say that the people who had had the opportunity of seeing these snow shovels considered them the best obtainable. The shovel part was made from one piece of wood and the handle was of ash which was procured from Leach's Bark Factory.
While the old Dirigo Mill was in operation, much of the trade in Mr. Rooney's store came from the men who were employed there, as well as from the vessels which docked at the mill wharf.
Later when a new main store was constructed, the original store was moved back and used as a meat room and the hose house across the street was purchased and added as a permanent store room.
Mr. Rooney held the honor of being the only man in Bangor
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and Brewer, and according to many, the only man in Maine, to have been in the grocery business for fifty years.
After his retirement, his son James; and son-in-law, Charles Pooler, carried on the grocery business there for some years. When it was finally sold it seemed to those in the area as if a part of their heritage had disappeared with the passing of "Dan Rooney's" store, for such it continued to be called by the people of the neighborhood as long as it existed.
Mr. Rooney died after a long illness in 1960.
Some of the other Brewer people who have gone out into the borders beyond ours and brought fame to our City are:
Arthur Farrington served as Curator of the Agricultural section of the Smithsonian Institute.
Professor Edward H. Farrington was head of the Dairy Division of the University of Wisconsin. He was a professor of dairy husbandry for forty years and he originated some widely used dairy tests.
Horace Farrington was a draughtsman at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Joseph Rider Farrington was the Senator representing Hawaii. He died in office.
Myra Farrington married the Rev. Ephraim R. Powers of Dorset, Vermont, in 1897. He was a graduate of the Bangor Theo- logical Seminary. Rev. and Mrs. Powers went out as missionaries to Micronesia. They returned in 1861 to White Salmon, Washing- ton, where Mr. Powers became a farmer and home missionary. Later they moved to The Dalles, Oregon.
Benjamin Farrington, in company with others, built the Holden Steam Mill.
Miss Rebecca Green, whose residence was on North Main Street, was one of the first girls to go to college from Brewer. She be- came a teacher and later served as governess to Herbert Hoover's sons.
Rev. Galen Snow was a missionary to the Sandwich Islands in 1850.
A Rev. Dole who was one time minister of the First Congrega- tional Church, was the father of Rev. Nathan Dole, poet and Rev.
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Charles E. Dole. The latter was the Dole Pineapple King in Hawaii. His daughter married Horace Mann.
The Rev. Linus Brastow was a professor at Yale University.
Susan Wheeler and her husband, Rev. Dunbar, were mission- aries to Turkey.
Kate Cutter was the wife of Pillsbury of the Pillsbury Com- pany. She became the second wife of Cyrus N. K. Curtis, pub- lisher of the Ladies Home Journal and other periodicals. She was one of the few from this area to be presented at the Court of St. James, London.
Captain Smith, who was the father of Arthur Smith, formerly of South Main Street, was the United States Consul to the island of Curacao for many years.
Miss Jane Farrington was a missionary.
Miss Anne Louise Farrington became the wife of the Rev. William Ladd Jones of Minot, Maine. He was President of Oahu College in Hawaii in 1878.
Sarah Elizabeth Farrington married the Rev. George Perkins of Farmington, Maine. They went as missionaries to Marah, Turkey.
Horace Parker Farrington was instructor of manual training at St. Paul, Minnesota.
Paul Eckstorm was graduated from Brewer High School, Wes- leyan University, Middleton, Connecticut; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was an expert mining engineer in Mexico and South America for a number of years.
Lennie Copeland was a professor at Wellesley College.
Solomon D. Brastow was born in Brewer and went out to the west coast in 1850. He served as superintendent of the Wells Fargo & Co's Western Division for thirty-five years. He had been with the company fifty years when he died.
Melvin Copeland has been a professor at Harvard University for many years.
Wallace Farrington was for eight years governor of the Hawaiian Islands. He declined another appointment and went back into newspaper work.
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Charles E. Lunt was selected as one to represent the Berlin Bridge Company of Massachusetts, in their extensive exhibit at the Paris Exposition in 1900.
Sanford Burnham Cousins graduated from Brewer High School in 1916 and Bowdoin College in 1920. He is the Vice-President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. and a trustee of Bowdoin College.
There are others, too numerous to mention; some who have gone from Brewer to lead successful lives in other areas; some who have settled in Brewer and become industrious citizens, contribut- ing to the growth and development of the community. The list is far from complete. We might make mention of the doctors, teachers, clergymen, tradesmen, homemakers, public officials; people from every walk of life, who have lived and worked that Brewer might arrive at the level of success which is hers today.
CHAPTER XVI
ORRINGTON AFTER THE SEPARATION
A history of Brewer is synonomous with that of Orrington, for they originally comprised the same town whose boundaries also included the area now incorporated as the Town of Holden.
Orrington was one of the earliest of the Penobscot River towns. In the census of 1790, the only other towns named were Bangor and Eddington.
The early history of Orrington is necessarily the history of Brewer and has been dealt with elsewhere in this volume.
Jesse Atwood claimed to be one of the original pioneers on the land which is now Orrington. He came here in 1778 at the age of 29 and spent the rest of his life in this town.
The development of a town covering such a very large area, encompassing the present towns of Orrington and Holden, and the City of Brewer, presented many difficulties. The wilderness trails gradually became roads; but the first roads were rough and poor and traveling from one section of the town to the other was not without hazards. Thus obstacles were created which
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often made attendance at public meetings poor. More often than not there was not a good representation from every part of the town. There were a number of small business centers around which separate villages had sprung up. These and other considera- tions brought about the desire for a division of the town.
After much discussion and several petitions to the General Court of Massachusetts the division was finally accomplished; the upper section of the town becoming Brewer and the lower, Orrington. Holden was included in the Brewer section at the time and for a number of years thereafter. Thus when you com- pare the boundaries of the original town of Orrington with those of today, the Orrington of today is rather small.
At this time of division in 1812, the town had one hundred and sixty-two polls. The valuation of estates was $3,368.51, and the general tax rate was fifty-five cents on $1000.
ยท By 1820, the population had reached 1049 people with two hundred and fourteen polls. At this time the population was only one hundred and seventy-two less than Bangor, and only four hundred and twenty-nine less than in Hampden. Hampden was then the largest town in the county. The valuation of estates, however, was quite a bit less than those of either Bangor or Hamp- den.
At the time of the origin of the town one of the first items of business considered was the problem of providing Christian train- ing for its citizens. The town voted to provide two churches, one at each end of the area. Thus a church was built at Orrington soon after the town had its beginnings.
A Methodist Society was formed in this end of the town. This society continued to exist over the years and is still maintained. Today there are three Methodist Churches serving the people of the various sections of the town: one at Orrington Corner, one at Orrington Center; and one at South Orrington. All three are lovely white buildings, following the general pattern of the typical Old New England Church. The church at East Orrington is of the Congregational denomination having been an off-shoot of the Brewer church. This church was established in 1834 and for a number of years shared ministers with the Second Con- gregational Church at South Brewer.
Ephraim Goodale's nursery at Goodale's Corner was probably the first in eastern Maine. On the old handbills which were
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circulated to advertise his products, his residence is given as Buckstown. It is probable that he received his mail through the office at Bucksport at that time. Mr. Goodale advertised a wide variety of trees, especially fruit; and guaranteed them to be of very good quality.
The Orrington Post Office was established in 1812 upon the division of the town. By the late 19th century there were a num- ber of post offices available to the citizens; one at South Orring- ton, one at North Orrington, one at East Orrington, one at Good- ale's Corner, and the original one at Orrington Corner. Today the Post Office is on the River Road a short distance below North Orrington.
Orrington today is largely a town of comfortable homes. Small farms and sawmills continue to be active, and they in company with the numerous stores and service stations have added to the town's present valuation. The ponds and the shores of the beautiful Penobscot River have afforded attractions which have drawn people to come here for vacation pleasures.
In the days that are gone various industries have flourished here. The region was particularly well adapted to the business of shipbuilding and Orrington shared, with other towns, those advantages. A small vessel, the Blackbird, was launched from the Orrington shipyard in April 1862, and in September, 1866, the schooner, Naonta, 193 tons, was launched. Other vessels were built and launched here and many vessels sailed the seas under the command of the Orrington sea captains. In 1872, twenty vessels were owned in Orrington and most of these were in use in the West Indian and coastal trade.
Mills in Orrington in 1872, according to the Gazetter of the World, included six sawmills, cutting about two million feet of lumber a year; several shingle mills, lath mills, and turning mills. There was also a steam sawmill which was capable of producing several hundred thousand feet of lumber annually.
Upon examining some old maps of the town we found several industries that are pictured on the map by name. Among them are Cooper's Paper Mill located, we think, on the Johnson Mill Road. Swett's Saw Mill was at the outlet of Swett's Pond. The steam mill was at Snow's Corner near the river. Phillips & Tower Grist Mill was located on Segeunkedunk Stream on the road to East Orrington. This map shows the Town House located just below
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the Pound on the same side of the River Road. Another map shows a J. Torrens Grist Mill and an F. H. Brastow Grist Mill, also on the stream and practically on the Brewer-Orrington line. The second map also locates George Brooks Pottery just above Orringtion Corner, then called Orrington Post Office. There was a Sargent Bros. Saw Mill at North Orrington. The Town Farm was apparently located on the Brewer Lake Road. We would assume that the second map was the older map; but neither of them is dated.
Pottery, earthenware, land tiles, and tobacco pipers were manu- factured at the George Brooks Pottery. Most of the land tile found a ready market in Boston. The local market was supplied first and the rest shipped to that city. In the 80's the pipe making business was a new industry in Maine. The clay used for the manufacture of these pipes was imported from England.
Boots and Shoes and Churns were among other articles made in Orrington at this time. There was a tannery located here as well as the saw and grist mills already mentioned.
Brewer Lake, formerly Brewer Pond and at one time Hines' Pond, is connected with Field's Pond by an outlet. The outlets of both of these ponds run to Segeunkedunk Stream which has furnished power in the past for many valuable mills, both in Brewer and Orrington. About halfway between Brewer Lake and the River is Swett's Pond (spelled on the old maps Sweat's and Sweet's ). The outlet of this small body of water runs in a great curve to the river. Vacation homes of the residents of nearby towns are found on all three of these bodies of water. The largest and most valuable waterway has always been the river, which in the beginning was the only highway of the town.
Orrington's educational system today consists of three fine consolidated schools. Growth in recent years has necessitated much enlarging of these buildings. The schools are located at North Orrington, East Orrington, and South Orrington. Being spaced as they are in widely separated sections of the town, they are readily available to most of the children. Buses bring pupils from the more distant points. Although records for 1872 state that there was a high school in the town, we have nothing definite on its location. For the most part Orrington has relied upon the nearby towns of Bucksport, Brewer, and Bangor for the secondary education of its young people. At one time not too many years
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ago, the experiment of including the 9th grade in the existing school system was suggested and tried for a time. Apparently it did not prove successful as it was soon abandoned.
The Consolidated school is a great step forward from the small rural schools which were found in all sections of the town in bygone days. Of course at that time the problem of transportation would have excluded the present type of school even if it had been considered at that time. It may be possible to point out a few of the sites of the old schools: there was one on the road between Swett's Pond and South Orrington, not far from the end of the pond; two at South Orrington; one on the road leading from King Mountain (then called Sweet's Hill) to Mud Pond; one at Orrington Center; one at Orrington Corner; one at North Orring- ton on the Snow's Corner Road; one at East Orrington; and one on the road through from the Center to the Goodale's Corner road. This system of schools formed a network throughout the town and the children in each separate part of the town were accommodated. There was an Advent Church, according to one of the old maps, located on the road between Swett's Pond and South Orrington.
Agriculture has always been quite important to the town. In the beginning nearly every man was a farmer at least to some extent. Small truck farms and dairy farms are still operating here. One outstanding bit of evidence as to the previous importance of farms and farm animals is the Old Pound. This bit of antiquity has been standing for many years and in the past was used as a refuge for the straying farm animals until their owners could claim them. The Pound is on the River Road between Orrington Corner and North Orrington.
There are a number of cemeteries located in various sections of the town. Oak Hill Cemetery, mentioned in fairly recent town reports, is also on the old map. We believe the cemetery near the river must be the one often referred to as the "Old Orrington Cemetery." On one map there is a cemetery on the road which leads from the end of Swett's Pond through to Goodale's Corner. A residence belonging to J. Rogers is also shown on this road. As long as we can remember the road has been discontinued; a pair of ruts through the woods. Years ago we followed this wood road through to the end. We saw an abandoned cellar hole which might well be all that remained of the home of one J. Rogers. We also found the old cemetery. We read the epitaphs and
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marvelled at the age of the stones which were set there. A few years ago in order to refresh our memories, we started out from the Swett's Pond end of the road. Except for a short distance at the very end, where pulp wood had been hauled out, the road has been completely taken back by Nature. About halfway across we lost it completely and never did find the cemetery. But memory tells us that it is still there and if we started from the other end maybe we could find it.
Much of the social and cultural life, as well as Christian train- ing, centered around the churches of the town. Eureka Lodge #33, I.O.O.F. and Enterprise Grange #173, Patrons of Husband- ry, are among the early organizations other than those of a re- ligious nature. A number of others exist today including the Ralph G. Pollard Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; the Order of the Eastern Star; the DeMolay Boys; the Rainbow Girls; the Vashti Rebekah Lodge; the Maurice W. Miles Post, #4527, Veterans of Foreign Wars .; several Parent-Teacher groups; the Orrington Garden Club; the Cosmopolitan Club; the Juvenile Grange; and scouting for various ages; Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Cub Scouts.
Since 1812 Orrington has functioned politically under the guidance of a board of selectmen. The form of town government was changed in February, 1952, when citizens at a town meeting voted to hire a Town Manager to work in conjunction with the Selectmen. Since that time the following men have served as town managers: Harold Gilbert, Harry B. Ripley, Roland Dubay, Emery Pinkham, Clarence Robinson, Robert LaFountain, and the present manager, Elmore Leathers.
Civic Improvements during recent years have included the organization of an active volunteer Fire Department; the setting up of a volunteer Civil Defense Unit; the adoption of a fire code; and the task of putting a zoning and building code into operation. Schools are constantly being modernized and expanded in order to keep them at the consistently high standard to which citizens may well point with pride.
A few of the names on the old maps have a familiar ring, and some of them have given names to various points in the town: The Goodales of Goodale's Corner; the Swetts of Swett's Pond; the Fields of Field's Pond; D. H. Hines for whom Brewer Lake was called for a time; the Kings of King Mountain; the Thayers for whom the Thayer Road was named. Other names are familiar, the Riders, the Freemans, the Snows, Wiswells, and Pierces,
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Brooks, Baker, Atwood, George, and Severance. These and many others - it would be impossible to mention them all - may be found on the old maps of the town marking the people in resi- dence at the time the charts were made.
It would be a never-ending task, even if the information were available, to note the many citizens of the town who have made names for themselves over the years, but we may mention a few. Reverend Enoch Mudge was the first settled Methodist minister in the town. Augustus N. Lufkin served with the 20th Maine Volun- teers during the Civil War; George Brooks was a teacher and later served on the Superintending School Committee for many years. He ran a pottery in Orrington. Captain J. A. Rider followed the sea from the time he was ten years old. He was master of vessels for over thirty-five years. Sumner Chapin was a farmer who also manufactured boats. He was elected to the state legis- lature in 1862.
J. W. Phillips graduated from Bowdoin College in 1858. He taught at the Eastern Maine Conference Seminary at Bucksport and was the principal of Hampden Academy. He served on the school board and on the board of selectmen. In 1872-1876 he was a member of the Maine House of Representatives and in 1877-78 in the Senate. He served on the Committee on Education and Legal Affairs.
Elbridge Ware, one of the early settlers, was a captain of the militia. He owned lumber mills and a tannery business. J. Sumner Rogers rose from a private in the 2nd Maine Infantry to Major in the 31st Maine. He served for ten years as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army. In 1877 he organized the Michigan Military Academy. James Freeman fought in the Battle of Hamp- den during the War of 1812. He was a Justice of the Peace for forty years. He held at some time all prominent town offices and was a captain in the militia.
Joseph King was an early settler. He helped clear the land of the town. For a time he was engaged in sail making. He was also a sea-faring man and was finally lost at sea.
In 1938, Orrington celebrated the 150th anniversary of its incorporation. Outstanding on the program of the centennial was a pageant which was written by a committee of citizens of the town. This pageant depicted a number of historical events in the saga of the town. Colorful costumes, typical of the times,
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added much to the effectiveness of the presentation. The lovely out-of-door setting near the Pound furnished an appropriate back- ground.
One of the outstanding events of the year in Orrington is Old Home Week. This is a week in August set aside each year for the gathering of old friends in the town. Each section of the com- munity makes itself responsible for a day during the week. The gala days are opened with a Homecoming Ball and the week closes with a Farewell Ball. Suppers, parades, ball games, fairs, field days, have all played their parts in the making of success- ful Old Home Weeks.
A town of well-kept homes, nicely landscaped grounds, and lovely gardens, beautiful old churches, and modern schools - a town that cherishes the past, but welcomes the future with its improvements. This is Orrington.
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