USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Gorham > Celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Gorham, Maine : May 26, 1886 > Part 8
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It is for this reason that we, with patient toil, investigate and enshrine in our hearts, and upon occasions like this, transmit to our children, the principles of those who have gone before us, that youth, who are now taking the bent, and forming the hab- its which they will probably retain through life, may neither taint the blood nor ignore the teachings of an ancestry whose toils have rendered possible the progress of the present, and placed them in circumstances which, while they present opportunity, at the same time compel responsibility.
Mr. Kellogg's address occupied about an hour and a quarter, and afforded great delight to the eager and attentive audience. The speaker was frequently interrupted by hearty applause, which at the close of the address was very enthusiastic, and long- continued. When it had subsided an original hymn by Prof. Henry L. Chapman, Bowdoin College, was sung by the chorus, accompanied by the band, to the air of the Russian National Hymn.
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HYMN. I.
Hallowed by memories sacred and tender, Riseth the past on our welcoming sight ; Ours are its victories, but Thine is the glory, Father of Mercies, and God of all might ! II.
Hopeful and radiant beckons the future, Stretches before us the way none can trace ; Fearless we follow, for Thou art our leader, Father of Mercies, and God of all grace !
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III.
Child of the centuries, Home of our fathers,
Theirs was the patience that wrought thine increase,
Ours be the loving and loyal devotion
Laid at thy feet, where we gather in peace.
IV.
Thou, ever merciful, God of our Fathers,
Guiding their feet through a pilgrimage sore,
Look on their children, and grant them thy goodness, Guide them, and shield them, and bless evermore.
Immediately after the singing of this hymn came several short addresses upon topics relating to the history of the town. The speakers were introduced in a happy manner by the President of the day, and the topics assigned them were duly announced by him, as follows, viz .:
"The Lawyers of Gorham;" responded to by Judge John A. Waterman.
JUDGE WATERMAN'S ADDRESS.
We are told that Ferdinand of Spain, in sending colonies to the Indies, provided that they should not take with them any law students, lest suits should get a footing in the new world, mistakenly judging, perhaps, with Plato, that "lawyers and phy- sicians are the pests of a country."
Whatever may have been the temporary effect of such precau- tions upon Spanish colonies, is it not a somewhat significant fact that Spanish authority in North America, at one time of such vast extent, has so nearly disappeared, while that of those En- glish colonists who brought with them not only their religion, but the common law of England, has become so powerful, and is still increasing and extending itself? Our Puritan ancestors, in the spirit of the compact made upon the Mayflower, almost con- temporaneously with the meeting-house and school-house, estab- lished judicial tribunals, and provided ways and means for a vig- orous administration of the law.
In Maine, even before the province had acquired that name, the people were not indifferent to their needs in this respect, and we find that as early as 1636, Gov. William Gorges set up a court
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in the western part of the State, then called the province of New Somersetshire, the first term of which was held at Saco on the 21st of March of that year, 1636.
It is refreshing to notice how soon and how summarily the strong arm of the law began to be exercised, for on the 25th of March, only four days after the court was established, four per- sons were before it, and fined each 5s, 8d for drunkenness, and not very long afterward one of the traders of that day had the wholesome discipline of the law applied to him, being indicted for charging a profit of more than five per cent on the goods he sold.
It was not, however, until the beginning of the present cen- tury, when the population of Gorham had increased from the single family that settled here in 1736, to about twenty-five hundred inhabitants, that the town had a lawyer of its own, in the person of John Park Little, a native of Littleton, Mass. He graduated at Brown University in 1794, was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1799, and opened his office in this town in 1801. He remained here until his death, in 1809. It is rather suggestive of the estimation in which lawyers were held by the Gorham people of that day, that when it was known that Mr. Little intended to settle here as a lawyer, there was very decided opposition to it - not to him personally - but to having a law- yer in the town. So strong was this sentiment that the people met in the meeting-house on a Sunday, after the regular ser- vices of the day, and almost unanimously voted against his com- ing. Whether they threatened to strike, in case he came, or to boycott him, does not appear ; but one thing was unmistakable, they didn't want him to come, and they said so in plain English. And yet that was perhaps no plainer speech than twenty years before they had uttered in regard to their " pious and learned Orthodox minister," when they voted " that Mr. Thacher should no more carry on or hold forth in the pulpit." But uninviting as was the prospect, Mr. Little came, and he proved, as we are told, "a man of great worth, faithful to the duties of his profession, highly respected for his moral and social virtues, having the full confidence of his friends and townsmen," and, - what must have seemed a dispensation of Divine Providence - " a pillar of the church " which had so bitterly opposed his coming. He built
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and occupied for a short time the large three-storied house now standing on Main Street, known as the Webb house.
Several other lawyers came here before Mr. Little's death, but none of them remained long. As nearly as I can learn they were :
1 Peter Thacher, son of Hon. Rev. (or Rev. Hon.) Josiah Thacher, who practiced here, and at Saccarappa also, for a short time, and whose affections, I suspect, were transferred to the lat- ter place, as he bequeathed to the town of Westbrook two thou- sand dollars for the support of public schools there, but did not remember Gorham in his will.
2 Samuel Whitmore, who was a native of Gorham, and a graduate of Dartmouth in 1802. He read law with Mr. Little, and opened an office here about 1806, with every prospect of suc- cess. He was chosen colonel of the regiment in this vicinity, and is described as a brilliant young officer as well as lawyer. But his career was very brief. He died August 27, 1808, at the age of twenty-eight.
3 Barrett Potter, also a graduate of Dartmouth, who came here in 1805, but the next year removed to Portland, where he spent the remainder of his honored life. He was judge of pro- bate of this county for about twenty-five years.
4 Joseph Adams, a graduate of Harvard in 1805. He first settled in Buxton, but soon removed to Gorham, and practiced law here until 1821. He was county attorney for many years, and when the convention was held in Portland in 1819, at which the constitution of Maine was adopted, he was one of the dele- gates from this town. He moved to Portland in 1821, and remained there in practice until his death in 1850. Mr. Adams was regarded as a sound, judicious lawyer, an upright man, and a valuable citizen.
5 Jacob S. Smith, a native of Durham, N. H., also a gradu- ate of Harvard. He opened an office in Gorham a short time before Mr. Little's death, and continued in active practice about thirty years. He then bought a farm near this village, upon which he lived for nearly thirty years longer. He afterward removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where the last fourteen or fifteen years of his life were spent, and where he died in 1880, at the age of ninety-four years. During the active practice of his pro- fession he was thoroughly devoted to it, and had the reputation
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of being a wise counselor, an honest lawyer, and an estimable and honored citizen.
Josiah Pierce commenced practice here when Mr. Adams left, in 1821. He was a native of Baldwin, Maine, and a gradu- ate of Bowdoin. A man of rare intellectual gifts, well educated, a great reader, endowed with a tenacious and ready memory, fond of society, possessed of charming conversational powers, and spurred by a wonderful activity, both of mind and body, he filled a prominent place in his profession and in the other walks of life. He was often honored with public office, as selectman, representative and senator in the Legislature, and as judge of Probate for more than ten years.
As orator at the centennial celebration fifty years ago today, he did much to awaken special interest in our local history, and at the request of the town he prepared with great labor and painstaking research the present history of Gorham. After an honorable and successful career of more than forty years he died in 1866, at the age of seventy-three.
Elijah Hayes came here from Limerick in 1833. He possessed a good deal of shrewdness and tact, and was quite successful as a practitioner. He had acquired a very good reputation at the bar, and had his full share of business, which was rather on the increase, when his sudden death occurred, in 1847.
The other lawyers who have practiced in this town, exclusive of those now living here, were Thomas H. Goodwin, Henry P. A. Smith, Charles Danforth, John W. Dana, and Alvah Black. They were all men of more than ordinary ability, as they proved in other localities where they afterward resided, as well as by the favorable impressions they made upon this community while liv- ing in Gorham ; but they did not find the field sufficiently attract- ive, and remained here only a comparatively short time. All are dead but one, the Hon. Charles Danforth, an honored and beloved member of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine for nearly twenty-five years. Serus in colum redeat.
While this is not the occasion for eulogy, nor defence of the legal profession, I think it worthy of notice that during the past eighty-five years this town has been remarkably free from a litig- ious spirit, that fewer suits at law originating here, and between its inhabitants, have found their way on to the court dockets, or
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have required trials, than in almost any other town of its size in the State, and further, that not a lawyer ever got rich here by the practice of his profession.
Gorham has also sent forth many sons, native and adopted, who in other localities have been distinguished members of the legal profession. There is time, however, for mention of but two or three.
One of the most prominent among them was Stephen Long- fellow, a native of this town, whose professional life was spent in Portland. His great eminence in his profession, his upright- ness and integrity in the practice of it, and his pure and blame- less personal .character were befitting one who could claim such an honorable ancestry as his, " and, departing, leave behind him" a name to acquire through his son, the poet and "man greatly beloved," additional honor and fame.
Randolph A. L. Codman was another distinguished lawyer, who went from Gorham, where he was born in 1796. He was a man of brilliant talents, a dignified and courteous gentleman, an eloquent advocate, and an accomplished and successful member of Cumberland Bar. He also resided the greater part of his pro- fessional life in Portland, where he died in 1853.
There is one other to whom I must allude, whose name, I doubt not, is already in the minds of many who hear me; one whose boyhood and youth were spent in Gorham, and who com- menced his legal studies here; whose attachment to the town, and to his Gorham friends, was strong and life-long; who, after years of absence, and when his reputation as a lawyer was already established, and he was almost the idol of his adopted State, still longed for old Gorham, and said he remembered it so distinctly that he could tell any alteration that had taken place in the village, even to the nailing on of a shingle- and declared that he could go on the darkest night along the banks of the Great Brook, -his favorite fishing haunt, - and getting down on his hands and knees by the old familiar holes, could find the iden- tical hooks he had lost when fishing there twenty years before. I speak his name, not because the people of Gorham do not know to whom I refer, but because I know that they always love to hear it spoken, and are always glad to honor the name of SEAR- GENT S. PRENTISS. I need not dwell upon his eminence and suc-
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cess in his chosen profession, - as a lawyer winning verdicts from juries who sometimes reported to the court that they had found in favor of Lawyer Prentiss, or astonishing and profoundly impressing the court by the gravity and importance of his legal points, and the clear and cogent reasoning with which he argued them in his law cases, - his patriotism, the broad nationality of his views as a statesman, and his fearless and chivalrous advo- cacy of them, nor upon his fame as an orator, whose strong, rich, and wonderfully modulated voice, now high, clear, and inspirit- ing, rang out like a clarion over the vast assembly he was addressing, rousing and electrifying, and straining to the high- est tension the minds of his hearers, or in tones as melodious as the notes " of flutes and soft recorders," calming and soothing their excited spirits, hushed them to silence and melted them to tears.
Is it strange that Gorham dwells with pride and delight upon the name and fame of such a son ?
Allow me in closing to propose The Memory of Seargent S. Prentiss : the able and eminent lawyer - "the eloquent orator," the fearless patriot : claimed as their son by both North and South, and worthy of their united admiration and honor.
"The Schools of 'Auld Lang Syne,'" responded to by Geo. B. Emery, Esq.
MR. EMERY'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :
The people of Gorham have long been noted for their culture and noble maintenance of schools of learning. For a period of twenty-eight years after the first settlement, there was, however, no public school. Those who had the means sent their children to other places, while others received private instruction at home. At the first town meeting, after the town was incorporated in 1764, it was voted to raise for the purpose of a school forty pounds - one hundred thirty-three dollars -no mean sum for that time. At the same meeting the town voted to " improve " Mr. John Greene as a schoolmaster.
For about forty years after the town was incorporated, there was but one school district - that was the whole town, and its affairs were managed in town-meeting- the selectmen employed
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the teachers. Early in the present century the management of schools was taken from the town, and the present school district system established. One of the original school-houses, it is believed, is used for that purpose to this day - the one in the Whitney district, about two miles northwest of Fort Hill. The meeting-house of the town was built in 1764, and stood on the parish lot, just north of where Mr. Simon E. Mclellan now lives. It was used as a place of worship till 1798, when the present Congregational church was built. The town then voted to give the old house "to the Corner School Class." This house was a wooden, one-story building, with flat roof, a huge fireplace in one end, and the seats and desks rising as they ran back to the wall, with an aisle in the middle.
This was the first building used exclusively for school purposes in this district, and in it many a veteran schoolmaster held des- potic sway-the longest incumbent being Nathaniel Phinney. Master Phinney, as he was familiarly called, was a descendant of Capt. John Phinney, the first settler of the town. He lived on the place, till recently known as the Woodbury place. Mr. Phinney was not only a schoolmaster, but a farmer, a teacher of music, a magistrate, and held at various times almost every office within the gift of his fellow-townsmen. I have heard my father say he could well remember his tall, upright bearing, as he stood in the singing seats of the old church, leading the choir, beating the time with one hand, while in the other he held the tything- man's rod, a staff some six feet long, painted black, with one end white, a warning to all unruly urchins. In those days noisy gath- erings of men and boys at the corner of the streets on the Sab- bath, loaded teams from the country, and driving parties from the neighboring city, could hardly escape the watchful attention of Master Phinney. The schools in those days were very unlike the present. The studies were elementary, confined to reading, spelling, writing, and "cyphering," knitting stockings, and sew- ing patchwork. Within the recollection of some now among us, in a country school kept by a young woman, a lady sent one of the small editions of Murray's Grammar by her daughter, with the request that she might be taught grammar. The " school- marm " considered herself insulted, and made an appeal to the people of the district, who took her part, and insisted that they
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would have "no aristocracy taught in their school." To quell the small rebellion, the good woman was obliged to withdraw her daughter, and the obnoxious book also. The brick school- house on South Street was built in 1826. The first teacher in this house was Mr. William Ashley; the second, my father. Pos- sibly some within the sound of my voice can tell better than I about that school. Certainly I have heard it remarked, What a " floggin'" your father once gave me in that school-house.
In 1802, a petition headed by Judge Stephen Longfellow, pray- ing for an Academy to be located at Gorham, was presented to the legislature of Massachusetts. Colonel Lothrop Lewis, at that time Representative from Gorham, was an able man, and his efforts were successful. The charter provided for fifteen trus- tees, and their first meeting was held June 1, 1803, and for three- quarters of a century the old Academy did splendid service, which was felt throughout New England. The Trustees of the Academy have been wise, able men from the beginning, usually the practical business and professional men of the town, and sometimes neighboring towns. Of the original board, Father Bradley died in 1861. I recall the trustees of my school days, a body of white-haired, venerable men. I see them now as they come into the hall on examination days, and take their seats upon the stage, men of character and marked individuality, every one. There is Father Bradley, four-score and more, heavy in feature and figure, but full of shrewd philosophy, who could scarce open his mouth to speak without perpetrating a joke. General Irish, with military step and commanding air, and opinions very posi- tive. Captain Robie, smaller in stature, but keen, swift, alert, with finest business sagacity. Doctor Waterman, slight and bent in figure, moderate and dry in manner, his whole being tremu- lous with the flash of his wit.
The eloquent, brilliant Judge Pierce ; Dr. John R. Adams, the beloved pastor, who, his successors say, must have been the great minister of the town; the quiet, but efficient Emery; the conservative, methodical Jameson; the scholarly Chas. A. Lord ; the genial Rev. John W. Chickering, D.D., complete the list, all of whom but the last named are now dead. Later the honest, whole-souled Stephen Hinkley, and Rev. William Warren, D.D., of honored memory, were added to the board.
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The first principal of the Academy was the accomplished Reu- ben Nason, and among the earlier assistants were Professors Smyth and Packard, later of Bowdoin College. Mr. Nason was a small-sized, dark-complexioned, quick-tempered, nervous, eccen- tric man, superior in the classics, a great lover of good scholars, and a strict disciplinarian. Under his care the school prospered. He occupied on the southerly side of the great chimney in the old schoolroom a circular desk, and his assistant a similar desk on the opposite side of the chimney. Many a story is yet told of his goodness and severity. In 1835 Rev. Amos Brown was chosen principal. The first catalogue gives his assistants as Rev. Thomas Tenney, Mr. George L. Prentiss, Miss Margaret Woods, Miss Hannah Lyman. Doctor Prentiss is said to have been a St. John from his infancy. John A. Andrew, the great war governor of Massachusetts, an angel in everything but figure. At this time, through the efforts of Rev. Thaddeus Pomeroy, then pastor of. the Congregational church, money was raised, and the seminary built, and in 1840 the school had increased to three hundred stu- dents. Mr. Brown was a man of presence and positive qualities, that might have commanded an army.
In 1847 Mr. Edward P. Weston succeeded to the head of the school, under whose administration the Maine Female Seminary was established, the boys falling to the charge of D. J. Poor, under the corporate title of Gorham Male Academy. Mr. Wes- ton was a man of fine address, of exceeding versatility, less the schoolmaster than Mr. Brown, more the magnetic than the dynamic, of amazing readiness of resource, excellent judgment of men and measures, in fine, one of the most accomplished men Maine ever produced. Of the pupils of the Academy, now eighty years old, there is a host now living and scattered every- where.
And what shall I say more, for the time would fail me to tell of old Masters Morrisy and Bangs, of Edmund Mann, Charles Hunt, and Mrs. McDougal, of Capt. Saul C. Higgins, Mrs. Pea- body, and Mrs. Martha Hight Holmes, now living, and a great cloud of teachers who have obtained a good report, yet were not made perfect without great trials with some of us.
Thus the Fathers laid the foundations for national strength and greatness. That they built wisely, let the result of the great rebellion tell.
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The same institutions, endowed and maintained, according to the increase of wealth and demand, can alone be the pledge of the nation's future security and glory.
The National Hymn, "To Thee, O Country,"-music by Eich- berg - was then sung by the chorus. The words of the hymn are as follows :-
To thee, O country, great and free, With trusting hearts we cling ; Our voices tuned by joyous love, Thy power and praises sing. Upon thy mighty, faithful heart, We lay our burdens down ;
Thou art the only friend who feels Their weight without a frown.
For thee we daily work and strive, To thee we give our love ; For thee with fervor deep we pray To Him who dwells above.
O God, preserve our fatherland, Let peace its ruler be,
And let her happy kingdom stretch From north to southmost sea.
" The business men of Gorham " was responded to by the ven- erable Edward Gould, Esq., of Portland.
EDWARD GOULD'S ADDRESS.
I certainly feel much honored and gratified to be present on this anniversary.
A native of this town, and living here my first eighteen years, I have naturally a vivid recollection of those, my early days. I can look back to the year 1808, and see the stately form of John Park Little walking from his splendid new house to his law office ; and I retain the recollection of other events of that pe- riod, such as the ordination dinner, at my father's house, of Rev. Asa Rand, in January, 1809.
I witnessed the removal of Preceptor Nason's effects when he left for Freeport in 1810.
I have been requested to speak of the men and business of those days, included in the twelve years from 1811 to 1823.
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The principal storekeepers were Capt. David Harding, the Robies, Capt. Eben Hatch and Alexander McLellan. The latter had been a successful blacksmith till about 1812, when he opened a store on the hill. These all acquired good reputations for en- terprise and success.
The business was mostly by barter, or exchange of goods for lumber and country produce, which was in time reconverted into new supplies for their stores.
With the exception of Capt. Hatch, these merchants were largely engaged at times in the packing of beef for West India markets, and in farming occupations. They also had cooper shops, employing many men and grown up boys. The cooperage business was prominent in this village. About ten shops within half a mile were sending out their enlivening clatter.
The stores secured much of the trade on the line of the road, through the notch of the White Hills to Vermont. The long trains of loaded sleighs, which came in the winter over the Fort Hill road, were imposing spectacles. Of course, nearly all were bound for the larger market of Portland, but many stopped here over night at the taverns. At times when the sleighing to Port- land was poor, much of their trade was here, especially in heavy goods. The village was alive with active mechanics, each trade represented by two or more, thus securing competition. There were chaise and wagon makers, saddlers, blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, hatters, tailors, and extensive furniture shops. Sam- uel Edwards, at first a maker of wooden clocks, and possessing much ingenuity, ventured on brass time-pieces, repairing watches, and the casting of sleigh-bells, and other articles of brass, cop- per, and iron.
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