USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Chronicles of Lincoln County > Part 7
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$440,974; 1890-Polls, 359; Estates, $445,750; 1900-Polls, 293; Estates, $453,704; 1910-Polls, 268; Estates, $442,431. 1920-Population, 862; Polls, 253; Estates, $481,438. R. F. D. No. 9 from Gardiner to Joice, also R. F. D. from North Whitefield.
W HITEFIELD is situated in the northwestern part of Lincoln County and is bounded on the north by Windsor, east by Jefferson, south by Alna, west by Pittston, Chelsea and Augusta. Valuation 1924, $484,611.00. Rate of taxation, 33 1-3 mills.
Whitefield was formerly a part of Balltown. Jefferson was set off from Balltown and incorporated as a town in 1807. The rest of Balltown retained the name till 1809, when it was incorporated as a town and the name changed to Whitefield. We cannot fix the date of the arrival of the first settlers in what is now Whitefield, but it was during the decade 1760 to 1770. One of the earliest settlers was Samuel Ball and he lived on the road leading from Weary Pond to the Albert Fowles place. John Ball enlisted in the Revolutionary Army from Balltown, but there was no one of the name living there at the time of the census of 1790. The northwest part of the town was called Hunt's Meadow Town and was listed separately in the census of 1790 but later became a part of Balltown. It was probably named for Silas Hunt, who lived there in 1790.
The first settlers evidently followed up the river, attracted by the water power and the extensive forests, for very early in the history of the plantation mills were built by John Woodman, Joshua Little, Abram Choate, Benjamin King, Thomas Turner, Young, Fales, Doctor Samuel Heath, Ebenezer Stearns, Cooper and others.
The oldest records of Balltown to be found begin with the year 1791 and the plantation meeting that year was held at the dwelling house of Joseph Carr (located a little below Trask meeting house). The officers elected were:
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
David Hopkins, Moderator.
Samuel Waters, Plantation Clerk.
Samuel Waters, Abram Choate and John Johnson, Assessors. Thomas Trask, Jun., and John Woodman, Jun., Collectors. Benjamin King, Treasurer.
The first town meeting of the town of Whitefield was held at the dwelling house of Abram Choate and the officers elected were:
David Young, Jr., Moderator.
Abram Choate, Clerk.
David Crowell, Abram Choate, Eliakim Scammon, Selectmen.
David Crowell, Treasurer.
John Decker, Jun., Collector.
David Crowell, Abram Choate, James Gray, Levi B. Erskine and Aaron Potter, School Com.
In 1811 the town instructed the Clerk, Abram Choate, to take a census of those who were inhabitants of the town, when it was incorporated, which he did and recorded the names of the inhabitants by families in the town records. This record has been very valuable to persons tracing their ancestry.
Several attempts have been made by the organization of power companies to develop and utilize the power on the Sheepscot, but have not yet materialized.
Limerock is abundant in some sections and the lime used in many of the old buildings in town was burned here.
The W. W. & F. Ry. passes through the town from north to south and furnishes shipping facilities for the inhabitants. It also transports the mail and maintains express offices.
The principal occupation of the people of Whitefield is farming, and dairying and stock raising are the most important branches.
The first church in town was organized Jan. 3, 1789, by Job Macumber and meetings were held in private houses until the first church was built in 1806 where the Fowles school house now stands. The Rev. Joseph Bailey was pastor from 1796 to 1830. He was Representative to the General Court of Massachusetts for four years at a time when he rode on horse- back to attend the sessions.
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
There are three Protestant churches in town, at Whitefield, North Whitefield and Cooper's Mills, and a chapel at White- field Plains.
About 1805 some Catholic families settled in Whitefield and neighboring towns and a little later built a church in Whitefield where the Catholic church now stands. As the communicants increased the need of a larger church was felt and in 1830 the present church was begun by Father Ryan and completed and dedicated in 1833.
DIRECTORY
GENERAL STORES-E. H. Albee and John L. Libby at White- field; F. E. Douglass, John P. Clark and E. M. Hilton at North Whitefield; J. Russ Abbott, A. J. Avery, W. S. Bowden and F. E. Littlefield at Cooper's Mills.
BLACKSMITHS-Allen Bates, North Whitefield; F. F. Coombs and M. E. Hewitt, Cooper's Mills; R. J. Trainor, Joice. DEALERS IN LUMBER-F. C. Jewett, Whitefield; Chester
Boynton, North Whitefield; Weeks Bros., Cooper's Mills. PORTABLE SAW MILLS-Leeman Potter and Harry L. Chase. UNDERTAKER-F. E. Ware.
PAINTER-A. L. Wellman, North Whitefield.
POSTMASTERS-J. L. Libby, Whitefield; F. E. Douglass, North Whitefield; H. T. Weeks, Cooper's Mills.
PHYSICIAN-J. E. Odiorne, M. D., Cooper's Mills.
TOWN OFFICERS-Clerk, R. B. Douglass; Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of the Poor, Lore H. Ford, James A. Malloy and Leonard F. Cooper; Treasurer and Collector, W. E. Cunningham; Auditor, J. H. Kealy; Constable, F. C. Jewett; S. S. Com., John B. Skehan, A. P. Moody, Mrs. Bertha Chaney; Supt. of Schools, Mrs. Lila N. Leavitt; Road Commissioners, B. D. Jewett, Reuben Blackman and John P. Clark; Health Officer, J. E. Odiorne, M. D.
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
WISCASSET
INDIAN NAME WISSACASSET, THE MEETING OF THREE RIVERS
Shire town. On Knox & Lincoln Div. M. C. R. R. and terminus of Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington R. R. Ten miles from Bath. Formerly, together with Dresden, Alna and Swan Island, the ancient Pownalborough; the settlement of which was first commenced in 1663. Dresden and Alna were set off June 25, 1794. The name of Pownalborough was retained until June 10, 1802, when it was changed to Wiscasset. Population-1850, 2332; 1860, 2318; 1870, 1977; 1880, 1847; 1890, 1733; 1900, 1273; 1910, 1287. Valuation, 1860-Polls, 562; Estates, $806,749; 1870-Polls, 466; Estates, $689,554; 1880-Polls, 514; Estates, $319,773; 1890-Polls, 461; Estates, '$639,324; 1900-Polls, 438; Es- tates, $498,125; 1910-Polls, 375; Estates, $506,731. 1920-Population, 1192; Polls, 377; Estates, $833,966. R. F. D. 1 to Alna, R. F. D. 2 to Woolwich, R. F. D. 3 to Woolwich, R. F. D. 4 to Westport.
T RADITION says that Champlain on an exploring expe- dition from Port Royal in 1605, sailed up the Sheepscot River and held a friendly conference with Chief Man- thoumermer and about thirty of his braves at an Indian village near where the village of Wiscasset now stands. In 1607 this section was again visited by a white man, George Popham, and in 1649 Wiscasset Point was purchased from the Indians by Christopher Lamson. Two English sailors, George Davie and his brother, decided to settle here in 1660, but the settlement was abandoned at the time of King Philip's War.
About 1729 Robert Hooper and his family came and made a home in the wilderness. He was joined in 1734 by Michael Seavey and several others who settled on Seavey Hill; the same year, Robert Groves, Robert Foye and Sheribiah Lambert came from Rye Beach, N. H., and shortly afterwards came Col. Kingsbury, Messrs. Bradbury, Rundlett, Holbrook, Taylor and Chapman, until in 1740 there were thirty families in the Plan- tation. On Garrison or Fort Hill, where the Methodist church now stands, a fort was built where the people sought shelter when they were attacked by the Indians in 1734; faint traces of another fort built in 1743 may still be found on Seavey's Hill.
In 1760 the territory comprising what is now Wiscasset, Alna, Dresden and Perkins, was incorporated as Pownalborough, the sixteenth town in Maine, and made the county seat of the new County of Lincoln set off from York County in that year by
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
act of the General Court of Massachusetts. Alna and Dresden (including Perkins) became separate towns in 1794, and Pow- nalborough, the shire town, was in 1802 renamed Wiscasset.
Soon after the Revolutionary War a great trade was built up with foreign countries and Wiscasset ships were in every port, but the embargo proved a great blow to the town's commerce and the War of 1812 completed the catastrophe. However, between 1776 and 1812 large fortunes were made, beautiful homes were built and the town was noted as a social as well as a business center.
Among the interesting things which took place after the town of Pownalborough was incorporated was the building of a "meeting house" in 1765 where the Congregational church now stands. In 1800 a tower was added and a bell cast by Paul Revere was hung in the belfry. This bell, recast, is still used in the present Congregational church, the third church edifice on this site.
After Machias had been captured by the English in 1777, the British frigate "Rainbow" anchored off Wiscasset and threat- ened to destroy the place if they were not supplied with pro- visions; as the people had no means of defense they were com- pelled to do this.
The post office was established in February, 1790. At this time it was the only one within many miles and people from as far away as the Penobscot River received their mail through this office.
The organization of the Lincoln Lodge, June, 1792, was the first Masonic lodge to be organized in Maine. In 1801 the Wiscasset Fire Society was formed; each member was obliged to keep in his hall two leather buckets, two bags and a bed wrench, in order to sally forth well equipped at the first call of the Revere bell which did duty as a fire alarm as well as a call to public worship. Not to be outdone by their men folks in helping their townspeople, some of the aristocratic ladies formed a society for the purpose of assisting "respectable indigent females" which was called "The Female Charitable Society." This society, which is still flourishing, is the oldest women's society in the United States. The first "Presidentess," Madam
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
Sally Saywood Wood, also has the honor of being the first writer of fiction in Maine.
Wiscasset Academy was built in 1807. In 1811 a stone jail was erected on a high hill on Federal street; this was the first substantial building in Maine to be used for the retention of criminals and was used as a prison until the State Prison at Thomaston was built. A circular building of brick was built just out of the village in 1813 for the purpose of storing powder to be used by the soldiers at the fort on Davis Island.
The present Court House at the head of Main street was erected in 1824 and is patterned somewhat after many of the old English buildings used for the same purpose. The court rooms remain practically as they were when Benjamin Butler and other notable men pleaded for justice within the walls. Among the curious documents to be found in the vaults of the offices is one claimed to be the oldest recorded deed in the coun- try, dated July 2, 1625, and signed by Samoset-the same Samo- set who welcomed the Pilgrims when they landed at Plymouth. While holding court in Wiscasset, Chief Justice Sewall died
BLOCKHOUSE, WISCASSET
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
suddenly and was buried in the old cemetery near the Inn. Later the body was removed to the family tomb at Marblehead, Massa- chusetts, but the granite block placed above his resting place by the members of the bar may still be seen here near the stones of others of note who have helped to make Wiscasset history, among them Hon. Manassah Smith, who was the father of Samuel E. Smith, Governor of Maine 1831-1834. Ezekiel Averill, one of Washington's body guard, is also buried near.
In 1824, fifty-nine years after the First Parish Congrega- tional church was erected, a Baptist meeting house was built; this society was disorganized later and the property sold to St. Philip's Episcopal Parish, organized Aug. 22, 1856, and is still owned and occupied by it. In 1827 the Methodist church on Fort Hill was built. In 1921 an undenominational religious society was formed called the "Mission of the Open Door," and in 1922 a tabernacle was erected where well known evan- gelists and musicians take part in the services through the sum- mer months.
The longest foot bridge in Maine connects Wiscasset with Davis Island; this was opened to the public in November, 1847; over it the stage coaches passed on their trips between Bath and Rockland until the Knox and Lincoln branch of the Maine Central R. R. was opened in 1871. The Custom House, the first floor of which is used as a post office, was built in 1868; it commands a fine view of the harbor and is within a stone's throw of the wharf where the little steamer "Winter Harbor" takes or lands it freight the year around for Boothbay and the islands.
The stately elms that looked down on the pride and glory of the Wiscasset of the past now see a quiet little village of exceed- ing beauty whose inhabitants are justly proud of their historic old town and many of its sons and daughters who have won more than local fame in the business and professional world. Recently Wiscasset has again been "placed upon the map" as the home port of the staunch little schooner "Bowdoin," whose captain, Dr. Donald MacMillan, the famous Arctic explorer, and his companions, have done so much for science. Dr. Mac- Millan has lately returned from his eighth trip into the Far
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
North and has still further honored the old town by giving the name of Wiscasset Cove to the inlet north of Refuge Harbor, Greenland, where he and his party spent the winter of 1924. Another name well known in Wiscasset since its early days will also be found on the new maps of Greenland. The harbor south of Refuge Harbor has been named Sewall Harbor for the family of Charles Sewall who was a former classmate of Dr. MacMillan's at Bowdoin College.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF WISCASSET
POSTMASTER-Parker B. Stinson.
TOWN CLERK-Sol Holbrook.
SELECTMEN-Benjamin F. Blagdon, Leonard B. Marson, John E. McKenney.
TREASURER-Herbert W. Hawes.
TAX COLLECTOR-Carl M. P. Larrabee.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE-Sol Holbrook, Frances S. Sortwell, Brad- ford C. Redonnett.
CONSTABLE-Chancellor C. Blagdon.
CLERGYMEN-Rev. Henry W. Webb, Congregational.
CHURCHES-Congregational, Rev. Henry W. Webb, minister; Episcopal, Henry v. B. Nash, reader; Methodist, vacant; Mission of the Open Door, Lawrence Greenwood, minister. PHYSICIANS-Dr. B. A. Bailey, DeForest S. Day.
DENTISTS-William E. Gorham, Frederick J. McTeer.
LAWYERS-Charles E. Knight, Carl M. P. Larrabee, Harvey R. Pease.
NOTARIES-William D. Patterson, Carl M. P. Larrabee, Harvey R. Pease.
JUSTICES-Bradford C. Redonnett, Grace M. York.
MERCHANTS
DRUGS, ETC .-- Eugene H. Pushor, Roy R. Marston.
BOOTS AND SHOES-Hattie L. Lincoln, Minnie Lewis, Edwin S. Pooler, Laura H. Carlton, Charles E. Cowley.
HARDWARE-Haggett Brothers (F. Burton Haggett, manager), A. H. Dodge.
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
BARBERS-Nute Rines, Henry C. Rines, Benjamin H. Cross- man, Fred R. Merry.
CLOTHING-John H. Southard.
DRY GOODS-Sidney Evans, Boston Store (Minnie Y. Bemis, manager), Laura H. Carlton, Bath Department (Eliza- beth Blagdon, manager).
BAKERIES-Wiscasset Baking Co. (Cecil A. Moore, manager), Thomas A. Dow.
BILLIARDS AND POOL-Millard Lewis, George W. Pooler.
FISH MARKET-Thomas D. Reed.
GROCERIES-Charles E. Knight, Howard H. Trussell, F. S. Perkins, E. P. Munsey & Son, Percy R. Colby, Clarence I. Dickinson, Cloverdale (A. W. Keirstead, manager), Melvin Dickinson.
CONFECTIONERY, ETC .- F. M. Chase.
GIFT SHOP-Gertrude Layng.
PICTURES AND VIEWS-Labbie's Studio.
RESTAURANTS-Webber's Tavern; Napoleon Leblair, W. E. Albee.
GARAGE AND AUTO SUPPLIES-Haggett's Garage Co. (L. B. Haggett, manager), E. P. Parker, Frank E. Quinnam, James M. Knight.
PLUMBERS, ETC .- Adams Bros., Haggett Brothers.
PRINTING-Wiscasset Job Print, C. E. Emerson, Prop.
WATCHES AND JEWELRY-Sol Holbrook.
UNDERTAKER-Charles E. Cowley.
INSURANCE-Rickard H. T. Taylor, William D. Patterson, B. C. Redonnett, H. W. Hawes, Carl M. P. Larrabee. BOOT AND SHOE REPAIRING-Charles E. Cowley, Edwin S. Pooler.
MANUFACTURING, ETC .- F. F. Pendleton, boat builder; H. S. Sherman, contractor and builder; Oscar Main, Wilmot W. Dodge, contractors and masons; Rines Bros., blacksmiths; Ross B. Nichols and A. B. Nichols, machine shop; Turner Center System, butter, milk and cream; Wiscasset Grain Co., A. W. Bilband, manager, grain, feed and flour; Wis- casset, Waterville & Farmington Railroad Co., S. J. Sewall, manager; Ellsworth W. Holbrook, ice; Will K. Clisby,
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CHRONICLES OF LINCOLN COUNTY
sales stable; Charles I. Barnes, lumber; A. H. Lennox, lumber, doors and windows; George Blagdon, William B. Lewis, Fred A. Bean, trucking and transfers; Freeman D. Southard, coal and wood; H. E. Bailey, Gertrude Layng, antiques.
PUBLIC CARS-S. M. Harvey, Ralph Harvey, Charles H. Chisam.
PAINTERS-C. C. Blagdon, Everett Hopkins, Wilson H. Mun- sey, James E. White, John F. Wright.
LODGES-Lincoln Lodge, No. 3, F. & A. M .; New Jerusalem R. C. Chapter; Garrison Hill Chapter, O. E. S .; Arambec Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Pine Cone Lodge, Rebekahs; Star Lodge, K. of P .; Chewonki Tribe, I. O. R. M .; Wiscasset Council, No. 45, Degree of Pocahontas; Huntoon Hill Grange; Lowell Town Grange.
AMERICAN EXPRESS-E. P. Munsey, Agent.
TELEPHONE EXCHANGE-Mrs. Marguerite D. Hall, Manager. WESTERN UNION TEL. Co .- George Swain, operator.
HOTELS-Wiscasset Inn, W. T. Loud, manager; Castle Tucker (lodging), Jane A. Tucker, manager; Colonial House (lodging), Annie G. Macurda, Prop.
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS-Wiscasset Academy, Charles S. Sewall, Principal; Miss Helen Dickinson, First Assistant. Grammar, First, Miss Jessie Jackson, teacher; Second, Miss Zina Davis, teacher. Intermediate, Ethel V. Redonnett, teacher; Primary, Sophia West, teacher; Rural, Miss Lil- lian Smith, Miss Lydia White, Miss Edna Bradford.
BANK-Augusta Trust Company, (Wiscasset Branch ). WISCASSET PUBLIC LIBRARY-Mrs. Henry W. Webb, librarian. PUBLIC HALL-Chewonki Tribe Red Men, Chester Pendleton, Agent.
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114
THE MAINE INDIANS
THE MAINE INDIANS RED PAINT PEOPLE
The story of the early peoples has not been written. The early voyageurs found various divisions of Algonquin Indian tribes on the coast. More than five hundred shell-heaps have been located and a great number of camp sites. However, it is clear that these tribes were not the first Indians of Maine. Dr. Augustus C. Hamlin nearly thirty years ago discovered imple- ments imbedded in red ochre and was led to think he had found evidence of an earlier tribe of Indians. Between 1890 and 1892 Mr. Willoughby of the Peabody Museum excavated three sites of the so-called Red Paint culture, one near Bucksport, one on Lake Alamoosook, and a third at Ellsworth. Since Mr. Willoughby's work many other cemeteries have been investi- gated, nine of them under the direction of Warren K. Moore- head of Andover Museum. The conclusions reached by the investigators is that throughout the state there extends a pre- historic Algonquin culture, older and apparently different from the Algonquin group. The State of Maine has appointed a commission to act with the Andover Museum under the direc- tion of Mr. Moorehead to make a thorough investigation of the Red Paint culture. It is possible that further investigation will furnish facts upon which to base more definite opinions as to the origin of these people. The remainder of this article was written by Fannie H. Eckstorm, who is an authority on Maine Indians.
ORIGINAL TRIBES
"Originally the Maine Indians were of three natural groups speaking somewhat different dialects. In southwestern Maine and New Hampshire were the Saco Indians, called also Sokokis and Sokwakiaks by the French and Indians respectively. On the three central rivers of Maine were the true Abenakis, whose name for themselves is not known. In southeastern Maine were the seafaring Indians, who called themselves Etechemins. The so-called 'tribes' into which these have been subdivided were more properly 'bands' under different chiefs and merit no special distinctions, being correctly enough designated by the locality they most frequented.
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THE MAINE INDIANS
ABENAKIS
"The Maine Indians were Abenakis, belonging to the great Algonquin stock. At the beginning of the seventeenth century they were numerous and powerful and federated under a single chief, the great Bashabes. They occupied all the most desirable locations along the coast and up the lower sections of all the Maine rivers. The interior of the state was their hunting ground.
CAUSE OF DISAPPEARANCE
"Disease, revolutions, wars with the Micmacs and the Mo- hawks, the encroachments of the English settlers and their alle- giance to the French, diminished their numbers, disintegrated their tribes and drove most of them eastward or to Canada. Before the Revolution, Maine was cleared of all recognizable tribes except the Penobscots and the Passamaquoddies.
INDIAN WARS
"Dummer's war from 1722 to 1725 marked the climax in Indian warfare in Maine. Before this, aggressors upon de- fenceless and weak hamlets, now the Indians themselves were hunted. The old town at Old Town and the new town at Eddington Bend were burned, Norridgewock was taken by sur- prisé with great slaughter and its priest, Father Rale, was killed. A little band of English soldiers, in Lovewell's fight at Frye- burg, May, 1725, surrounded and outnumbered, with everything against them, held out in an all-day fight and not only held the ground against a large fighting band, but practically broke it up. After this Indian warfare in Maine was sporadic and after the French were defeated at Quebec, it ceased altogether. When the French joined the colonists in the Revolution, the Maine Indians became entirely friendly and never since have they dis- turbed the peace of their white neighbors.
INDIANS OF TODAY
"Of the original tribes the Saco Indians have been extinct fully a century and a half and their language is dead. The Abenakis proper are now represented only by the Penobscot In- dians of Old Town and the islands above it, who speak a mod-
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THE MAINE INDIANS
ernized form of their ancient tongue. The Passamaquoddies of Point Pleasant (near Eastport) and Princeton, who, with the St. John River Indians, speak the Maliseet dialect, are the descendants of the ancient Etechemins. Together the Maine Indians number about one thousand, living in two principal towns, after the manner of the whites. They have their own churches, schools, convents for the resident Sisters of Mercy, who teach and care for them, the ministrations of priests and their own local government. Though not citizens they are loyal and law-abiding residents of the state and many of them are now serving in the army and navy, as their predecessors served in the Revolution and in the Civil War."
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