USA > Maine > Aroostook County > History of Aroostook. vol. I > Part 18
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The Fort Kent Training School, when first established by the State, held alternate terms at Van Buren and Fort Kent, and each town furnished the building for its temporary accom- modation. A few years ago the school was permanently located at Fort Kent and a building was erected by the State. The school building is very pleasantly located and the grounds are spacious and well kept. The school was instituted for the purpose of training the native teachers and also to afford the means of a practical education to all the youth of this region who were dis- posed to avail themselves of its advantages. The school has from its foundation been under the instruction of Vital Cyr, B. A., a graduate of Orono College, as principal, and for most of the time Miss Mary Nowland of Ashland, has been assistant instructor. Mr. Cyr is peculiarly adapted to his position, being
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a native of Fort Kent, of French parentage and thoroughly ac- quainted with the language and institutions of his people. Un- der his management the school has been a marked success and has greatly benefited the youth of this vicinity. Much of the success of the school is also due to the efficient work of Miss Nowland, the accomplished assistant teacher, who possesses superior qualifications as a teacher and is wholly devoted to the good of her pupils. In company with Major Dickey, to whose efforts the school is largely indebted, we recently spent a half day in this school and were much pleased with the methods of instruction and the advancement made by the pupils. We were pleased to see that the stars and stripes float over the building and that the pupils are taught that they are American citizens.
The town of Fort Kent includes the most of the two town- ships of 18, Range 6 and 18, Range 7, and has the St. John River for its entire northern boundary. There is much good farming land in the town and this is being cleared and brought under cultivation. With the exception of the village almost the entire population of the town are of French descent, and of the Roman Catholic faith. Much interest in education is now being taken by the French citizens and a marked improvement is noticed. The population of the town in 1890 was 1826.
UPPER ST. JOHN RIVER COUNTRY
In the northern part of Aroostook County is a large French population, a part of whom are descendants of the old Acadian refugees and a large portion emigrants from Canade and their descendants. These people, though American citizens and con- stituting a portion of the permanent population of the State, are, nevertheless, in many respects a distinct and separate commun- ity and will remain so to a great degree for many years to come.
The Scandinavian colonists of Aroostook have been in the County twenty years, and a stranger now riding through New Sweden will see very little to remind him that the town was settled by a foreign colony and another generation will find this people wholly Americanized and merged into the general, hom- ogeneous mass of the population of this section. This is account- ed for from the fact that the Swedes are of kindred blood with us and, in common with us, are members of the old Anglo Saxon stock.
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With the French it is entirely different. They are not only of another nationality and with language, manners, customs and traditions different from ours, but they are of a different race also. They are of the Latin race which is not readily grafted upon Anglo-Saxon stock and hence they are not readily merged into the general mass of the population of this region. There are of course instances more or less frequent of intermarriage between the French and native Americans and in some cases the distinctive characteristics seem in a great measure to dis- appear in the next generation, but as a rule the lines of race are as distinctly marked amid the general population of the County as are the lines of the Gulf Stream in the midst of the waters of the Atlantic.
For many years the French have been inhabitants of Can- ada, but they are still a separate people and the Anglo-Saxons have not as yet been able to absorb them into a common nation- ality. The manners, customs, traditions, dress and language of the people along the St. Lawrence are still largely those of France, rather than of England or America, and such they will continue for many years. So when we reach the banks of the beautiful St. John in the northern part of Aroostook County, we can in many places readily imagine ourselves in a foreign coun- try. It is true a considerable change has taken place in the last ten years even, in regard to the conveyances, the agricultural implements and the methods of farming among this people and many American ideas and customs have been accepted. Schools in which the English language is taught and the literature of our country introduced to a certain extent are having their influence, and some idea of the fact that they are a part of the State of Maine and of the United States is beginning to make itself manifest especially among the younger portion of the popula- tion. Notwithstanding this, the old traditions remain and the institutions and religious ceremonies of Catholic France still exert a controlling influence among this people. With them the New England Thanksgiving day is almost unknown, and Christ- mas is not the "Merry Christmas" that we enjoy. Their holi- days are distinct from ours to a great extent. New Year's day is particularly a day of feasting and merriment, while "Mardi gras" is the chief holiday of the year. Others there are but they are those handed down in the traditions of the Catholic Church and of foreign lands and have little to do with our distinctive American institutions. Fourth of July is little of thought of among this people and it will be long before Concord and Bun-
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ker Hill, or even Gettysburg and Appomattox will have much significance in the minds of our French fellow citizens. These remarks are made in no disparaging sense, nor with the least in- tention of unkind or adverse criticism upon this interesting and kindhearted peaple. They are simply introduced to note the difference between separate national characteristics and the dif- ficulty of ready amalgamation between the Latin and Anglo- Saxon races.
The people of Madawaska, as this whole upper country set- tled by the French is called ,are a simple minded, light hearted, pleasure-loving class, of kindly and most hospitable manners and peaceable and law-abiding in their general deportment. Their tastes are simple and their wants comparatively few and appar- ently easy to be supplied. They are a peculiarly social people and love to assemble in large numbers for the enjoyment of their innocent pastimes, or for the celebration of their religious fetes. Music and dancing have great charms for them and they are naturally pleased with gay colors both in dress and in the pictures with which they love to adorn their houses. Their diet is simple and they are in no way given to extravagance in the matter of food and drink. Though apparently caring only for the needs and pleasures of the passing hour, yet many of them have snug little sums, largely in specie, safely stowed away in some old chest or other chosen repository, to be drawn upon only in case of actual emergency. In their intercourse with strangers they are polite, kind and hospitable to a degree most noticeable by all who have lived or journeyed among them, and in no section of our land will the traveller, meeting with any mishap, or needing rest or refreshment, be more kindly and cor- dially cared for than in Madawaska. The "dry plank" and the best bed are ever at the disposal of the stranger guest who may be compelled by circumstances to throw himself upon their good offices and no amount of pains or personal inconvenience is spared to render all possible assistance in case of mishap. In a number of instances, when travelling in a winter night and forced by the storm to call for shelter, have we been placed in the warm bed, just vacated for our comfort by the host and host- ess, while they sought for themselves other quarters, probably far less comfortable. They are of the Roman Catholic faith and are devotedly attached to their church and scrupulously faithful in religious observances. Upon this point they are pe- culiarly sensitive and readily resent anything approaching ridi- cule or opposition to their cherished religion. Thus held to-
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gether by the strong bond of religious unity, which permits no sectarian divisions or discussions among themselves, and look- ing with extreme disfavor upon anyone of their number who presumes to desert the church, or even to neglect attendance upon her ordinances, they more naturally remain a distinct peo- ple and are less readily absorbed in the general mass of the pop- ulation of the country.
Their methods of agriculture are generally of a somewhat crude and primitive sort, as they are extremely conservative and in this, as in other matters, are slow to adopt new innovations, preferring rather to cling to old usages.
Since writing the above lines, giving our personal impres- sions in regard to the natural tendency of our French fellow citizens to remain a distinct people, our attention has been called to a French work, written by M. Rameau more than a quarter century ago, entitled "La France aux Colonies." This author particularly emphasizes this point and even goes farther than facts of subsequent occurrences would seem to warrant. We ven- ture to translate a few passages, hoping they may not be void of interest in this connection.
After speaking of the increase of the number of Acadians in Nova Scotia during the present century, and of their com- plete separation from the English residents of that province, M. Rameau says: "All authors virtually agree in bearing witness to the preservation of their language, of their national character, and to the vigilant care which they have given to these matters. Notice what Halliburton, who was a judge in Nova Scotia, wrote in 1829: 'While the Germans tend to merge themselves in the mass of the population, the Acadians remain distinct as much as possible, preserving their religion, their language and their peculiar customs; they never marry with their protestant neigh- bors. Among themselves they speak French, but it is mixed with some words derived from the Indian and from the English. The men, however, generally know English, but few of the women understand that language. The Acadians have a pecu- liar attachment for their language and their customs, and al- though their business often brings them among the English, they never marry with them, never adopt their manners and never quit their villages.' "
These words of Judge Halliburton, quoted by the French writer, may have been strictly true of the Acadians of Nova Scotia at the time when they were written and may continue to be so today, but they are not altogether true of their fellow
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countrymen in Madawaska. There, though as a rule they marry among themselves, yet marriages with Americans are not infre- quent and will probably become less rare as the younger people become better educated and the number of Americans increase in that locality. Again says Rameau, in speaking of the Aca- dians of Madawaska, in which number he includes all the French population on both sides of the upper St. John and which he places in 1861 at about 12,000 : "Communication is becoming now more and more frequent with Lower Canada, and probably all the commercial relations of that country (Madawaska) will take place in the future through the little town of Trois Pistoles on the St. Lawrence. There is then reason to hope that the suprem- acy of the American merchants will gradually disappear from these villages and that in consequence an end will be put to the introduction into the language of the Acadians of Anglicisms which have crept into it during the last thirty or forty years.' "
Despite the solicitude of this ardent French writer, his dream of a permanent Acadia upon the upper St. John, with manners unchanged and language uncorrupted as when the an- cestors of this people peacefully enjoyed their quiet homes "on the shores of the basin of Minas" is hardly destined to be ful- filled. To a great extent they will remain a distinct people for many years to come, but their manners, methods and language will gradually become more and more like those of the Amer- ican residents in their midst. Communication with Canada is indeed becoming more easy and frequent, but the iron horse now courses away across that country, and, harnessing to his load from the grain elevators and flouring mills of our own great western cities, bears it back and lays it down at the doors of the French habitans on the northern border of Maine.
The vast lumber operations upon the upper St. John, car- ried on for the most part by Americans, either from Maine or New Brunswick, employ large numbers of the French popula- tion and thus their young men are brought into immediate con- tact with our business men and business methods. For these reasons some might predict that though no hostile military force should come with fire and brand again to disperse this quiet people, yet the onward march of events in the development of the country, the opening up of new railroads through our own county and the establishment of new and varied industries might in time accomplish the same results to a considerable extent. Yet could our French prophet, whom we have quoted above, visit the Madawaska region today, he might with truth say to
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us something like this: "Look upon the condition of things among this people a half century ago and compare it with that of today. Then all the business of the country was done by American residents, while the simple Acadian, with no education and very little ambition in that direction, contented himself with raising his scanty crops and caring for his little flocks and herds. Now there are native French merchants at every point where business is carried on. The American settlers have decreased in numbers, while the French have increased to a wonderful ex- tent. Not many years ago a large number of American mer- chants were doing business at Van Buren, Grand Isle, Madawas- ka, Frenchville and Fort Kent. Today the number at Van Buren and Fort Kent is very much diminished, while those at the other points mentioned have alomst entirely disappeared and their places are occupied by French merchants and business men. Starch factories were built throughout the district by Americans from Maine or New Hampshire. Now nearly every one of them is owned by Frenchmen who have added to the number new fac- tories at different points. Mills have been built at various places by Frenchmen and are now being successfully operated. Young men of the same nationality have been educated as law- yers and as physicians and have almost entirely supplanted the Americans in those professions. Fifty years ago the French settlements were confined to a narrow strip along the river with a vast wilderness in their rear. Now they have extended through- out nearly the entire portions of the towns originally occupied and have pushed their settlements through from Van Buren to Caribou, from Fort Kent to Portage Lake and are fast encroach- ing upon the lands between Fort Kent and New Sweden. New parishes have been formed in places then covered by the wil- derness and large churches, filled each Sabbath with devout worshipers, now stand where stood the forest then. In all this country upon the upper St. John with its immense lumber busi- ness, carried on for many years and with its fertile soil there is today but a handful of American residents, not so many as fifty years ago, while the children of the Acadians have multi- plied many fold and are becoming a dense population in all this region. At Van Buren only is there any Protestant church build- ing, and that a small chapel built by the Episcopal bishop, with a pastor but a portion of the time, and this field will probably soon be abandoned for want of support. Upon the entire extent of the St. John River in Maine there is no clergyman of the Protestant faith and the services of that church are nowhere
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maintained. The country is French and such it is destined to remain."
Certainly the view of the situation outlined above is largely warranted by the facts in the case and it would be indeed in- teresting could one visit the Madawaska region fifty years hence and note the effect of another half century upon the language, manners and customs and religious faith of this people.
From Caribou village the road runs northward for six miles across the north half of the town of Caribou, and continues on in the same direction across Township K, Range 2, Cyr Planta- tion and a corner of Van Buren to the St. John River.
The large mills of the Van Buren Shingle Co., located on the main river, and the long train of cars steaming alnog on the New Brunswick shore give a business aspect to the picture and indicate that all is not rural quiet and pastoral simplicity in this other Acadia. There are two other saw mills in the town, both located on Violette Brook. These are the Hammond mills, con- taining two shingle machines, and the Souci mill, with two shin- gle machines and a rotary. Mr. Fred B. Violette has a grist mill and carding mill. Mr. W. C. Hammond was for many years the principal business man at Van Buren and was formerly ex- tensively engaged in trade and in the business of cutting and manufacturing lumber. He also had a fine farm a short dis- tance below the village. His sons were also engaged in busi- ness here, but all save one have now moved to the far West and Mr. Hammond, having retired from active business, contem- plates joining them. Mr. C. F. Hammond is now the only Amer- ican resident who has been in business here for any considerable time. He is a relative of W. C. Hammond and is the principal merchant of the town. Mr. Hammond is also deputy collector of customs at Van Buren, and his daughter, Miss Margaret Ham- mond, is the village postmaster. P. C. Keegan, Esq., is the prin- cipal lawyer, and Drs. T. H. Pelletier and J. C. Upham are the physicians.
The town of Van Buren is nearly in the form of a right angled triangle. of which the west line, some eight miles in length, is the perpendicular, the south line of six miles the base, and the St. John River the hypotenuse. The settlement along the river is continuous for the whole distance across the town and there are large settlements back from the river in various por- tions of the town. The population of Van Buren is 1168.
The French are a remarkably prolific people and large fam- ilies are the rule among them. They are also a home loving
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race and for this reason, as sons grow up and marry, the pater- nal estate is divided and the children are settled near the old home. All along the river the farms are divided into narrow strips, each having a front on the river and running far back upon the higher land in the rear. Thus the dwellings are brought near together and along the road on both sides of the river a continuous settlement extends for many miles.
For nearly ten miles the road runs through the northern part of Van Buren and then enters the town of Grand Isle. This town is named after the large and fertile island in the St. John within the limits of the town, and has a population of 964.
In establishing the boundary the channel of the river was made the dividing line, hence all islands lying on the south of the channel are in the State of Maine, and those on the north are in the Province of New Brunswick. The land in that portion of Grand Isle which borders upon the river is productive and easy of cultivation, but farther back the soil is not so good, and the town is not so thickly settled away from the river as many . of the other towns.
Twelve miles above Van Buren we come to the large estate of Dennis Cyr, a son of Paul Cyr, one of the early residents of the town. The Cyrs are of old Acadian stock and the different branches of the family are quite numerous in all this region. Mr. Cyr's house is a very large two-story building with broad ver- andas and is situated on a handsome plain some distance from the road and near the bank of the river. Mr. Alexis Cyr, who died some years ago, resided near here and was one of the prin- cipal citizens of the town. He was a brother of Dennis, and both received a good English education at the old Houlton Acad- emy. Alexis Cyr represented his district in the State Legisla- ture a few years before his death and was a man of consider- able ability. Mr. Remi Plourd, another prominent citizen of the town, has a good English education and has been in trade here for some years.
On the hill near the Cyr estate is the fine large church of Notre Dame de la paix, a large white structure with a lofty spire. In matters pertaining to religious worship the people of these French towns have this marked advantage over the set- tlers in other Aroostook towns-they are all of one religious faith and hence by uniting their contributions are able to build one large church in each town and to give a generous support to a permanent pastor. Up to 1869 this whole Madawaska country on both sides of the St. John River was a part of the diocese of
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Chatham and its religious affairs were under the control of that bishop. In that year, however, a division was made, and all the parishes on the American side were attached to the Portland diocese, now under the pastoral care of Bishop Healey, who once in two years makes a visit to all these churches. The visit of the bishop is an event of much importance to the people of these towns, and great preparation is made for his reception. Small trees are cut down and planted on both sides the road at short distances apart, making a continual grove of bushes for more than fifty miles. At each church handsome arches are built across the main road and many elaborate decorations are made. The influence of the priests over the people is very great, and in most cases is exerted in favor of temperance, sobriety and good citizenship. Formerly the priests influenced the people in regard to their political action much more than at present. Now the priests as a rule do not take so active a part as political partisans and the action of the people in this respect is becom- ยท ing more independent.
Madawaska is one of the largest, as well as one of the most fertile of the river towns. Nowhere are the intervales and plains along the river so broad and extensive, or so smooth and un- broken, and nowhere are there more beautiful landscape views.
The town of Madawaska is composed of parts of townships 18 Range 4, and 18 Range 5. It has a river front of about nine miles, and extends back from the river nearly ten miles, includ- ing a large part of Long Lake, the northernmost of the magnif- icent chain of lakes which extends through the northern part of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th ranges of towns, and finds an outlet into the St. John by way of Fish River at Fort Kent. There are many roads in this town and many settlers on the lots back from the river. The population is 1451.
Leaving Madawaska, we next come into the town of Frenchville. Here the road, which for some distance has run nearly west as we travelled up the river, turns abruptly to the south and continues in that direction for nearly three miles, until we come to the great bend in the river known as Chataucoin, when it turns again and continues in a westerly course across the town. A short distance above the bend we come to the village of Frenchville at the mouth of the road leading out to Long Lake. Here there are a number of stores, a starch factory and some very handsome dwellings. This factory was built a number of years ago by Mr. J. W. Bolton, the present sheriff of the county, and Hon. Geo. W. Collins of Bridgewater.
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Frenchvillle is a large town and has much good farming land. Its population is larger than that of any other town upon the upper St. John, being 2560 by the late census.
Next above Frenchville we come to the town of Fort Kent, and here we find that the high bluffs approach nearer the river and the land along the road becomes more broken. In one place the road runs along the base of a high mountain and the settlers along here do not see the sun until late in the day. Some twenty years ago a land slide occurred here, an area of many acres breaking loose from the high land and pushing out in a mass into the river. An abrupt break was made in the main road, that part which crossed the "landslide" being thrust over toward the river some eight or ten feet. A chasm of considerable depth and about ten feet wide was made on the side of the wooded hill back from the river and so abrupt was the break that trees were riven for some distance up the trunk and left standing astride the crevasse.
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