USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > History of Bath and environs, Sagadahoc County, Maine. 1607-1894 > Part 16
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Judge Groton wrote: "In 1824, Judge Hill was appointed by Mr. Adams collector of Bath. Although a good officer, and a man of excellent moral and religious character, he had enemies, who preferred charges against him for the agency he had in getting the brig Mary Jane to sea, fourteen years before. Mr. Adams, upon the charges, appointed a special court consisting of Judge Whitman, Judge Ware, and Mr. Burley, member of Congress, to take evidence and report to him. This court sat at the Bath hotel and lasted some days." Bath wanted the office, Judge Hill was removed, and J. B. Swanton, Sr., received the appointment to succeed Judge Hill.
JOHN BARNARD SWANTON received his appointment from Presi- dent J. Q. Adams in 1825, and held the office until 1829. He was a prominent man and a member of the Swedenborgian church, having previously belonged to that of the Calvinist Baptist. John Bosworth Swanton, his son, was his deputy collector.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
WILLIAM KING was appointed by Andrew Jackson in 1829, and held the office to the spring of 1834. As the history of his career is given elsewhere in this volume it would be tautology to recount the life and services of General King in this connection, the mention of his distinguished name being sufficient. It is also unnecessary to say that his administration of the duties of the office was able and honest. There is a little incident related of him while collector. Some man presented to him a bill for services rendered the govern- ment in connection with the custom-house; Mr. King looked it over when he loudly exclaimed: "Here is a man who wants thirty-five days' pay for one month's work." He did not get pay for his extra or rather extraordinary days.
JOSEPH SEWALL succeeded William King, appointed by President Jackson in 1834, reappointed by President Van Buren 1838, retiring in 1841. He had graduated from Bowdoin Correge in 1812, read law with Benjamin Ames, admitted to the bar when 21 years of age, was adjutant-general of Maine, was several years county commis- sioner and selectman of the town; attending to law practice when not conflicting with his official duties during the business years of his life.
He took an active part in political matters, and was a life long Democrat. He was a well informed antiquarian and in 1833 deliv- ered an address on the History of Bath, which was afterwards pub- lished in book form. General Sewall was of distinguished presence, and notably a gentleman in his intercourse with the world.
PARKER SHELDON came into the office under President Harrison in 1841, appointed chiefly by the influence of U. S. Senator George Evans. Mr. Sheldon resided in Gardiner and did not move his family to Bath. At the time of the appointment of Mr. Sheldon there were two "cliques" among leading Whigs of Bath each wanting the subordinate offices, and when the collector came to Bath to assume the duties of the office and make his appointments his re- ception was notably cool on the part of those who had not "stood in" with his canvass for the collectorship. He had been an active worker in the Whig party, and did efficient service for that cause in the notable presidential campaign of 1840. His term ended in 1844.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
A. J. STONE of Brunswick was appointed by President Tyler in 1845 and held the position less than one year. He was a merchant in Brunswick and did not come to Bath to reside during his term of office.
AMOS NOURSE was appointed by President Polk in 1845. He was then residing in Bath, having come from Hallowell a few years previ- ously where he had been postmaster and in the practice of medi- cine, and was of much repute as a man of considerable literary at- tainments. He had been practicing his profession in Bath prior to his taking this office. He held the collectorship until 1846, and died in Bath while in office.
John Campbell Humphreys. - The American ancestor of the Humphreys family was Lawrence Humphreys, whose nativity was Queenstown, Great Britain, where he was born in 1757. When beginning his business life he went to Jamaica as the manager of the estate of the widow of a planter who had died wealthy. From thence he came as supercargo of a vessel that was laden with a cargo of molasses for the Kennebec soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. Arriving in the river she went ashore on the rocks of Parkers Island and was totally wrecked. Mr. Humphreys was left in a strange land entirely destitute of means. He had the lucky fortune, however, to fall among good men, among whom were the Parkers, the McCobbs, the Percys, and the Drummonds, who must have seen in him a person of native worth, for he acquired real estate in Phipsburg which was contiguous to what was the John Parker and subsequently the Andrew Reed estate, and married into the Drummond and Campbell families, by the espousal in 1788 of a daughter of John Campbell whose mother was Frances Drummond, who came over with her father, Alexander Drummond, the ancestor of all the Kennebec Drummonds, who came over in 1729 and lived at Chops Point. Mr. Humphreys subsequently moved to Topsham. His son, John Campbell Humphreys, was born in Phipsburg, Feb. 22, 1798; lived in Brunswick; became prominent as senator, sheriff, merchant, lumber manufacturer, ship-builder, major-general of the militia, high in the Masonic order, and collector of the port of Bath during the Polk administration. He was appointed by President
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Polk in 1846. He resided in Brunswick and did not bring his family to live in Bath.
BENJAMIN RANDALL was collector from 1849 to 1850. He was the son of William Randall, a respectable and wealthy farmer and one of the early settlers of the town of Topsham, where Benjamin was born in 1789. In his childhood his father discovered that he had more than common talents, and determined to give him an education suited to his abilities. He was graduated at Bowdoin College in 1809 and took his degree at the head of his class, and then entered the office of Benjamin Hasey of Topsham, where he pursued the study of the law; in 1812 was admitted a member of the Lincoln County bar and commenced practice in Bath, where he resided forty-five years. Like others of the profession, he took an active interest in political matters, identifying himself with the Whig party during its continuance. In 1833, he was elected from Lincoln district a member of the state senate; in 1838, member of Congress, and appointed by President Taylor, 1849, collector of the port of Bath. When nominated for congressman by the Whig party, it was at a convention in Wiscasset, without solicitation or expectation on his part.
He was twice married, and his second wife was a daughter of Kilborn Whitman of Pembroke, Mass. Mr. Randall was of a mild temper, had a well balanced mind, and through all the strong contests of his profession was never known to show passion or discourtesy to his opponents. He was a man of learning in his profession and a fine classical scholar. In some respects he resembled his legal instructor, Benjamin Hasey, who was deeply learned in the law. In the many good qualities of Mr. Randall, he was an honest lawyer, an honest man, and amiable and pleasing in his demeanor.
DAVID BRONSON of Hallowell was appointed collector by Presi- dent Fillmore in 1850. He was a lawyer of wide reputation and alive in politics. He came to Bath to live, and went out of office in 1853.
CHARLES N. BODFISH of Gardiner became collector in 1853. He was umarried and during his term made his home in Bath. He had
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HISTORY OF BATH.
been a major in the Mexican war and upon his return engaged in the manufacture of lumber at Parkers Head. His term of office ex- pired in 1857.
JOSEPH BERRY was appointed in 1857 by President Buchanan. He resided in Georgetown and commenced life as a stone mason; had a start in life by obtaining government contracts for building light- houses on the coast of Maine, became a ship-builder in Bath and at other points on the Kennebec as well as at Robin Hood's Cove on Parkers Island. He had an extensive and widely spread business in lumber, ship-building and trade. He had been a member of the state legislature for several sessions, and major-general of militia to which he was elected by the legislature in 1839 at the time of the notable "Aroostook War." He died while in office in 1860.
JAMES H. NICHOLS was a native of Phipsburg, son of Joseph Nichols, a shoemaker. He started in life as a shoemaker and kept a store in Bath where he married and had a family. Later in life he entered into politics as an ardent Democrat and received the ap- pointment of weigher and gauger under collectors Humphreys and Bodfish, and of collector from President Buchanan, serving out the unexpired term of General Joseph Berry upon the death of the latter. Upon the advent of the Washingtonian temperance reform Mr. Nichols became an active worker in the cause, exercising a strong influence in its promotion.
He served as collector during 1860 and 1861. He died in Bath. His son, Joseph Nichols, became a boot and shoe dealer in Bath and is unmarried.
ROLAND FISHER succeeded to the office of collector when the Republican party came into power in 1861, receiving his commission from President Lincoln. Mr. Fisher was a native of Arrowsic, where his ancestors were early settlers and prominent men. Receiving such education as the public schools afforded, his early and middle life was passed in the lumbering business, becoming the owner of a part of what has been known as the ancient "Rowsick Mills," since as "Potter's Mills," situated at the foot of Fiddlers Reach on Arrowsic Island. Later he removed to Bath, where he engaged in
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HISTORY OF BATH.
other business and held public offices. He was twice married and had a numerous family by his second wife. Mr. Fisher was a man of excellent character, was active in all the pursuits of life in which he engaged, and accumulated a comfortable fortune. He held the office to the time of his death in 1866.
EDWARD ST. JOHN NEALLEY was born in Lee, N. H., Dec. 16, 18II. He was the second son of Edward B. Nealley and was one of ten children. He was a member of the class of 1835 of Bowdoin College, but left before graduating. Subsequently the college con- ferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Arts out of course. After leaving college he went to Thomaston and studied law with his cousin, Jonathan Cilley, who was afterwards member of Congress and subsequently killed in a duel. He was admitted to the bar and practiced at Thomaston. He was clerk of the House of Repre- sentatives at Augusta, and there his character and good penmanship brought him to the notice of Joseph Sewall, the collector of customs in Bath, who, during Van Buren's administration, appointed him inspector of customs and afterward deputy collector. This latter office he held until in February, 1866, when he was promoted to the collectorship, which office he held till his death in 1881, a period longer than any other collector of customs in the United States. He had served the government in the custom-house in Bath for more than forty-four years.
He was an officer of the Patten Library Association from the time of its organization, and was president of that association for many years. It was largely through his instrumentality that the library was founded. He was trustee of the Kelley fund for the distribution of fuel among the needy widows of the city. Mr. Nealley was a member of the city council during several years. He married Lucy Prince of Thomaston, a sister of Mrs. Jonathan Cilley, July 5, 1836, by whom he had five children, of whom four are now living : Edward B., now living in Bangor; Henrietta P., who mar- ried Rev. John Gregson, formerly rector of the Episcopal church in this city, now rector at Wilkinsonville, Mass .; Greenleaf C., who has been in the employ of the government in Texas as botanist, and
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Susan M., wife of Geo. E. Hughes, attorney in Bath. His wife Lucy died in Bath, Jan. 17, 1853, and he married, Dec. 1, 1859, Sarah A. Pope of Spencer, Mass. They had two children, William P. and Henry A. Mr. Nealley was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow and was twice state delegate to the national convention of the Odd Fellows. Mr. Nealley was one of the most pleasant of gentlemen, universally popular, and a useful and benevolent citizen of the highest standing.
JAMES W. WAKEFIED, born in this city in January, 1833, son of James Wakefield, who died some years ago and was one of the leading merchants and business men of this city where he carried on successfully for a long term of years the business of a grocer. He was also managing owner of a packet line between the Kennebec and Boston. At the age of fourteen years James W. went into business with his father. This was about the year 1847, and he continued in business with him seven years. In 1854 he entered the office of Kendall & Richardson, ship-chandl .s, where he filled the position of book-keeper about two years. In 1856 he again went into the grocery business as a partner with his father, and carried on a large trade until the breaking out of the rebellion, when he joined the army. After two years' service he returned to Bath. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of this city, a position which he filled till near the end of the year 1881, when he received the appointment of collector of customs for the District of Bath. He held that office until Cleveland became President, when he re- signed. For a number of years he was a member of the Republican State Committee. He first became a member of the city council in 1861, served that year in the lower branch, and also in 1862 and 1867. In 1871 he was elected alderman and was a member of that board in 1872 and 1880. He was elected mayor in 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890. In the legislature of 1885 he repre- sented this city in the House. He was again appointed collector in 1889 by President Harrison; has been superintendent of the Water Supply Company of Bath, resigning in 1893. Upon a change of administration and the term of collector expiring, his successor was appointed, attaining the office on May 1, 1893.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
FRANCIS B. TORREY is a native of Bath, a descendant of the earlier Torrey families, who were prominent citizens in their day. Mr. Torrey has been engaged in navigation and is proprietor of ex- tensive manufacturing business in the city. He always affiliates with the Democratic party, and when Mr. Cleveland became president in 1885 he received the appointment of collector and filled the office with acceptance until the administration of President Harrison re- appointed a Republican to fill the office, the duties of which Mr. Torrey was desirous to relinquish to devote his labors to the more profitable and congenial business in which he is now engaged.
THE POST - OFFICE.
Prior to 1760, the regular eastern terminus of the mail route in New England was Portsmouth, N. H. In 1775, the first post-office in Maine was established, and there were only post-offices at Ken- nebunk, Falmouth, and Bath. The number of letters coming to each office did not average five each week. Few people could afford to pay the high rates of postage of that day, excepting on matters of business. Common epistolary letters were largely sent by private hands at long intervals, and this continued so long as the rates of postage were six and a quarter, twelve and a half, eighteen and three-quarters, twenty-five, and thirty-seven and a half cents, ac- . cording to the distance, and double rate when the letter contained more than one piece of paper.
The EARLIEST RECORD there is of the establishment of regular mail facilities was about the year 1780, at which time it was carried to and from Portland once a fortnight by Richard Kimball on foot. Luke Lambert carried the mail between Boston and the Kennebec, for a short period prior to the Revolution, once a fortnight on horse- back, the mail pouch strapped on behind the saddle. Then Capt. Joseph Stockbridge carried the mail between Bath and Portland, making the round trip once a week. In 1791, the most eastern post-office in the state was at Wiscasset, to which mail was carried from Portland through Bath twice a week on horseback, and in 1793 continued from Wiscasset to Castine once a fortnight by a man on foot.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
At that early day the roads were little more than foot paths or trod by single horse. The mails were sometimes delayed or de- tained by inclement weather and bad condition of the roads, which was particularly the case in the winter season when snow blockades had to be encountered. As an instance, it is related that in 1766 the southern and western mails due at Boston Dec. 27, did not arrive until Jan. 10, 1767, on account of bad traveling.
August 25, 1791, Dummer Sewall was appointed by the United States goverment the first postmaster of Bath, and for a time the office was kept at his dwelling-house on High street, the house now standing next north of the railroad bridge. It was afterward moved to the one story building recently standing near the corner of Front and Summer streets, reached by a flight of stairs from Summer street. Mr. Sewall held the office about fifteen years; living a long distance from the post-office, and in the office only when the mail came in, the business men became dissatisfied and, without dis- tinction of party, signed a petition to general government, asking for a change of postmaster.
In answer to this request, DAVID STINSON was appointed post- master July 1, 1806, by President Jefferson, which office he held twenty-seven years. During his term the office was removed to the building on the south-east corner of Front and Arch streets, now occupied for a store. It was the custom to write off a list of the letters received by each mail and hang it in the window, so that it could be read by the people outside. The drivers of mail stages were in the habit of blowing a tin horn when coming into town to announce their arrival. The population of Bath at the time of Mr. Stinson's appointment was 1,000.
On the death of Mr. Stinson, THOMAS EATON was appointed by President Jackson, April 24, 1833, and the office was removed to rooms in the old Lincoln Bank building, which stood upon the site now occupied by the Sagadahoc House. Private boxes were first used here. Upon the taking down of the bank building in. 1848 for the erection of the Sagadahoc House, the office was kept in the south-east room under the Hatch House, on the north side of
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Center street. After the completion of the Sagadahoc House, the south-west corner in the basement on Center street was fitted up with lower drawers for the use of the people and the office was re- moved to that locality, where it remained until the custom-house building was ready for occupancy in 1858. At this time and for sev- eral years previously, mails were received daily from the West and forwarded thither in two and four horse coaches. Upon the comple- tion of the Kennebec & Portland Railroad - now Maine Central -- in 1849, three daily mails were transported to and from Bath on this road.
Upon the accession of President Filimore, WILLIAM PITT FES- SENDEN wrote to Messrs. Kendall and Richardson, inquiring if the Whigs of Bath wished to fill the place with one of their own party, and as the result of correspondence that ensued David Y. Kendall was appointed to succeed Mr. Eaton. He held the office, however, but eight days, from the 18th of November, 1850, to the 26th of the same month.
RUFUS R. HAINES, publisher of The Mirror, was appointed Nov. 26, 1850.
JOSEPH C. SNOW received the appointment from President Pierce April 1, 1853, and during his term the office was moved into the new custom-house building.
CHARLES T. GREENLEAF was appointed by President Lincoln April 8, 1861.
JAMES W. WAKEFIELD was appointed by President Grant April 6, 1869.
WILLIAM E. HOGAN received his appointment from President Arthur Jan. 17, 1882, and was succeeded at the end of four years by GEORGE H. NICHOLS, appointed by President Cleveland Jan. 17, 1886, Mr. Hogan having served out the full term of his commission of four years, notwithstanding the change of administration nearly a year previous. Win. E. Hogan having been re-appointed by Pres- ident Harrison, resumed the office Nov. 1, 1889, which he occupies to this time.
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John C. Fiske
ARTOTYPE. E. BIERSTADT, N. Y.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
For many years the mail was carried to PHIPSBURG on horseback, at first twice, then three times a week, and then daily by stage. When not carried daily, the postmaster would often give an order to a reputable citizen coming to Bath to deliver him the Phipsburg mail, and this particularly on Sundays, and the writer of this has often taken it down in a pocket handkerchief, and more often it was delivered to him without an order. In no case was this trust betrayed or carelessness indulged in. Woolwich, Arrowsic, Georgetown, and other suburban towns receive their mails through the Bath office.
FOR MAILING LETTERS in former years there were no envelopes; the sheet was ingeniously folded so that it could be sealed with a wafer. Wafers are scarcely known to the present generation. They were mostly red, hard, mucilaginous substances, of the shape and size of a ten-cent piece, which to be used would be softened by placing one of them between the moist lips a few moments, when applying it to paper it stuck fast by spontaneous hardening. The more elegant way was to use sealing wax, which was customary for public documents. A singular regulation in the rules of the post- office department was that a letter containing more than one piece of paper was liable to be charged double postage. The enigma would seem to be how postmasters could know whether a letter covered one or more pieces of paper.
Incidents Connected with the Postal Service at Bath .-
A Boston man by the name of Thorndike owned a large tract of land at Thomaston, and David Fales was his agent. Two men who afterward became notable public men kept the post-office-Hezekiah Prince, postmaster, and John Ruggles, his assistant. Prince became member of Congress and Ruggles, United States Senator. Fales had occasion to transmit the sum of $700 to his principal in Boston. To do this he enclosed seven bills of one hundred dollars each, and mailed it in the Thomaston post-office. This failed to reach its destination. In consequence, he brought suit against Postmaster Prince to recover the amount of money lost. At about the same time, a letter in which money was enclosed was mailed at Thomas- ton for Portland, which did not reach the person to whom it was addressed.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
At the suit, all of the postmasters on the route over which the Boston letter must pass were examined in court, and their testimony showed that it was evident that the leak was in the Bath office. Postmaster Stinson was somewhat of an easy going man, and a fast young man was accustomed to be familiar in his office, as he was an intimate of the family. Suspicion pointed to him as the purloiner of the letters, and he was arrested. His name was Robert Lam- berr, a son of Luke Lambert. His father became his sole bonds- man, and before the next session of court the son fled and never returned. It was believed that he died not long afterwards at Demarara, a dissipated army soldier. The bonds that had been given by his father, which were for a heavy amount, were afterwards remitted by the legislature through the influence of friends.
The Decoy Letter. - In the fall of 1833 Thomas Eaton was postmaster at Bath. At that time, letters containing money had been missed from the mails between Bath and Belfast. It was a stage route. A. post-office official was placed on this line to detect, if possible, the delinquent postmaster. He place 1 in the Belfast office a decoy letter directed to Gen. James McLellan, Bath. Tak- ing a chaise, he followed the mail coach. It was in the night. The mail was carried through, as was the custom, in one large bag, and at each office on the line the postmaster emptied the bag and selected such of the contents as were addressed to his office. On this occasion the detective took the bag from the stage when at a proper distance from an office, and emptying its contents into the bottom of his own carriage searched for the decoy letter. The post-office at Lincolnville, where Albert Reed, a former resident of Bath, was postmaster, was passed all right, and Camden came next. Here Ephraim K. Smart, a prominent Democratic politician, was postmaster. After leaving this office, the decoy letter was found to be missing. The detective immediately returned and had Mr. Smart arrested. It was necessarily a sensation.
In due course of mail the identical letter arrived at the Bath office. Mr. Eaton, in his usual habit of accommodation in taking letters not immediately called for to business men within easy reach, took this letter with others to the store of Gen. Mclellan
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