USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 19
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 19
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 19
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
dollars was received as premium money. All pews were sold immediately.
In October, 1890, a pipe organ was purchased, and in 1901 the Ladies' Sewing Circle, from work and sales, entertain- ments and suppers, furnished sufficient funds for a steel ceiling, tinting the walls and a new carpet. Acetylene gas lighting was introduced in December, 1904. This church has had con- tinuous service and loyal support, and is now, as a society, in thrifty condition. The list of ministers follows :
1. Rev. George Gannett, January 14, 1847 to May, 1850.
2. Rev. Joseph Smith, October, 1850, to -, 1852.
3. Rev. J. K. Deering, -, 1852, to -, 1854.
4. Rev. E. Burt, May 7, 1854, to November, 1855.
5. Rev. John Furbush, April 6, 1856, to November, 1857.
6. Rev. Jonathan E. Adams, April, 1858, to April, 1859.
7. Rev. John T. Bulfinch, September, 1859, to May, 1862.
8. Rev. William Leavitt, -, 1862, to -, 1864.
9. Rev. L. S. Coan, July, 1865, to July, 1867.
10. Rev. A. J. Smith, August, 1868, to May, 1872.
11. Rev. E. B. Pike, June, 1873, to -, 1877.
12. Rev. R. W. Jenkins, May, 1878, to January, 1884.
13. Rev. Lewis D. Evans, April, 1884, to June, 1889.
14. Rev. John H. Matthews, July, 1890, to May 29, 1892.
15. Rev. Arthur G. Pettingill, June 5, 1892, to Aug. 28, 1892.
16. Rev. M. O. Patton, June, 1893, to February 1, 1895.
17. Rev. Donald McComick, May 5, 1895, to Nov. 27, 1902.
18. Rev. Frank B. Hyde, July 26, 1903.
The average term of service of the eighteen pastors has been about three and one-fourth years. But four pastorates have exceeded four years, those of Mr. McCormick, Mr. Jen- kins, Mr. Evans and Mr. Pike, and all these were both profit- able and popular. Mr. McCormick, of Scotch birth, was for a time in England and Canada before coming to Maine. He had entered several months upon his eighth year when he was suddenly stricken down while in active service. His life was a continual benediction. He loved his church, the town and its people, and his death was the cause of universal mourning in the community. Mr. Jenkins went to Gardiner from Booth-
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
bay, where he enjoyed the fullest confidence of his church, but was cut down in middle age. Mr. Evans went from Boothbay to the Congregational Church in Camden, where he is still pastor, and now, after sixteen years with his church, pastor and people are inseparable. Mr. Pike went to New Hampshire, where he is still living in the town of Brentwood, able to cast a retrospective view over much well-done work.
THE METHODIST CHURCH AT BOOTHBAY HARBOR.
When the union of Baptists and Methodists at Boothbay Center was dissolved by the building of a new Baptist church, in 1856, there was not, in that locality, enough strength left for the Methodist Society to continue the support of a church. As we have seen, a single society existed and was well supported both at Southport and at East Boothbay. The Baptists had the strength of numbers about the Center, and the only Meth- odists not provided with church quarters were largely located at the Harbor. An old quarterly meeting record informs us that in 1850 the arrangement for preaching had been : "At Townsend, three Sabbaths in four ; at Hodgdon's Mills, three Sabbaths in four ; at the Union Meeting House, two Sabbaths in four." In 1846 we note that there were sixty Sabbath- school scholars at the Mills, and fifty at the Union Church.
October 17, 1858, a record is made by Daniel W. Sawyer that no records of quarterly conference meetings existed on that date, and he, thereupon, from 1846 to 1858, made a partial one from consultation of the Southport and East Boothbay books. Up to that date no regular preaching ser- vice had been held by the Methodists at the Harbor. In 1858 Rev. S. F. Strout was assigned to the Boothbay charge. No place presented itself suitable for the purpose at the Harbor, where it was intended that preaching should occur one-half the time, the other half to be at East Boothbay. A request for the use of the Congregational church was made, but not granted. The late Arber Marson had a vacant loft or chamber in a building sit- uated where Pierce and Hartung's coal yard is now, and this was fitted up with settees and used for a short time. A little later Paul Harris tendered the society the use of his store chamber, now known as the W. G. Lewis store, rent free for the first
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
year, after one year to be fifty dollars per annum. The con- gregations increased to that extent that, in 1860, Mr. Harris declined longer to rent the hall, as he deemed his building not suffcient in strength.
Silas Orne at once became the active party to circulate a subscription paper, and subscriptions were obtained from one dollar to twenty-five dollars. Isaac Rich, Esq., Boston, gave one hundred dollars, and Marshal Smith gave the society a lot on which to build a chapel. This was completed in 1860, and now, remodeled as a residence, is owned by Miss Isabel Beal. The rebuilding was done by the late John A. Carter, M. D., about 1880. The chapel was occupied until 1879, in which year the present church on Townsend Avenue was built.
The first move toward building a church occurred one Tues- day evening after the prayer meeting. Members remained in consultation. A committee was chosen to select a lot, which is the present one, purchased of the late Silas Smith. The church was built as it now appears. It has been kept in an excellent state of repair. A pipe organ was purchased during the pastorate of the Rev. J. F. Haley. The parsonage was completed early in. 1882, at a cost of about $1,500. Records show the deaths of twenty-two members and probationers dur- ing the period in which the chapel was occupied. At the open- ing of the new church the Sabbath school consisted of twelve classes with an average attendance of eighty-five. The Sab- bath congregation averaged in attendance that year one hun- dred and thirty-six.
The List of Ministers.
1858 to 1860. Rev. S. F. Strout.
1860 to 1862. Rev. D. P. Thompson.
1862 to 1864. Rev. E. Cheney.
1864 to 1865. Rev. Joseph Baker.
1865 to 1867. Rev. C. L. Haskell.
1867 to 1869. Rev. L. H. Bean.
1869 to 1870. Rev. D. P. Thompson.
1870 to 1871. Rev. P. Higgins.
1871 to 1873. Rev. P. E. Brown.
1873 to 1875. Rev. D. M. True.
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1875 to 1877. Rev. C. E. Knowlton.
1877 to 1879.
Rev. C. L. Haskell.
1879 to 1882. Rev. B. C. Wentworth.
1882 to 1883. Rev. S. L. Hanscom.
1883 to 1884. Rev. J. L. Thompson.
1884 to 1887. Rev. W. F. Chase.
1887 to 1889.
Rev. M. F. Bridgham.
1889 to 1892. Rev. S. L. Hanscom.
1892 to 1895. Rev. J. F. Haley.
1895 to 1895 (December). Rev. F. H. Osgood.
1895 (December) to 1897. Rev. A. W. Pottle.
1897 to 1900. Rev. William Wood.
1900 to 1901. Rev. H. L. Williams.
1901 to 1903. Rev. A. E. Luce.
1903 to 1906. Rev. J. H. Gray.
This circuit was divided in 1879 and Boothbay Harbor has since constituted a separate charge. The term of service in the table presented above is computed from spring to spring, upon usual dates of appointment.
THE WEST BOOTHBAY HARBOR CHAPEL AID.
This society, though not incorporated, has independently erected a chapel for public worship and maintains regular Sab- bath service. It presents a fine illustration of what persistent work by a few persons in a small community may accomplish, as well as the aggregate of small savings over a term of years. It organized in October, 1897, with the definite object of laboring to secure funds to purchase a lot and erect a chapel to accommodate the people of the immediate locality. Sixteen ladies composed it, all members of the Methodist Church at the Harbor. By entertainments, suppers and the sale of their products as a sewing circle, they found themselves, in 1904, with a fund a little in excess of $1,000. A chapel was erected with this fund and dedicated on February 9, 1905. The ded- icatory sermon was delivered by Rev. J. P. Jones, assisted by Revs. William Wood, W. A. Hanscom and J. H. Gray. The society is not incorporated and its most active workers are at present members of the Harbor church, but the origin and results of the work are entirely to be credited to those inter-
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
ested in the immediate vicinity. Technically it is at present included in the Harbor charge and the pastor of the church officiates in the afternoon services at the chapel, but his labors are supported locally. A Sabbath school numbering about fifty pupils has been organized. The costs of building were about $1,100 and with other incidental expenses a small indebt- edness exists.
CHAPTER XIII. BOOTHBAY IN THE REVOLUTION.
T HE sixteen years between the close of the French and Indian War and the beginning of that of the American Revolution witnessed considerable growth in all the towns from Kittery to St. George. That part of Lincoln County from the mouth of the Kennebec to Broad Bay, and running back along the Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers, made a good degree of advancement in both increase of popu- lation and improvement in general conditions. The additions to Boothbay's population largely came from about Kittery, York, Kennebunkport and Dover, N. H. A few families came in from the eastern towns of Massachusetts and New Hampshire situated between Portsmouth and Boston. The natural increase in population already here, before this rein- forcement from the westward, was considerable, for nearly every family was a large one, eight to twelve children consti- tuting an ordinary family. At incorporation we have noted the statement that there were about "seventy-five ratable polls"; now, in 1775, there were males of suitable age for military service to the number of nearly two hundred.
The old men who were settlers under Dunbar and their descendants still constituted the majority of the inhabitants, and were the real town fathers in advice and influence. Doubt- less the memory of wrongs suffered under English oppression in their old homes in Antrim, Londonderry and Tyrone still rankled in their minds ; but, though indications exist that the burdens of English taxation were felt and viewed as an unrea- sonable imposition, still the sentiment was conservative. They had experienced, since planting in America, so much of war, famine, poverty and general hardship that peace, even with its unholy burdens, was earnestly sought. Many public utter- ances, which became matter of record, clearly indicate that they viewed their Boston brethren as too hasty in their revolt
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
against the parent country, and determined that they would become belligerent only in the emergency of defense. But such a spirit once roused becomes thoroughly reliable and pro- duces soldiers that rank among the best.
In 1768, as appears in the municipal chapter, a vote restrict- ing the articles of merchandise which the inhabitants might be permitted to purchase was passed by the town and a list of prohibited articles issued. No questions of constitutional law came up to bother them at such times. The surrounding towns generally passed similar votes and there is abundant reason to believe that these local laws were generally lived up to. That Boothbay's inhabitants, notwithstanding their isolated situa- tion, foresaw the coming storm is evidenced by the calling of a special town meeting on February 4, 1775, at which Benjamin Sawyer, William McCobb and Ichabod Pinkham were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, with instructions to carry out the recommendations to such committees by the Continental Congress, until such time as successors might be elected or appointed. At the same meeting a Committee of Inspection and Safety was chosen, consisting of Andrew Reed, David Reed, Patrick McKown, Samuel Bryer, William McClintock, Samuel Montgomery, Solomon Burnham and Paul Reed. The same committees were continued in 1776, after which date the duties of the two committees were merged in one, and its composition for the remaining years of the war follows :
1777. Andrew Reed, William McClintock, Edward Emer- son, Andrew McFarland and Nathaniel Tibbetts.
1778. Edward Emerson, John McCobb, John Daws, William Reed, Ichabod Pinkham, Paul Reed.
1779-1780. The militia officers living in town. 1781. Benjamin Sawyer, John Daws, Samuel Bryer, Thomas Boyd, John Matthews, John Montgomery and John Borland.
1782. Thomas Boyd, Thomas Kennedy and Samuel Bryer.
Beginning with 1783 and for a few years subsequently, until further use of such a committee became unnecessary and the practice was discontinued, the selectmen of the town served in that capacity.
The value and aid of these committees throughout the Col-
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BOOTHBAY IN THE REVOLUTION.
onies cannot be overestimated. The first known suggestion of such a movement occurs in a letter from the renowned preacher, Jonathan Mayhew, to James Otis, in 1766, but it was first carried into effect at the Boston town meeting in October, 1772, when, on motion of Samuel Adams, a committee of twenty-one persons was chosen. Before the end of the year eighty Massachusetts towns had followed the example of Bos- ton. In the spring of 1773 the movement was commenced in Virginia and some of the other Colonies, and by 1775 the plan became well-nigh universal. The ingenuity of the system probably surpassed the imagination of its founders. Here was an intangible body, working in accord throughout the Colonies, unknown to the law, but its creation involving no violation of the law, and more unified and powerful than any legislative body. By the constitution of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, descendants of members of these committees stand equal in eligibility with those of military service.
At the annual meeting, March 21st, little action was taken except in routine affairs. The Rev. John Murray was chosen to attend the Provincial Congress at Concord, and a vote was passed asking Congress to send one hundred small arms. On May 9th a special meeting was held, at which the Committee of Inspection was directed to prepare and have in readiness suit- able quarters for caring for any who might come to the town's assistance in case of sudden alarm. Ichabod Pinkham was instructed "to arrange for the newspapers and take the best measures he can to have them conveyed to this town." Meet- ing was adjourned to May 23d.
At the adjourned meeting the first important action passed was a vote to pay the outstanding rates to Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow, appointed receiver general by the Provincial Congress, the commission of Harrison Gray, the Province treasurer, having expired, and no General Court having been permitted to sit to elect a successor. Gardner's receipt was declared a sufficient discharge of obligation. The selectmen were directed to establish a courier route "to run from such a place in this town and to such a place as may appear most convenient to meet the post established between the westward
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
and Falmouth on every day of his return during the present trouble." The selectmen were empowered to hire money for the use of the town according to the necessities. This vote was followed by a preamble and resolutions that deserve pres- ervation, therefore a part will be presented verbatim.
" Whereas the late astonishing Steps of tyranny in the brit- tish Parliament in declaring this people rebels, which was not in their power to tell any acts done by them for which the laws of the land had assigned them that name, in laying the punish- ment of an universal Blockade on all the new english Colonies for a fault existing only in the one ; have cut off all this peo- ple from their wonted resources of the necessaries of life, by a total suppression of trade and fishing and thereby it is become impossible for the poor to subsist unless some extraordinary means be devised for them. Therefore
" Resolved yt ye several members of the Comtys of Inspec- tion and Correspondence be required to take an account of the mouths and provisions in town and report to these Comtys at their next meeting.
" That then sd Comtys draw up an estimate of what Provis- ions Must be found for the ensuing Season.
"That a Subscription be forthwith opened into which each Inhabitant Shall have liberty of entring what quantity of nec- essary stores for himself and family he shall think propper, as also what Lumber, Money or other goods he resolves to raise for payment for the same, and if said Money and Goods by him subscribed shall not Suffice for ye purchase of his sd sup- plies, then he shall give his estate in security for the remainder, and should that also fail of supplying him during the public troubles, the deficet must be made up at the public expense ; he and all his to be employed in some suitable labour in behalf of the Town in the mean time and as long as shall be necessary. That if any Inhabitant refuse to accede to sd Subscription he and his family shall be deemed to have forfeited all share of supplies that shall be provided, or any of the benefits to which the poor of the town as such may be entitled.
" When the Subscription is full ye sd Comtys with ye Select Men are hereby directed Immediately to Charter as Many ves- sels as they shall think propper to carry sd Lumber &c to the best market and bring the proceeds in such necessary provis- ions as they shall specify in order to be by them drawn up for that purpose ; and in case such proceeds fall short of the esti- mate afforded, then the Select Men are hereby ordered to hire on the credit of the town such a sum of money as may be suf- ficent to supply sd deficet.
7
GEORGE B. KENNISTON.
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BOOTHBAY IN THE REVOLUTION.
"These Charterers are hereby impowered in the name of the Town to ensure such Vessels and Cargo from the danger of the enemy, they taking no steps contrary to former laws of Trade.
"The sd Comty and Select Men are hereby impowered to build in some retired place in the woods a Sufficient Store for keeping the provisions of this town, and whatever provisions shall be procured they are directed safely to deposit there.
"That a Guard of 4 Men be placed at the Store Continually whilst in use they to be appointed and dismissed by sd Comtys and Select Men at their discretion.
"That on every Monday between 8 of the Clock in the Morning and 6 in the afternoon, the Select Men shall attend at sd Store to distribute to Each Subscriber a weeks provision for himself and family according to the estimate aforesd and enter on the Book what each receives : and when his purchase is spent then to execute ye sd article of that.
"That when this is done they Carry the Keys with them but the Guard is not to suffer them or any other person to ,enter sd Store or even come within the picketts thereof at any other time except in case of alarm, when the Select Men or their order may be admitted but no other."
Further conditions of this act were that no one could deposit more than was necessary for himself and family and use the excess for speculative purposes ; if prices were affixed above those established by the town, to such goods as were subscribed for exchange, it worked a forfeiture of all such articles to the town for the use of the poor inhabitants. The live stock on the islands was ordered to be removed to the mainland and there grouped in herds, being placed under com- petent herdsmen and pastured in rotation on the various farms, with directions that upon any alarm it was to be driven north into the woods of the interior. It was further ordered that no stock, fish or provisions within the town's bounds should be disposed of to any one but the inhabitants of the town, and it was expressly commanded that no lamb should be killed in town before the last day of September. The inhabitants were urged to use the utmost industry, under the conditions, in hus- bandry and fishing, and forbidden to purchase any "foreign superfluity."
The foregoing plan for provisioning the town was the first outlook of this famous May meeting ; the second was for the
15
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
defense of the town. The substance of the plan of defense was, first, for the militia officers to take a strict survey of the arms in town, and such as were unfit for service to seize and transmit, without delay, at the expense of the owners, to a gunsmith for necessary repairs. It was decreed that every man, on the alarm, should be provided with "a good effective fire arm and bayonet." The Committees were directed to pro- ceed on a subscription plan, as in the case of obtaining provis- ions, and that a vessel be dispatched to the West Indies for the necessary munitions of war, and that upon their arrival they should be stored at the emergency store, in the woods, as were the provisions of sustenance, and there be under the care of the selectmen for distribution.
A military gnard of ten men "from sun-setting to sun- rising" was ordered, and an officer was appointed to give the people at "sun-setting" the parole, "which every person not being an inhabitant must return or be stopt till morning." Upon the appearance of an enemy the alarm was to be given by him who discovered them, under a penalty of thirty-nine stripes for negligence or disobedience. The signal was the firing of three guns, one minute apart, which was followed by the man on the next alarm post, "until it went round the town."
These alarm posts were fixed at the houses of Samuel Thompson, Jonathan Sawyer, Edward Emerson, Joseph Car- lisle, Samuel Bryer, John Montgomery and Samuel McCobb. Five parade grounds were established, and these were on the premises of Edward Emerson, Thomas Boyd, Joseph Lewis, Andrew McFarland and Patrick McKown. The orders, upon hearing an alarm, were that "every man repair with all speed to the parade next him with arms, ammunition and 2 days provisions and there wait the orders of his officers." The Committees were declared a council of war with powers of court-martial ; and in case of the appearance of the enemy "to demand a categorical answer as to their errand and intention ; and assure them that the inhabitants are determined to act only upon the defensive, and, unless they land, or anoy us they shall receve no anoyance from us."
In case a man refused to stand guard in his turn it was voted that "he shall pay 4 shillings, 1-2 to treat the Company
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BOOTHBAY IN THE REVOLUTION.
and the rest to the man who stands, or receive 10 stripes upon his naked back."
There is ample reason to suppose these provisions were carried out. The hiding place for local shipping was invari- ably in Campbell's Cove. Let any reader stand upon that dam and bridge and imagine it back in the state of nature, as it was in those days, and, however familiar he may be with the ins and outs of the Atlantic coast, he would be placed at his wits' end to find another retreat possessing equal advantages for the purpose to which this cove was at that time used. Becoming conversant with this fact, both by record and tradition, the author's curiosity was aroused as to where the "store in the woods" was located. It was most reasonable to suppose it might have been somewhere about Campbell's Cove. At last, in an interview with John M. Hodgdon, now (1905) living where he was born, in 1824, he tells of some old, tumble- down stone walls, laid up in mortar from field stone, partially squared, nearly three feet in thickness, which in his earliest remembrance he played about. They stood on the exact spot now occupied by the house of the late George B. Reed, nearly opposite the No. 8 schoolhouse, so-called. As he remembers the old ruins, enough of the walls was standing to indicate where the doors and windows had been, while he and his play- fellows found iron balls in and about the place, which were evidently six-pounders. When yet but a boy, most of the stones in the old walls were removed to be used for other pur- poses, but the impression, then received, that it was some kind of military garrison has never been eradicated. The reader will readily see that this was as near the center of population, as the settlement then existed, as could well be selected, and was located on high, dry soil, but a short distance from the shore of the cove, surrounded by a dense forest of old growth. There can be little question but that this was the location of the public store during the Revolution.
In Bristol a meeting was held on May 2d, at which it was voted to pull down the old fort, which action immediately fol- lowed, the inhabitants believing it was a menace to them, inasmuch as it invited an attack from the British men-of-war then ranging the coast, and might, in case of capture, serve as
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
a supply station for the enemy. The towns in this vicinity, then but a few years from incorporation, commenced that year (1775), though the Declaration of Independence had not been written, to drop the custom of calling their town meetings in the name of His Majesty, and, instead, issued their warrants "to the legal voters of the town," in the name of the Conti- nental Congress.
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