USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 27
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 27
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
During the next few months following the fire of 1886 much information was sought and obtained by the citizens of the town interested in a water supply. A charter was granted to the Boothbay Water Company, by the Legislature, Feb- ruary 23, 1887. At the annual town meeting the following was offered :
ARTICLE 38. To see if the town will vote to appoint a committee of three and authorize them to contract with the Boothbay Water Company for the use of twenty hydrants at Boothbay Center and Boothbay, for fire purposes, at a yearly rental not to exceed $1,200 and exemption from taxation.
The meeting voted to dismiss this article by a considerable majority. Several citizens at the Harbor then commenced trying to make converts and the other parts of the town were generally visited and the inhabitants interviewed. Later, upon a petition of ten citizens, all residents of Boothbay Center, a meeting was called for May 28, 1887. At that meeting was offered :
ARTICLE 3. To see if the town will appoint a committee of three to contract with the Boothbay Water Company for a supply of water for fire and municipal purposes, not less than twenty hydrants and two drinking fountains, for a term of twenty-five years, at an annual charge not exceeding $1,200 and exemption from taxation.
Under this article the following motion was made by Thomas Boyd :
"That we appoint a committee of three, and we hereby authorize them to contract for the use of not less than twenty hydrants for fire purposes, and water for two drinking foun- tains, for the term of twenty-five years, at a yearly rental not to exceed $1,200 and a further sum equal to the amount of taxes assessed on said company's property by the town."
319
DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
The check list was used and this motion was adopted by a vote of 224 to 162. On a further motion by K. H. Richards the committee was composed of A. R. Nickerson, D. H. Moody and Thomas Boyd. The charter of the Boothbay Water Com- pany having been assigned, a contract1 was executed by the committee of the town with the company, Henry A. Hancox, president, on December 12, 1887. The selectmen made sev- eral criticisms in relation to the provisions of the contract, and claimed that the committee had exceeded its authority. The chief object of attack was the following provision :
"At the expiration of this contract it is mutually agreed that the same shall continue in force upon the terms, conditions and stipulations herein provided (except the annual rental) for a second term of twenty-five years, to begin at the expiration of this contract."
A lengthy provision followed this item in the contract, relating to arbitration methods of adjustment of rental, in the event of failure on the part of the town and the company to agree for the second term. While there were those in the town who opposed the introduction of water, on the ground of expense, in a stronger manner than the board of selectmen, and, on the other hand, there were more zealous advocates for its introduction, regardless of the equities, than the committee, yet the battle was on between the selectmen and the water committee, from the fact that they were figureheads. The committee contended that, even though they had exceeded their authority in the provision of the contract which was objected to, still it was an advantageous provision for the town, and was inserted because they deemed it so. They, however, offered to have the entire article stricken from the contract, if the select- men would make a written request to that effect and a further statement that, otherwise than this clause, they felt no reason for objection. This the selectmen refused to do. In an agree- ment reached April 16, 1888, the committee and the president of the water company proposed to except this part of the con- tract, and let it be brought before the town for independent action, as to acceptance or rejection, when the report of the
1. The contract with Hancox contemplated taking the water supply from Lewis Pond.
320
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
committee would be laid before the town. This was not satis- factory, and though counsel advised that the contract, otherwise than this clause, was within the scope of the authority conferred by the town upon its committee, and that this clause was easily separated from the remainder of the contract, it had no effect to bring the opposing factions together. On April 23, 1888, sixteen petitioners, ten of them living at East Boothbay and six at North Boothbay, petitioned for a meeting, setting forth the following cause for this action :
"To see if the town will vote to instruct the selectmen to protect the interest of the town against the illegal contract that has been made by the committee that was elected by the town at a special meeting May 28, 1887, to contract with the Booth- bay Water Company, and authorize them to have an injunction served upon any company that may undertake to put in a water plant where the town may be liable."
Just previous to this petition being presented to the select- men they had taken connsel, as to action, of Hon. J. W. Symonds, Portland. The warrant proceeding carried embodied in it the language of the petitioners, as above quoted, verbatim. At the meeting, on motion of Thomas Boyd that the petitioners be requested to present the authority for the alleged illegality of the water contract, it was moved and carried that Thomas Boyd and John E. Kelley be a committee to take all the evi- dence and papers relating to the contract made with the Booth- bay Water Company and lay it before a justice of the Supreme Court, and that his decision should be final for the town as to the legality of the said contract. By motion, John R. McDou- gall, Edward E. Race and Alonzo R. Nickerson were added to this committee. The matter, in its entirety, was laid before Judge Danforth. In his opinion he stated that the committee transcended their anthority in respect to the clause already referred to, but intimated that that was separable from the main contract. While matters were thus standing the con- tractor, Hancox, through some financial reason, announced that he could proceed no farther with his work. Judge Danforth informed the committee that they still had power to contract, if a satisfactory party could be found to take the charter, under the former vote. It had, by this time, become evident that no
321
DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
company could be obtained to put in a water plant for an annual rental of $1,200, and a town meeting was called for July 14, 1888, the principal article in the warrant being to see if the town would vote to raise an additional sum for hydrant rental over and above the $1,200 which had been previously appro- priated. The article was dismissed. The report of the com- mittee was heard and they were dismissed from further service, and an additional vote was passed
"That it is inexpedient at present to construct a system of water works."
No further action was had for several months. Through fear of defeat, the interested element for a water system in town had been too modest to ask for an appropriation for rental which was sufficiently large to attract parties of a desirable nature, commanding the necessary capital. The only party who would attempt it was incapable, financially, to carry it out, and thus embarrassed, at a time when public feeling had become excited, there was but one course to take and that was to obtain a larger appropriation. This was a useless effort, and the action of the meeting showed a considerable majority favoring the opposition. Later in the season a company was found, a contract drawn by the committee, and a proposition was in readiness to be laid before the citizens of the town. The selectmen were petitioned by twenty legal voters to call a meeting, but refused. A petition with thirty signatures was presented to G. B. Kenniston, a justice of the peace, and he called a meeting, to be held November 13, 1888, the business article of the warrant being : 1
"To determine whether the town will ratify the contract with the Boothbay Water Company, dated October 9, 1888, and executed on the part of the town by A. R. Nickerson, D. H. Moody and Thomas Boyd, Committee."
At the meeting the selectmen entered a protest against the legality of the meeting which was attempted to be held at that time, under the call of G. B. Kenniston, as justice of the peace,
1. The school district system was at that date in operation, and school district No. 1, constituted by the Harbor village, had passed a vote before the date of this meeting to contribute annually $200 to the support of a water system. The contract now offered the town was at a rental of $1,400 annually, and this amount of $200 was voted that the town might not be asked for a sum greater than that for which they had once voted in the affirmative.
322
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
stating that no legal notice had been given, and that there had been no unreasonable refusal on the part of the selectmen. A motion was then offered as follows, and carried by fully a two-thirds vote :
" That the instrument purporting to be a contract with the Bootlibay Water Company, dated October 9, 1888, and signed by A. R. Nickerson, D. H. Moody and Thomas Boyd, as the committee of the town, be rejected for the reason that said committee had no authority to act for the town, and that the town does not deem it expedient to make any contract for the supply of water, as contemplated in said contract, at this time. That said pretended committee had no authority to act for said town, and that any authority conferred on said committee has long since terminated."
This was the last act in the last town meeting held in Boothbay before division.
Town division was openly and almost universally talked by the Harbor element immediately upon adjournment. About the streets of the Harbor and in the stores and other places for congregating, no other topic was discussed that evening. The feeling appeared well-nigh universal. It was not a spirit of bravado, or spite, or prejudice, though feelings of resentment ran high at what they termed unjust treatment ; it was a feel- ing that a thing which no one of choice would do must be done as an act of self-preservation. By eight o'clock on the morn- ing of November 14th, which followed that meeting, Capt. Gilman P. Hodgdon, residing at the Harbor, who was born on Hodgdon's Island and had always, until then recently, lived at North Boothbay, and whose family relations were principally in that part of the town, appeared with a carefully drawn paper for subscriptions to aid in supporting a movement for the division of the town before the coming session of the Legisla- ture. Long before nightfall the Captain had practically com- pleted his work. He did not have to solicit in many cases. Such was the feeling that he was solicited, instead, by the anxious citizens desiring their names as nearly at the head of the list as possible. An amount of about $1,400 was then obtained, and later, by the long trial before the Legislature making it necessary, this sum was augmented to a little more than $2,000. Only about six weeks were then left before the
323
DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
assembling of the body before which the contest was to come. An immense amount of essential work must be done to prepare the case. On the evening of November 14th the interested citizens of the Harbor met at the Skating Rink and discussed the situation. The outcome of the meeting was that a com- mittee of seven was selected from among the largest taxpayers and most influential citizens of the town to consider the sitna- tion and report the following evening to another meeting at the same place. This committee was composed of Moses R. White, Daniel W. Sawyer, Joseph Nickerson, Isaiah Lewis, Nathan S. Baker, Frank H. Crocker and Thomas Boyd.
A full meeting was assembled the next evening and the committee reported that they deemed it necessary to divide the work and let certain labors fall upon special committees, whose duties should consist of having absolute control of that which might be designated and placed with them to look after. They mentioned the committees and the duties that should devolve upon each in their report as follows : An Executive Commit- tee, whose duties should be to employ counsel, prepare evi- dence, statistics and otherwise have charge of the entire legal and legislative management, and attend personally at Augusta during all the time the matter was pending before the Legisla- ture; a Line Committee, whose duty it should be to forthwith employ surveyors and, after consulting the interests of the town and its citizens in the petitioning district, to forthwith run the line and have a chart of the town, indicating the pro- posed line, prepared for the use of the Executive Committee ; a Financial Committee, whose duty it should be to take charge of all the funds raised and pay such bills as were approved by the Executive Committee; and a fourth Committee on Peti- tions, whose duties were to circulate forthwith petitions to the Legislature, asking for a division of the town. The citizens unanimously adopted the report of their committee, and then attentively listened to further recommendations as to the con- stitution of those committees upon whose shoulders was to come the labor. The list presented was unanimously adopted as follows : Luther Maddocks, Alonzo R. Nickerson and Francis B. Greene for the Executive ; Moses R. White, Joseph Nickerson and Thomas Boyd for the Line; Joseph R. Ken-
324
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
niston, Keyes H. Richards and Sewall T. Maddocks for the Financial ; Charles J. Marr, Frank A. Baker and Joseph Mad- docks for the Petitions.
On November 21st Mr. White reported to a citizens' meet- ing, called for the purpose, the line which his committee had just finished and which, without deviation, is the line on which the fight was made and won. The Executive Committee had almost continuous labors. They employed Baker & Cornish, Augusta, as counsel for the petitioners, and public notice appeared in the Boothbay Register Saturday, November 24th, of intentions to present petitions to the next Legislature, ask- ing for a division of the town of Boothbay, signed by counsel. One performance of that memorable November deserves record- ing. Like all other years, it was a period of alternate frozen ground, mud and snow. The Executive Committee became sat- isfied that the remonstrants intended to make a point against the petitioners, if possible, on the excess of road which would fall upon the old town in case of division. It was decided to have every road and street in the entire town measured. Mr. Newell K. Merry, then residing at the Harbor, but previously and at present living in the northern part of the town, was employed. He did a laborious and accurate job, at an inclement season, by taking the circumference of one of his carriage wheels, adding an attachment that struck each revolution, then counting and recording the revolutions of that wheel on each street and road, from corner to corner, wherever intersected by another street or road, or by the proposed line of division. Evenings he devoted to figuring up his day's work, and in a surprisingly short time had his figures ready. There were shown to be about fifty miles of highway in the remonstrants' district and twenty-two in that of the petitioners. The excess, however, was more apparent than real, for the streets of the petitioning district had, upon an average, much more travel upon them than the other parts of the town, therefore requiring more expense to keep them in proper condition.
In addition to the other labor, town records were carefully searched, statistical tables were prepared and presented, some of the facts being that in 1887, when the water fight com- menced, the petitioners' district bore 55 1-2 per cent. of the
325
DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
town valuation and the remonstrants' 44 1-2 per cent. ; that in the valuation of 1888 an advance was made of $43,987, and that of this increase the petitioners' district bore 91 per cent. The Harbor village alone represented 46 per cent. of the total valuation of the town. The Committee on Petitions obtained 305 names. By the proposed line all of the town property, including townhouse and town farm, fell on the old town side. The expense of the poor had run for several years so that it was demonstrated that it was nearly equal in both parts of the town.
On December 19th the remonstrants held a mass meeting at the townhouse to take into consideration the legal action toward a division then in progress with the petitioners. Sev- eral citizens addressed the meeting and a universal opposition to any division appeared. One prominent business man from East Boothbay and a lifelong resident of that locality, expressed himself in candor that, while he was opposed to a division of the town, yet, if the Harbor must have water, he preferred a division to helping them pay for it. He no doubt voiced the inner sentiment of many on his side, and, when analyzed, was not very far from the Harbor view. They did not want division, but they wanted water, and when it came to choosing chose water rather than union, and took the ground that if the town, as a whole, was unwilling to incur the expense of putting in a system, then they were perfectly willing to incur that expense themselves, if they could be erected into a municipality by themselves. A remonstrance was drafted, and the meeting decided to choose a committee to circulate copies of it for sig- natures throughout all parts of the town. The committee con- sisted of David Reed, North Boothbay ; Byron Giles, Center ; A. S. Meserve, East Boothbay ; James E. Beath, No. 12; Edson Giles, Barter's Island ; Freeman Boynton, Harbor. An Executive Committee was chosen, with duties of a similar scope and nature as those of the petitioners' committee, and consisted of John E. Kelley, John R. McDougall and Freeman Boynton. The remonstrants obtained 567 signatures, 137 of which came from the petitioners' district. A fund was raised for the defense and True P. Pierce, Esq., Rockland, was engaged as counsel. Mr. Race, who was chairman of the board of selectmen that year, and led the opposition in the
326
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
contest against the introduction of water, was the Republican candidate for representative to the Legislature. Party lines were mostly obliterated in the case of this candidate, and he ran somewhat ahead of his ticket. It had been suspected by the opposition that division of the town might be attempted as a final resort, and, therefore, it became an issue over this can- didate, the vote being largely governed by the locality of the voter, and politics cutting a slight figure. Mr. Race was a Republican and from his stand on this issue went easily into the place.
The petition for division was presented by Mr. Race among the earliest matters offered, the remonstrance immediately fol- lowing, and both, by motion, were referred to the Committee on Towns. Several public hearings were given the matter by the committee, and, as it was the most interesting subject before that session of the Legislature, the attendance was so great that Representatives' Hall was used instead of the committee room. The evening in which the final arguments were made even standing room was not obtainable and many were turned away through inability to obtain a chance to hear them. The first witness called to the stand was F. B. Greene, whose testimony was devoted to statistics and facts gathered from the records, and to the existing valuation in all its details, this part of the preliminary work having been performed by him, showing that while the petitioning district had nearly two-thirds of the entire valuation of the town, it had not more than forty per cent. of the voters to depend upon when any matters of sectional interest appeared. One point in this tes- timony covered the financial importance of the 137 persons who resided in the petitioning district whose names appeared on the remonstrance. Many of them had no real estate, fifty- eight paying only a poll tax; ninety-five owned no personal property, and the total real estate, according to the existing valuation, of these remonstrants amounted to only $15,529. Luther Maddocks was next called, and his testimony covered the growth of the village, a sketch of its industrial history, the increase of insurance rates in general and in individual instances, the diversity of business interests in various parts of the town and the amount of labor employed, and other
327
DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
industrial facts. A. R. Nickerson followed, the burden of his testimony being the struggle for a water system, the confer- ences with the selectmen, and all that related to that part of the subject. In this he was corroborated by Thomas Boyd and D. H. Moody. Other important witnesses were Moses R. White, George B. Kenniston, Charles E. Kendrick, Norris H. Hussey, James C. Poole, Nathan S. Baker, John K. Corey, Isaiah Lewis, Joseph R. Kenniston, Keyes H. Richards, J. Edward Knight and William E. Reed. Messrs. Corey and Reed were residents of the remonstrants' district, who refused to sign either petition or remonstrance, on the ground that they could not, from sentiment, petition for division, and would not remonstrate against it, as they believed in the neces- sity of the improvements asked for, and deemed it an impossi- bility for the Harbor to obtain them as the town was then constituted.
The effort of the remonstrants was to controvert the grounds of the petitioners' action successfully. To this end they introduced as their principal witnesses Edward E. Race, John E. Kelley, John R. McDougall, Freeman Boynton, W. C. Clisby, W. G. Lewis, Hermon Hartung, Byron Giles and Dr. L. J. Crooker, the last named being an Augusta physician.
Mr. Pierce, attorney for the remonstrants, conducted his case in an unreal and erratic manner, showing himself deficient in his knowledge of human nature and lacking a proper appre- ciation of the impression his defense would produce upon the minds of the legislators. From first to last he tried to produce the impression that the remonstrants were as favorable to the introduction of water as the petitioners, but that they were not satisfied with the conditions. By innuendo he continually sought to impress the committee that some fraud or irregularity had been attempted by some one, but never established a point in this direction, nor did he try to do so ; he seemed perfectly satisfied to have his vaporings end in a simple blank abstrac- tion. Several prominent remonstrants were not called to the stand, and expressed themselves as dissatisfied with the unreal presentation of their case.
The Legislative committee reported evenly, five for and five against division. The case was then carried into the
328
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
House, and after due debate the bill was passed by a vote of 106 to 35. In the Senate the remonstrants had a great advan- tage to commence with. Influential residents of the city of Portland owned property in Boothbay and at once took strong issue against division, and, besides, Hon. Charles F. Libby, one of the Cumberland senators, was member of the legal firm of Symonds & Libby, who had been counsel for the selectmen through all the long preliminary struggle. It was evident, from the outset, that the petitioners must look elsewhere than Cumberland for support in either House or Senate. However, the Senate voted 15 to 12 for the bill. Governor Burleigh signed the act of incorporation February 16, 1889, and the new town of Boothbay Harbor was ushered into existence.
From observation based on participating action in many stages of that contest, at this distance of time, it is the author's unprejudiced impression that, as feeling throughout town pre- vailed in 1888, a vote of support for the introduction of water at the village of Boothbay Harbor could never have been obtained. It may be urged that one was obtained. In that one the Harbor was fully represented despite the inclement weather which prevailed, while many voters, living several miles from the townhouse, did not venture to attend. Senti- ment outside of the particular section to be beneficially affected was very largely in opposition to the movement. The grounds of opposition taken were the natural ones of taxation and expense. Jealousy of growth and improvement at the Harbor, on the part of the outlying districts, though in the heat of feeling sometimes appearing as an accusation in those days, had not, in the author's opinion, any foundation in fact.
The only proposition presented to the town was one of contracting with a water company and paying a stipulated sum for the hydrant rental, or public service. This public service only extended to directly benefit a small area, though it repre- sented a considerable part of the total valuation. The indirect advantages, that the other sections would have participated in to some extent and which actually existed, were hard and intri- cate of explanation, as they always are, and were as well left unmentioned. Private water takers, regardless of amount of income, could never reduce the annual rental during the life
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.