USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 28
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 28
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 28
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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
JOSEPH ROSS KENNISTON.
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DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
of the contract. The proposition was simply one of tax. A mere handful of Harbor citizens felt this and, consulting among themselves, often expressed the opinion that the proper course was for the town to put in its own system, selling such an amount of bonds as might be necessary, and against the costs of running the system and interest on the bonds put the income, which these men believed would, in a few years, cover all expenses and afford free public use. But debt is shunned like a leper by many, and often justly so, therefore this plan, meeting slight favor when quietly suggested, was never openly advocated until after the incorporation of the new town. At the present this has been accomplished. If, in 1888, the citi- zens of Boothbay could have been convinced that this result was a possibility a vote for the introduction of water would have been easy.
The most strenuous opposition came from East Boothbay, which was the second largest aggregation of buildings, busi- ness and valuation within the town. It might be said with candor that there was no improvement which the Harbor could ask for that East Boothbay might not ask for with equal reason. Their insurance rates were high and their condition equally as hazardous as that of the Harbor. They were unwilling to be subjected to taxation to lift the Harbor from a slough they were themselves in and unable of extrication. They, naturally, could not become reconciled to a taxation which would give the Harbor exactly such improvements as they desired for themselves and were unable to obtain.
With the ameliorating effect of time friends, now, who were partisans then, can look back on those stormy days and, imagining their positions transposed, easily find justification for the action then taken on either side. The division of the old Boothbay territory into three towns, practically, is only municipal - that local requirements may find local prescription ; the unity in all business, social and family relations is as strong as ever, and, in a sense, stronger; for now a local want, in whichever town it may occur, at most can only engender a dif- ference of opinion over a part of the old territory, while then it bred dissension over the whole, because of opposition in all parts not directly affected beneficially.
22
330
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
The act of division and incorporation divided the net liabil- ities of Boothbay between the two towns in proportion to the valuation of 1888. Taxes due were paid to Boothbay and all money in the treasury was to be applied to the purpose for which it was raised. All public property except Lewis Park, which became the property of Boothbay Harbor, went to Boothbay. It included townhouse and lot, town farm, hearse house and lot, soldiers' monument, town common, hearse, road machine and other property.
Under the provisions of the act the meeting of organization in Boothbay Harbor was called by George B. Kenniston, as justice of the peace, issuing his warrant to Newell K. Merry, a legal voter of the town. It was called on February 22, 1889, for March 4th following, and, therefore, fell on the date of the inauguration of President Harrison. The adjustment of mat- ters of settlement between the two towns was by the board of selectmen representing Boothbay, consisting of Edward E. Race, John E. Kelley and Wesley Pinkham, and a special committee chosen by the Harbor, consisting of Alonzo R. Nickerson and Sewall T. Maddocks. Estates divided by the line were adjusted in valuation. The joint committee pre- sented the following summary :
Real Estate in Boothbay Harbor, $461,803.00 Personal Estate in Boothbay Harbor, 167,678.00
$629,481.00
Real Estate in Boothbay,
$392,042.00
Personal Estate in Boothbay, 76,867.00
468,909.00
Total valuation of both towns,
$1,098,390.00
The total net liabilities of Boothbay had been $9,175.00, and of this Boothbay Harbor assumed $5,258.19 and Boothbay $3,916.81.
The appropriation of Boothbay Harbor for 1889, its first year of existence, amounted to $8,135.00, of which $2,000.00 was for town schools, $250.00 for free high schools, $700.00 for town officers, $1,000.00 for roads, bridges and walks, $1,000.00 for support of poor, $370.00 for night watchman,
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DIVISION OF BOOTHBAY.
and several special appropriations including a railroad sur- vey, hearse and road machine. The total commitment was $10,192.80 ; the April valuation footed $638,057.00 and the rate of taxation was .014 on a dollar.1
1. General references may consistently be given relative to this chapter: Town records of Boothbay, 1888-89; town records of Boothbay Harbor, 1889; the Journals of the Maine House and Senate, session of 1889; the Daily Kennebec Journal for Legis- lative session of 1889, and the files of the Boothbay Register for 1888-89.
CHAPTER XIX. MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
W HEN the present dam was built at the outlet of Echo Lake an old one was discovered. An interview with the late Mrs. Mary Sproul elicited the fact that she had heard in her early days, in her father's family, that the Dunbar immigrants built a mill there. It was understood by her to have been a mill for the grinding of grain and not for the sawing of lumber. Probably one for the latter purpose never stood there. Unquestionably this was the first attempt at milling in the locality. It is also probable that the second mill was erected at Mill Cove by Andrew Reed and his sons. It is unlikely that this occurred earlier than 1749, and may not have been until a few years later. The settlement of Andrew Reed dates from 1743, but the Indian War soon fol- lowing drove the Townsend settlers from their homes quite a part of the time from 1745 to 1749. Upon the return of the settlers from the westward in the latter year, though often harassed afterward by the Indians, a permanency of settlement endured. Frame houses almost immediately followed, and Andrew Reed built the first one in the plantation near where the barn stands on the premises of the late James F. Hodgdon. The Reed mill was operated, at times, by both Capt. Joseph Reed, who later became owner, and his brother, Capt. David, probably as lessee, who traded at West Harbor.
Nearly, perhaps quite, as soon as the Reed mill was erected, another was built on the brook at the head of Campbell's Cove by John Beath. The privilege and the land in the vicinity, including McCobb's Hill, belonged to him. His mill was for lumber only. It stood where the road runs now, and the road, which was a mere bridle path, ran then over the hill near where the McCobb house stands. Then the waters of the cove washed the ledges at the base of the hill. A house for the mill hands stood near where the present one does by the side of the brook. None of the Beath family ever lived there. They employed
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MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
some one to run the mill and that party usually lived in the house. The last man to live there was one Harris, who mys- teriously disappeared and no solution of the mystery was ever made. A landing was built at the head of the cove, southeast- erly from the mill, and about halfway from the old house to the landing was a brickyard, operated many years by the Bryer family. Small schooners were loaded there with both brick and lumber.
Where the mill of Dodge & Giles now stands, at the outlet of Adams Pond, was a saw and gristmill, built by Samuel Adams. It was in ruins in 1824, and at that time his sons, James and David, built a new one and in 1839 put in carding machinery. There had been previous to this a small mill for carding farther up the stream, nearly at the place where the Pinkham mill was built.
Nathaniel Pinkham married and purchased the mill privi- lege property in 1774. Subsequent to this, probably after the close of the Revolution, but sometime previous to the year 1800, he built a saw and gristmill at the mouth of the stream where Adams Pond empties into Back River. This became only a gristmill under his son, Isaac, who owned it for many years. Samuel Woodward was the last to own and operate it.
Soon after the Revolution a tide mill was built on Cape Newagen Island, at the dam on Nelson's mill pond, adjoining the Palgrave Maddocks property. Another tide mill was built at an early date on Sawyer's Island, but the owners are not known. It was north from the residence of Alonzo K. Hodg- don, and where it was located is still called the mill pond.
Benjamin Kelley, Sr., had a sawmill and near by it a brick- yard on what has always been known as the Kelley farm, on the brook that empties into Pleasant Cove. This was built somewhere between 1780 and 1790. The first mill at East Boothbay was known as the Murray mill and stood on the brook that empties into Linekin Bay near Paradise Point. It was built by James and Samuel Murray. Caleb Hodgdon set- tled at East Boothbay in 1826 and bought the mill privilege and the land northerly from it fronting on the Damariscotta. He at once built a mill and there has been one at the same place continuously since.
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
Of all the mills established at these early dates to accommo- date the primitive wants of the settlers, a few ruins, remnants of old dams, decaying piling or, perhaps, half sunken in the mud an old millstone is all that now greets the eye of the curi- ous, except on the two privileges at present utilized : Hodg- don's at East Boothbay and the one at the outlet of Adams Pond.
SHIPBUILDING.
For about three-quarters of a century shipbuilding has been a leading industry in Boothbay. At the earlier part of this period it was carried on to quite an extent about the Harbor ; some building was done at two places on Southport ; for many years one yard was in operation at North Boothbay, near the Pinkham mill ; but all these have given place to other under- takings, while at East Boothbay the business has steadily increased until it is the principal employment of the commu- nity. Several yards and boat shops there are continually busy, and among them nearly every kind of sailing craft is built. The principal work of the yards, however, is that of building coasters, fishing vessels and porgy steamers, while that of the shops is the production of pleasure craft, yachts and power launches.
The indications are that no attempt at building vessels was made until sometime after the year 1800. Previous to that time mention is often made of purchasing vessels in Boston, Salem, Newburyport and other places. Interviews with the oldest fishermen in the community disclose the fact that within their remembrance a larger part of the fishing vessels were built in Essex. The first firm to engage in the business of building and to conduct a regular shipyard was that composed of David R. and James Adams, brothers, and sons of Samuel Adams. They commenced business soon after 1800 and con- tinued until 1842. Their principal yard was east of the Pink- ham mill, on Back River waters, and in this one most of their work was done; but they commenced in a yard farther to the north, nearly due west from the residence of David Reed, then the home of the heirs of Ichabod Pinkham.
John McDougall succeeded to the business in the Adams yard and continued in it until 1853, when he changed his loca-
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MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
tion to East Boothbay, and business ended in the old yard. That this particular place should have been chosen for the work may at this time appear surprising ; but, doubtless, the condi- tions of the times influenced it. Two wars with England and threatened ruptures with other countries kept the inhabitants in continual alarm and produced extreme caution. No other point about this original town afforded both a suitable location for such work and absolute security from naval aggression.
No regular shipyard ever existed on Southport. Capt. Jonathan Pierce built several small fishing vessels at his fishing stand, now known as Marr's Harbor. J. & J. Maddocks built one, the Alaska, and this is believed to comprise all building done on that island. Stephen Sargent was the first builder at the Harbor. His yard was where the residence of the late Hermon Carlisle stands. He commenced in 1832, his first vessel being the Volante, square-sterned, of about forty tons. Stephen Sargent, Jr., built where M. D. Mckown lives. He built from 1850 to 1860, his work including both fishermen and square-rigged vessels. He built two barks, one of which was named the Windward, also the George W. Reed, the ill- fated C. G. Matthews and several others. He removed to Portland and continued in the business.
John W. Weymouth had a shipyard where the Eastern Steamship Company's landing is from 1850 to about 1860. It had formerly been the property of Col. Jacob Auld and after- ward became the property of Isaiah Lewis. Weymouth's first vessel was the brig Hesperus, built for Captain Chase, Edge- comb ; Captain Chase also had the brig Ada; the ship John G. Richardson was built for Capt. Benjamin Lewis, Portland, formerly of Boothbay ; schooner Silver Lake for Capt. Warren Reed, which was lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; schooner Nevada, built for Capt. William Harris, lost in the same place ; a bark, unnamed, was built for the Pattens of Bath.
Cyrus Mckown had a yard covering the sites of the stores of J. R. Kenniston and K. H. Richards & Co. from 1864 to 1870. There he built the E. K. Dresser for Capt. Leonard S. McClintock, the Old Chad, Annie Freeman, Annie Sargent and possibly others. Allen Lewis sometime between 1850-60 built the brig Ganeden. The last vessel built at the Harbor
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
was the Fred A. Emerson, a coasting schooner of 124 tons, in 1890, by M. D. Mckown. Charles Sargent between 1840-50 had a yard on the next lot north of where William M. Bennett lives, where he built several vessels.
About 1829 or 1830 Caleb Hodgdon commenced building vessels at Hodgdon's Mills. His first vessel was a banker, named The Union, for Joseph Farnham. Andrew Adams, at the age of twenty-one, in 1826, went to Hodgdon's Mills and engaged in the employment of Caleb Hodgdon. Three years later his brother William, then twenty-one, went there also, into the same employ. About 1833 to 1835, as copartners under the name of A. & W. Adams, they leased the Hodgdon yard and commenced building. Benjamin Reed went to East Boothbay in 1832. He built for some years in what is now known as the Adams yard, but previous to that Samuel Murray had built at the same place. To this yard John McDougall moved after closing business in 1853 at North Boothbay. He built one ship in 1854 and had another timbered when the financial panic crippled his work. He was succeeded by his brother James, who built at Race's Point and who later asso- ciated himself with William Seavey, the firm being Seavey & McDougall ; the work being afterward conducted at the Seavey yard, where some ten or twelve vessels were built.
During the Civil War and for some time after the sons of Caleb Hodgdon, under the style of C. & J. P. Hodgdon & Co., conducted a general shipbuilding business in the old shipyard. After about ten years John Hodgdon withdrew from the firm and Caleb, Jr., and George divided the business, the former taking the mill and the latter the yard. This same arrange- ment continues, except that the sons of George Hodgdon carry on the building business under the firm name of C. E. & W. A. Hodgdon, while the mill is conducted by C. Hodgdon & Sons. Charles Murray built vessels at one time on Race's Point. Jacob G. Fuller built at his yard, at the head of Linekin Bay, for many years and until shortly before his decease, which occurred in 1899.
After John McDougall went out of business in the Reed yard, in 1854, Andrew and William Adams soon engaged in business there, succeeded, after the decease of the senior mem-
337
MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
ber, by William Adams & Son, the latter being W. Irving Adams, who now, with his son, Frank C. Adams, conducts the business as W. I. Adams & Son. This firm, in extent of building, has exceeded all others in the locality, having, on July 24, 1904, celebrated the launching of their one hundredth vessel, and now (March, 1905,) have launched the 105th, with the 106th contract completed ; the largest vessel ever built by the firm being the four master, Eleanor F. Bartram, for Capt. Benjamin E. Pinkham, Boothbay Harbor.
The firm of Rice Brothers commenced building yachts at East Boothbay in December, 1894, the individual members being Frank L., William E. and Henry W., sons of George M. and Elizabeth Rice. The business was incorporated in November, 1903, as Rice Brothers Company. At first only two or three workmen were employed, but now an average of about twelve, though as many as thirty at some seasons have constituted the working force. The business has been largely confined to building a high-grade class of pleasure boats, the largest of which was the Constance, for W. A. Gardner, Groton, Mass., an auxiliary schooner and the largest sailing yacht built in Maine up to the present time. C. E. & W. A. Hodgdon, also D. & E. A. Race and Freeman Murray are building, in part, a line of pleasure craft.
The distance to which the popularity of East Boothbay- built sea craft extends is of itself a business capital. From the first good vessels were built and with them good reputa- tions established. While it is a lamentable fact that shipbuild- ing has been in a decadent condition for several years, and many busy business points of the past are now presenting but a waste of ruins,-sad reminders of past thrift and industry,- this village has grown gradually in the business, until at the present more capital and labor are employed than at any pre- vious period.
Several boat shops have been started in the past few years, including Reed & Adams, the Mckown Coal Company and Eliphalet Tibbetts, Boothbay Harbor, and Charles S. Gray, E. L. Decker and Everett Clifford on Southport, where row, sail and power boats are built to order.
338
HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
STORES.
The earliest stores in Boothbay would hardly be entitled to the name at the present day either as to stock carried or inter- nal fixtures. The former consisted almost entirely of dry goods in the web or groceries and other articles in bulk ; the latter of a set of measures, a yardstick and steelyards. No package goods were to be obtained and few manufactured or ready-made articles were kept for sale. The line of stock appearing in old ledger accounts is probably a fair indication of what was kept in the average store of the times. In Chapter XIII the reader has noted a list of prohibited articles which it is safe to assume were not kept between 1775 and 1783, at least, and it is unlikely that they were in much demand for many years after.
The list obtained from old accounts comprises pilot bread, flour, meal, brown and loaf sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, rum, molasses, tobacco, salt, vinegar, crackers, dried fish, allspice, pepper, beef, pork, lard, veal, tallow candles, lamp oil, brooms, sole and upper leather (sold generally by the side), raven's- duck, cambric, calico, linen and homespun cloth, handkerchiefs, leather breeches, shoes, scissors, nails, knitting needles, wool cards, files, cordage, axes, earthenware, powder, shot, lead, flints, brick, boards, shingles and other lumber. The articles taken in exchange and marketed at Boston, Salem or some other point in New England, or the West Indies, were masts, hemlock bark, cord wood, hides, skins, furs, dried fish, wool, woolen stockings and lumber of all kinds.
The earliest names that can be connected with trade are those found in the first volume of Lincoln County Commission- ers' Records, in 1761, being those parties recorded as paying the British tea and coffee tax. The parties doing this from Townsend were David Reed, who lived where Albert N. Reed does, at West Boothbay Harbor ; John McCobb, living where his great-grandson, Willard H. McCobb, now lives ; Andrew Reed, Jr. (afterward Colonel), who lived on his father's home- stead at Mill Cove; Andrew McFarland, whose house sat a little to the eastward of that now owned by S. S. Lewis, on Church Square; Ephraim McFarland, who lived where Dennis
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MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
S. Wylie does, but had his store about opposite to the entrance to the Leishman place, near the house of George W. Dolloff. This last store was thus located on account of the way the road then ran and for the reason that a considerable settlement existed along the easterly side of Echo Lake, and northerly by Leishman's, Daws', Beath's, Holton's and others. This store probably ceased to exist before 1780, for a reference in Andrew McFarland's will, made that year, would indicate that his brother Ephraim had died previously. Benjamin, son of Ephraim, succeeded to the homestead, but it is not certain that he did to the store.
The next clue to early traders is obtained from David Reed's ledger, 1773 to 1789, which at once disposes of John McCobb's and Col. Andrew Reed's stores, for they are found trading at Captain David's. During this entire period no item of account appears against the McFarlands, which is strongly presumptive that they had a store of their own. Capt. David Reed did the largest business of any one for many miles along the coast. His ledger shows numerous accounts running from £50 to £150 to the side at settlement, and included such persons and places within his patronage as the Thompsons and Pierces from Cape Newagen Island ; the Burnhams, Kennedys and Kelleys from Pleasant Cove ; the Gileses, Pinkhams, Stovers, Lamsons and Hutchingses from Dover and North Boothbay ; the Matthewses and Lewises from Back River; the Linekins from the Neck ; the Knightses and Wheelers from Damariscove, and the Bar- ters from their island, besides all the old familiar names about the Harbor and Center. The names of many from Georgetown, Westport and Bristol, besides several captains of coasters, far to both eastward and westward, are found among his patrons. His store was the only one that contained so large a list of articles as appears in the foregoing enumeration. He ran his own coasters to Boston, Salem, Newburyport and the West Indies, and operated the saw and gristmill at Mill Cove. To indicate the extent of business he did in cord wood, one of the leading commodities of shipment from here in those times, one page of his ledger shows a running account for wharfage with one Thomas Moore, Boston, from 1784 to 1788, amounting to £944 7s. 3d. His ledger presents at this date (1905) a well-
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
preserved appearance, having been kept in fine penmanship. It is in the hand of Thomas Boyd, who as a young man came from Pemaquid to clerk in the store and remained several years. He married Catherine Wylie, a sister to David Reed's wife, which influenced his desire to settle in Boothbay, which he did soon after marriage. The store and landing of this establish- ment were easterly from the house of Albert N. Reed, where the ruins of an old landing appear.
To return to the McFarlands. Capt. Andrew died in 1780. Andrew, Jr., his oldest son, was then twenty-three years of age, while John Murray, his youngest, was but thirteen. Some years before attaining his majority the latter took the store. It had been at the residence of his father, but John M. now purchased the store in which his Uncle Ephraim had traded, and in a part of which Daniel Rose, afterward the prominent Boothbay physician, had taught school, and moved it to about the spot now occupied by John F. Mosher's cooper shop. There he traded from about 1787 to 1796, when he purchased the land since known as McFarland's Point; the eastern part from Amasa and Artemas Piper and the western part from his brother-in-law, William Maxwell Reed. He erected a fishing stand where William M. Sawyer's place of business is and a store at the shore, easterly from T. L. Montgomery's store. In this store the post office was first kept, from 1805 to 1811.
For some years the only stores of consequence in town were those of Capt. David Reed and John M. McFarland. Reed's business ceased with his death, in 1803, while McFar- land's continued many years after his death, which occurred in 1831, conducted by his sons.
We will now take up another thread in the narrative. John McCobb, who was a trader in 1761, had a son, Joseph, who was seventeen years of age in 1797. For this son he purchased the old McFarland store at the head of the Harbor, then vacant, and moved it a second time, locating it on the shore just north of the western end of the footbridge, and in it Joseph started in trade. There he continued until his death, in 1825, a greater part of the time as the firm of McCobb & Auld ; the latter being Col. Jacob Auld, who commenced trade about 1800 in the building now the stable of James B. Kenney and on its present
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MILLS, SHIPBUILDING, STORES AND HOTELS.
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