USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay Harbor > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 38
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Southport > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 38
USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > History of Boothbay, Southport and Boothbay Harbor, Maine. 1623-1905. With family genealogies > Part 38
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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
VI. A "ROLLING."
It was a former custom after launching a new vessel to " roll" her, for the purpose of clearing the bottom of any chance tim- bers from the ways that might be sticking or clinging to her. In 1851, when the schooner G. W. Reed was launched from Stephen Sargent's yard, which, by the way, was where M. D. Mckown's yard has been in more recent years, some two hun- dred or more were launched in her. No sooner was she fairly in the water than the "rolling" was commenced, which was done by the entire company aboard running in concert from one side of the vessel to the other. The weight of the green spars and
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
the unusual number aboard produced too great a motion and she capsized, spilling the greater number of those aboard into the water. A few were so situated that they caught hold of some- thing about the vessel and clung on until rescued ; but for a few moments the work of the rescuers was directed to those in the water. The late John Durant barely escaped drowning by getting entangled in some way in the vessel. Several others were in long enough to impress them that they were in a haz- ardous position. The vessel itself was practically condemned for a fisherman, and the entire crew that intended to go to the Banks in her changed and went in the C. G. Matthews, that ill-fated schooner that went down in Bay St. Lawrence the fol- lowing October with all on board, being this same crew that feared the little schooner's seaworthiness; while the G. W. Reed, with another crew, rode out the same storm in the same locality with no loss and little injury.
VII. STORY OF THE WATERWITCH.
On Friday, May 17, 1878, Capt. Freeman H. Mckown left his schooner, the Waterwitch, about six tons, with the jib to windward, foresheet halfway off, mainsheet one point off, tiller lashed halfway down, to set his trawls. It was a dead calm and he did not expect to be away more than fifteen minutes. No thought of risk or danger in his act dawned upon him. A northwest breeze suddenly sprang up, and, when ready to go on board, the little schooner could not be overhauled. For six miles they chased her in a dory, rowing with might and main, once getting within a few rods of her; then, fatigued, Captain Mckown and his men gave up the chase themselves and got Captain Hodgdon to take up the pursuit in his caraway boat. She was pursued fifteen miles outside of Monhegan, when, darkness coming on and the lead having been increased to about six miles, by estimate, Captain Hodgdon also gave up the chase. On May 20th, at about four o'clock P. M., this freaky little Waterwitch was picked up by a Cape Cod fisherman some thirty miles E. S. E. of Boone Island.
This occurrence furnished the material for the poem by Elizabeth Akers which appeared in the holiday number of
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
Scribner's, December, 1887, entitled "The Waterwitch." The author has thought fit to here insert this poem in full, for sev- eral reasons, among which may be mentioned the classic beauty of the poem based upon this incident, the well-known admira- tion of the authoress for the Boothbay region as a summer resort, and, not least, the exhibition of what poetic license may do that its product may have the necessary qualities of finish and romance. It might be mentioned that this occurrence antedated by several years the time when Captain Mckown became a benedict.
THE WATERWITCH. By Elizabeth Akers. From the dingy wharves of old Boothbay A lounging sailor roared- "Ho, Captain Mckown ! hooray ! hooray ! The Waterwitch has sailed away With never a soul on board !"
Sure enough ! he had truly said, Else never a truth spake he ; With her anchor weighed and her sails all spread, With all things shipshape and orderly, And her pennant fluttering straight ahead, She was standing out to sea ! Scudding into the boundless blue, With never a captain, or mate, or crew !
The breeze had whispered a wooing word To the crank impatient craft ; She felt her wings like a new-fledged bird- Her slow roll changed to a sudden pitch, And, stretching her canvas every stitch, Away went the tricksy Waterwitch With the warlock wind abaft !
Where was her captain, all this time ? The skipper, proud of his grizzled prime - Ready and rugged Captain Mckown- Sturdiest tar in the salt old town, With hands like leather, and face burned brown By sea-fog, aud wind, and sun ? With his rolling gait and his sinewy form And voice like a distant thunder-storm Ere the tempest has begun ?
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
Wherever he was, how sank his heart, How leaped his pulse with a sickening start, When the startled sailor roared ---- And every wharf-rat joined the shout, And every loiterer round about - "The Waterwitch has started out With never a soul aboard !"
Alas, for trusting the treacherous deep ! All day the ocean had seemed asleep ; No gentlest breath of a zephyr stirred - Not even the wing of a passing bird Had dimpled the level main. And the confident captain, quite at ease, Seeing no sign of the wished-for breeze, And little guessing what Furies fell Fate was sending along his track, Stepped serenely on shore again, And tarried a moment to say farewell - Alack-a-day ! alack !
Into his dory like light he flew, Taking two of his trusty crew. "Come !" bawled desperate Captain Mckown, In a voice that shook the sleepy town- "Stand to your oars with might and main ! Row, if you never row again ! If you can capture the Waterwitch - One of you fellows, I don't care which- Though he be as poor as a meadow-crane, (And I've always sworn she should marry rich)- Shall have my daughter Jane !"
Roused by the unexpected spur- For each had secretly sighed for her- They never questioned nor made demur, Nor paused for a jealous thrill - No time for rivals to fume and frown- And the two bluff sailors, brave and brown, Possible husbands of Jane Mckown, Bent to the oars with a will ; But every moment the wide, bright reach Between their boat and the Waterwitch Grew broader, broader still !
Vainly they pulled, and puffed, and swore ; Vainly did streams of sweat down pour
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
From straining shoulder and bending back - Limbs might labor and sinews crack, But, pausing neither to veer or tack, The wild Witch mocked at their white-oak breeze, As, dancing and dipping with graceful ease, She scudded along her foamy track, And gained on the dory more and more- Alack-a-day ! alack !
Merrily bowled the truant craft ; Free as a soul that has never sinned, She sped straight on ahead of the wind - Her taut sails never a wrinkle stirred ; The breeze and billows sang and laughed, And her wroth pursuers heard, As she flew along like a frigate-bird And left them far abaft. Without a shudder of straining sail Did the runaway vessel ride, Urged by the freshening of the gale, And helped by the treacherous tide. Afar from Boothbay's rocks and sand, Out of sight of the gazing land, Straight southeast did the vessel fly, Into the mist 'twixt wave and sky ; And long ere baffled Captain Mckown, Drenched and weary pulled back to town- Too tired for rage and too wroth for speech - His vessel was out of human reach, With only her topsails, faint and dim, Above the horizon's rim.
Gone forever ! and who shall tell Where she wandered and what befell, Sooner or later the runaway, Restless rover from far Boothbay ? Did the ghosts of sailors long ago Drowned in the salty depths below Gather again their wave-bleached bones From the greedy locker of Davy Jones, And, climbing her side at dead of night, Pallid and awful, a grewsome sight, Spring to their places and shout, "Ay ! ay !' To a spectral captain's trumpet-cry, And pull at the ropes, a ghastly row, With a mocking chorus of, "Yo ! heave, ho !" Till the wild waves howled in fright?
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
And when, dismantled by storm and shock, And the lightning's bolt and the whirlwind's force, She plunged and drove toward a fatal rock, Staggering blindly along her course, Did the petrel, wraith of the raging deep, Perch on the taffrail and weep, and weep, While the winds wailed wild and hoarse ?
Or did some gracious and kindly breeze, Sporting over the sunny seas,
Waft her lovingly - waft her far From cruel lee-shore and treacherous bar Which never a vessel unwrecked could pass - To a realm of Neptune, far apart From track of vessel or sweep of glass, Whose lovely isles of enchanted ground No rude discoverer ever found, Or mariner noted upon his chart ? Some wonderful archipelago, Where crystal currents forever flow Round meadows of fadeless green, Where marvelous fruits and flowers grow, Of richer flavor and brighter glow Than any by mortal ever seen ; Some Eden-garden of unspoiled bliss, Where never the guileful serpent's hiss Or forked tongue's persuasiveness Has led the way to sin- Since never a human footstep trod The tender bloom of the virgin sod- Or sorrow or strife has been ; Where never the greed of man has made The innocent birds and beasts afraid, Or wronged their trust by the base intent Of fell destruction, or bondage sore Under the dread of his cruel ire ; Or vexed the waters with keel or oar, Or spoiled the forests with ax and fire, Or made fair Nature his slave, and bent Her strength to serve him, or scarred and rent Her bosom for precious ore.
There, becalmed in some azure bay, Does she softly drift and drift all day, While round her the darting dolphins play, And the nautilus spreads its sail,
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
While her idle canvas flaps alway As the languorous breezes fail ; And the gurgle about her lazy prow Is sweet as the ripple in Cashmere's vale, Or the jug-jug-jug, in a myrtle-bough, Of the Persian nightingale ? Or, safely moored, does she swing and swing, While sirens sit in her shrouds and sing -
The same fair sirens which, oft and oft, Since poets' and travelers' tales began, Have lured to ruin the credulous, soft, Susceptible heart of the sailor-man ? While mermaids sporting about her keel, Chase each other at hide and seek, Or climb her side in a merry freak, And take their turns at the useless wheel ; Or pelt each other with bells of foam, Now in the wave and now in the air ; Or lean on the bulwarks, and comb and comb Their beautiful sea-green hair?
If these things chanced to the runaway, In the far-off regions she wandered through, After she vanished, that summer day, From the eager eyes of all Boothbay Which watched her as she flew ; Or if, once hidden from human view, She earned her name of the Waterwitch By shipping at midnight a demon crew Who howled and gibbered as up the shrouds They swarmed and clambered in grisly crowds, When sky and ocean were black as pitch, While their evil eyes burned blue With a blaze of the cold, uncanny light Seen in a haunted crypt at night Where spooks do walk - eheu ! - And cruises yet under baleful stars, A flying terror to voyaging tars- No sailor or landsman, young or old, Has ever in song or story told, Because-he never knew.
The waves which bellow their fierce refrain Against the storm-worn coast of Maine, Beating themselves till they roar with pain, No other clew afford
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
Than over and over again to say That once, on a sunny summer day, Watched by the eyes of all Boothbay, The eerie Waterwitch sailed away
With never a soul on board ; And since, though over the broad blue bay Blows often and often a favoring breeze And many a vessel, long away, Has found and followed the homeward track,
That lonely rover of unknown seas
From the realm of ocean mysteries Has never more come back - Alack-a-day ! alack !
VIII.
EAST BOOTHBAY IN 1838.
When Simeon McDougall came to East Boothbay with his father there were but six houses north of the bridge : Caleb Hodgdon and a rent near him, William Seavey in the Fishburn place, John Gould, Benjamin Reed where the late Silas Lee Hodgdon lived, Eleazer Sherman in the Baker house, with a small undertaking shop opposite, and Stephen Sawyer where J. O. Seavey lives. James Montgomery lived near Murray Hill. There were three houses on the south side of the bridge within the present village limits. The trader, Hiscock, lived where Michael Knight did later, Samuel Murray where Allen Murray does, and James Murray in the old square house. There was no other house until the point is reached where George E. Dodge lives ; Captain Smalley then lived there ; next southerly Eben Farnham where Simon Farnham lives ; Capt. John Race on the Whitehouse place; Ezekiel Holbrook where his son Eliphalet lives ; John Bennett where the late William Rowe lived ; James Linekin opposite the house of Ephraim Linekin ; Ephraim Linekin lived on the west side, property now owned by the Reed heirs ; John Poor next ; John Tibbetts where his descendants do; William Alley next, no house there now ; then the Page house, now William Tibbetts'; the Grimes fam- ily, now summer property ; John Bennett where Ocean Point colony is now; Benjamin Rackliff, at the elbow, where the American Fisheries Company is now located.
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
IX.
THE HAUNTED HILL.
David Colbath, who married Elizabeth Hutchings, 1771, lived on top of the short, steep hill near the old Pinkham mill, on the road to Dover. He was a blacksmith and after the death of his wife lived alone. He was found dead some dis- tance from his house, one morning, with wounds that indicated murder, though no suspicion could ever be placed on any one for the deed. But it was always believed that a crime was committed, his condition when found could not otherwise be accounted for. The old house went to ruins where he lived ; the old cellar still marks the spot. The superstitious of the time pointed it out, as they did "Alloway's auld haunted kirk," as a place where bogies dwelt. In passing by the place of evenings for many years after men would quicken their pace and cast quick, furtive glances to the right and left ; women would scud like a boat before a gale; lovers would suppress even that low, soft tone and quicken step, while children would not go by at all.
X.
SOME OLD ROAD RECORDS.
Nov. 10, 1775, Town Meeting :
Voted that the road from the old Saw mill at the head of Campbell's Cove to the Gut at Mr. Sawyer's Island laid out by the selectmen be established.
March ye 18, 1777.
This day laid out a Road from freetown line to Samuel Browns from thence to Joseph Perkinses from thence up the hill as the road runs to Benjamin Rollinses by us.
Edward Emerson William Reed Com. of Roads.
March ye 12, 1778.
This Day Laid out the Road beginning at the old Sawmill from thence to the north side of the widow Sarah Reeds house from thence to the South Side of Andrew Reeds ye 2d from thence as the road goes past William Reeds into the main Road from ye Harbour.
William McClintock William Reed S Com. of Roads.
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
June 16, 1778.
This day laid out the Road beginning at the South Side of Rock about 15 rods thence running about southwest over green hill so called to John Montgombrys road at the easterly end of John Dawses land and marked trees.
by us
Edward Emerson Com.
Joseph Lewis S of Roads. July 18, 1778.
Laid out a Road beginning at Deacon Sawyer's Bridge run- ning Northerly about 50 poles thence running East thro the wood to Campbells meadow or in other words to Davice Bridge so called and marked the trees &c.
Edward Emerson 2 Com. of
Joseph Lewis Roads.
XI.
PHYSICIANS.
Edward Creamer, who is often mentioned as a physician about 1790, was trading at West Harbor in 1773 and was probably at that date practicing medicine. He was plainly the first physician in Boothbay. He lived easterly from where Thomas Orne does. Dr. William Elliott, whose estate was probated June 16, 1785, was a physician practicing in Booth- bay. Dr. Frederick S. Arnold, who married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of John Matthews, 1788, was a practicing physician here. Dr. Daniel Rose, who for education and general ability over- shadowed all our earlier physicians, practiced in town from about 1795 to 1823. He lived where John E. Kelley does and went on horseback entirely, although several were riding in two-wheeled vehicles before he left town.
Dr. Samuel Bush is mentioned in the records of 1798. Dr. John Beardsley lived in a rented house of Nicholas T. Knight, Boothbay Center, for several years following 1802. A copper mortar which he used for compounding drugs is now among other old curiosities in the possession of Mrs. Maria Marson. During those years Dr. John Stockbridge was also located in town. Dr. Charles Fisher, who married Jennet Fullerton, died in 1818 at the age of forty-six years. They were married in 1811 and his settlement here only shortly preceded that event. The town records show the employment of a Doctor Mann in 1816.
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
Dr. Ebenezer Wells settled at the Harbor before 1823 and soon after commenced the house at Church Square known as the Emerson homestead, but while that was in an unfinished condition he sold to Dr. Thomas H. Merrill. Doctor Merrill completed the house and resided there while in town. He was twice married, first in 1823, which marks about the time he located here, and second in 1827, to a Portland lady, where he removed to soon after. He sold to Dr. D. K. Kennedy, who remained in town some ten or twelve years and then moved to Wiscasset.
Dr. Sidney B. Cushman, son of Rev. David Q. Cushman, was in Boothbay from 1837 to 1840. Dr. David Folsom is first noted in private accounts in 1842; he remained a few years in town after that date and may have been here earlier. Dr. Alden Blossom located at Boothbay Harbor August 1, 1843, continuing practice until nearly the time of his death (see fam- ily sketch). Dr. Reuel W. Lawson settled that year where the late James Wesley Reed lived and continued until after 1865, when he moved elsewhere, dying November 29, 1874, in Somerville, Mass. Dr. Joseph E. Corlew was in practice in town as early as 1844 and as late as 1847. A Doctor Proctor was here in the early fifties. Dr. George F. Jackson located here and built the house on the Avenue now owned by Fred C. Blake just prior to 1856 ; he removed soon after and was succeeded by Dr. Joseph A. Crowell.
Several physicians located for a short time at Boothbay Harbor in the seventies and eighties. Among these may be mentioned Dr. Charles A. Price, of Richmond, before 1880; Dr. J. A. Beecher, homeopathist, 1881 ; a Doctor Curtis, who came from Houlton in July, 1880, returning there a few months later ; a Doctor Barton, who was here in 1885, living in the Newbegin house ; Doctor Nute, in 1882. Dr. W. R. Johnson, dentist, came here from Portland in 1882, but selling his busi- ness to Dr. O. W. Baker, in 1884, he returned to Portland. Dr. John F. Hill, after teaching in Boothbay Harbor, located here in practice in 1879 ; but business prospects led him to give up his profession and locate in Augusta, where he became a member of the extensive publishing house of Vickery & Hill, becoming Governor of Maine from 1901 to 1905.
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
Dr. John A. Carter came to Boothbay Harbor in 1862. For a time he had quarters at the Weymouth House, but about 1880 he purchased the Methodist Chapel on West Street and remodeled it with additions, making a double tenement house, where he afterward lived. He came here from Sabattus. His wife, Ellen M., died January 10, 1881, aged forty-five years. He died September 28, 1893, aged seventy-three years. He was a man of public spirit with good attainments, but of frail health.
Dr. Frank H. Crocker, a graduate of Bowdoin College and its medical school, a native of Machias, settled in Boothbay Harbor in 1882. He built the house now owned by Dr. O. W. Baker, where he lived until 1891, when for business reasons he returned to Machias. A few years later he located in Gardiner, where he died, June 12, 1903. He held a good and increasing practice through his nine years here.
XII. EDEN BY THE SEA.
When Nature carved those ragged rocks that form
Our rugged coast, and scooped those devious Paths by which the sea comes up to view the Land, and see her country cousins, with taste
Artistic, and with skill made perfect by
Trials many, and in divers places, In plan original, she undertook To make a Harbor where fishing craft might Feel at home and merchant ships stay over
Night, or till the storm was past. When finished
Men came to see it from afar, and fell
In love with what they saw, and would not go Away to stay, but only to bring their
Loved ones back, build them houses, and tax Both sea and land to find them nourishment.
Houses were built, and people multiplied,
Until the stranger thought that while men slept There was a shower, not of meteors,
But of homes, each replete with life, and filled
With comfort. They built them schools and churches,
Opened stores. A reverent, God-fearing, sober, Honest race. No wonder that they
Prospered. More came to see and more to stay,
Till now the place is one vast hive. Workers
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HISTORY OF BOOTHBAY.
And those in search of pleasure or of health Combined to lend it charms, and spread its fame. This Eden by the Sea, what do men call it? Why ! Boothbay Harbor ! one of the fairest Pearls round Ocean's neck, one of the rarest Gems in fair Atlantic's crown.
DONALD MCCORMICK.
XIII.
NEWSPAPERS.
The first newspaper established in town was by B. T. Cox, who issued the first number of the Boothbay Register December 9, 1876. It was a sheet of four pages, size 7 1-4 by 10 1-2. It carried twelve columns, three to each page. The local advertisers in that number, in order, were as follows : R. J. Cushing, watches and jewelry ; M. E. Beal, Southport, general store; W. C. Clisby, livery stable; S. Averill, Wiscasset and Boothbay Stage Line; S. Howard, fish; S. Boyd, real estate ; W. G. Lewis, general store; J. C. Poole, sailmaking and ship chandlery ; Levi Burns, blacksmith; Ward Adams, tailor ; Boothbay Savings Bank, D. W. Sawyer, treasurer; R. G. Hodgdon, clothing and furnishing goods ; A. P. Wylie, boots and shoes ; D. W. Hodgdon, groceries and grain ; Miss S. J. Emerson, variety store ; K. H. Richards, groceries ; M. D. Mckown, boat builder; E. L. Giles, stationery and confec- tionery ; N. H. Hussey, dry goods ; H. A. Kennedy, hard- ware and stoves.
It contained one obituary notice, that of Lydia P. Beath, who had been postmaster at the Harbor for over sixteen years. It mentions that the Boothbay Savings Bank has total deposits of $18,000. The lease of Campbell's Ponds for ice cutting by the Knickerbocker Ice Company had just been effected and buildings were going up. The Mouse Island Company was erecting a hotel on that island. East Boothbay Village had just completed their new school building. The work going on in the East Boothbay shipyards of William Adams & Son and McDougall & Seavey was recorded, and a list of taxpayers paying over $100 was given which will be reproduced :
Cumberland Bone Co., $593.50
Suffolk Oil Co., $253.32
L. Maddocks, 462.94 Cyrus Mckown, 235.11
East Boothbay and the Damariscotta, from Hodgdon's Hill.
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MONOGRAPHS AND INCIDENTS.
Atlantic Oil Co., $187.00
Heirs of Benj. Reed, $163.03
Gallup & Holmes, 185.00 Allen Lewis, 156.34
S. G. Hodgdon, 184.10 Heirs John McClintock, 138.97
Moses R. White,
175.96 Gallup, Morgan & Co., 113.45 A. P. Hodgdon, 106.31
Kenniston, Cobb & Co., 168.30
The Register was published weekly at fifty cents per year. The office was in R. G. Hodgdon's clothing store. It was increased January 5, 1878, to a size 10 by 13 1-2, sixteen col- umns. It then carried five columns of advertising. In Janu- ary, 1880, it was enlarged to 13 1-2 by 19 1-2, at which size it remained while published by Mr. Cox, a part of the time, however, six pages, and sometimes eight pages.
In the spring of 1888 eight persons, six of whom were res- idents of Boothbay Harbor, associated under the name of the Boothbay Publishing Company and purchased the name and subscription list of the former publisher. He took his material and removed to Tennessee, where he died a few years later. The new company purchased a cylinder press, two job presses, new type and other material, issuing the first number of the Register, in its present form and size, Saturday, May 25, 1888. F. B. Greene, one of the associates, acted as editor and man- ager through forty-seven issues, when he felt obliged to give his whole attention to his own affairs and the plant was leased to Joseph Burgess, Waterbury, Conn. A few months later a sale of the plant was made to Charles E. Kendrick, a former merchant of the town, who had then recently disposed of his business. Mr. Kendrick has continued owner and editor to the present.
John O'Brien started a paper called the Boothbay Recorder in 1881. The presswork and composition were both done in Bath. Not receiving sufficient encouragement publication was soon discontinued. It reached but few numbers.
A paper called the Boothbay Advance appeared Wednesday, June 24, 1885. Its editor and publisher was Arthur Fultz. A struggling effort was kept up in publication until the spring of 1888, when it was discontinued. At that time the commu- nity was somewhat divided in support of the Register and the Advance and neither prospered. A clear field was open to the Boothbay Publishing Company when they started, and that establishment has enjoyed a growing patronage.
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