USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 30
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 30
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 30
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1 Statement by Dr. Asher Ellis.
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
gave it up and went to sea. It was bought by Robert Watson, and in 1865 was changed to a church and parsonage, and part of the pews were sold. In 1866 or 1867, Watson bought back the pews, changed the church to a tavern again, and carried on the house for one year. In 1867, James Jewell, the present landlord, hired the house and opened it for company. In 1876, Moses Paul bought the house and had last summer considerable patronage.
On Orr's Island there has never been a tavern or public house of any kind.
In 1829, Elijah Walker was licensed as an innholder on Harpswell Neck.
The MANSION HOUSE was built by Alexander P. Wentworth, now of Brunswick, in 1835, and was occupied by him as a public house for a short time, and was then sold to John Colby, who was succeeded by others whose names have not been'ascertained. Frederic W. Dear- born, of Topsham, was the last owner and landlord. The house was destroyed by fire in 1868. Mr. Charles Johnson was licensed as an innholder in 1837, but whether he had charge of this house does not appear.
MAILS AND POST-OFFICES.
At the time of the earlier settlements here, before the establishment of any post-office, letters were brought to the inhabitants by the coasters which plied between Maquoit and the larger towns, or by any chance traveller who might be journeying this way. For a time even after the establishment of a mail-route, letters were sent by coasters as a matter of convenience.
The first mail-route from Boston to the Kennebec was established a little while before the commencement of the Revolutionary war, when, for a short time, Luke Lambard carried the mail on horseback once a fortnight, leaving the letters for Brunswick and vicinity as he passed by.1 The mail was first carried between Portland and Bath, once a fortnight, by Richard Kimball, who went on foot and often car- ried the letters in his pocket. It was not until about 1800 that the mail was carried oftener than once a week.1 In 1803 there were three mails a week from Boston, which arrived in Brunswick on the third day. In 1864 it reached that place in the afternoon, and in 1805 in the morning of the second day from Boston.2
1 Maine Historical Collection, 2, p 219.
2 McKeen, in Brunswick Telegraph, July 30, 1853.
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Henry McIntyre drove the first four-horse stage from Portland to Brunswick about 1803. He was living, at the age of ninety-three, at New Sharon, Maine, on April 30, 1875.1
In 1802. T. S. Estabrook, of Brunswick (afterwards Colonel) , began to carry the mail to Augusta, passing through Topsham and Litchfield. He carried it at first on horseback, leaving Brunswick every Monday. In 1806 he commenced running a passenger coach twice a week. It left Brunswick on Saturday and Tuesday at eleven o'clock A. M., and arrived in Augusta on Sunday and Wednesday at ten A. M. Returning. it left Augusta at noon on Sunday, and at eight A. M. on Thursday.2
The first daily mail is thought to have commenced in 1810.3 In 1824 " no mail from Brunswick could reach the towns on the Andros- coggin River. except by way of Portland and Hallowell, and not all of said towns were reached in that way ; consequently the publisher of the Baptist Herald found it necessary to establish at his own expense a weekly mail-route as far as Jay, about forty-five miles ; passing up the west side of the river and down the east. The United States government, two years later, assumed the route and continued it until other facilities of transportation made it unnecessary." 4
In 1836 a new mail-route was established between Brunswick and Turner, passing through Durham, Danville, Lewiston, and Minot. It left Brunswick at eight o'clock on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Another route was established at the same time to Lewiston, through Topsham and Lisbon. A route was also established this year between Brunswick and Harpswell. After the cars commenced to run on the Kennebec and Portland Railroad, there was a daily mail from each end of the road, and in 1864 two mails daily were received and sent.
The first post-office established in Brunswick was in 1793, and Deacon Andrew Dunning was the first postmaster. The office was kept until shortly before the death of Deacon Dunning in his dwelling on Maine Street, just north of what is now Noble Street. The estate remains in the Dunning family, but the present house is not the one in which the post-office was kept. Mr. Dean Swift distinctly remembers being sent to Deacon Dunning's for letters, when a boy, and he says that the deacon kept them in a desk in a corner of the room, and that it was customary for the citizens to look over the letters themselves,
1 Brunswick Telegraph.
8 Farmers' Almanac, 1810.
2 North, History of Augusta, p. 333.
4 Griffin, Press of Maine, p. 74.
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
and to select therefrom such as hore their address. Robert Dunning, who succeeded his father in 1801, kept the office on the northern cor- ner of Maine and Dunlap Streets.1
In 1824 the office was kept on Mill Street, near the present resi- dence of Mrs. A. J. Stone. In 1826 it was removed to the corner of Maine and Mason Streets, where Lorenzo Day's store now stands. The next year, the office was removed to a building south of the stage house. on the lot now occupied by James Berry, near the foot of the mall, where it remained until 1842, when it was removed to its present location. It was subsequently moved back to the Berry build- ing, and in 1871 it was moved to its present location.
The income of the postmaster at this office during the year 1826 was one hundred and sixty dollars, and in 1845 was eight hundred and sixteen dollars and eighty-one cents. From these sums the post- master was required to pay for office rent, clerk hire, wood and lights. The mails in the latter year arrived at eleven P. M. and two A. M.
On July 14, 1803, Major Lemuel Swift was appointed post- master, in place of Robert Dunning. The appointment was probably made without the knowledge, or at least consent, of Mr. Swift, as he declined to accept it then, as he did also at other times.
The following is a correct list of all the postmasters of Brunswick and the date of their appointment. It is derived from the official records of the Post Office Department at Washington : -
Andrew Dunning, appointed March 20, 1793; Robert Dunning, appointed January 1, 1801 ; Henry Quinby, appointed January 1, 1804 ; Jonathan Stone, appointed May 20, 1807 ; Joseph Mclellan, appointed September 15, 1823; Theodore S. Mclellan, appointed December 29, 1840; Elijah P. Pike, appointed February 9, 1842 ; Theodore S. Mclellan, appointed September 11, 1843 ; Joseph F. Dunning, appointed May 2, 1849 ; Jolin McKeen, appointed Septem- ber 28, 1850 ; Robert P. Dunlap, appointed May 13, 1853 ; Alfred J. Stone, appointed March 24, 1858; Benjamin G. Dennison, appointed April 8, 1861 ; Albert G. Tenney, appointed August 24, 1866 ; George C. Crawford, appointed April 3, 1867.
The first post-office in Topsham was up stairs in a building which stood directly opposite the bank. Charles R. Porter, the postmaster, was a lawyer, and the mail was kept in his office. He had for an assistant, Oliver, son of Major Nathaniel Walker, who remained with
1 Pejepscot Papers.
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him for two or three years, and was then succeeded by his brother, Wildes P. Walker, then a lad of ten or eleven years of age. The following is the list of postmasters in Topsham, derived from the same source as the preceding : -
Charles R. Porter, appointed February 6, 1821 ; Nathaniel Green, appointed July 13, 1826 ; Nathaniel Walker, appointed April 19. 1831 ; John H. Thompson, appointed August 12, 1841 ; Nathaniel Walker, appointed November 26, 1844; William Ricker, appointed July 19. 1845 : Charles E. White. appointed February 9, 1849 ; John Tebbets, appointed April 11, 1849 ; Octavius A. Merrill, appointed May 3, 1853; Lewis M. Work, appointed September 22, 1853 ; Amos D. Wheeler, appointed February 29, 1856 ; Alexander Ridley, appointed October 6, 1856 ; Robert P. Whitney, appointed May 6, 1861.
The first post-office in Harpswell was established at the lower end of Harpswell Neck in 1842, about three miles from the old meeting- house. the mail being received at that time every Tuesday. The first postmaster was Washington Garcelon. Residents of Great Island and the upper part of the Neck continued to go to Brunswick for their letters for many years afterwards. There are several separate offices in the town of Harpswell, and the following is the official list of the postmasters in each.
The office in West Harpswell was established October 14, 1847. The postmasters were, Washington Garcelon, appointed October 14, 1847 ; Ebenezer Pinkham. appointed July 14, 1849 ; Alcot S. Merri- man. appointed April 10, 1850. The office was discontinued May 27, 1854. but was re-established in September. 1862. David Webber, appointed September 11, 1862; Miss Helen M. Webber, appointed December 22, 1865 ; Miss Lydia F. Webber, appointed June 16, 1868 ; Miss Margaret M. Thomas, appointed February 28, 1871; Miss Eleanor Thomas, appointed June 15, 1872.
The office at North Harpswell was established February 25, 1864, and Charles Johnson was appointed postmaster on that day.
The office on Orr's Island was established May 13, 1868, and Sam- nel E. Smullen was appointed postmaster at that time.
Postage on a letter to Boston in 1833 was twelve and a half cents, eighteen and three fourths cents to New York, and twenty-five cents for any distance over five hundred miles.
In 1820 the rates were as follows : -
Single letters, for any distance not exceeding thirty miles, six cents ; over thirty and not over eighty miles, ten cents ; over eighty 20
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HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.
and not over one hundred and fifty miles, twelve and a half eents ; over one hundred and fifty and not over four hundred miles, eighteen and a half cents ; over four hundred miles, twenty-five cents.
Double letters, or those composed of two pieces of paper, double the above rates.
Ship letters, not carried by mail. six cents.
NEWSPAPERS, ETC.
The following account of the newspapers and press in Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell is mainly derived from a recent work by the late Joseph Griffin, entitled " The Press of Maine," with a few addi- tions, which the character of his work led him to omit.
The first press in Brunswick was set up early in December, 1819, by Joseph Griffin, who graduated at the printing-office of Messrs. Flagg & Gould, in Andover, Massachusetts. His office was, at first, on the east side of Maine Street, facing Pleasant Street. In 1821 he removed to the building opposite the north end of the mall, and which he ocenpied until his death, in 1875.
For twenty-nine years Mr. Griffin printed, annually, one edition of the Catalogue of Bowdoin College, and for twenty years he printed two editions each year. Ile also printed sixteen editions (1,600 copies each) of the College Triennial Catalogue.
The first work approximating to a newspaper, or rather to a period- ical, which emanated from his press, was in pamphlet form. It was issued in June, 1820. The third number had the following title-page : -
" The Management of the Tongue and Moral Observer. No. III. Price per annum, $1.50. Published & Printed by Joseph Griffin. Issued on the second Tuesday of each Month.
" CONTENTS. - Part 1. The Boaster, consisting of Two Maxims and Reflections. Part 2. The Ill Tongue, consisting of Three Maxims and Reflections. Part 3. Moral Observer, No. III. Melissa ; a tale. Observation upon the Passions, addressed to the ladies. Poetry : Mathon's Return. The Season. Communication, suggesting a Legal Act in favor of 'Sitters' or Loafers. An Anecdote."
On the last page was an advertisement of Griffin & Hazelton's bookstore. Only three numbers were printed.
It was followed by the first newspaper that was printed in Bruns- wick. This was the Maine Intelligencer, a demiquarto of eight pages, published by Joseph Griffin, and edited by John M. O'Brien, Esquire, who graduated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1806.
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The publication of this paper was commenced in September, 1820. and was given up at the end of six months, not proving remunerative to the publisher.
The Muine Baptist Herald. - The first number of this paper was printed by Mr. Griffin, July 17, 1824. It was a demifolio. It was edited for about six months by Benjamin Titcomb, Jr., a graduate of Bowdoin College, 1806. and son of the first printer in Maine. After the time named the Herald was under the sole management of the publisher. At the commencement of the second vohnne it was enlarged to a royal folio size, and continued weekly for six years. During the last two years of its existence it was called the Eastern Galaxy and Herald, the name having been changed in consequence of a larger part of its columns being subsequently devoted to secular interests. In the latter years of this publication the subscribers num- bered over eleven hundred, - a larger circulation than can be claimed for any other of the many papers subsequently commenced in Brunswick.
The Herald was the first paper coinciding fully with the faith and practices of the primitive Baptists ever published in the United States. It was also one of the earliest papers in New England to take a stand against the inroads of intemperance, by exposing the causes leading thereto. In 1826 appears in the Herald the first complaint and argu- ment against indiscriminate licenses for the sale of alcoholic liquors.
Androscoggin Free Press. - This paper was a royal folio, twenty- six by twenty. It was edited and published by Moore & Wells, assisted by Charles Packard, Esquire. It was commenced in 1827 and continued about two years. In politics it was the exponent of the principles of the Whig party.
The Escritoir was a semi-monthly magazine of thirty-two pages, octavo, published in 1826-27 by a club of students, of which John Hodgdon was chairman. It was printed by Joseph Griffin.
The Northern Iris, a monthly of thirty-two pages, went forth from the Bowdoin press for six months, in 1829. The editor and publisher was Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, a gentleman from the South. It was edited with ability, but depending on unsolicited patronage it was not remunerative. Mr. Fairfield had considerable reputation as a poet. He died while young.
In 1830 the Brunswick Journal made its appearance. It was a royal folio sheet, published by William Noyes, now one of the editors and publishers of the Saco Independent. Associated with him a part of the time was Henry W. Fairfield, now the printer of the New
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England Farmer, Boston. The Journal was a Whig paper, support- ing J. G. Hunton for governor of Maine, and Henry Clay for Presi- dent of the United States. Charles Packard, Esquire, then attorney at law, edited it for a short time, after which Francis D. and John S. Cushing were the principal writers. It was a well-conducted paper, but it was published for only a year and three months.
The Juvenile Key, commenced in 1831, was a children's paper, nine by seven, in neatly printed newspaper form, published weekly for two years. A considerable portion of the type-work of this paper was done by two children of Joseph Griffin who, at the commencement, were only nine and seven years of age, respectively. Their names appeared as publishers. The first, a daughter, is now the wife of a clergyman in New Hampshire ; the second, a son, Joseph Warren Griffin, was lost at sea in February, 1849, on his passage to California.
After the suspension of the Brunswick Journal, the Key was enlarged to a twelve by nine size, four pages, to make it more com- pletely a family paper and give room for advertising. From this time it was called the Family Pioneer and Juvenile Key, and was published with good success for four years. It was the endeavor of the editor of the Fuming Pioneer and Juvenile Key to operate upon the public mind, especially that of the young, by the publication of interesting narratives, setting forth in a clear light, not only the evils of an intemperate use of intoxicating drinks, but the dangers of temperate drinking. The abolition of negro slavery, and of the death penalty for crime, were strongly advocated in the columns of the Pioneer and Key.
The Eastern Baptist was commenced in November, 1837, by Thomas W. Newman, and was continued about a year and a half, when it was discontinned, and the list of subscribers transferred to the Zion's Ad- cocute, in Portland. The paper was started and edited by an associ- ation of Baptist ministers. These were, in 1838, David Nutter, Edwin R. Warren, A. JJ. W. Stevens, and Luther C. Stevens.1
Mr. Newman also published at this time, at No. 2 Forsaith's Block, the Advocate of Freedom. This was a semi-monthly sheet, published under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Maine Anti- slavery Society, and issued at fifty cents per annum. The prospectus stated, " It will explain and defend the principles held by the society and the measures approved by it. It will be a vehicle of the anti- slavery intelligence of the day, and a repository of facts and argu-
1 This account is not given in the Press of Maine. It was furnished us by Mr. New- man.
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ments on the subject of slavery and the measures for its speedy and peaceful removal." The editorial work was done principally by Pro- fessor William Smyth. The paper was devoted exclusively to the antislavery cause. There were no local items or advertisements in it. Number 1, Volume I, was printed March 8, 1838. Number 25. the last printed here, was printed February 21. 1839. The size of the paper was twenty by twenty-five. The publication of this paper was continued at Augusta as a weekly paper.
The Regulator. a royal folio, Democratic paper, was published for two years, 1837 and 1838, by Theodore S. McLellan. I. A. Beard was the editor.
The Brunswicker. a neutral paper, was printed and published for one year, 1842, by T. S. Mclellan. John Dunlap. B. A., was the editor. It was succeeded by a paper called The Yagerhamer, of which, how- ever, but two or three numbers were issued.
The Forester was printed in 1845 by Noyes & Stanwood. Its editor was H. A. Stanwood. Only one volume of this paper was published.
The Pejepscot Journal, a weekly sheet, was published at Brunswick in 1846. one year ; edited by G. C. Swallow, now Professor of Geology and Agriculture in Missouri.
The Juvenile Watchman was edited and published in 1854 by Howard Owen, who is now one of the enterprising publishers of the Kennebec Journal. It was a small sheet. eleven by sixteen. It was issued on the first and third Monday of each month at the office of the Brunswick Telegraph. It was devoted principally to the cause of temperance, especially among the young. It was discontinued at the expiration of six months.
The Musical Journal was published monthly in 1855 by George W. Chase. editor and proprietor. It had but a short existence.
The Brunswick Telegraph was commenced in 1853 by Waldron & Moore, as publishers, and Wm. G. Barrows, Esquire. as editor. It
was afterwards issued by Waldron & Fowler, then by Fowler & Chase.
The publishers in 1856 transferred their interest to Geo. W. Chase, who published it as editor and proprietor about one year. when Howard Owen, now of the Kennebec Journal, was admitted as a partner, and took charge of the agricultural department. After being connected with the establishment about five months. Mr. Owen became dissatis- fied with his unremunerated labors and sold his interest to Mr. Chase. Early in 1857 Mr. Chase abandoned the Telegraph and went to Bath. where he published the Masonic Journal and taught music.
Mr. A. G. Tenney, a graduate of Bowdoin College, class of 1835.
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purchased the Telegraph establishment in 1857, reissued the paper, and has since continued to edit and publish it weekly. Of Mr. Tenney's fitness for the position of editor, the Press of Maine 1 well says, " To a liberal education and a mind capable of close reasoning and of arriv- ing at logical conclusions, he adds unwearied industry and constant application." Under Mr. Tenney's management, the paper has been particularly valuable for the energy and fidelity which the editor has displayed in his efforts to make it a good local paper, and in this respect it has no superior in the State.
The only paper ever published in Topsham was a Second Adventist paper, which was printed about the year 1844, in a chamber over John Larrabee's workshop on Elin Street. No copy of the paper has been found, and its name is forgotten. The enterprise was abandoned at the expiration of a few months.
In Harpswell there has been but one paper published. It was the Harpswell Banner. The first number was issued in May, 1832. It was published weekly, for six months, by Josiah S. Swift and Jonathan R. Snow. Jesse Snow, 2d, was the agent. It was printed on a sheet six by ten, and the price was four cents for six numbers. In August, J. S. Swift became the sole proprietor and editor. In September, the paper was enlarged to a sheet seven by thirteen, and the next week eight and one half to thirteen and one- half, and the title was changed to that of the Literary Banner, terms thirty-two cents per annum ; semi-monthly. The last number, however, was issued October 24 of this year. One number contained an advertise- ment by the editor that he would draw " with accuracy, for one shil- ling, views of country seats, buildings, etc. ; also land and marine views." This paper was printed at the editor's home on Sebascodigan Island. Swift, then a lad, now a clergyman, residing in Farmington, " procured a small font of worn-out type, which had been thrown into pi in the office of the Bath Maine Inquirer. This he sorted out, laid in a case of his own construction, and having made a wooden chase, some tin rules, and cut a head on a block of wood, he printed a seven by nine weekly paper on an old cheese-press. He received the pat- ronage and encouragement of many of the literati of Bath and Bruns- wick. The late John McKeen became a regular correspondent " 2 The boy finally abandoned the enterprise to enter the office of the Bath Inquirer, where he remained for some years, and finally became the proprietor of that paper.
1 Page 171.
2 Griffin, Press of Maine, p. 197.
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DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS, FRESHETS.
CHAPTER IX.
DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS, FRESHETS.
WE are unable to give an extended comparison, as to the relative healthfulness of the towns of Topsham, Brunswick, and Harpswell, or of their average rate of mortality. It may be said briefly, however, that as regards both endemics and epidemics, Harpswell is the most healthy of the three towns, and Brunswick the least so. Topsham probably occupies an intermediate position between the two. The cause of the difference is in the configuration of the land, the nature of the soil, the proximity to the sea, and the density of the population. Topsham and Harpswell possess by far the best drainage, though that of Brunswick is amply sufficient, if properly cared for. No data exist fron which to calculate accurately the death-rate of either town, but in each there have been a few individuals who have lived to an advanced age. Harpswell probably bears off the palm in this respect, for in one house four persons are said to have died, whose average age was ninety-nine and a half years. They were Taylor Small, who died in 1812, aged ninety-six ; Peter Birthright, who died in 1822, at the age, it is said, of one hundred and fifteen ; Tabitha Small, who died in 1846, at the age of ninety-nine ; and Mark Small, who died in 1852, at the age of eighty-eight.
In this connection a brief mention of the different physicians, who have from time to time settled here, will not be inappropriate.
The first physician who settled in either of these towns was undoubt- edly SAMUEL GYLES, who died in Brunswick in 1738, and who had practised there for a short time previously. He came from Salisbury, Mass.
Next in Brunswick was WILLIAM SPEAR, son of Robert Spear, one of the early settlers. Dr. Spear was in practice about the year 1740,
1 The late Dr. John D. Lincoln commenced to prepare for the authors a chapter on the sanitary condition and mortality of the three towns. His sickness and death pre- vented its completion or revision, and we are consequently obliged to give a more meagre sketch than we otherwise should.
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but for how long a time is not known, and nothing is known as to his professional qualifications.
DOCTOR PHINEAS NEVERS was in Brunswick from 1755 to 1765, and perhaps longer. Nothing is known of him as a physician.
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