History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot, Part 33

Author: Wheeler, George Augustus, 1837-
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, A. Mudge & sons, printers
Number of Pages: 1024

USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Harpswell > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 33
USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Brunswick > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 33
USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Topsham > History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot > Part 33

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).

The brig Hope was built in Brunswick by William Stanwood and John Dunlap, a short time previous to 1800. They sold a portion to Richard Tappan. In January, 1800, she sailed from Bath for Barba- does, West Indies, loaded with about one hundred and thirty thousand feet of boards, and one hundred and five thousand shingles and other sınall lumber. The crew consisted of Richard Tappan, master; John Dunlap, Junior, mate ; and Melzer House, John McDonald, Noah Moulton, Thomas Stanwood, and Philip Cornish, seamen. They reached Barbadoes safely, and from thence proceeded to the island of Tobago, where Captain Tappan met with a Mr. Kerr, of Grenada, to whom he sold his cargo of boards at the rate of forty dollars per thousand, and the shingles at four or five dollars per thousand, to be delivered at the island of Grenada. They sailed from Tobago on the third of March, and the same night, between Tobago and Grenada, they were boarded and taken possession of by a French privateer from Gaudaloupe. All the crew except the captain were taken out, and the brig was sent into Basseterre, Gaudaloupe, where she was con- demned. The first officer and crew were imprisoned, but through the interference of a Danish merchant they were released and went on board of a vessel which he had purchased there and went with him to Santa Cruz. From thence they went to Saint Thomas, where they waited for an American convoy from St. Kitts, which arrived in a few days. With this convoy was the brig Hannibal, owned by the Dun- laps, commanded by Captain Nehemiah Peterson. This brig had also been taken by a French privateer, but had been retaken by the United States man-of-war John Adams. Captain Tappan and John Dunlap returned home in the Hannibal, the rest of the crew in the Iris, commanded by Captain Samuel Snow.

About the year 1800 the ship-yard at Brunswick called Skolfield's was constructed, and vessels began to be built there.

About the year 1802 a vessel of sixty-three tons was built at Lis- bon by a Captain Woodward, launched into the Androscoggin during

1 Pejepscot Papers.

333

STAGES, RAILROADS, NAVIGATION, ETC.

a freshet and brought down as far as the booms above the upper dam. Here she was taken out of the water and hauled on rollers through the woods to what is now McKeen Street, thence down Maine Street to the cove, where she was again launched into the river and did good ser- vice for about twenty-five years. Dean Swift well remembers the cir- cumstance, though but a boy at the time. He says one hundred yoke of oxen were employed in hauling the vessel on the land.

In 1808, Mr. Robert Given built a gunboat for the United States navy, in a yard a little north of the ship-yard of the Skolfields, on Harpswell Neck. The contract, still preserved, was for thirty dollars per ton, the iron to cost twelve dollars and fifty cents per one hundred pounds, the vessel to be heavily timbered, and the gun-deck to be of white oak and yellow pine.

In 1819, George F. Patten & Brothers built the brig Statira, of one hundred and eighty-three tons, at Muddy River, 'Topsham.

About 1820 there were in the neighborhood of 1,000 tons of shipping in Brunswick and Topsham, and about 2,000 tons in Harpswell, besides numerous small fishing-vessels. On September 20, of this year, the shipping list of the Maine Intelligencer contained the an- nouncement of the arrival at Brunswick of the brig America, Otis, from Martinique, with one hundred and forty-six hogsheads of molasses consigned to the owners, Messrs. Dunlap ; of the sloop Eliza, Douglas (regular packet), from Boston ; of the brig Maine, Sylvester, with a cargo of molasses and sugar, and schooner Susan, Rodick, from the southward, both to D. Stone and others.

The brig Maine appears to have been a regular packet, as this same list, under date of September 29, mentions its arrival from Boston, together with the sloop Ambition, with freight and passengers. A brig also arrived the same day from Bath.

A wharf was built about this time on the New Meadows River, and one, seven hundred and fifty feet in length, at Maquoit.1

Pennell's ship-yard, at Middle Bay, was built about 1822. Wharves were also erected on the west side of Maquoit Bay about this time.

In 1823 a small schooner called the Elizabeth, which was built about 1793 on Sebascodegan Island, was cast away at the southern part of Condy's Point in the month of February. The crew, consisting of four men, were all badly frost-bitten. They were taken care of by the good people on the island until they were sufficiently recovered to go to their homes in Massachusetts. The schooner was loaded with fruit, groceries, and spirit.

1 Putnam, Description of Brunswick.

334

IHISTORY OF' BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND IIARPSWELL.

About the same year a vessel was built at Durham and hauled over land to Maquoit. It was built by a person of doubtful gender, who at first wore woman's apparel and afterwards changed them for man's, and who was at first called Hannah, but afterwards Stover.

Not far from this time Mr. Robert Labish built a vessel of about four hundred tons in Topsham. He had his lumber all ready at Lisbon to be conveyed to Topsham, but the winter being mild and the roads bare, he was unable to have it carried where he wished. Being a man of energy and determination, he went with a party of men, and, guided by a compass, cut a road through the woods to Lisbon, and hauled his timber through it. This road (not a highway) is still in existence, and is called Labish's Road.

In the winter of 1824, Mr. Godfrey, of Topsham, built a vessel in Lisbon and had it conveyed on runners to Topsham, where it was launched. The experiment was a costly one, as the expense of get- ting her to Topsham more than offset the cheapness of the materials at Lisbon.

October 11, 1825, the sloop Ambition, owned by Samuel Lemont, of Brunswick, and commanded by a Captain Perkins, went ashore at Sandy Bay, on Cape Ann, Massachusetts, on her way to Brunswick, and went to pieces. She had a full cargo of dry goods, valued at $10,000, none of which was insured. A part was saved; however, in a damaged condition. The goods were for Messrs. Stone & Morse, E. Earle & Co., O. Nichols, and William Snowdon, of Brunswick, J. Dwinal, of Lisbon, and the Maine Cotton and Woollen Factory, of Brunswick.

March 27, 1830, during a severe northeast snow-storm, several sloops in Maquoit Bay were stranded and a portion of the wharf there was carried away.

What is known now as the New Wharf Ship-Yard was first used as such in 1830. The new wharf itself was built in 1837, by Captain Anthony Chase, Captain William Stanwood, Israel Simpson, Samuel Dunning, Captain Robert Simpson, Captain John Given, David Dun- lap, Doctor Isaac Lincoln, and Stone & Morse.1 Its cost was between $3,000 and $4,000.

The earliest reference to what is known as the Alfred White Ship- Yard, in Topsham, is in 1842. On October 8, of that year, the brig Bernard, of one hundred and sixty tons, owned by B. C. Bailey, of Bath, was launched there.

1 Samuel Dunning.

335

STAGES, RAILROADS, NAVIGATION, ETC.

The first regular packet vessel, excepting those under the control of the proprietors, is believed to have been the sloop Friendship. In May, 1814, she was advertised to ply between Portland, Harpswell. Bath, and Brunswick, coming up the New Meadows River to the Turn- pike bridge, until she could have permission to go round Small Point, and then she was to run to Hallowell and Augusta, as usual.1 She was, possibly, debarred from going up the Kennebec in consequence of the smuggling carried on at that time beween Augusta and Castine, the latter being then under British authority.

The next packet to which any reference has been found was the sloop Caroline, Skolfield, master, which was advertised on September 9, 1824, to sail from Brunswick for Norfolk and Baltimore. She had " superior accommodations for eight or ten passengers."

On April 1, 1829, the sloop Hope, Captain Connelly, having been completely repaired, was advertised to ply regularly between Bourne's Wharf, at New Meadows, and Boston. The Hope continued on this route for several years.

On March 24, 1830, the packet Maquoit, Captain Anthony Chase, was advertised to ply between Brunswick and Portland. At the same time the sloop Orlando, Captain Dunning, was advertised to go be- tween Maquoit and Boston.

March 7, 1834, the sloop Union, Captain Jordan Woodward, was advertised to make regular trips between Maquoit and Boston. In 1836 the schooner Boston took her place on this route.

In 1842 the " new and splendid " schooner Alice, Captain Robert Chase, made regular trips between Brunswick and Boston, touching at Portland. Her first trip was on May fourth. She was built expressly for this route and contained " superior accommodations for passengers." On June fifteenth, of the same year, an opposition packet, the schooner Accommodation, Captain Anthony Morse, was put upon the same route.

Some uncertainty exists as to the first steamer which ever made its appearance on the Androscoggin. Mr. Dean Swift, who has an excellent memory, and whose statements relative to many other events have been proved by recorded facts to be remarkably correct, says that the first steamer was a small, flat-bottomed one that was built about 1819, in Wiscasset, by a lawyer of the name of Gordon ; that he came up the Androscoggin in this little steamer, and then returned to Wiscasset with her. Mr. Swift says, furthermore, that a year or

1 North's History of Augusta, p. 417.

336

HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.

two later Gordon built another small, flat-bottomed steamboat at Brunswick, and went with her to Hallowell and thence to Bath, where he sold her to Jere Hunt, who took her to New Meadows, cut her in two, and made two gondolas of her. This statement is undoubtedly substantially correct. Mr. Samuel Dunning, however, thinks Gordon built his steamer on the Androscoggin as early as 1816, and he is positive that it was sold to the owners of Maquoit Wharf, and not to Mr. Hunt.

Lemont 1 says that the first steamer which ever went up the Ken- nebec was the Tom Thumb. He says she was brought down from Boston in tow of a packet in 1818, and steamed up the river ; that she was an open boat, about twenty-five or thirty feet long, with side wheels and with her machinery all in sight. He says, further, that the second steamer was fitted up on Governor King's Wharf, in Bath, in 1822, and that she was a flat-bottomed boat, and was called the Kennebec.

This statement conflicts with that of Mr. Swift only so far as relates to the Kennebec River. Very likely the Tom Thumb was the first steamer to ascend the Kennebec, and the fact of a steamer coming from Wiscasset to Brunswick and Topsham a year later may not have come to the knowledge of Mr. Lemont.

In 1823 the steamer Patent, Captain Porter, which had just been put on the route between Boston and Bath,2 touched at Pennell's Wharf at Commencement time at Bowdoin College. In 1824 3 she ran between Boston and St. John, Nova Scotia. In 18254 she was adver- tised to run between New Wharf, in Brunswick, and Portland. It is thought she made but a few trips to New Wharf before her landing- place was changed to Bourne's Wharf, at New Meadows, where a stage for Bath connected with her.5

The first and only steamboat that ever made regular trips to Middle Bay was the Flushing, Captain Robert Chase, which plied regularly between Portland and New Wharf from 1846 to 1849. J. S. Cushing was the agent. No steamboat is known to have ever run regularly from Maquoit.

The steamboat Rough and Ready used to go up and down the Androscoggin, about 1847, on excursions.

On May 12, 1855, the steamboat Victor, built by Master Sampson, and owned by John R. Hebberd, F. T. Littlefield, and Mr. Woodside,

1 Historical Dates of Bath, etc., pp. 71, 72. 3 Ibid.

2 Ilistory of Camden, p. 153. 4 Advertisement.

5 Traditional.

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STAGES, RAILROADS, NAVIGATION, ETC.

was launched at Topsham. She was well modelled and thoroughly built, was eighty feet long and twenty-four feet beam. Her engine was rated at forty horse-power. John R. Hebberd commanded her. She was intended for pleasure excursions and for a tow-boat. She made her first pleasure trip about the first of June. She was the first steamboat ever built in Topsham, and the second built on the Androscoggin.

In 1856 the pleasure-boat Elijah Kellogg, twenty-two feet in keel and seven feet in beam, built by John Given, was advertised to take pleasure parties from Pennell's or Chase's Wharf. She was built expressly for this business, and is thought to be the first of the kind built here. There are numerous pleasure-yachts owned here at the present day.

TELEGRAPH.

The first movement for a telegraph office in Brunswick was in 1853. On August 6, of that year. a meeting was held at the Tontine Hotel to take some action relative to securing the establishment of a tele- graph office in the town. Remarks were made by General A. B. Thompson, Honorable C. J. Gilman, and General J. C. Humphreys. Messrs. W. G. Barrows, C. J. Noyes, and T. S. Mclellan were appointed a committee to procure the necessary information upon which to proceed, and the meeting adjourned to be called together again by the chairman, Colonel A. J. Stone, whenever the committee were ready to report. There is no report of another meeting, but the exertions of this committee undoubtedly led the way to the establish- ment of an office in town. The telegraph office was opened for the first time to the public in Brunswick, in January, 1854.

the line was owned by the Maine Telegraph Company, and its wires extended from Boston to Calais. This line was afterwards leased to the American Telegraph Company, and still later to the Western Union Telegraph Company.

The first operator in Brunswick was M. H. Prescott. The office was situated on the corner of Maine Street and the depot grounds. It was afterwards removed to the depot, where, with the exception of a single year, it has remained.

The only opposition line east of Portland, previous to 1877, was that of the International Telegraph Company, which established an office in Brunswick in 1867. In 1872 the line was sold to the Western Union Company, and the instruments were removed to their office.

338

HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK; TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.

In 1877 the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company opened an office in Brunswick.

EXPRESSES AND HACKS.

Upon the completion of the railroad in 1849, Carpenter & Co. estab- lished an express route and opened an office in Brunswick on the first day of August of that year. Mr. A. L. Stanwood was appointed agent, and the office was in his store under the Mason Street Church. Subsequently the company consolidated with other companies under the name of the Eastern Express Company. In 1852 the office was moved to a building which stood on the lot opposite the foot of the mall, where Eaton's harness-shop is now. A few years later the building and office were removed to their present location adjoining the Tontine Hotel. Mr. Stanwood has continued the agent up to the present time, and it is worthy of record that during all this time he has not been absent from duty for any cause, excepting for one day about the year 1854.

The first public carriage other than stages was run to the depot by a Mr. Bean, upon the first opening of the road in 1849, and for a few years subsequently. Mr. Ephraim Griffin began during the same year, and has served the public faithfully as a hackman from that time to the present. Other persons have owned or driven public carriages for a longer or shorter time.

339

BURIAL PLACES AND EPITAPHIS.

CHAPTER XI.

BURIAL-PLACES AND EPITAPHS.

" I WOULD rather," remarks Edmund Burke, " sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets"; and doubtless the same sentiment is felt, if not expressed, by many whose departed friends repose in rural graveyards.

The method of conducting funerals in olden times was substantially the same as at present, so far as relates to the performance or non-perform- ance of religious rites. The mode of carrying the remains of the dead, however, from the house to their last resting-place, was slightly different.

Previous to the introduction of the first hearse, in 1818 in Bruns- wick, and still later in Topsham and Harpswell, bodies were carried to the grave on stretchers and the coffin covered with a pall. In Brunswick, the pall was kept, at one time, by Mrs. Benjamin Stone. Usually eight men accompanied the corpse, four carrying it until tired and then being relieved by the other four. The stretchers, or biers, were made of poles, young trees with the bark on, and were discarded after being once used. They were not made for permanent use, but were hastily made for each occasion.

Many of the burying-grounds in this vicinity are of old date. The earliest one in Brunswick of which there is any record or tradition was situated about midway between Bow and Mill Streets, fronting on Maine Street. It was just south of and adjoining the stone fort built by Governor Andross in 1689. This graveyard was used for the burial of the dead until about the time of the incorporation of the town. In this yard was the stone marking the burial-place of Ben- jamin Larrabee, agent of the Pejepscot proprietors, one of the com- manders of Fort George, and the ancestor of the Larrabees now liv- ing in this vicinity. Here also were the gravestones of Robert and Andrew Dunning, who were killed by the Indians at Mason's rock. The site of this yard is now covered with buildings.

Another graveyard, probably of still earlier date, though nothing whatever is known in regard to it, was situated on what is now a portion of Woodlawn Street, on the estate of Miss Narcissa Stone.

340

HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.

On the thirty-first of May, 1856, two skeletons were exhumed by the workmen engaged in grading the street. It is not unreasonable to suppose that these were the remains of some of Purchase's fishermen, and if so, they were undoubtedly the first white people buried in this village, though perhaps not the first in the town.

The old graveyard of the First Parish, Brunswick, situated one mile south of the colleges, has been occupied as such since 1735. In this burying-ground are many stones the inscriptions upon which are illegible, and in some instances the stones themselves have crumbled to pieces, so that only a small portion of each one remains. Of those which can be deciphered the following are of interest on account of their age, the quaintness of the inscriptions, or the character of those they commemorate : -

HERE LYETH THE BO DY OF MR ANDREW DUNING WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY THE 18TH ANNODOM 1736 AGED 72 YRS.

1660 Charles 2d 1685 James 2ª 1689 Wn & Mary 1702 Queen Ann 1714 George 1st 1727 George 2ª

1664

1666 Lordon

Burnt

HERE LYES BURIED THE BODY OF SAMUEL MOODY, ESQ. one of his Majesty's Justs of ye Peace for the County of York & Commander of his Majestys Fort George at Brunswick who D'ceas'd Sept. 22-1758.

Sacred TO THE MEMORY OF REV. ROBERT DUNLAP. First settled minister of Brunswick, Born in Ireland, Aug. 1715 Educated in Edinburgh ; Came to America, June 1736 : Settled at Brunswick, 1747; Died June 26, 1775, ÆEt. 60. "Behold a Sower went forth to sow."

341

BURIAL-PLACES AND EPITAPHS.

The two following epitaphs are from stones in the old Baptist Bury- ing-Ground, at Maquoit. This graveyard was first used as such about 1794.

The first epitaph reads thus : -

" To be much lov'd in life much mourn'd in death, A widow'd husband of a wife bereft, With tears inscribes this monumental stone, Which holds her ashes and expects his own."

The second is evidently that of a man accustomed to serious and deep thought. It runs thus : -

" This languishing head is at rest, Its thinking and aching are o'er."

The old burying-ground at New Meadows was first used as such some time in the latter part of the last century. It contains the head- stones of many former residents of that part of the town, but there are none that require particular notice here.

The burying-ground at " Growstown " in Brunswick was first used about 1813. The following inscriptions are found in it : --

In memory of ELD GEORGE LAMB who departed this life Dec 14 - 1836 Æt 48

Mr. Lamb was converted to God at the age of 15 and engaged in the minis- try at the age of 23. He laboured faithfully in his Masters service 25 years and died in full assurance of a blessed immortality beyond the grave.

Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet with you.

The following epitaph, which appears to us entitled to an insertion here, is to be found in this graveyard : -

" Dear husband while you spill your tears In numbering o'er past happy years, But yet remember while you weep, With me you in the grave must sleep ; But the last trumpet we shall hear, Before our God we must appear, And then with Jesus we shall reign And never part nor weep again."

Pine Grove Cemetery, in the village of Brunswick, a short dis- tance east of the colleges, was laid out in the year 1825. The land

342

HISTORY OF BRUNSWICK, TOPSHAM, AND HARPSWELL.

originally was a part of the college grounds, but in 1821 it was deeded, by vote of the trustees, to Robert Eastman, Nahum Hough- ton, Abner Bourne, "and their associates, heirs, executors, admin- istrators, or assigns," so long as it should be used for the interment of the dead, and if not so used, to revert to the college. The amount of land thus deeded was two acres, which was bounded as follows, "Beginning at the southwesterly side of the old County Road lead- ing to Bath, at a stake and stone at or near the angle which it makes with the Bath turnpike, and running by said turnpike west 20°, north 12 rods, thence south 20°, west 263 rods, thence east 20°, south 12 rods, and thence north 20°, east 263 rods to the first boundary." The trustees also reserved the exclusive right at all times to hold as a place of interment for the dead " that part of the premises extending from said turnpike road on the westerly line of said lot, eighteen rods in length, and one and a half rods in breadth," subject only to such general regulations as should be binding upon other owners of lots. 1

This cemetery is pleasantly situated, with handsome grounds and walks, which are kept in good order; it is enclosed with a neat and ornamental fence, and contains many handsome monuments and memorial tablets. Major Lemuel Swift was the first person buried here. Among the monuments and headstones to be seen there are those of Presidents McKeen and Appleton ; Professors Cleaveland, Upham, and Smyth ; and Governor Dunlap.

The tomb of President McKeen is in the extreme northwestern angle of the cemetery, the head toward Bath Street. In form, this tomb is an oblong rectangle, covering the grave, and about three feet in height. The pedestal is of Egyptian marble, and is surmounted by a heavy slab of white marble, which bears the following inscription : -

H. S. E. QUOD MORTALE FUIT VIRI ADMODUM REVERENDI,

DNI JOSEPHI MCKEEN, S. T. D. AC COLLEGHI BOWDOINENSIS PRASIDIS PRIMI. Natus est Octobs die XV º Anno Dom. MDCCLVII, in Republicâ Neo-Hautoniensi, ubi primò in literis humanioribus institutus, honores attigit Academicos.

1 From original deed.

343

BURIAL-PLACES AND EPITAPHIS.

Postea VERBI DIVINI ministerio apud Beverleam, in Republicâ Massachusettensi, annos septendecim strenuè juxta, ac benignè perfunctus est. Novissimè autem, Nostratium omnium favore, ac præcipuè doctorum piorumque, Collegium hic loci auspicato fundatum, quinque vix annos, eâ, quâ par est, dignitate et sapentiâ, fldeliter, feliciter rexit ; donec, morbo Hydropico impeditus,

Julii die XV . Ann. MDCCCVII, in Domino abdormivit.

Ingenio fuit sagaci, judicio imprimis acerrimo, priscorum temporum gravitate æmulus, moribus autem facilis, et benevolentiâ omninò Christianus. Pietatem, doctrinam, artes optimas, quoniam gnaviter excolebat ipse, in aliis semper amavit, et quoad potuit, auxit.

M. S.

Monumentum hocce, luctus, eheu ! solamen leve, at testimonium tamen, SENATVS ACADEMICVS, P. C.1

In the adjoining lot south is the monument of President Appleton. Its form is the same as that of President McKeen. The following is the inscription : --

1 Here is buried what was mortal of the reverend and most learned man, Joseph McKeen, S. T. D., the first president of Bowdoin College. He was born October 15. A D. 1742, in the State of New Hampshire, where, first of all, instructed in secular learning, he attained academic honors. Afterwards he discharged, actively as well as kindly, the duty of a minister of the Gospel, at Beverly, in the Commonwealth of Mussu- chusetts, for scventeen years. But lately, a college having been auspiciously founded here in this town, not quite five years, with the approbation of all our countrymen, and especially of the educated and pious, he presided over it, as is meet, with dignity and wisdom, faithfully and fortunately, until, embarrassed by a dropsical disease, on the fifteenth day of July, in the year 1807, he fell asleep in the Lord. He was a Christian of sagacious mind, of especially acute discernment, in dignity emulous of former times, but courteous in manner and uniformly kind. Hle always loved in others, as he himself diligently cultivated, piety, education, the best occupations, and, so far as he could, he promoted them. Sacred to the memory, This monument of grief, alas ! slight consolation, but yet a testimony, the Academic Council have caused to be placed.

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History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine, including the ancient territory known as Pejepscot, Part 33

Author: Wheeler, George Augustus, 1837- Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Boston, A. Mudge & sons, printers Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Wheeler, George Augustus, 1837-
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, A. Mudge & sons, printers
Number of Pages: 1024