USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 11
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 11
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Upon his tombstone now standing in the Rockport cemetery, was inscribed the following quaint epitaph :
"Come, honest sexton, take thy spade, And let my grave be quickly made. Thou still art ready for the dead - Like a kind host to make their bed ; I now am come to be thy guest, In some dark lodging give me rest, For I am weary, full of pain, And of my pilgrimage complain ; On Heaven's decree I waiting lie And all my wishes are to die."
The children of John and Elizabeth Harkness were, John
1. Gen. Goldthwait was, prior to this incident, commandant at Fort Point. On making his escape to the Provinces, with other Tories, at the close of the war, his vessel was wrecked and he was lost.
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FIRST SETTLED MINISTER
W., Mary, (who married Calvin Curtis) William, Robert, Thomas and Eliza, (who married Silas Piper.)
ยท 1807. The state election held this year, April 6, showed an increase in the opposition vote, Caleb Strong having 75 votes for Governor, and James Sullivan 103. Henceforth there was to be little more political harmony in town, party lines being strictly drawn, and party spirit in election times usually running high.
At the town election held on this day, the Town Clerk, Selectmen and Treasurer of the preceding year were re-elected.
We notice in the list of officers elected the names of Abel Tyler and Jonah Howe, which seem to be the only new names on the record this year. " Mr. Isaac Harrington bid off the collec- torship at two cents on the dollar," the same commission now paid for collecting taxes.
At a meeting in May the town voted to pay for building two bridges in town, "one near Joshua Dillingham's house and the other near Joshua Palmer's house." Also "voted to give twenty- five cents for crows' heads." At the same meeting the incorrigible town voted, "That Erastus Foote, Esq., be an agent to act in behalf of the town at the Court of Sessions, to be holden at Wis- casset on the second Monday of May next, respecting an indict- ment against said Town in consequence of bad Roads." In this connection, however, it is to be noted that the territory of the town was large, and the inhabitants being thinly scattered over the whole of it, made it necessary to lay out many long roads. As the population of the town was small, the most of the people com- paratively poor, and the expense of keeping the roads in repair large, it is no wonder that they were often in bad condition.
This year the question of separating from Massachusetts again came up in Maine, and the citizens of Camden called a town meeting to vote on the following question, viz .: "Shall the Sena- tors and Representatives of the District of Maine make application to the Legislature for their consent to a Separation of the District of Maine from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and that the
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same may be created into a state." Like many other towns at that time, Camden was opposed to cutting loose from the mother commonwealth, and the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated here, there being 7 votes for a separation and 133 votes against it.
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PERIOD OF DEPRESSION
CHAPTER XVIII.
A PERIOD OF DEPRESSION.
1808. With this year began a period distinguished for its embarrassed commerce, and great business depression. For sev- eral years Napoleon had been emperor of France and had "held all Europe trembling in his presence." England had joined the continental powers against him and the hostilities between that country and France had been fiercely waged. The United States maintained a strict neutrality, and American shipping being allowed free intercourse between English and French ports, enjoyed the great advantages of an exceedingly profitable carrying trade between them. From this state of affairs the coast towns of Maine had been enjoying a period of great prosperity. Both countries, however, at last became jealous of the United States which was reaping so valuable a harvest from their necessities, and notwithstanding our neutrality, each accused us of favoring the other, and soon it became difficult for American vessels to sail to any part of the world without being subjected to the danger of capture by one nation or the other. Finally a British order was issued in November, 1807, forbidding neutral nations to trade with France without paying tribute to Great Britain. Napoleon retaliated in the following December by issuing a decree forbid- ding all trade with England, and authorizing the confiscation of any vessel found in his ports, which had submitted to British search, or paid the British tribute. The result of these orders
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and decrees upon American foreign commerce can readily be imagined. At this crisis, President Jefferson sent a message to Congress, recommending the passage of an act levying a commer- cial embargo, which act was passed Dec. 22, 1807. It provided for the detention in American ports of all vessels, domestic and foreign, and ordered all American vessels abroad to return home forthwith, that the seamen might be trained for the war that even then seemed inevitable.
This embargo act was exceedingly unpopular at the North, New England being especially opposed to it because of the fatal blow it struck to its commerce. Eaton sums up the results of the embargo as follows: "Vessels were confined in port; seamen were thrown out of employment ; lumber found no sale ; timber designed for exportation, remained upon the shores, landings or in the holds of vessels; and a general embarrassment and stagna- tion of business ensued. The only resource of merchants was to keep their vessels which were already abroad, from returning, and some even ventured to get them abroad in violation of the embar- go. The conduct of the administration was severely censured by the Federalist party who imputed to a secret partial- ity to France, and to a jealousy in the South of the prosperity of the northern states, a measure, which, under the pretense of arresting foreign aggressions, only injured ourselves. The other party, on the contrary, justified the measure as a means of coercing England into an abandonment of her pretensions, by depriving her of the supply of provisions, which, it was alleged, she could obtain only from this country. It was advocated also as a means of encouraging domestic manufactures, rendering us independent of England and destroying the influence which she exercised by the credit she afforded our merchants. Party spirit acquired new virulence ; the community was thrown into a fer- ment ; meetings were held, resolutions and petitions adopted, and other measures, expressive of the public feeling, resorted to."
1. Annals of Warren, Page 281.
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PERIOD OF DEPRESSION
Camden suffered with the other coast towns and cities and her citizens partook of the general indignation against the embargo. There have always been people in town who have been inclined to rebel against constituted authority, whose acts have not met their approval, and such people were not lacking at this time. It is not surprising, therefore, when our shipping began to feel the effects of the embargo, that ship owners and traders should be found here who would attempt to elude the vigilance of the Custom House officials and surreptiously sail, richly laden for foreign ports.
John Nicholson who had just gone into trade here, fitted out a schooner for the West Indies, of which Capt. Benj. Thomas took command. On a favorable night the captain clandestinely slipped his moorings and shaped his course for the West Indies. He disposed of his cargo to great advantage and returned. On his way home, fearful of a search and seizure by the authorities, he bored into the stanchions of the schooner, and there concealed the proceeds of his venture. When he reached here his vessel was searched by the Custom House officials, but nothing tangi- ble being found to prove a breach of the embargo act, no further action was taken.
At about the same time several Camden men jointly fitted out a vessel for a foreign voyage. While she lay in the harbor waiting for a favorable breeze, Collector Joseph Farley of Waldoboro, then collector of customs for this district, heard of the intended voyage and despatched a revenue cutter to appre- hend the vessel. Her sails were stripped from her and a keeper placed on board. When the sails were carried ashore, the officer tried to get someone to take them to a place of security, but no one could be found to do it. The story goes that Simeon Tyler, then a lad, told his father he would get them in the night and secrete them, which he did, hiding them in his father's cellar. In about a week the owners of the vessel succeeded in getting sign- ers to a bond as security against the clearance of the vessel, and
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the keeper was removed. The sails were then restored to the vessel and at the first favorable breeze they were raised and the vessel with her valuable cargo sailed away to France, where both the cargo and vessel were sold, and the captain and crew returned to this country in another vessel. Of course the bond was de- faulted, but it is said that the signers proved to be irresponsible and, therefore, no indemnity was ever obtained.
Camden was among the towns that held town meetings on the subject of the embargo and petitioned the national authorities to have it removed. At the same time our people felt that war was imminent and prepared for the worst.
This year the Baptists in town had become so numerous and were in so flourishing a condition that two churches of that de- nomination were organized, viz : the First Baptist Church at West Camden, and the Second Baptist Church at the Harbor.
There was no change made this year in the principal town officers. Among the other officers we find the names of Jesse Fay, Calvin Curtis, Bazeleel Palmer, Samuel Jones, Isaac Russ, Robert Chase, Dr. Jacob Patch,. Charles Porter, Jonas Blanden and Moses Prescott, not before appearing. As indicating the unsettled condition of the times, we find the following vote passed : "Voted In addition to the Military articles with which each town in this Commonwealth is Obliged by Law to be constantly furnished, that the Selectmen cause forthwith to be Purchased and made into Cartridges at the expense of the Town, good powder and balls, Sufficient for twenty-four cartridges for each Soldier enrolled in the Militia of sd. Town to be kept with Military stores of the Town in safe and separate Boxes for each Company."
Notwithstanding the dislike that our people had for the embargo act, the Democratic party still held the ascendancy here as is shown by the state election April 4, when James Sullivan received 96 votes for Governor, Christopher Gore, 63. As our people felt the effect of the embargo more and more, with the passage of time, however, there began to be a change in political
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sentiment. In September a meeting was called, at which a com- mittee was chosen to draw a petition to the President to suspend the embargo act. This petition as adopted by the town is as follows :
To the President of the United States :
The citizens and freeholders of the Town of Camden situat- ed on the Bay of Penobscot in the District of Maine, in legal town meeting assembled, respectfully represent,
That, influenced by patriotic desire of subserving to the laws and Government of their Country, they have hitherto sub- mitted to the distress and embarrassment of the Embargo without opposition, and still influenced by the purest motives, their great- est sense of the love of their Country never shall be found wanting in promoting the public safety and welfare ; but the evils we are now experiencing and the dismal prospect before us make it, in our opinion, a duty incumbent on us to be no longer silent. Being thus situated in a new, rough, and in a great measure an uncul- tured part of the Country, and depending on the fisheries and lumber trade principally for subsistence, our fish and lumber remaining on our hands in a perishable condition, having no mar- ket for the one nor the other; added to this the severe restrictions on our coasting trade, the Embargo presses peculiarly hard on your Petitioners, depriving them of the means of discharging their debts with punctuality, and of supporting themselves and families with decency :
We now, therefore, look up to your Excellency, as our polit- ical head, with the most satisfactory expectations that our foreign relations have so far changed with respect to Spain and Portugal and their dependencies, as that you can legally grant us a speedy relief by suspending the Act of Congress, laying an Embargo on all the ships and vessels in the harbors of the United States, in which, or in part, as you by your superior means of information may judge most conducive to the welfare of our common country. From their distress and embarrassment your Petitioners anxiously solicit you to relieve them.
(Signed) NATH'L MARTIN, PHINEAS BOWERS, SAMUEL JACOBS, JOHN PENDLETON,
WM. PARKMAN. 1
1. Town Record, Vol. I, Page 173.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
This patriotic and well worded address was duly forwarded to the President, and the prostrated business interests of Camden waited anxiously for some relief to be granted by the government.
1809. The national government, however, continued the embargo and on Jan. 30, 1809, another town meeting was called and another committee chosen to draft an address to the Massa- chusetts Legislature, to use its influence with the general govern- ment to remove the Embargo. This address was duly adopted by the meeting and is as follows :
To the Hon. the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts :
The Inhabitants of the Town of Camden in regular meeting assembled, beg leave to represent :
In common with our fellow Citizens we have suffered and are still suffering very severely under the operation of the several Embargo Acts. We are willing to make great sacrifices and sub- mit patiently to any privations which appear to be necessary for the true honor and prosperity of our country. We cannot, how- ever, perceive and are yet to learn that the system pursued by our General Government is likely to procure for our Country honor abroad or safety and prosperity at home. We have, in common with many other towns in this Commonwealth, petitioned the President and Congress for redress of our heavy grievances, and have seriously to lament that instead of being attended to, new and greater restrictions are imposed, and we cannot but view with alarm the late Act of Congress to enforce the Embargo, -an act which, in our opinion, strikes home at the civil rights of the Peo- ple, and threatens a total subversion of our Liberties. We are convinced the existing Embargo Laws cannot be carried into effect in this part of the Country except by military force, and we dread the consequences that may ensue from fire arms being put into the hands of unprincipled men acting under the authority of the officers of Government against the united and deliberate sen- timents of the most respectable part of our Citizens. This being the situation of our Country, and this our opinion respecting it, our only hope rests in the exertion and patriotism of our State Government, and we earnestly request your Honorable Body to interpose in our behalf, and to take such steps as you in your
-
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PERIOD OF DEPRESSION
wisdom may judge expedient in order to relieve us from our present distress.
(Signed) PHINEAS BOWERS, NATH'L MARTIN,
BENJ. CUSHING, DAVID BLODGETT,
HOSEA BATES, JNO. PENDLETON,
NATH'L HOSMER, JR. 1
It would be difficult for us at the present day, with all our learning, to frame a petition in more forcible, adroit, and appro- priate language.
The Embargo Act failing to obtain from England and France any acknowledgment of American rights, thus corroborating the judgment of the Camden petitioners, was repealed by Congress March 9, 1809, and in place of it a law was passed forbidding all American intercourse with England and France until their "orders " and "decrees" should be repealed. This action of Congress came as a great relief to many of our citizens who depended for their living either directly or indirectly upon shipping, but the agitation due to the Embargo carried the government of the state back into the hands of the Federalists, in the election of Christo- pher Gore, Governor. Camden, too, went back to its old love and cast a majority of its votes for the Federal party, the vote standing, (April 3, 1809), 99 for Gore and 88 for Levi Lincoln.
At the annual town election 2 the same Town Clerk, Select- men and Treasurer were again re-elected. Among the new names appearing upon the record as officers this year, we notice those of Stephen Coombs, Nehemiah Porter, Isaac Orbeton, Joel Mansfield, John Harkness, (son of the first John) and John May.
The following of our most eminent and respectable citizens were elected "Hogreeves," who were generally elected, it is
1. Town Record, Vol. I, Page 178.
2. The town meetings this year were held at John Eager's inn, which was where the Masonic Lodge held its early meetings. The house has suc- cessively been known as Benj. Palmer's Inn, John Eager's Inn, The Megunti- cook House, Clark's Tavern and finally, the Bay View House. It has been enlarged and at the present time is greatly changed from the original Benj. Palmer's Inn, which was a smaller structure and in which was a public hall.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
said, from the newly married men: Rev. Thomas Cochran, Arthur Pendleton, Josiah Howe, Jesse Fay, John Grose, Jr., Ed- ward Hanford, Benj. Jones, Abraham Brown, Joseph Gordon, . Abraham Ogier, Charles Porter, Israel Thorndike, Robert Lassell, John Gordon, Jr., Isaac Orbeton, John Eager, Peter Sanderson, Robert Chase, William Mansfield and Isaac Bartlett. It can be imagined with what gusto and merriment our fathers nom- inated and elected these, for the most part, young men, including the two ministers, Messrs. Cochran and Jones, to this ridiculous office. 1
This year a Universalist society was organized. The mem- bers met around at their various houses where one of the party would read to the meeting the sermons of Ballou and Murray. The principal members of the society at that time were Lemuel Dillingham, Joseph Sherman, Joseph Dillingham, Simeon Tyler, John Harkness and Benajah Barrows.
A town meeting was called for Oct. 13, "To choose a Town Treasurer to act in Stead of the late Treasurer deceased," when Nathaniel Dillingham was elected to that office. The deceased Treasurer was that distinguished and valuable citizen of the town who had held that office for so many years, Samuel Jacobs, Esq., who departed this life Sept. 5, 1809.
Mr. Jacobs was born in Scituate, Mass., March 4, 1762, and was a shipwright by trade. He came to Camden, according to Locke, about the year 1792, but the Lincoln Records of Knox County show that he bought of Wm. McGlathry on July 2, 1789, a lot of 143 acres on the westerly shore of Camden Harbor. The place is still known as the "Jacobs Farm," although the "Farm " was long ago divided among a score of owners. The stately
1. The duties of a hogreeve required him to take possession of all swine which had escaped from their enclosure, or were suffered to go at large by their owners without permission from the town, and to impound and hold them until the owner should pay all costs and charges of keeping. It was doubtless considered a good joke by our forefathers to elect to that office men of dignity and high social standing, and especially "newly married men."
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PERIOD OF DEPRESSION
old homestead erected by him has, within a few years, been pur- chased by Hon. Chas. T. Gallagher of Boston, and is now occu- pied by him as a summer residence. Mr. Jacobs was twice married, his first wife being Margaret Stinson and his second, Margaret McGlathry. As has been seen, he was the first Repre- sentative sent from Camden to the General Court, and he held many town offices. He was also a Justice of the Peace and Quorum. Upon his farm were situated the famous lime quarries, now worked by the Rockland-Rockport Lime Co., on Union street ' between Camden and Rockport villages, and for many years the "Jacob Lime " has been considered about the best in the market. Mr. Jacobs was one of the most influential men of his day in Camden, and his name is found connected with the most impor- tant business transacted by the town. By his second wife he had five children, vis .: Samuel, Frederick, (who married Julia, daugh- ter of Benj. Cushing) Bela, and Caroline, (who married Dr. J. H. Estabrook.)
Mr. Jacobs' brother, Bela Jacobs, who was born about the year 1770, and probably came to Camden at about the same time that Samuel did, married Mary Eaton, one of the daughters of Joseph Eaton, and lived in a house that stood back of where Mrs. W. V. Farnsworth's house now stands on land then belonging to the Eaton farm. Bela was one of the charter members of Amity Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., and was its first Junior Steward. He died in Camden, Jan. 22, 1822, at the age of 57 years.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
CHAPTER XIX.
CONCERNING MILITARY AFFAIRS.
1810. During the decade ending this year, the popula- tion of the town had doubled, the census showing 1607 inhabi- tants in 1810. The voting population had increased proportionally. The number of votes for Governor cast, April 2, was 213, of which Christopher Gore received 102, and Elbridge Gerry, 111, showing that the town had swung back to the Democratic party.
At the annual town election held the same day the same Town Clerk and Selectmen were again re-elected, and Nathan Brown was elected Treasurer. The names of Nehemiah Porter, Joab Brown, Sam'l Annis, Joseph Mirick, Geo. Ulmer and Will- iam Carleton began to appear upon the records this year. May 2 the town elected Farnham Hall Representative to the General Court.
1811. The state election this year, held April 1, showed a still stronger reaction toward the Democratic party, Elbridge Gerry receiving 118 votes and Christopher Gore 68.
At the town election Calvin Curtis was elected Town Clerk, and Farnham Hall, Samuel Brown and Robert Chase, Selectmen. The records do not seem to state who the Treasurer was, but Nathan Brown was probably re-elected.
The names of Joseph Jordan, Thomas Cobb, Robert Bucklin, Wm. Spinney, Amos Foster, Simon Hunt, Jesse Whitmore, David G. Trott, Joseph Waterman and Isaac Flagg appear among
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the minor officers elected. In May Farnham Hall was. again elected Representative, and the town voted to give a bounty of $10 "for each Wild Cat's Head killed in Town the present year."
This year Major Joseph Pierce, before mentioned as being clerk of the "Twenty Associates," and to whom the said Asso- ciates had conveyed large tracts of land in Camden in considera- tion of his "faithful services," came here to reside. Several years before Mr. Isaac Harrington had started to build what was known during the first half of the nineteenth century as the "Old Mansion House," but before it was completed it passed into the hands of Major Pierce and was used by him as a residence while he remained in Camden. Major Pierce proved not to be so " faithful" to his employers in the end, for getting badly involved in debt and having illegally speculated in the lands of the "Twenty Associates," he decamped from Boston about the year 1816, for parts unknown, taking with him the records of the Company and thereby causing much vexation and trouble both to the "Associates" and some of the settlers on their land, relative to the titles of the same. The "Mansion House " remained one of the landmarks of the town until 1852, when it was destroyed by fire. It was located on the hill on the southerly side of Elm street, upon land now owned by Mrs. Ada B. Tremaine.
1812. We have now arrived at an important period in the history both of this town and the nation, as this year began the second and fortunately, the "last war" between the United States and Great Britain. The trouble between the two countries that had been brewing for a number of years, became acute when four seamen on board the United States frigate, Chesapeake, were claimed as deserters from the British ship, Melampus, and on account of their not being given up, the Chesapeake was attacked by the British frigate, Leopard, and the four men taken by force. This and similar acts were justified by the British under the doc- trine maintained by them that a British subject never became an alien and that, therefore, they had the right to take their native-
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born subjects wherever found and place them in their army or navy, even though they had become the naturalized citizens of another country. Our government, which gives protection equally to native and naturalized citizens, could not permit these outrages ; besides, the British press gangs were not always particular, in their anxiety to secure men for their navy, to confine their seiz- ures to men of English nativity, but often seized sailors of Amer- ican birth. At last a time arrived when forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and on the 4th of April, 1812, Congress laid another embargo on vessels in American waters for a period of ninety days. This embargo and the prospect of war, again resulted in the prostration of business and cast a deep gloom over the mari- time portion of the country, and again raised party animosity to a fever heat. Meetings were held by one party denouncing the war policy of the other, which proceedings were in turn denounced in the meetings of the other party as unpatriotic and treasonable. Camden shared with the other seaboard towns in this depression of business and political ferment, but proved itself ready to do its share in prosecuting the approaching conflict.
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