USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 18
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 18
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5. Locke's Sketches, Page 153.
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A NEW STATE
Richard Conway, who was born in Galloway, Ireland, in 1762, died June 27, 1823. He came to Camden probably not far from 1800. He married Rose Ann Reddington and they were the parents of five chidren, Hiram, William, Patrick, Fred- erick and Joanna. Two of the sons, William and Frederick, figure conspicuously in the town's history. He was a boat owner and did a fishing business. Mr. Conway lived and his children were born in what was afterwards known as the "Patch House," situat- ed on Mechanic street between the store of Carleton, Pascal & Co. and the "Johnson Knight lot," and destroyed in the fire of 1892.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
CHAPTER XXVIII.
POLITICAL CONCORD.
1824. Although Camden was, at the time of which we are writing, one of the most important towns in this locality, and numbered among its population many able and cultered men and women, it is interesting to note how few and simple were their necessities seventy-five or eighty years ago compared to the present time. The two towns of Camden and Rockport today at their annual town meetings, act upon long warrants containing from forty to fifty articles each, and the aggregate amount now appropriated each year by the two towns, for all the purposes for which they find it necessary to raise money, is about $70,000. How different it was in 1824. The annual town meeting, held that year on April 5, acted upon a warrant containing but eight articles, and the whole amount assessed upon the tax-payers was $5,450,-$3000 for highways, $800 for schools, $150 for a bridge, and $1500 for other town expenses. Their roads cost them the most, considerably more than all their other expenses together, and the principal part of the business of the town at its meetings since its incorporation, had been the acceptance of roads previously laid out by the town officers, over different parts of the large territory comprising the old township, made necessary for the convenience of the settlers among the hills and valleys of West Camden, Rockville, the Hosmer and other neighborhoods, and to give the people of the "Harbor" and "River" villages
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POLITICAL CONCORD
an opportunity to reach the adjacent towns and hamlets. The building of these roads, no doubt, seemed a severe burden to our fathers, and it is not altogether wonderful that they some- times were complained about to the courts for not having as good roads as the traveling public thought they ought to provide. At this meeting Frye Hall was again elected Town Clerk and Treasurer, and Nathaniel Dillingham, Edward Hanford and David Tolman, Selectmen.
In August a meeting was called at which the town voted "To raise the sum of Five hundred Dollars for a fine on the Kennebeck Road."
The state election was held Sept. 13, at which Albion K. Parris received 49 votes for Governor, and Ezekiel Whitman, 15. Jonas Wheeler was one of the Senators elected at this election and Frye Hall was elected Camden's Representative.
At this period in the town's history it seemed to be the rule for men of standing and ability who had served the town in many capacities, and had rendered themselves almost indispensa- ble as public servants, and to the political, business and social life of the community, to move away to other states or to some other portion of our own state. That was the case of Moses Trussell, who, after faithfully serving his town in many capacities, this year moved to Orland, and his name appeared no more upon the town records. It is easy to understand the regret with which his fellow-townsmen heard of Mr. Trussell's determination to leave. He was one of those efficient, all-around men who could fit into almost any place where a man of parts was needed. In addition he possessed good musical ability, and was an excellent singer, which added to his popularity and usefulness in a social way in the still young community in which he lived, and served to make his loss more keenly felt when he moved away. Mr. Trussell was born in Haverhill, Mass., March 27, 1766. He came to Camden about the year 1792, and in company with his brother, Joshua, carried on the Molineaux Mills, in which
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
they are said to have lost $1000 each at the time of the embargo. He married Miss Betsey Knight of Lincolnville, March 4, 1793, by whom he had nine children. He had but two months of schooling in his life, for which he paid by working at Bluehill when a young man, yet he acquired a good business education and was an excellent penman. As we have seen, he was chosen Town Clerk in 1800 and held the office in all some nineteen years. In 1804 he was chosen Selectman and held that office for sixteen years. He was also several times elected Representative to the General Court. He was greatly respected for his high personal character and integrity, and took with him to his new home the best wishes of his fellow-townsmen. He died in Orland, but we are not informed as to the date of his death.
This year Capt. William Norwood, a citizen prominent in the business life of the town, died on May 24 at the age of 55 years. Capt. Norwood was a native of Mt. Desert. He followed the sea in early life, living in what is now the town of North Haven, where he married Miss Deborah Winslow, Jan. 8, 1804. His wife's ancestor once lived on the place in Marshfield, Mass., afterwards known as the "Daniel Webster Farm." Desiring to remove his property to a less exposed situation than the island, during the war of 1812, he came to Camden and entered into the mercantile business. He first traded in the "Stockbridge Build- ing " on Commercial street, which is the building next to the Anchor Works and now owned by Mr. W. Grinnell, and afterwards purchased of Nicholson the block subsequently known as the "Norwood Block." He first resided in the "Old Mansion House," but afterwards bought the place on Elm street now occupied by his granddaughter, Miss Harriet Norwood. He also owned the "Hall Farm," now owned by H. L. Payson. He was largely interested in navigation, and closely devoted himself to his business, in which he was very successful. He had a fam- ily of six children, viz .: John W. K., Wm. A., Winslow, Harriet (who married Geo. W. Chase, an able and prominent lawyer and
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POLITICAL CONCORD
politician of Calais, Me.,) Joshua G. and Maria, who died young. Of the sons, Winslow was a master mariner in earlier life, but finally settled in Bagdad, Texas, where he died. He married Emeline, daughter of Gen. Amos Hale Hodgman, and had one daughter, E. Adelia, (who married Rev. Geo. W. Bower. ) The other sons remained in Camden and figure in its subsequent history.
Peter Ott, the German inn-keeper at Goose River, died Dec. 20, 1824. His son, Peter Ott, Jr., or Peter Oat as he wrote it, who figured in the war incidents of 1814, died the year before, and father and son lie side by side in Mountain cemetery, their headstones bearing their differently spelled names. Peter Ott's daughter, Elizabeth, as we have seen, married John Harkness.
Also at about this time died William Gregory, who came from Walpole, Mass., to Thomaston in 1762, and seven years later came across to Camden as one of its earliest settlers. He married Experience Robbins and had twelve children, four of whom died young. The others were Elizabeth, (who married Isaiah Tolman, 2d., ) Experience, (who married Sam'l Tolman) William, Jr., Mary, (who married Wm. Spear) John, Josiah, Olive, (who married Daniel Andrews ) and Luther. Josiah, who is said to have been the first male child born in town, moved to Appleton where he died in November, 1870, at the age of 99 years.
1825. The annual meeting was held April 4. The Town Clerk, Selectmen and Treasuer elected in 1824 were re-elected.
This year the "Gaul Bush Road" again became trouble- some and the sum of $150 was raised to repair it; and in Septem- ber the town raised the sum of $250 for "the fine and costs on the Union road."
The same harmony prevailed and the usual light vote was cast at the state election, Sept. 12. Gov. Parris had 41 votes, and Ezekiel Whitman, 17 votes for Governor. Jonas Wheeler was again elected to the State Senate, and Frye Hall to the House
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
of Representatives.
1826. Annual town meeting April 3. Edward Hanford, Town Clerk and Treasurer ; Nathaniel Dillingham, David Tolman and James Curtis, Selectmen.
The idea of forming a new county by the name of Knox was first agitated this year. The organization of Waldo county was being agitated at the same time and our people were opposed to becoming a part of it and remonstrated "against being included in the new county of Waldo, in its present shape, as described in the bill now pending before the Legislature." 1 They, therefore, voted in September "to petition the Legislature for a new county to bear the name of Knox," and chose a committee consisting of Joseph Hall, Ephraim Wood and Nathaniel Dillingham, to petition the Legislature agreeably to said vote.
This year Enoch Lincoln, Republican, was elected Governor and like his predecessor, had nearly all the votes cast in the state, only 374 "scattering" votes being against him. He had 54 votes in Camden, all the votes cast. Joseph Hall of Camden received 70 votes for Senator at the same election, and Ephraim Wood was elected Representative.
Mr. Locke says that at this time the Goose River settlement numbered eighteen dwellings, and that there was hardly any, if any, business establishment in that part of the town, except salt works at Beauchamp Point owned by Gen. Nathaniel Estabrook. The salt works did not prove a profitable investment and after being carried on a short time were discontinued. 2
This year a distinguished citizen of Camden died, viz., Hon. Jonas Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler was born in Concord, Mass., Feb. 9, 1789, and graduated at Harvard College in 1810. The fol- lowing year he came to Camden, and began the study of law in the office of Col. Erastus Foote. After completing his studies, he settled here in the practice of his profession. As has already
1. See Locke's Sketches, Page 155.
2. See Locke's Sketches, Page 156.
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been stated, he was our first Representative to the Legislature after the admission of the state into the Union. From the House he rose to the Senate and finally to become President of that body which position he held at the time of his death. He was also a colonel in the militia. As a lawyer he succeeded best as a coun- sellor and sought rather to induce his clients to settle, than to prosecute their law suits. In those days the custom was to fight most law suits to the bitter end in court, whatever their nature or the amount involved. Thus Col. Wheeler in his practice here was three-quarters of a century ahead of his time in seeking to act as a counsellor rather than an advocate for his clients, and advising settlement and compromise of legal controversies, which practice obtains among lawyers to a much greater degree at the present day. As has been seen, Col. Wheeler was exceedingly successful as a politician. He was social, generous and possessed of fine feelings and sympathies and endeared himself to a large circle of friends. His law office was in a small building located where Mr. H. M. Bean's residence now stands. Afterwards it was in the old Masonic building, that stood on the site of the present Masonic Temple. Col. Wheeler was much interested in Masonry, and was several times Master of Amity Lodge, which position he held at the time of his death. He died unmarried May 1, 1826, at the early age of 37 years. His body lies in the lot of Amity Lodge in Mountain cemetery, and the Lodge, years ago, erected there a tablet to his memory.
The town lost another prominent citizen this year
in the removal to Hope of Frye Hall. Mr. Hall was born in Methuen, Mass., and came to Camden about the year 1806 with his brother, Farnham. Mr. Hall being a tanner by trade, worked at that business for a number of years and then went into trade. He served the town as Town Clerk and Representative and in other capacities. He remained in Hope but a year, for on the formation of the new County of Waldo, he was elected both County Treasurer and Register of Deeds, after
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
which he took up his residence at Belfast, the county seat. He served Waldo county some twenty years as Register of Deeds. He married Eliza, daughter of Capt. John Pendleton, by whom he had eleven children. He was Master of Amity Lodge, F. & A. M., while in Camden, and afterwards was District Deputy Grand Master, which position he held at the time of his death. Mr. Hall was a man of excellent ability and possessed many fine traits of character. He died in August, 1849, at the age of about 63 years.
1827. Annual town meeting April 2. Officers elected : Edward Hanford, Town Clerk; Nathaniel Dillingham, Nathaniel E. Estabrook and David Tolman, Selectmen; and Jonathan Thayer, Treasurer.
This year found the town again raising money "to pay fines and costs on roads,"-$400. Gov. Lincoln was re-elected in September, receiving all but 489 of the votes cast in the state. In Camden the vote stood : Enoch Lincoln, 84; Jonathan Thayer, 1. Benjamin Cushing was elected Representative, receiving 87 votes to 47 for Jonathan Thayer. Frye Hall received 78 votes for County Treasurer and 39 for Register of Deeds. Another meeting was called Dec. 17 to vote for a Register of Deeds, there being no choice at the preceding meeting, and Frye Hall received 112 votes to 24 for George Watson. These were the first elections of county officers for the new County of Waldo, which was incor- porated this year, and of which Camden formed a part until the organization of the present County of Knox.
1828. It appears that it was necessary to have still another election before a Register of Deeds was elected, and on March 31, 1828, the citizens of Camden voted once more for that officer, which resulted in Frye Hall receiving 196 votes, George Watson, 10, and E. K. Smart, 3. At the annual town meeting held on the same day, the voters made choice of the same Town Clerk, Selectmen and Treasurer as in 1827. A com- mittee was chosen to take into consideration the expediency of
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POLITICAL CONCORD
purchasing a "Town Farm."
Harmony in political circles still prevailed. This year Gov. Lincoln had but 245 votes against him in the whole state. In Camden he had 110 votes, while three votes each were cast for Wm. Richardson, Edward Kavanagh, Edwin Smith and Hezekiah Prince, and one vote for Alden Bass. Jacob Trafton was elected Camden's Representative to the Legislature.
This year Ebenezer H. Barrett and John Swan erected a paper mill on the site of the Mt. Battie Manufacturing Co's woolen factory. The cost is said to have been about $5000 and they manufactured about $40 worth of paper per day. until 1841, when the mill was destroyed by fire.
Capt. Calvin Curtis died this year at the age of about 51 years. He was born in Hanover, Mass., October 23, 1777. His father, also named Calvin, held a captain's commission in the Revolution. Capt. Curtis came to Camden in 1799, and worked at his trade which was that of a carpenter. He built for a home the Curtis homestead on Elm street, which was afterwards owned by his son, Mr. John H. Curtis, and is now owned by his estate. In 1805, Capt. Curtis was appointed Inspector of Customs at this port, which office he held until his death. In 1806 he married Miss Mary Harkness, daughter of John Harkness. In 1811 he was commissioned captain of a company of light infantry in this town, which office he resigned after the close of the war with England. We have already seen how actively he was engaged in the prose- cution of military affairs during the progress of that war. He served as Town Clerk and in other municipal positions and was an able and valuable citizen. He was the fourth Master of Amity Lodge, and served in that capacity four times. He was the father of three sons, Charles, Edward and John H. Charles fol- lowed the sea and sailed out of Portland on his last voyage and was never heard from afterwards. Edward went to New Orleans and thence to California and then disappeared, never being heard from again.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
On July 30, 1828, another old settler, Joseph Eaton, died. Mr. Eaton came from Bristol and took up land of the "Twenty Associates" on the easterly side of the inner harbor, as early as 1785. Mr. Eaton was the first postmaster, as well as the first customs officer of the town, and was a man of excellent character and ability. He married Jane, sister of Capt. William McGlathry, and was the father of two sons, Joseph Jr., and William, and of at least three daughters, Jane, (who married Benjamin Cushing) Mary, (who married Bela Jacobs) and Nancy, (who married Asa Hosmer. )
Silas Fay died this year. He was a native of Princeton, Mass., and came to Camden in 1816, purchasing the farm of Rev. Thos. Cochran. His children were Nancy, (who married Nathaniel Hosmer) (Mary, who married Arthur Pendleton) Ashsah, Thomas, John, Jesse and Timothy. Timothy inherited and always lived on his father's farm. He married Nancy, sister of Ezra Cobb. His children were, Joseph W., Elizabeth D., James H., Sarah A., (who married Lucius M. Harris of Brookfield, Mass.,) and Frances E. James H. always lived on the old farm. He died Nov. 8, 1898, unmarried.
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TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT BEGINS
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT BEGINS.
1829. The annual meeting was held April 6. The same Town Clerk and Selectmen were again re-elected, and Dr. Jacob Patch was elected Treasurer.
Politics had once more become strenuous. Two parties appeared in the field this year to contest the gubernatorial and other elections. Jonathan G. Hunton was the candidate of the National Republican party and Samuel E. Smith of the Democratic party. Party feeling ran high and twice the usual vote was cast in the state and more than twice the usual vote in the town. Mr. Hunton was elected by only 79 majority. His plurality over Mr. Smith was 324. In Camden, Hunton received 100 votes and Smith, 186. For Representative to the Legislature, Jacob Trafton had 180 votes and Edward Hanford, 112.
This year our citizens began to take an active interest in the temperance reform movement which had recently started in the state, although it was not until some twelve years later that the strong temperance movement began that resulted in the enact- ment of the prohibitory law. Prior to this time it was the custom each year for the selectmen to license certain parties as retail dealers in spirituous liquors, and sometimes the number thus licensed would be eighteen or twenty. Many of our citizens felt that this was an abuse of the right to license liquor dealers, and that some step should be taken to curtail what was getting to be
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
an excessive use of liquor in the community. As a result, on Aug. 18, 1829, the "Camden Temperance Society" was organ- ized with Nathaniel Dillingham, president. At this meeting res- olutions were adopted condemning the liquor traffic, and stating that those subscribing to the principles of the society were not to drink spirituous liquors "unless they deemed it necessary." Those present at the meeting who were willing to subscribe to these resolutions were invited to make it manifest by stepping forward, and Nathaniel Dillingham, Lewis Ogier and John Swan were the only ones who responded. Afterwards the society received the support of a large number of our people of both sexes, and when it had been in existence for three years, its membership had reached 180, of whom 88 were males and 92 females. Mr. Locke gives the following from a report made by the society :
"At the time of the adoption of the constitution, every store, except one, sold ardent spirits - now, out of eighteen stores in the village, but three retail ardent spirits. Drunkenness in its worst garb is rarely seen in our village ; still, however, the vice is not removed from among us. The fact that the lime-burning business has increased, and that the laborers are of the poorest class, together with the fact that three retailers are found among us, who openly violate law, and more doubtfully, their consciences, will readily account for the lingering vice. Most of the paupers have been made so by intemperance. The town has twice refused to grant the right to selectmen to license retailers to sell spirits to be drank in their shops, etc., by a decided vote." 1
The principles of the temperance people of that day were of a more elastic character than they became at a later period. The members of the society were allowed the privilege of drinking when they deemed it actually necessary, and some of them, we are told, claimed that it was "necessary " for them to drink one glass a day. What was called "temperance wine " was also used 1. Locke's Sketches, Page 157.
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TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT BEGINS
by many of the professed temperance people of the town, until upon one exuberant occasion, several members of the society found that they were "the unconscious actors in a bacchanalian jollification," which resulted in their doing away with "wines" of all sorts. These liberal temperance principles were the step- ping stones from the old custom of free and unrestrained use of intoxicating liquors by all classes, to the total abstinence reform of later years when it became obligatory upon all temperance people, to absolutely eschew the use, as a beverage, of all alco- holic liquors.
Oakes Perry, a leading citizen of the town, was born at Hanover, Mass., Aug. 16, 1781, came to Camden about the year 1810 and died Jan. 10, 1829, at the age of 47 years. Mr. Perry's business was that of a merchant and he was a careful and methodical business man, as is seen from one of his ledgers for the years 1811-13, now in existence. It was kept in the most business-like way possible, the penmanship and book-keep- ing not being surpassed by any book-keeper of the present day. 1 He, at first, rented his store of Benjamin Cushing, but in 1816 bought of Belcher Sylvester his store building situated near where Carleton, Pascal & Co's store now is, where he continued his business. Mr. Perry was an honorable and valuable citizen and a devout, religious man. Several letters written by him in the year 1816 to his father, Israel Perry, and his brother, Paul, now in the possession of his grandson, Mr. Geo. S. Perry, of Boston, are of much historical interest. In one of them he speaks of the June frosts of 1816, when, about the tenth of the month, ice formed to the thickness of window glass. All the letters while principally on business matters, also breathe a spirit of
1. This ledger now in the possession of Mr. E. F. Day was found by him in a heap of rubbish and is in a fine state of preservation. One noticeable thing about this old ledger. is the fact that while nearly all the names of the principal men in town at that time appear upon it, almost everyone of the accounts were settled and closed, showing that people paid their bills somewhat better in those days than at the present time.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
intense religious feeling, and a desire for the advancement of the Christian faith. Mr. Perry married Nancy Rogers of Camden, April 22, 1813. There were five children born to them, two sons and three daughters, viz .: Augustus, now (1906) living in Belfast, Me., at the age of 91 years ; Mehitable B. R., who died unmar- ried in 1849, at the age of 31 years; Joseph Perry, who made his home in Camden, and two others who died in childhood. Mr. Perry built and occupied the house on Wood street now known as the Jesse H. Hosmer homestead.
At about this time died Robert Jameson, who settled and gave his name to Jameson's Point. Mr. Jameson was the son of Paul Jameson, and settled in Camden very early. His exploits during the Revolution and after, have already been recorded Mr. Jameson married Martha Porterfield of Camden, Dec. 30, 1780, and Deborah Simmons, April 20, 1791. His first wife was the daughter of Wm. Porterfield, also a very early comer to Cam- den, who settled the farm known as the "Whitney Farm" between Rockport village and Rockland, where he lived and died. By his second wife Mr. Jameson had ten children. The descendants of some of them still live in Rockport. Mr. Jame- son's cousin, Alexander, who also settled at Clam Cove, later removed to Charleston, Me.
Another very early settler in the southern part of the town was Isaiah Tolman, who came with his family in 1769 and took up 500 acres of land on the shore of the pond that for many years bore his name, but is now called Lake Chickawaukie. We have not the year of Mr: Tolman's death, but it must have been long prior to this year, as he was born in Stoughton, Mass., May 28, 1721, Mr. Tolman was thrice married and is the ancestor of the numer- ous Tolman family in this section. His first wife's name we do not know, but by her he had eight children. His second wife was Margaret Robbins and by her he had eleven children. His third wife was Jane Philbrook. By her two children were born to him, making him the father of twenty-one children in all. Mr. Tol-
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