USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 43
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 43
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WILLIAM CONWAY, Quartermaster U. S. Navy, A Native of Camden, On Duty at Pensacola Navy Yard, January 12, 1861, Was Ordered to Haul Down the American Flag In Token of Surrender. He Indignantly Refused. Honoring His Sturdy Loyalty The Town of Camden Erects This Boulder To His Memory, and The Maine Commandery of The Military Order of The Loyal Legion Of The United States Adds This Tablet. 1906.
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school ground by Gen. John T. Richards, Commander of the Maine Commandery of the Loyal Legion.
In October, 1906, the Penobscot Bay R. R. Company was organized. This company proposes to build a steam railroad from Rockland to Belfast. Whether the result will be more fortunate than those of the many proposed roads of the past the future alone can show.
In November of this year much excitement and apprehension were aroused in Rockport and Camden by the escape of a Federal convict by the name of Minot St Clair Francis, confined in the State Prison at Thomaston. In the dusk of the evening of Nov. 12, while the prisoners were returning from the prison shops to their cells, Francis is said to have left the line, and by an almost impossible athletic feat, to have scaled the prison walls and dis- appeared into the country. Francis was described as a mulatto desperado, of remarkable physical and mental development and probably heavily armed. The day after his escape he was seen in the neighborhood of Simonton's Corner and shortly afterwards appeared at different places in both Camden and Rockport. He was supposed to be hidden in the thick woods on Beauchamp Point and for several days hundreds of citizens armed with guns were assisting the prison authorities to capture him. On Satur- day night he crept through the cordon of men surrounding him and went to the house of Julia Conway helping himself to such food as he wanted but did not attempt to injure the elderly in- mates of the house. He then made his way into Waldo County, closely pursued by the officers and their posse, which he eluded for several days. By stealing two teams he succeeded in getting beyond Bangor, driving boldly through that city in the early morning. The weather had now become cold and snow had fallen. The convict was in a poor physical condition from exposure and injuries and further escape was impossible and on Nov. 29, after seventeen days of freedom, the daring prisoner was
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captured in a barn in the town of Glenburn and returned to his prison cell.
Camden Commandery, No. 23, Knights Templar, was con- stituted June 22, 1906. The officers of the Commandery in- stalled at that time were, L. M. Kenniston, E. C .; Joseph F. Shepherd, G .; E. E. Boynton, C. G .; Reuel Robinson, S. W .; J. T. Gould, J. W .; C. G. Weaver, P .; Geo. A. Tuttle, Treas .; Geo. E. Allen, Recorder; Geo. T. Hodgman, S. B .; Geo. S. Clark, Sw. B .; Jos. A. Brewster, W .; D. W. Pierson, S.
The last secret organization to be instituted in Camden was Knox Temple, No. 16, Pythian Sisters, on Dec. 7, 1906. The officers installed are as follows : Grace Dyer, P. C .; Katherine Sobel, M. E. C .; Luella Manchester, E. S .; Lettie Gregory, E. J .; Belle Arnold, M .; Ruie Fuller, M. of R. & C .; Ada Hall, M. of F .; Cora Bishop, P .; Mollie Fuller, O. G. 1
Several well known Camden citizens died during this year. Among them we note the following :
Fred Lewis who died Jan. 11, in Boston, was born in Belfast, Maine, Sept. 10, 1835. He learned the jeweler's trade and worked at it in Boston from 1857 to 1859 when he came to Cam- den, where he carried on the business until 1903. Mr. Lewis was one of Camden's best citizens. He was a member of St. Thomas Parish in which he took great interest as he did in Masonry, being Past Master of Amity Lodge and a Past High Priest of Keystone Chapter. He was a Democrat in politics. He held the office of Treasurer of the town for several years and in 1876 was candidate for Representative. Mr. Lewis married Georgiana Eaton. Their only daughter, Jessie F., married W. C. Roberts.
Isaac B. Melvin, an old and much respected citizen of the
1. There have been various secret socities organized in Camden and Rockport that have not been mentioned the most of which are not now in existence. Those still existing are Megunticook Lodge, No. 67, A. O. U. W., and Joel Keyes Grant Circle, No. 7, Ladies of the G. A. R., Camden, and Beauchamp Lodge, No. 163, N. E. O. P., and Fred A. Norwood Relief Corp, No. 146, Rockport.
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town, died July 5, at the age of 86 years. Mr. Melvin owned the farm purchased by Mr. Wm. A. French for a summer resi- dence and from him that part of the town, now occupied by prominent summer residents, was named "Melvin Heights." Mr. Melvin married Harriet E., eldest daughter of Ezra Cobb, by whom he had two children, a daughter who died in childhood and a son, George C.
Lieut. Alden Miller, Jr., died July 28, 1906. Lieut. Miller was the son of Capt. Alden Miller who was born in Warren about the year 1810. In 1849 Capt. Miller with his brothers John and Joseph went to California where he remained five years, the last two years acting as captain of a bark belonging to the California Ice Company running from California to Sitka for ice. In 1864, Capt. Miller was appointed Clerk in the Treasury Department and resided in Washington for a number of years. He removed from Warren to Camden in 1866 where he resided until his death, Sept. 19, 1888. Capt. Miller married Rebecca Wyllie by whom he had six children one of whom died in infancy. The others were Maria A., Alden, Jr., Irene C., (who married first, George W. Smith and second, Edgar S. Start), Charles K., and Mary H., (who married Oscar Spear.) Alden Miller, Jr., the subject of this sketch was born in Warren, April 2, 1832. In 1862 he enlisted in the 20th Regiment of Maine Volunteers, as a private. In May, 1863, he was appointed Sergeant Major and on July 24,1864 was elevat- ed to the rank of First Lieutenant of Co. G., of the 20th Regiment. He was wounded at the battle of Peeble's Farm, Sept. 30, 1864, but continued in the service until the end of the war when he was honorably discharged. Immediately after the war he came to Camden to reside. In Camden he held many town offices, being several times First Selectman of both the old and new town of Camden, town Treasurer, etc. He served as Postmaster of Cam- den from 1876 to 1883. Lieut. Miller was an honest, industrious and capable man. He was a brave soldier, competent officer and patriotic citizen, a kind husband and parent and obliging friend.
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In politics he was always an uncompromising Republican. Lieut. Miller married Caroline, daughter of Jeremiah C. Cushing and they were the parents of the following children : Sarah C., Mina C., (who married Lloyd E. Chamberlain), Edwin D., Charles A., Margaret E., (who married Hudson D. Ames), Maurice M., Grace N., and Florence A., (who married Elmer H. Fletcher.)
Joseph W. Ogier, died Aug. 19, at the age of over 83 years. Mr. Ogier was a native of Camden and was born, March 23, 1823. He was the son of Abraham Ogier (2d) and the great grandson of Abraham Ogier the early settler. Mr. Ogier occupied the old ancestral farm on Ogier's hill until 1888 when he sold it. His whole life, good, simple, honorable and unostentatious, was passed in his native town. His mind was stored with incidents and events of Camden history of the past seventy-five years. He was a worthy descendent of the noble Huguenot race from which he sprang. Mr. Ogier was not an office seeker, but his neighbors demonstrated the confidence which they had in his integrity by electing him the first Assessor of the town after the division. Mr. Ogier was twice married, his first wife being Susan E. Rollins. The children of this union are Edward R., Rev. Walter W., and Susie, (who married Dr. Walter F. Bisbee.) For his second wife he married Abbie Ward Rollins and the one child of this marriage is Jesse H., now Editor of the Camden Herald.
Capt. Dudley S. Martin died Sept. 15, at the hospital in Boston, at the age of 55 years. Capt. Martin was born in St. George, Maine, June 30, 1851. He was the son of Capt. Richard and Mary (Ogier) Martin. Capt. Martin was educated at the Farmington Normal School, but early entered upon his career as a sailor. At the age of 22 he was master of the schooner, Abbie Dunn. After a most successful career upon the sea he retired in 1889, and later built his fine residence on High street, where he passed the remainder of his life. He continued to interest himself in maritime affairs and acted as managing owner of several
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vessels. Capt. Martin was a brave, unassuming, genial and hospitable gentleman, and possessed the respect of all his fellow- townsmen by whom he had often been urged in vain, to accept public office. Capt. Martin was a member of Amity Lodge and Keystone Chapter and of the Camden Business Men's Association of which he was at one time President. He married Helen L. Thorndike and their children are George D., and Fred.
William Howard Gardiner, died Nov. 25. Mr. Gardiner was- born in Boston, May 22, 1850. He belonged to a prominent Boston family and was also distantly connected with the Gardiners of Gardiner, Maine. He came to Camden first as a summer visitor over twenty-five years ago. Later he purchased the land on the shore of the harbor and built the cottage known as "Edge- water." Something like twenty years ago he went abroad and lived in France for some time, when he returned, and for seven- teen years made Camden his permanent home. Mr. Gardiner was a prominent figure in local affairs and interested himself in both municipal and political matters. He was a born agitator and natural litigant and usually had some agitation or law suit of a public, political, religious or private nature, in progress in which, being a man of leisure, he interested himself, always in an aggres- sive and disputatious manner. He always was very much in evidence at all town meetings and whenever Camden was inter- ested in any question before the State Legislature he became a familiar figure in the lobby of the Capitol. Among the Camden legislative contests in which he interested himself may be men- tioned the fight for division, the fight against the "Opera House," the "water fight" and the opposition to granting the city charter. For the past few years Mr. Gardiner has spent his summers in Dresden, Maine, where he was Warden of the Episcopal Church in which arose the trouble, growing out of which were the various law suits that he has been prosecuting against Bishop Codman of the Maine diocese. Mr. Gardiner first married Helena C. Baird of Philadelphia by whom he had three sons, William Howard, Jr.,
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John Pennington and Edward Carey. For a second wife he married Letitia L. Butler, a native of Great Britian.
Rockport lost one of its best loved citizens on Feb. 7, 1906, in the death of Charles F. Richards, at the age of 80 years. Mr. Richards was the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Smith) Richards, and was born in Sharon, Mass., Jan. 6, 1826. When he was three years of age his parents removed to Lincolnville, Maine. Young Richards fitted for college at the Classical Institute Waterville, and graduated from Waterville (now Colby ) College in the class of '55. He then taught school in different places including the High School at Rockport village. He went to California in 1862 and taught school on the Pacific coast until 1865 when he returned to Rockport and went into business as a member of the firm of Talbot, Cole & Richards, doing a mercantile and ice business. At the organization of the Camden Savings Bank in November, 1870, he was chosen its Treasurer which position he held until his death. Early in life Mr. Richards identified himself with the Baptist Church and worked zealously for its interests for half a century. He was for a long time a deacon of the Rockport Church, its Treasurer, the Superintendent of the Sunday School and always . its strong supporter. He was also actively interested in the Rock- port Y. M. C. A., and was its Treasurer. He was a Trustee of Colby College at the time of his death. In politics Mr. Richards was always a loyal Republican. He was active in town affairs and served as Selectman, School Committee and in other capacities. Mr. Richards married Lucinda Morse who survives him. He is also survived by a daughter, Annie M., (who married first Herbert Magune, and second A. C. Moore), and a brother, Hon. Fred E. Richards of Portland, President of. the Union Mutual Life In- surance Company. Devoted to his home and church, loved by his neighbors and friends and faithful to every trust, Mr. Richards will long be remembered with respect and affection by the people of Rockport and Camden.
Dr. Albert F. Piper of Rockport, who died June 21, 1906,
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at the age of 54 years and 10 months, was the son of John Piper and was born in Camden, August 2, 1851. In early life he worked in the shipyards of his native village (Rockport) for a time and then entered upon the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Hosea B. Eaton. After remaining there one year he entered the New York Homoeopathic Medical College from which institution he graduated in 1875. He then settled in Thomaston, Maine, where he had a large and lucrative practise until about the year 1888, when his health breaking down he was obliged to give up his practise. At that time he came to Rockport where he passed the remainder of his life. After spending several years in regaining his health, he believed he had sufficiently recovered his strength to be able to go to work again, and went to New York where he spent some time in the study of diseases of the eye and ear. He then returned home and entered upon the practise of that special line, in which he was eminently successful, having a good practise and keeping at work almost up to the day of his death. Dr. Piper was a Republican in politics, was a mem- ber of St. Paul's Lodge, F. & A. M., and of the Camden Congre- gational Church, and a gentleman highly respected by all. He married Martha V., daughter of Dr. Hosea B. Eaton, by whom he had three daughters : Carrie, (who married William T. Brastow), Susie and May, (who married E. H. Webling.)
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CHAPTER LXIII.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
The history of a community, especially a New England community, is never complete without some account of what its churches have accomplished. The early history of Camden seems to indicate that there was but little religious zeal and fervor among the pioneers. Their piety and interest in ecclesiastical affairs were not sufficient to cause them even to comply all of the time with the law requiring towns to appropriate money for the support of gospel preaching, or it may be that the mandatory character of that law offended the independent spirit of our hardy forefathers. In any event there was very little preaching and no church organization in town during its plantation history and for several years after its incorporation as a town. It is wrong, however, to assume that there were no Christian people here in those early days for there were professors of religion among our early in- habitants and they formed the nucleus around which grew the churches and religious societies that have done so much for the wel- fare and uplifting of our people during the more than a century that has passed since they began to be organized and during which time Camden and Rockport have become as strongly and devoted- ly religious as any of their sister New England towns. At the present time there are in Camden five church edifices and in Rockport four, together with two chapels of other denominations in which religious services are held, and there are now even more
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religious societies than church buildings in the two towns.
Free Will Baptist.
In point of time, the Free Will Baptist Church comes first. It was organized at West Camden. The first minister of that persuasion who preached in town is said to be Elder John Whitney, in 1797. During the following year, 1798, a church was organized with seventeen members, among them being Waterman Hewett, John May, Josiah Keen, Nathaniel Simmons, Elijah Bradford and Henry Oxton. 1 In 1815, the society built a house of worship on land of Deacon Waterman Hewett, which was used until 1851, when it was replaced by the present meeting-house at Rockville built on Capt. Abner Perry's land. We are unable to mention the early preachers who occupied the pulpit of this church. We find that Elder Small was the preacher of the denomination here in the middle of the 19th century and that he was succeeded by Rev. Jonas Marriner in 1851, who remained here until 1857, when Rev. Jos. Cilley became the pastor. He remained with the charge until 1859 and was succeeded by Rev. J. D. Couilard who remained five years. After a short period without a pastor the church called Rev. John Hamilton who remained until 1869. From 1869 to 1876 the church was without a settled pastor when Rev. Freeman Cooper was called. He remained until 1881, during which time there was a strong religious awakening in that part of the town increasing the church membership by some twenty conversions. Next came Rev. E. G. Eastman under whose ministry the work went on, four more joining the church. Mr. Eastman left in 1883, and was followed by Rev. G. S. Hill who after five years of labor with the church was succeeded in 1890, for one year, by Rev. H. W. Abbott. A year passed with- out a pastor, when in 1893, Rev. John Pettingill was installed. He only remained about one year, which was a profitable one for the church. Rev. Uriah Drew came in 1896 and remained until
1. Locke's Sketches, Page 193.
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1900. This was another period of awakening, 12 uniting with the church. Rev. Humphrey Small and Rev. E. A. Bradbury followed, each remaining 18 months, and in 1904 Rev. Wm. P. Richardson, the present pastor, was installed. The church is today in an excellent condition having a strong membership for the size of the village of Rockville, 54 at the present time.
Congregational.
The history of the First Congregational Church for the first ten or fifteen years of its existence is closely interwoven with the history of the town for that period, for the reason that the first "settled minister " employed by the town, Rev. Thomas Cochran, was the first pastor of the church which was organized on his coming, September 11, 1805.1 As we have seen, Mr. Cochran's pastorate did not prove to be an altogether happy one and after his dismissal the church was without a settled pastor until 1828, the pulpit being supplied in the meantime as often as possible. Among the preachers supplying the pulpit during this period were Revs. Matthew Sewell, Ingraham, Starrett, Norwood, Sheldon, Howe, Campbell and Bishop. The town having withdrawn its financial support the church received some aid from the Maine Missionary Society. In June, 1828, the church called its second pastor, Rev. Darwin Adams, and the following year a revival in town resulted in the addition of 20 to the church membership. In 1833, five years from the date of his ordination, Mr. Adams tendered his resignation and was dismissed and from that time for more than a year, the church
1. See ante Chapter XVII; also Chapter XXVI. Of the ten original members of this church, five were women, and while the lives of the five men have been portrayed in this history little has been said of the women. It may be interesting therefore to note that Elizabeth Hosmer was the mother of Nathaniel Hosmer. She and her husband (also named Nathaniel) came to Camden and passed their last days near their son. Bathsheba Thorndike was the wife of Paul Thorndike, Lucy Eaton was the wife of William Eaton, Lucy Blodgett was the wife of David Blodgett and Mary Keyes was the wife of Solomon Keyes and daughter of Daniel Mansfield.
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was without preaching, except for three Sabbaths, but weekly religious services were held and the monthly conference meetings. During this time - in 1834 - the present house of worship was built at a cost of $5,000 and the same was dedicated in January, 1835, the meetings having been held prior to that time in the old
Congregational Church, Camden
meeting-house on the Elm street hill. The same month Rev. Nathaniel Chapman was called by the church and was installed as its pastor in August following, and during the first year of his ministry the church and society purchased for a parsonage, the
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house on Elm street now the home of Mr. E. L. Simonton. The year 1836, marks a memorable epoch in the history of the church, for in that year a great revival broke out which resulted in large accessions to the church, nearly doubling its membership. During Mr. Chapman's pastorate of 14 years, 115 united with the church. In April, 1849, he was dismissed, "honored by all who knew him best." Rev. Benjamin C. Chase a graduate of Dartmouth College and Bangor Theological Seminary, succeeded Mr. Chapman, being called in September, 1849, and ordained in January, 1850. "His labors were acceptable and his success as a pastor of the most successful kind." As the fruit of an inter- esting revival in the spring of 1850, some 16 persons were added to the membership of the church during the first year of his pastorate. In 1852 the old vestry was dedicated. It became the church property chiefly through the munificence of Deacon Samuel G. Adams and Mr. Joseph Jones. It was during this pastorate that the church celebrated its semi-centennial anniversary in 1855. In his address on that occasion, Mr. Chase said that the whole number that had united with the church during its 50 years of existence was 268 ; the whole number who had died and been dismissed was 150; the membership in 1855 was 118. In 1857, Mr. Chase resigned his pastorate to accept a call to Attleboro, Mass., and the same year the church called Rev. Franklin P. Chapin, a graduate of Amherst College and Bangor Theological Seminary, who was ordained Nov. 11, 1857, and he continued as its able and successful pastor for ten years. There was a revival in 1858, from which the church membership was materially enlarged. Another strong revival during the latter part of Mr. Chapin's pastorate also greatly increased the church membership. For two years following Mr. Chapin's de- parture in 1867, the church was again without a settled pastor, the pulpit being supplied, and in 1869, Rev. Harrison A. Shorey was called. He was also a graduate of the Bangor Seminary and served the church for four years, leaving in 1873. It was
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during this pastorate that the church was remodelled, the old parsonage was sold and the present one on Free street purchased. Mr. Shorey was succeeded by the Rev. Ebenezer Bean, a graduate of Bowdoin and Bangor, in 1873. He had a short but successful pastorate of two years, leaving in 1875. After being several months without a pastor the church called Rev. Wellington R. Cross in 1876, who served ably as preacher and pastor for seven years. Mr. Cross was also a graduate of Bowdoin and Bangor. He was a finished and scholarly writer and able speaker and is well remembered by our people. He left in 1883 and in 1890 married Rubie A., daughter of Amasa B. Gould of Camden. He died suddenly at Foxcroft, where he was then preaching, Sept. 20, 1891. From 1883 to 1884 the pulpit was supplied. In the latter year the church gave a call to Rev. Amory H. Tyler, who was educated at Dover Academy and Bangor Theological Seminary. He remained with the church as its pastor until 1889, when, after a few months, the present pastor, Rev. Lewis D. Evans was called, and began his labors with the church in November of that year. Mr. Evans is a native of Wales and came to this country when a young man. He received his education here at the Western Reserve, Hudson, Ohio and Bangor Seminary, and his seventeen years of pastorate (the longest of any in the history of the church) have been fruitful ones for the welfare and prosperity of the church and for the beneficial influence exerted by the church in the community. Mr. Evans is an eloquent and popular speak- er, a faithful and hard working pastor, and a valuable and well loved citizen. During his pastorate 121 new members have been added to the church. During this pastorate the church edifice has been improved, the old chapel sold and a new one, completed in the fall of 1906, has been erected at an expense of about $6,- 000. In 1903, the First Congregational Parish was incorporated, with Joshua Adams, President, Reuel Robinson, Vice President, C. M. Barstow, Treasurer and L. W. Hart, Clerk. This corpora- tion has taken over and now owns the property of the church and
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