USA > Maine > Knox County > Camden > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 8
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockport > History of Camden and Rockport, Maine > Part 8
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COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1
In the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.
An act to incorporate the Plantation of Cambden, in the County of Hancock into a Town by the name of Cambden.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in the General Court assembled and by authority of the same, that the said Plantation called Cambden, included within the fol- lowing boundaries, viz: Beginning at a rock marked A. X. on the seashore at the north side of Owl's Head Bay at the southeast corner of Thomaston line; thence running northwest by north, seven miles, thirty-four poles, to a maple stake marked on four sides, and pile of stones ; thence running northeast, five miles, ninety-four poles, to a beech tree marked on four sides; thence running east three miles and one half and twenty poles, to a
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TOWN INCORPORATED
spruce tree marked on four sides; thence running southeast by south, one mile to a fir tree marked on four sides at little Duck Trap in Penobscot Bay ; thence by the sea shore in a westerly direction to the bounds first mentioned ; together with the inhab- itants thereon, be and they hereby are incorporated into a Town by the name of Cambden ; and that the said Town be and hereby is, vested with all the Powers, Privileges and Immunities, which other Towns in this Commonwealth may by law enjoy.
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that Oliver Parker Esqr. of Penobscot be and hereby is empowered to issue his warrant, directed to some principal Inhabitant of the said Town of Cambden, requiring him to notify the Inhabitants there- of, to meet at such time and place as he shall therein appoint, to choose such Officers as Towns are by law required to choose at their annual meeting in the month of March or April.
In the House of Representatives, February 16th, 1791, this bill, having had three several readings, passed to be enacted.
David Cobb, Speaker.
In Senate, February 17th, 1791, this bill having had two several readings, passed to be enacted.
Samuel Phillips, President. Approved, John Avery, Junr., Secretary.
As is seen from the foregoing charter Camden was then in the County of Hancock. Since its settlement Camden has been in four different counties. It was in Lincoln County until Han- cock County was incorporated in 1789 when it became a part of the latter county.1 Before the incorporation of the town our citi- zens petitioned the General Court to be set off to Lincoln. The General Court was at first opposed to granting this petition, but the following year after the incorporation of the town, it was granted and Camden again became a portion of old Lincoln County where it remained until Waldo County was established,
1. When in Hancock County our people used to attend court at Castine (then a part of the town of Penobscot) and when in Lincoln County at Wal- doboro, which was the county seat until 1800, when it was changed to Wiscas- set. When in Waldo County they had their grievances adjusted at Belfast which was made the shire town of the county, and since the formation of the new County of Knox, they have attended court at Rockland, which has always been the shire town of Knox.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
July 4, 1827, at which time it was made a part of the new county. In 1860 Knox County was formed out of a portion of Waldo and a portion of Lincoln, since which year Camden has been in Knox County.
Having attained the dignity to which they aspired, the vot- ers of Camden at once proceeded to organize their new town. 1 The warrant calling the first town meeting was somewhat briefer than the warrants of the present day, was issued by Oliver Parker, addressed to Mr. McGlathery, who was thus shown to. be a "prin- cipal inhabitant " of the town, and reads as follows :
Hancock ss. To Mr. William McGlathry of Cambden in said County of Hancock, and one of the Principle Inhabitants of said Town.
Greeting -
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts you are hereby Required forthwith to Notify and Warn the Inhabitants of the said Town of Cambden, to Meet at the Dwelling House of Mr. Peter Ott, of said Cambden, innholder, on the forth Day of April next, at Nine of the Clock in the forenoon to Chuse All Such Officers as Towns are by Law Required to Chuse at their Annual Meeting in the Month of March or April, viz :
1. To Chuse a Moderator to Govern said Meeting.
2. To Chuse a Town Clerk for the Ensuing year.
3. To Chuse Selectmen.
4. To Chuse one or More Constables and Collectors.
5. To Chuse all such other officers for said Town as all other Towns in said Commonwealth are by Law Empowered to Chuse.
6. To see which manner the Inhabitants of said Town shall be notified and Warned at future meetings; Do and transact all other matters that Concern the Prudentials of said Town and are for the Interest of the same to do.
Hereof Fail Nott and make Return of this Warrant to said Inhabitants at said Meeting and of your Doings therein.
Dated at Penobscot this Twelfth Day of March in the year of 1. The other towns in this portion of the original Muscongus grant. in- corporated prior to the incorporation of Camden, are as follows: Waldoboro, 1773, Warren, 1776, Thomaston, 1777, Union, 1786, Cushing, 1789.
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TOWN INCORPORATED
our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.
Oliver Parker, Justice of Peace. 1
Mr. McGlathry duly notified the inhabitants as required by the warrant, and the first town meeting was held at Mr. Ott's inn at Goose River on April 4, 1791. The first officers of the town chosen at this meeting were, Wm. Gregory, Moderator ; John Harkness, Town Clerk ; John Harkness, First Selectman ; Wm. Gregory, Second Selectman ; Wm. McGlathery, Third Selectman ; Paul Thorndike, Constable ; Nathaniel Palmer, Tax Collector ; Joseph Eaton, Treasurer ; James Richards, Robert Thorndike, and David Nutt, Surveyors of Lumber ; Wm. Gregory, Ephraim Gay, John Harkness, Joseph Eaton, Joshua Dillingham, Nathaniel Hosmer and Thomas Harrup, Highway Surveyors; David Blod- gett, Joseph Eaton, Barak Bucklin and Thomas Mace, Tything- men ; Peter Ott and Nath'l Palmer, Hogreeves ; David Nutt, Sealer of Leather ; and John Harkness, Sealer of Weights and Measures. It was voted "that the Roads shall go where they Now Run till December ;" and future town meetings "shall be Warned by putting up Notifications at three publick places."
After disposing of the necessary town business, they pro- ceeded to vote for a Representative to Congress, and Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state. Quite different to the elections in Camden at the the present day, there was but one candidate for each of these offices, for whom our fathers voted, viz: William Lithgow, Esq., received 32 votes for Congressman ; and John Hancock and Samuel Adams each received 26 votes for Governor and Lieut-Governor, respectively, after which "the Afore Said Meeting Dissolved."
The first record book of the town, like all the records up to the year of the division of the town, is in the custody of the town of Rockport. It is in an excellent state of preservation, both as to binding and the legibility of its contents. It covers the period
1. Town Records, Vol. I, Page 2.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
from the incorporation of the town to the year 1820, and contains nearly all the records of the town including, in addition to the records of the town meetings, records of the laying out of roads, of marriages, and intentions of marriage, deeds of ministerial land, pews, etc., and of other matters now usually kept in separate books. 1 The penmanship is as a rule plain, the orthography on the whole good, although to some extent, especially in the earlier records, more or less antique, and the use of capitals some- what erratic. Considering the greater educational advantages enjoyed at the present day, the town records of 1791 and the years immediately following, compare favorably in all respects, with those of recent years.
There seemed to be a great deal of business for the town to transact during this first year of its existence and three other meetings were called, one in May, one in June and one in Nov- ember. Trouble began early. The warrant for the town meeting held in May, contained six articles, but when the freeholders got together at the meeting they proceeded to act on some six- teen different questions without much regard to the articles in the warrant. This led some of the wise men of the town to object, and the first "remonstrance " signed by citizens of Cam- den was shortly afterwards presented to the selectmen as follows :
We the Subscribers and Freeholders of said Cambden, forbid and Deny, you, the above Selectmen in transacting or Assessing of any or one Rate or taxes, or acting on any other artical that Was in your Warrant, which you acted on your Last Town meeting, 25 May, it being for several reasons, and one is for Nott having your articles set in your Notification being Different Also which is Not Law. We therefore request you the said Selectmen to Call A Town meeting Amediately according to Law to Act on the
1. The first town record book was lost many years ago, but was found in 1897 under a lot of waste paper in a long unused drawer in the Bangor Curt House, by an official and returned to the town The story is that the book was in Bangor to be used in the trial of a pauper case in which Camden was interested, and that Camden's attorney, finding the record unfavorable to his client, quietly slipped it under the rubbish in the Court House drawer where it reposed for years.
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TOWN INCORPORATED
same Articles you acted on your Last Townmeeting or any other article you writt in your Notification, that may be beneficent to the said Town.
Peter Ott, Jr., James Richards, John Thorndike, James Richards, Jr., David Blodgett, Nathaniel Hosmer, Charles Demorse, Abraham Ogier, Samuel Jacobs, Sam'l Mclaughlin, Robert Thorndike.
A new town meeting was accordingly held in June at which the same and other business was transacted in a business-like manner, and to the better satisfaction of the sticklers for propriety and legality. At this meeting among other things it was voted to "Build a Pound on Mr. Peter Ott's Land and Mr. Peter Ott to be Pound Keeper." It was also voted "the Pound to be 7 feet high and tight enough to Stop Pigs a Month old, a Dore with Iron Hinges, a lock and kee." Also it was voted that "hoggs may go at Large without Ringing and sheep without a Sheppard." Under Article 12, the record says, "Voted to make a publick Charge of All Reasonable expenses for a petition to the General Court, Last January-23 votes for and 15 Against getting off from Hancock to Lincoln,- and to pay the expenses of the In- corporation of Cambden." They also voted to accept several roads, one leading from the Thomaston line to Clam Cove, another from the county road near Mr. James Richards' by Mr. Samuel Jacobs to Mr. James Simonton's, etc. The county road above mentioned had been laid out on Nov. 10, 1790, from Thomaston (now Rockland) to Camden Harbor, and thence to Little Duck Trap, or across the whole length of the town from south to north. This is the first Camden road of which there is any record. Prior to that as well as for a long time afterwards traveling was principally performed on foot and after a bridle path was worn sufficiently for the purpose, short journeys were made on horseback. Up to the laying out of the county road, 1 there was not a passable road in Camden of the length of three miles.
1. For lay outs of first roads in Camden, see Town Records, Vol. I, Pages 11-18.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
There had been a foot path from St. George to Sandy Point in Prospect, which was first indicated by spotted trees-but there was no road that could be traveled a series of miles in vehicles, and even the county road laid out in 1790, was not completed until 1797. 1 The citizens were awake to the necessity of having more and better roads and during the first year of the town's his- tory many roads were laid out in various parts of the town, and at a town meeting held in November about all the business was voting upon the question of roads, some of which were voted down, while others were accepted.
1792. At the annual town meeting held this year on March 5, Wm. Gregory, Jr., was elected Town Clerk; Wm. Gregory, Jr., Robert Thorndike and Samuel Jacobs, Selectmen ; and Joseph Eaton, Treasurer. Among the minor officers we notice the fol- lowing new names, not seen in the records of the year before : Sedate Wadsworth, Benajah Barrows, Thomas Tibbetts, Lewis. Ogier, Lemuel Dillingham, John Gross, John Gordon, Wm. Por- terfield. Forty pounds were raised for highways and five pounds as a school tax. The town then voted for state officials and there being no opposition, John Hancock had 21 votes for Governor, and Samuel Adams the same for Lieut. Governor.
At this time there was but one bridge in town across the Megunticook river. At first there was a bridge formed by a jam of logs, situated where the Knox Woolen Factory now stands. Afterwards a bridge was built across the stream about where P. H. Thomas' stable is now located, which this year got badly out of repair, and at a town meeting held May 7, it was voted not to "Repair the old bridge at Negunticook," but to build a new one ;
1. Locke's Sketches, Page 64. At the time roads were traced by spotted trees, a stranger traveling in the winter, took supper at the house of Robert Thorndike, where he was urged to remain over night. Having urgent busi- ness he declined the hospitality tendered him and proceeded on his way in- tending to go towards Duck Trap. Wandering from his path he came into a meadow where, benumbed with the cold, he crawled into a haystack and fell into a sleep from which he never awoke. He was found sitting there, in the spring, by the settlers.
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TOWN INCORPORATED
and at another meeting in September it was voted to raise 150 pounds to pay for building it. This resulted in raising another protest from voters in the other part of the town who, "feeling themselves aggrieved and dissatisfied " at the amount raised, "which we Conceive to be a larger sum than the Nature of the Business Requires," petitioned for another meeting to reconsider the vote. Thus the "bridge question" which Mr. Locke truly says has since, like then, been regarded as a "vexata quaestio," first raised its disquieting countenance in a Camden town meeting. At the subsequent meeting it was voted to reconsider the vote to raise 150 pounds and "to put the Bridge up at vendu, which was struck off to Capt. William McGlathry to build for twelve pounds, ten shillings."
This bridge was below the present Main street bridge. A road was surveyed and opened below and parallel with Main street, which crossed this bridge not far from where the brick building belonging to the Anchor Works, now stands, - back of the Cam- den Grist Mill Co.'s mill.
At this time there was a law long ago out of vogue, author- izing the selectmen to warn out of town all transient people or new comers who had not made application to the town authorities for the purpose of becoming permanent residents ; the object being to prevent persons becoming chargeable as paupers to any place. This warning was given at three different times in the early days of Camden, 1 the first time being in 1792, and among the people thus warned were some who afterwards, in wealth and respectability, were among the first people of the town. There was but one pauper in town at this time and the voters were reluc- tant to support her, but they finally did so, by paying different persons for her maintenance at the rate of 10 shillings per week.
At the September meeting a Representative to Congress was voted for as follows : George Thatcher 16, Peleg Wadsworth 10,
1. See Town Records, Vol. I, Page 23, 28 and 29.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
Daniel Davis 2, William Lithgow 16. At the same meeting it was voted to have three burial places - for the size of the home of the dead always increases with the growth of the abode of the living.
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ANCIENT RECORDS
CHAPTER XIV.
EXCERPTA FROM ANCIENT RECORDS.
1793. At the annual meeting held March 4, 1793, John Harkness was again elected Town Clerk; the Selectmen elected were Wm. Gregory, Jr., Samuel Jacobs and Elisha Gibbs; and Joseph Eaton was again made Treasurer. It is interesting to note the names that appeared from year to year, upon the town records of those early days. This year we find John Bowers, Josiah Greg- ory, Bela Jacobs, Benj. Higgins, Isaac Harrington and Abram Jones. At this meeting twenty pounds were raised for the support of schools. At a meeting held April 1, 16 votes were cast for John Hancock for Governor and the same number for Samuel Adams for Lieut. Governor.
.
The bridge question came up again this year, but was voted down at the first meeting. Another meeting was called within two weeks to act on the same subject, at which it was voted "to Discharge Capt. William McGlathry from Building the Bridge across the Mill Pond."
1794. At the March meeting this year the old board of town officers -Clerk, Selectmen and Treasurer - were re-elected. William Molineaux is about the only new name appearing in the list of minor officers elected. It is evident that the interest in education was growing, for this year the town voted thirty pounds for the support of schools, and a school committee was elected for the first time, this committee being Abram Jones, Samuel
.
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
McLaughlin and William McGlathry. At a meeting in April the selectmen were directed to "apply to the Proprietors for the Minister Lots and School Lots in Behalf of the Town." The first school-house in town was located on what is now the land of the estate of Capt. Jesse F. Hosmer, at the corner of Elm and Wood streets, 1 but we are not informed when it was built. The first schoolmaster in town took up his duties this year. He was Mr. Asa Hosmer, who was succeeded by Robert Porterfield and Benj. Stetson, but the record of early educational matters in town is exceedingly meager. At this meeting (April 7) a committee was appointed "for to Look out a meeting house Plot for to Build a meeting House on." Some of the citizens doubtless began to think that it was time for the town to turn its attention somewhat to religious matters, as they were having trouble with the authorities for a continued breach of the law then in force in the Common- wealth providing that any town not supporting a "Gospel minis- ter " should be fined. Camden was indicted under this law at about this time and a meeting was called July 3, "To see what the town will do in Regard of an Inditement against them for neglecting for the space of three years last past, to procure and maintain as the Law obliges, a settled ordained Minister." At the meeting the following action was taken : "Voted that Mr. David Blodgett and Mr. Samuel Mclaughlin be a committee to draw a petition for to lay before the Supreme Court next to be holden at Hallowell, against paying a fine for not having a Minis- ter for three years past." 2 The contest resulted in nothing and the town paid a fine of "2 pounds, 14 shillings and 6 pence." However much behind they were in religious matters they were evidently more than a century ahead on the labor question, for at one of their meetings this year it was voted "8 hours to be a day's work."
The first mention of a militia is found upon the records of
1. Locke's Sketches, Page 69.
2. Town Records, Vol. I, Pages 46-47.
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ANCIENT RECORDS
this year. The General Court, the year before, had passed an act for the improvement of the militia system and discipline, and a new interest was awakened in military affairs throughout the district and the Camden people hastened to comply with the law by calling a meeting Aug. 28, "To see what sum of money the Town will vote to Pay the soldiers now called for, or what the town will act Relative thereto;" also, "To see what sum of money the town will Vote to purchase a town stock of arms and Ammonition, or what the town will act Relative thereto ;" and at the meeting it was "Voted to Pay the minitmen eight Dollars a month with the Continental Pay, for the time they are in the ser- vice besides the Clothing." "Voted to pay the minitmen three shillings a day for every day they train," and "Voted to Rase thirty-six Pounds for to Purchase a town stock of arms and Am- minition." It was evidently easier for the settlers to obey the admonition to fight than the command to pray.
The agitation of the question of separating Maine from Massa- chusetts and forming a new state, which began in 1785, and was then denounced as treason by Gov. Bowdoin, first reached Camden this year, and at the August town meeting an article was inserted in the warrant to see if the town would send a representative to Portland "in Regard to a Separate State," but the voters were not yet ready to secede from the mother state and it was voted not to send a representative to Portland.
Up to this year the town meetings were all held at Peter Ott's inn at Goose River, but at a town meeting held Nov. 3, it was voted "to have the Town meetings half the time at Negunti- cook for the futer."
In the warrant of one of the meetings called this year, we find the qualifications for voters given as follows: "The free- holders, and other inhabitants of said Town, of twenty-one years and upwards, having a freehold estate within the Commonwealth of the annual income of three pounds, or any estate to the value of sixty pounds, to meet at Mr. Peter Ott's on Monday, the 7th
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HISTORY OF CAMDEN AND ROCKPORT
day of April next, at 12 of the clock at noon," etc. This limit- ation doubtless accounts for the small size of the vote cast, which was much less, in proportion to the population, than at the pres- ent time.
At the state election this year Camden cast 35 votes for Samuel Adams for Governor and the same number for Moses Gill for Lieut. Governor.
Prior to this time the citizens of Camden had but very little mail and no newspapers, except what might occasionally reach them by being brought by the coasters. "The most eastern postoffice had been Wiscasset to which the mail from Portland was brought twice a month. In 1793, a man by the name of Russell was hired by private individuals to go from Castine to Wiscasset, to carry letters and newspapers to the several towns between those places. He went on foot once a fortnight and carried his mail at first in a handkerchief, afterwards in saddle bags. He lived at the Penobscot ferry, and, finding traveling agreed with him so well, he traveled off to the western states, leaving his family and the mail to take care of themselves. The next year in con- sequence of a petition from the inhabitants, postmasters were appointed, and the mail sent by the government. It was then carried once a week on horseback." 1 Among these postoffices one was established at Camden, and Joseph Eaton was appointed postmaster. The postoffice was in Mr. Eaton's house on Eaton's Point. When within about half a mile of the office the postman used to give the patrons of the office warning of his approach by sounding a post horn. The second postmaster was John Hatha- way and on his death his brother-in-law, Benjamin Cushing, was
1. Eaton's Annals of Warren, Page 240.
2. Joseph Eaton's house was on the eastern bank of Camden inner har- bor on land now owned by the Camden Yacht Building and Railway Co. Traces of the old cellar can still be seen. When the house stood there the distance between it and the edge of the bank was considerable, but the ele- ments have now worn the bank back to the old cellar itself.
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ANCIENT RECORDS
appointed. 1 Mr. Cushing and his brother, Joseph, came to Cam- den this year (1794) and went into trade, succeeding John Dergin. 1795. There was no change this year in the Town Clerk, Selectmen and Treasurer elected. Some new names appear among the minor offices, to wit : Daniel Andrews, Daniel Mans- field, Samuel Russell, Joseph Sherman, Wm. Perry, Daniel Bar- rett, Alfred Lindsey and Zealor Palmer. The town raised the usual amounts for the various town expenses, and, with the indict- ment and fine of the year before fresh in the voters' minds, voted " to Raise thirty Pounds for the support of the Gospel for the year ensuing." We do not know to whom the thirty pounds were paid for preaching that year.
Once more the bridge question. A town meeting was called directly after the annual meeting in March, "To see if the Town will Vote to Build a Bridge over Negunticook stream whair the Butment is Now Laid or open a Road whair the last Committee Laid it out, or what they will do Relative thereto." At the meet- ing it was voted "to have the Road go over the Butments at Negunticook River."
Feb. 4, 1795, the "Twenty Associates" granted to the town Lot No. 58 of the Fales survey for a school lot, and on March 5 following they also granted to the town Lot No. 57 for a minis- terial lot. These were adjoining lots situated westerly of Goose River, and just back of Mr. Ott's lot. The town thanked the donors as follows : "Voted the thanks of this town to the 20 Asso- clates, for the Ministerial Lot No. 57 and School Lot No. 58, in Cambden, Esqr. David fails Survey." 2
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