History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 46

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780

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172

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

for a higher education. In fact, they may be said to hardly exist in our midst. They have been crowded out by the public schools, which, working on a broader foundation and with more liberal provision for higher education, have rendered competition on the part of individ- uals almost impossible."

The progress in the public schools of the city for the past seventecu years may be shown by the amount of appro- priations made from year to year, as follows :

1862 $30,500

1871 $65,875

1863.

32,192

1872

67,175

1864

33,917

1873.

69,250

1865.

39,200 1874. 77,800

1866

44,550

1875 89,700

1867.

53,950

1876.

S2,138

18GS

57,000

1877

84,925

1869

64,200

1878

76.440

1870.

64,475

The public schools in the city at present are twenty-three in number, viz., one high school, for pupils of both sexes ; three with grammar and primary grades; four grammar schools ; nine primary ; two mixed, the latter on the islands, and one named the Portland School for the Deaf and Dumb.

The number of persons eligible to attend school (between four and twenty-one, inelusive), according to the census taken in June, 1878, is 9581. In June, 1876, the number was 10,634, showing that for the two intervening years the number had diminished 1053. Eleven years ago (in 1867) the number between four and twenty-one was 11.452. The number attending school for this year (1878) has been 5944. The amount raised for the support of the schools for the municipal year ending March, 1879, was $77,400.

School Committee .- George Walker, Mayor, Chairman (ex officio) ; George C. Burgess, Ward One; Frank A. Stan- ley, Ward Two; William H. Shailer, Ward Three ; George H. Chadwick, Ward Four; Charles E. Dibby, Ward Five; Henry S. Burrage, Ward Six; Levi A. Gray, Ward Seven. Thomas Tash, Superintendent of Schools.

In their last report the committee say,-

" It gives the Committee pleasure to say that the schools of the eity generally have during the year made commendable progress, and maintained the honorable rank which they had previously acquired. In no former year perhaps has more faithful labor been accomplished or more satisfactory results been achieved. The standard of excel- lence has become more elevated, and in some respects decided advanees have been made towards its attainment."

The truant officer, during the year ending with March, 1879, visited the schools 1390 times, received 1086 eards from the teachers for investigation, made 43 arrests, and committed two boys to the Reform School. Returning to school without arrest, 28. Truant officer reports daily to superintendent of schools for advice and directions.

CHURCHES OF PORTLAND.

The number of regular churches in Portland is twenty- eight. Of these nine are Congregational, three Protestant Episcopal, three Baptist, four Methodist Episcopal, two Ro- man Catholic, two Unitarian, two Universalist, one Inth- eran, one Swedenborgian, one Friends' Society, and one Ministry at large. Besides these there are several relig- ious societies worshiping in halls and other buildings, such as the Second Adventists, Disciples of Christ, Spiritualists, ete. Of suburban churches there is one Methodist and one Congregational at Woodford's Corners, Bay-Side Free Bap-

tist, Ferry Village Methodist Episcopal, and Stevens' Plains Universalist.

FIRST PARISH (UNITARIAN).

This society was the first established on the Neck, now Portland. Rev. Thomas Smith was the first settled minis- ter, and was ordained March 8, 1727. Hle was the only minister in the town till Nov. 10, 1734, when Rev. Mr. Allen was installed at Cape Elizabeth, which was till then a part of Mr. Smith's parish. There was a block-house held by some families at Purpooduck Point, and a garrison and a few families at Spurwink : at those places Rev. Mr. Smith used alternately to minister to the people. There was no other minister in town till other parishes were set off. In the first parish Rev. Samuel Deane was settled as a colleague with Mr. Smith, Oct. 17, 1764. They continued together until the death of Mr. Smith, May 23, 1795. Mr. Deane then became sole pastor, and so remained until the settlement of Rev. Ichabod Nichols, June 7, 1809. Dr. Deane died Nov. 12, 1814, and the whole pastoral charge devolved upon Dr. Nichols.

It was soon after the settlement of Dr. Nichols over this parish that the divergence in religious belief, which finally separated them so widely from their Orthodox Congrega- tional brethren, began to manifest itself. Rev. Edward Payson, who had become an associate with Dr. Kellogg in the second parish, in 1807, took strong exceptions to the views of Rev. Mr. Nichols, declining to assist in his ordina- tion, or to recognize him as a Christian minister. " Pre- vious to that time there had been an interchange of services between the ministers of the two societies, and although it was understood that Dr. Deane entertained views more fa- vorable to the liberal scheme of Christianity than Mr. Kel- logg or Mr. Payson, it did not interrupt Christian fellow- ship between them. After that time the narrow breach widened to a gulf, and in one parish what was moderate Calvinism became decided Unitarianism, wbile in the other the same moderate Calvinism rose into the firm orthodox scheme which excluded from its fellowship and its pulpits the ministers of the other sect." In building up this sys- tem Mr. Payson's ability and eloquence as a preacher bore no unimportant part. In 1811, at an association of ministers, Mr. Kellogg and Mr. Payson both declined to allow the ap- pointment of Mr. Nichols to preach in their pulpits to be carried into effect, and thus the breach between the two societies was made permanent.

The first meeting-house of the parish was built in 1740, and was occupied till the commencement of the Revolution, when it was shattered by the balls of Capt. Mowatt's gun- ships in the bombardment of the town in 1775. It suf- fered from subsequent negleet and became a melancholy ruin. When the society gathered its seattered members after the war, it was seriously discussed whether it would not be better to abandon the old structure and creet a new one. " Many believed it unworthy of repair, and a com- mittee reported that it would cost £200 to restore it." In 1787 a vote passed to pull down the old church and build a new one by subscription ; and Samuel Freeman, one of the most active and influential men in the parish, circulated a subscription for that purpose. The division of the

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LITTLE

Photo. by Lamson, Portland,

The ancestor of the Woodman family in America was Edward Woodman, who, in company with Archelaus Wood- man, settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1635. The latter was a passenger in the ship " James," which sailed from South- ampton in the month of April of that year. It is not known whether Edward came in the same vessel, but it is certain that they both settled at Newbury at the same time.

Archelaus died Oct. 14, 1702, leaving no children. Edward reared a family of seven children. He was living in 1687, but the time of his death is unknown.

John Woodman, fifth in descent from Edward, born April 24, 1740, married Sarah Page, of Salisbury, Mass., in 1762, settled at New Gloucester, Me., in 1764, and was one of the pioneers of that town. His goods came on a raft up Royal River. He was a farmer, and died March 21, 1808. Ilis wife died Feb. 13, 1809. John Woodman was one of fifteen children of Joshua and Eunice Wood- man, twelve of whom reached maturity and married. Of these children the shortest-lived reached the age of sixty- eight, and the longest-lived died at the age of ninety- seven.

Moses, son of John Woodman, and father of the subject of this sketch, born in New Gloucester, Dec. 23, 1778, married Sally Cushman, Dec. 23, 1802. She died March 6, 1815. Ile married, for his second wife, Charlotte Lufkin, Aug. 24, 1817.

IIe was a representative farmer ; was seleetman for many years, and a member of the State Legislature. He served as captain in the war of 1812. He died in 1858. One son, Jabez C. Woodman, was a prominent member of the Cumberland County bar for many years; was a graduate of Bowdoin College, and died in Portland, Nov. 8, 1869, aged sixty-five.

George W., born in New Gloucester, March 9, 1813, remained at home until twenty-two years of age; received his education in the common school and by private in- struction from his uncle, Jabez Woodman, who was a graduate of Dartmouth College and a fine classical scholar.

He began business for himself in a country store in his

native town. In 1836, October 6, he came to Portland, and in company with David J. True (True & Wood- man) opened a retail dry-goods house. This firm dis- solved partnership in 1845, and for the next five years Mr. Woodman was in business alone. In 1850 he associated with him in business Samuel True and Alfred Woodman ( Woodman, True & Co.), and opened business as a manu- facturer of clothing and a jobber of dry goods and clothing. This business continued until the fire of 1866, when he suffered great loss, buildings and goods being entirely con- sumed.

With that courage characteristic of him from a boy. and nothing daunted, Mr. Woodman at once set about building a place of business, and in 1867 erected the Woodman block on Middle Street, where he has done business since, and although he has had associated with him various partners, the firm-name of " Woodman, True & Co." is still retained.

The Woodman block is one of the finest structures in the city of Portland, and is said to be the largest dry-goods house in the State of Maine. Thus Mr. Woodman has been an active business man of Portland for a period of forty-three years, and is one of the oldest dry-goods mer- chants in the city. During these years of continuous busi- ness he has been an interested citizen in local matters, and called to represent the interests of Portland in both branches of the State Legislature.

He has been a member of the Portland Board of Trade since its organization ; for many years was one of its vice- presidents, and for four years its president. He was a member of the old Whig party, and is now a Republican. He was alderman from the Third Ward of the city for three years, representative in the State Legislature in 1864, and State senator in 1865-67. He married, Sept. 29, 1836, Charlotte B., daughter of Amos Haskell, of New Gloucester. She was born July 5, 1819. Their children are Frances, wife of Seth B. Hersey, of Portland; Augusta J., wife of R. A. Ballou, of Boston ; and Marie, wife of William E. Donnell, of New York.

173

CITY OF PORTLAND.

parish, however, occurred at this time, and the matter was postponed.

In 1788 a committee disposed of the parish lands, con- verting them into a fund to be applied to its use, and the same year they put in execution the law of 1786, allowing them to assess their taxes upon the pews instead of upon the polls and estates as had previously been done. In 1792 £250 were appropriated for the repairs of the old meeting- house. In 1800 the steeple and vane were repaired, and in 1803 the remainder of the building (outside and in) was thoroughly painted.

In November, 1824, the parish eame to the conclusion to build a new meeting-house on the site of the old one, to be commeneed early the next spring and finished without delay. Accordingly the present church edifice was erected in 1825. It is constructed of undressed granite. The corner-stone was laid by the venerable Samuel Freeman in the presence of a very large assemblage, May 9, 1825. On the southeast corner under the stone a silver plate was laid with this inseription :

" This C. Stone of ye Ch. of ye Ist Par. in Port'd. was laid by the Hon. S. Freeman, May 9, 1825, on the site of the former Ch. erected in 1740, enlarged in 1759 and removed 1825. Build. Com'e. A. New- hall, J. Richardson and J. Mussey Esqrs. Ist Pas. Rev. T. Smith ord'd. in 1727, and Sen. Coll. from 1764 to his death in 1795 with the Rev. Dr. Deane, who died in 1814, and with whom the 3d and present Pas. the Rev. Dr. Nichols was associated io 1809. Deacons, Hon. S. Freeman and W. Storer. Par. Com. Hon. B. Potter, C. B. Brooks Esq. and J. Harrod. Treas. and Clerk C. S. Davies, Esq. [on the other side] Builders, Henry Dyer, Mason; Nathan llow, Carpenter ; Stephen Morrell, Stone Cutter."

The whole expense of the church, including the fences and laying out the grounds around, was about $23,000. The house was finished in Jannary, and dedicated Feb. 8, 1826, Dr. Nichols preaching the dedieatory sermon, assisted by Dr. Parker, of Portsmouth.

This parish has been remarkable for its lengthy pastor- ates. From the organization of the society in 1727 to 1879, a period of one hundred and fifty-two years, there have been but five pastors, and in no part of the time has the office been vacant. The periods of the respective pas- torates have been as follows :

Rev. Thomas Smith began his ministry March 8, 1727, and continued till his death, May 23, 1795, a ministry of sixty-eight years and two months, thirty-one years of which were in connection with his colleague, Rev. Dr. Deane.

Rev. Samuel Deane's ministry hegan Oct. 17, 1764, and continued till his death, Nov. 12, 1814, a ministry of fifty years, five of which were in connection with his colleague, Rev. Dr. Nichols.

Rev. Ichabod Nichols began his ministry in 1809 and resigned in 1855, having served the parish forty-six years.

Rev. Iloratio Stebbins, who succeeded Dr. Nichols in the pastoral charge, was minister of the parish nine years, from 1855 to 1864, when he resigned. He is now preach- ing to great acceptance in San Francisco, Cal.

Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., the learned and accomplished ex-president of Harvard College, sneceeded Mr. Stebbins, and is now in the sixteenth year of his pastorate.

Iu the offices also of the church and society an extraor- dinary degree of steadiness is observable : the office of parish

clerk was held by three persons sixty-seven years; Samuel Cobb was deacon thirty-nine and Samuel Freeman forty- four years. The three persons who held the office of clerk so long were Stephen Longfellow, twenty-three years; John Frothingham, thirty-four years; and Samuel Moody, ten years.

It will be proper to append here a few biographical notes of the pastors of the first parish.

Rev. Thomas Smith was the son of Thomas Smith and Mary Corwin, and was born in Boston, March 10, 1702. Ile was the eldest of a large family of children, all of whom he survived. Ilis father died at Saco, February 19, 1742; he was engaged there as Indian agent, and had been for many years in the service of the government in connec- tion with Indian affairs in this State. In 1716, at the age of fourteen, Mr. Smith entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 1720. In 1727 he settled as the first parish minister in Falmouth. He was three times married : his first wife was Sarah, daughter of William Tyng, Esq., of Woburn, Mass., to whom he was married Sept. 12, 1728, and who died Oct. 1, 1742; the second was the widow of Capt. Samuel Jordan, of Saco, whom he married in 1744, she died in 1763; and his third wife was Widow Elizabeth Wendell, who survived him. He had eight children, all by his first wife, only two of whom survived him, viz., Peter T., born in 1731, and Sarah, born in 1740, who both died in 1827. Mr. Smith died May 23, 1795, in the ninety-fourth year of his age, after a ministry over the First Parish of sixty eight years and two months. Dr. Kel- logg at his funeral said,-

" On the record of Harvard's sons we find his solitary name : to all around is prefixed the signature of death. The wilderness where he first pitched his tent is now the place of vineyards and of gardens. Not a soul that first composed his flock is now in the land of the living."

The character of this venerable man, whose life was full of so many eventful years, may well impress us. He was a man of very strong and marked characteristics, a preacher of great fervor and devotion. It is said by his biographer that " he was blessed with a singular strength of memory, which he retained with little abatement to the last, and with a lively imagination, which rendered his conversation in- structive and entertaining." His voice was naturally feeble, but the excellency of his elocution, accompanied by his grave

and carnest manner, rendered him a very agreeable and forcible speaker. Ilis labors in attending to his parish duties, and in keeping the connected and voluminous diary which has been published since his death, must have been incessant and exhausting. During his ministry in the First Parish he baptized 2363 children and 31 adults, and re- ceived 379 persons into his church.

Rev. Samuel Deane, D.D., was the great-grandson of John Deane, the first of the name in this country. who emigrated with his brother Walter from Chardin, Somer- setshire, England, in 1636. After remaining a year in Dorchester, near Boston, he removed to Taunton, Mass., where he died, leaving four sons and one daughter.

Dr. Deane was the ellest son of Deacon Samuel Deane, and was born in Norton, Mass., in 1733. He graduated at Harvard College in 1760, with a high reputation as a scholar, was appointed tutor there in 1763, and continued

174

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

in the office until he accepted the call of the First Parish the next year. While at Cambridge he composed a Latin poem, which, with a volume of complimentary effusions from the University, was presented to George III., on his accession to the throne The poem was highly spoken of. He also published several other poems, the longest of which was " Pitchwood IIill," in hexameter. His largest work, the one to which he was most devoted, and which will longest preserve his memory, is his " Georgical Dictionary, or New England Farmer," first published in 1790. Besides the foregoing works, Dr. Deane published au oration, de- livered July 4, 1793; an election sermon, delivered in 1794; two discourses to young men of his parish, and some other sermons. He was a man of dignified personal appearance, but in hours of relaxation he was fond of in- dulging in social conversation, which he often eulivened with pleasantry and wit. He was a member of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences, and received his doctorate of divinity from Brown University. He married Eunice, daughter of Moses Pearson, in 1766, but had no children. His wife died Oct. 14, 1812, aged eighty-seven. He died Nov. 12, 1814, in the eighty-first year of his age, and the fiftieth of his ministry.

Dr. Nichols was born in Portsmonth, N. H., July 5, 1784. He was the fourth son of Capt. Ichabod and Lydia (Ropes) Nichols. His parents removing to Salem when he was quite young, he was there fitted for college, in the high school, and entered Harvard, where he graduated with the highest honors of his class, in 1802. In 1805, while pur- suing his theological studies with Dr. Barnard, of Salem, he received the appointment of tutor in mathematics, at Cambridge, and continued to fill that office until his aecept- ance of the pastorate in this place. While exercising the routine duties of his office he was not neglectful of the profoundest studies of science and theology. Ile was a well-instructed German scholar, and kept pace with the best thought and discoveries of his time. Deeply in- terested in the temperance and Sunday-school cause, he lectured and preached often in aid of the former, and for the latter prepared a treatise on natural theology, which has found a place in theological schools.

In 1810, Dr. Nichols married, for his first wife, Dorothea T. Gilman, of Exeter, daughter of Governor Gilman, by whom he had four children, all sons, two of whom died young, and two survived him. He married his second wife, a daughter of the late Stephen Iliggenson, in 1832.

Like his predecessor, Dr. Nichols was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ile was also for several years president of the Maine Historical Society, and for forty-two years a trustee of Bowdoin College, which institution conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1821. He also received the same title from Harvard in 1831.

Dr. Nichols, on leaving the pastorate of the First Parish, retired to Cambridge, where he was engaged in getting out the profound work which had been for many years the sub- ject of his meditations. He did not live to finish it. On the 2d of January, 1859, before the first volume eame from the press, he was summoned from his earthly labors.

Rev. Horatio Stebbins, who succeeded him in the pas- toral charge here, is now preaching with great acceptance

in San Francisco, Cal. He resigned his charge over this parish in 1864, and was succeeded by the learned ex-Presi- dent of Harvard College, Rev. Dr. Thomas Hill.

SECOND PARISH (CONGREGATIONAL).

This parish originated in a separation from the First Parish of 59 persons, including John Fox, Thomas Sand- ford, Lemuel Weeks, Joseph H. Ingraham, John Curtis, Joseph MeLellan, Joseph Jewett, John Bagley, James Jewett, Hugh MeLellan, Abner Lowell, John Robinson, William Moody, and Enoch Moody, by a vote of 29 to 13, on the 12th of September, 1787. They procured an act of incorporation March 17, 1788, one of the conditions of which was that they should coutribute to the support of Rev. Mr. Smith one-quarter of the amount voted to him by the First Parish. This, however, did not hinder them from taking immediate steps to secure another minister. They wrote at once to Rev. Mr. Murray, of Newburyport, to recommend a candidate to preach to them, and he sent them Rev. Elijah Kellogg. Mr. Kellogg had studied for the ministry under the direction of Mr. Murray, and came to Portland in October, 1787, where he preached four Sundays in the North school-house, at the foot of Middle Street. " The excitement which existed in town, the novelty of the occasion, and the peculiar and ardent manner of Mr. Kel- logg drew around him a large congregation, and for a time almost overturned the foundation of the old parish."

The next year the new society erected their first meeting- house. It was dedicated on the 28th of September, 1788, and on the 30th a church was formed consisting of 11 male members. Mr. Kellogg was ordained on the Ist of October following, and for 19 years the new society continued to prosper under his sole charge. During the early part of this period the spirit which had produced the separation kept up a feeling of rivalry and opposition until both parishes had overcome the embarrassment of their affairs ; but when experience proved that both could be well sustained, all jealousy subsided, and the ministers interchanged services in a spirit of harmony very acceptable to their people. It is proper to remark here that difference of doctrinal views had nothing to do in producing this separation, and that it was not until after both parishes were well established that the divergence of belief arose which has separated them so widely.

In 1807, Mr. Kellogg, having a desire to extend his society and to establish a branch of it at the western end of the town, which was then rapidly increasing, procured the assistance of Mr. Edward Payson, with a view, if his ser- vices should be satisfactory to the parish, to have him united with himself as colleague pastor. The high expecta- tions of Mr. Kellogg in relation to Mr. Payson were more than realized ; he entered on the duties of his profession with all the ardor of devoted feeling, and threw the whole power of his enthusiastic character into the offices of his ministry. Such ardor and enthusiasm, accompanied by genius, could not but win the hearts of his hearers, and there was no hesitation on their part in giving him a call to settle over them. He accepted the invitation, and was ordained as the colleague of Mr. Kellogg, Dee. 16, 1807.

Under this accession of ministerial power the society in-

Photo, by Lamson, Portland.

Dance

DANIEL W. TRUE is seventh in descent from Henry True, who was of English birth, and came to Salem, Mass., in 1632. His great-grandfather, Jabez, settled with his family in the town of New (Hlouces- ter, in 1760, as one of the first settlers under the old proprietors of Massachusetts, and died there. His grandfather, Jabez, born in 1750, was ten years of age when the family removed to Cumberland County. He married Miss Collins, reared a family of children, and died in New Gloucester in 1823.

His father, Jabez, born on the old homestead in 1771, married Hannah Jackson, Jan. 23, 1795. She was born in Gloucester, Mass., May 18, 1776, and died in 1841. He followed agricultural pursuits during his life, was a man of correct habits and sterling integrity, and died in 1842. Their family consisted of five sons and seven daughters, of whom six are living in 1879,-one son, Otis, besides Daniel W., the subject of this narrative, and four daughters.

Daniel W. True, youngest of the family, was born in Poland (now Androscoggin County), Ang. 20, 1821. He remained at home until 1853, where, dur- ing his boyhood, he received a common-school edu- cation, and afterwards carried on farming. In that year he came to Portland, and for two years was a clerk for Shaw & True, wholesale grocers.

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History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 46

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 780

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780