USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 13
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Vote for Governor in 1818
The legal voters of Garland balloted for governor on April 6, with result as follows: For Hon. Benjamin Crowningshield, Anti Federalist, nineteen votes; for Hon. John Brooks, Federalist, twelve votes.
A town meeting, held November 2, 1818, only em- phasized the bitter disagreements upon the question of schoolhouses.
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The Ohio Fever
The impoverished condition of many of the citizens of the Province of Maine, superinduced by the adverse effects of the War of 1812, and intensified by the failure of crops in 1816, was followed by an emigration from the State to the West, estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand people. This demoralized sentiment was called the "Ohio fever." While some of the towns of the Province suffered severely by the loss of citizens from this cause, the loss to Garland was slight.
A Favorable Season
In contrast with several seasons preceding that of 1817, the year 1818 was characterized by a summer remarkably favorable for the growth of vegetation. The crops of grain were abundant. The "Ohio fever" had spent its force, and the tide of emigration had begun to set towards Maine.
A Revival of the Military Spirit
The autumn of 1818 witnessed a military gathering at Bangor which for enthusiastic interest has never, in time of peace, had a parallel in Penobscot County. The mortification engendered by the feeble opposition to the passage of the British ships and troops past Hampden to Bangor towards the close of the War of 1812, and the
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tame surrender of those places had rankled in the bosoms of the inhabitants of Penobscot valley.
Young, ambitious, and rising military officers of the time, who had not participated in the Hampden affair, believed that special efforts to improve the morals of the militia were imperatively demanded. Arrangements for a muster of the troops in large numbers at Bangor followed.
The ardor of the younger officers, conspicuous among whom was Colonel Isaac Hodsdon of Corinth, in evoking the necessary enthusiasm from the people, was commen- surate with the importance of the end in view.
The date fixed for the proposed military assemblage was September 21st. At length the impatiently awaited day dawned. At an early hour the third, fourth, and fifth regiments of the first brigade, embracing thirty companies, took the places assigned them on the ample field selected for the review. In the absence of the Brigadier General, the command devolved on Colonel Hodsdon. The large cavalcade of officers, dressed in gay uniforms, on spirited horses, the stirring music, waving flags, rattle of musketry, roar of cannon, and the evolu- tions of the soldiery, drew forth the wildest enthusiasm from the crowds of people in attendance.
The interest of the occasion was greatly enhanced by the presence of Governor Brooks, who reviewed the troops and expressed his warm approval of the success of this notable demonstration. The Garland company of militia was present under the command of Captain Philip Greeley.
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The First Post-Office
Previous to the year 1818, through a period of six- teen years, the nearest post-office had been at Bangor which was twenty-five miles away. During that period mail matter for the inhabitants of Garland was sent from the Bangor office by any reliable person of the town, who happened to be in Bangor, and left with some resident of Garland, who esteemed it a pleasure to distrib- ute it to the scattered homes as opportunity occurred.
A mail route extending from Bangor, through Gar- land, to Skowhegan having been established, a post- office was located at the house of William Godwin, who resided on the road to Dexter, opposite the site of Maple Grove Cemetery, in the year 1818, and Mr. Godwin was appointed postmaster. A Mr. Hayden of Skowhegan was the first mail-carrier over this route. His stopping place at the end of the first day's travel from Bangor was at Isaac Hopland's, where Mark C. Jennings now resides.
The mail was carried on horseback for the first few years. This service involved hardship and, not infre- quently, serious danger. During the spring and autumnal freshets, the corduroy bridges over low and swampy lands were often transformed into floating bridges of a dangerous character.
Bridges over small streams would sometimes float away in the interim between trips. Mr. Hayden's contract expired in 1822. He was followed, as contractor, by Colin Campbell of Corinth, and Calvin Osgood, after- wards a citizen of Garland, to carry the mail.
Mr. Eddy, who commenced service as mail-carrier in 1822, communicates the following information respect- ing the circuit he traveled to get the mail to the offices
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upon his route. Starting from Bangor, he passed through the present towns of Glenburn, Kenduskeag, West Corinth, Exeter, Garland, Dexter, Ripley, Har- mony, Athens and Cornville, to the objective point, Skowhegan.
On his return, he passed through the towns of Canaan, Pittsfield, Hartland, St. Albans, Palmyra, Newport, Etna, Carmel and Hampden, to Bangor. Some sections of the return route from Skowhegan must have been of a somewhat zigzag character.
Mr. Eddy gives the names of the postmasters upon his route in 1822 as follows: Mark Trafton at Bangor, Moses Hodsdon at Kenduskeag, Richard Palmer at West Corinth, Reuben Bartlett at Garland, Dr. Gilman Burleigh at Dexter, John Todd at Ripley, Mr. Bartlett at Harmony, John Ware at Athens, Thomas Smith at Cornville, John Wyman at Skowhegan, Mr. Tuttle at Canaan, Mr. Foss at St. Albans, now Hartland, Dr. French at North St. Albans, William Lancey at Pal- myra, Mr. Sanger at Newport, Hollis Friend at Etna, Deacon Ruggles at Carmel, Mr. Stetson at Hampden Corner and Mr. Vose at Hampden Upper Corner.
The adventurous mail-carriers had their regular stop- ping places where they rested at night, except when delayed by stress of weather, bad condition of roads, or accident, when they stopped wherever night overtook them.
At the close of Mr. Campbell's term of service, in 1826, the roads had been so much improved as to admit of the use of a two-horse covered carriage for carrying the mail and passengers. This was a step forward in the march of improvement which was highly pleasing to the early inhabitants. Lawrence Greene of Dexter now began to carry the mail, and passengers, from Bangor to Dexter.
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Among Mr. Greene's passengers there would appear occasionally one or more of the dusky inhabitants of Indian Old Town. It was a great marvel to the small boy, who cast a frightened look into the carriage, that Mr. Greene should dare to carry representatives of a race whose history had been so long and closely associated with the tomahawk and scalping-knife.
About the year 1830 the mail-route was changed. Diverging from the original route at Corinth, it ran by way of Exeter Mills and Exeter Corner to Dexter. From this time onward, Garland was supplied with mail matter from the Exeter Corner office. This change was followed by serious inconvenience to the residents of Garland for many years. If the mail-carrier made his appearance at the Garland office on the day he was due, he regarded himself at liberty to fix the hour to suit his own convenience. He was sometimes a day late as a matter of convenience to himself.
On one such occasion the mail had been changed and the carrier had started along, when the postmaster, Dr. Joseph Springall, rushed out into the street, bare- headed, as if some sudden thought had inspired the movement, and with characteristic humor exclaimed- "Halloo, young man! Say, when are you coming this way again?"
Garland in 1819
The annual meeting of 1819 was held on March 16. The officers chosen were Philip Greeley, moderator; Isaac Wheeler, clerk; Isaac Wheeler, Josiah Bartlett and Ezekiel Straw, selectmen and assessors; Isaac
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Wheeler, Moses Buswell and Josiah Bartlett, superin- tending school committee; John Chandler, collector, with a compensation of one per cent., and Ezekiel Straw, treasurer.
The town voted to raise four hundred dollars for schools ; one thousand dollars to build and repair roads, and eleven dollars and fifty cents to erect guide-boards. A second town meeting was held on April 5th, to act upon various matters of business, but nothing of impor- tance resulted.
On the same day a vote for governor was taken when Hon. John Brooks, Federalist, received thirteen votes; Hon. Benj. Crowningshield, Democrat, received nineteen votes.
A third town meeting was held on April 17, when the town voted that one half of the sum voted at the annual meeting for support of schools, also the seventy-five dol- lars voted for town charges, might be paid in wheat at one dollar and fifty cents, corn at one dollar and twenty- five cents, and rye at one dollar per bushel, if delivered to the treasurer by the first day of February.
The most severe burden resting upon the early inhabi- tants of Garland was the construction and repair of roads. The original withholding of every alternate range of land from sale, had necessitated a large mileage of roads. The incoming of new settlers from year to year increased the burden of road building. In addition to roads for local convenience, a county road running obliquely across the town, which had been established in 1817, had increased the burden of road building.
In the years of 1817 and 1818, the town had taxed its inhabitants to the extent of their ability to pay, towards the construction of the county road. But the public was not satisfied with the progress made, and the town was indicted. A fourth town meeting was held on the
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4th of May to consider the method of dealing with the indictment, when it was voted that four hundred dollars of the one thousand dollars, raised at the annual meeting for building and repairing roads, should be expended on the county road, and that three hundred dollars, in addition, should be raised by assessment.
John S. Haskell was appointed agent to answer to the indictment upon the road. Philip Greeley and William Godwin were appointed to superintend the labor upon this road.
On the 26th of July the legal voters of Garland assembled to act upon the following question: "Is it expedient that the District of Maine shall become a separate and independent State on the terms and con- ditions of an Act entitled an Act relating to the Sepa- ration of the District of Maine from Massachusetts proper, and forming the same into an independent State?" The number of votes cast was twenty-four which were all in favor of separation. In the State the majority in favor of separation was very large.
The act submitting the question of separation to the people of the Province of Maine, provided that if a majority of fifteen hundred should be given for separa- tion, the Governor was to make proclamation of the result on, or after, the fourth Monday of August, 1819. This Act also provided that each corporate town should be empowered to send at least one delegate to a conven- tion to be held in Portland, on the second Monday in October, to form a constitution.
The legal voters of Garland assembled on the 20th day of September to choose a delegate to the constitu- tional convention with result as follows: Amos Gordon received eighteen. votes; Abner Sanborn received ten votes ; Moses Buswell received five votes.
At the appointed time Mr. Gordon was found in his
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seat at the convention. The legal voters of Garland were called together on the 6th day of December for the purpose of expressing their approbation or disap- probation of the constitution emanating from the con- vention. The votes, fifteen in number, were all in favor of the constitution as reported from the convention. An application in due form was made to Congress, for the admission of Maine to the Union, and on the third day of March, 1820, it was admitted to the Union by an act to take effect March 15, 1820.
From this date, the Province of Maine, which, in the language of Governor Brooks, had been bone of the bone and flesh of the flesh of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, became an independent State. Whatever Maine has been in the past, whatever she is now, or whatever she may become, it is certain that no state can boast of a more illustrious or better parentage than Maine.
An incident of the constitutional convention was a somewhat sharp discussion of the question, "Shall the new state be styled the State of Maine or the Common- wealth of Maine?" Fortunately, the good sense of the convention led to the shorter and simpler designation.
Garland From 1810 to 1820
The population in the second decade increased but slightly. In 1810 it was 236. Ten years later, it was 275, an increase of only 39. While the roads had been somewhat extended and improved, and school facilities somewhat enlarged, the condition of the average family had not improved. The poor had been growing poorer,
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and the debts of the more independent had been increas- ing. A few families had moved into town, a larger number had moved away.
Among those who had cast their fortune in the town in the second decade was the family of Plynn Clark, which settled upon the place now owned by Leonard Hathaway. Simon Morgan, from Elkinstown, moved into town in 1811 or 1812, and occupied the place vacated by Mr. Griffin, the first tanner, which was located at the foot of the slope west of the residence of David Dearborn. The Rev. John Sawyer came into the township as a mis- sionary before its incorporation, and purchased the lot of land on the hill where D. F. Patten resides, and built a house about the year 1813, where he lived with his family for several years.
David Crowell lived for a short time on the place a little west of the schoolhouse, in District No. 7, now owned by David Allen. He was afterwards a well known citizen of Exeter. He left Garland about the year 1818.
Philip E. Badger moved into West Garland in 1818, or a year later, and occupied the place where the Lawrence family afterwards resided for many years. Ellery Stone is now the owner of the same place.
Families Who Moved Away During the Second Decade
Nathan Merrill, the carpenter and spinning-wheel maker, left Garland in 1810 or 1811, and took up resi- dence in Charleston in 1811. The families of William Dustin, John Grant, Andrew Kimball, William Sargent,
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James McLure and William Church, left the town in the period including the years of 1814-15-16 and 17. Most of these families emigrated to Ohio, allured thither by glowing descriptions of the productiveness of the soil of that state.
Many of these families suffered keenly the discomforts of homesickness but, alas, they were too poor to return. An emigrant to Ohio from Exeter wrote to a friend he had left behind that his wife had shed tears of home- sickness enough to grind a bushel of wet corn.
While extravagant descriptions of the advantages of western life promoted emigration thereto, repellent influences here contributed to the same result. In addi- tion to the ordinary hardships of pioneer life, the people of these eastern towns had been subjected to extraordi- nary hardships that followed in the wake of the War of 1812. The interruption of commerce by the Embargo Act had been a severe blow to the whole country. Near the close of the war, navigation between Boston and Bangor had been suspended. Goods from the former to the latter place were hauled by ox-teams.
Our citizen, William Stone, is the possessor of an axle-tree that was a part of a wagon that had been used in the transportation of goods from Boston to Bangor. Another citizen, the late Captain John Jackman, assisted in forging this axle-tree.
The war had closed in 1814, but scarcely had the blessings of peace dawned upon the inhabitants, when the cold seasons of 1814-15 intervened to cut off the food supply. Causes other than those that have been mentioned tended to the decrease of population. There are in almost every community, families who are the victims of an everpresent desire for change of place. Wherever they are, they long to be somewhere else. This longing for change is contagious, sometimes infect-
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ing whole neighborhoods. Families are sometimes influ- enced to a change of residence by an existing special cause.
The emigration of Enos Quimby, one of the early settlers, from Garland, was due to a special cause. The locality of his home was infested by innumerable swarms of mosquitoes at certain seasons. They rushed into his unprotected dwelling in clouds. The dire discord of their music coupled with their thirst for blood, disturbed the peace of mind of Mrs. Quimby by day, and her dreams by night. Patiently enduring the annoyance until patience ceased to be a virtue, she declared that she could not and would not submit to it longer. She carried her point, and the family sought a new home in another locality. It was a fine illustration of the force of a woman's will as described in an old couplet-
"When she will she will you may depend on't,
When she won't she won't and that's the end on't."
It must not be inferred however that Mrs. Quimby lacked courage to meet the ordinary discomforts of pioneer life. These she could laugh at. The mosquito scourge was quite another thing. It is said that pas- sengers are sometimes driven from boats on the lower Mississippi by the swarms of voracious mosquitoes that infest its banks ; that the boldest rider upon the fastest horse dares not in the month of June encounter these blood-thirsty pests on the rank and fertile prairies of northern Minnesota. They have been known to demor- alize brigades of soldiers on the march from point to point.
Maine's former historian, Mr. Williamson, estimated that Maine lost from ten thousand to fifteen thousand inhabitants in consequence of the War of 1812, and the cold seasons of 1814-15 and 1816.
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Garland in 1820
The annual meeting of 1820 was held on the 23d day of March. The warrant calling this meeting was the last issued in the name of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts. The following officers were elected: Philip Greeley, moderator; Isaac Wheeler, clerk; Isaac Wheeler, Josiah Bartlett, and Ezekiel Straw, selectmen and assessors; Ezekiel Straw, treasurer, and James J. Chandler, collector of taxes, whose compensation was fixed at two and one fourth per cent.
It was voted to raise one thousand dollars for making and repairing highways, and that for men, oxen, and plows, twelve and one half cents should be allowed per hour, until the first of October. It was voted to raise two hundred dollars for making paths in winter, and to allow the same per hour for the labor of men and oxen as in summer.
The town voted that taxes assessed for support of schools and for town charges, may be paid in wheat at nine shillings, or in corn or rye at six shillings per bushel, if delivered to the treasurer by the 20th day of January, but if not delivered at that time, must be paid in money.
On the 3d of April, 1820, the legal voters were called together to vote for governor and other officers. All previous calls had been issued in the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This, and all subse- quent calls, have been issued in the name of the State of Maine which, if less pretentious than the high sounding title by which they had been called to the discharge of their political duties, it had the merit of being more compact, more convenient, and more in harmony with republican simplicity.
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In the convention at Portland a year earlier, to frame a constitution for the new State, the committee which had been appointed to consider the question of title, reported in favor of calling it the Commonwealth of Maine. Many of the members believed that the handle was disproportionate to the size of the pitcher; that the prefix was too ponderous. After a somewhat sharp dis- cussion, a member moved the word "commonwealth" be stricken out. The motion was carried by a vote of 119 to 113.
On the following day, at the close of a protracted dis- cussion, an ordinance was passed providing that the State should be known by the style and title of the State of Maine. Thus fortunately, for coming generations, the word state took the place of the ponderous prefix, com- monwealth.
On the 3d day of April, 1820, the legal voters of Garland assembled to cast their votes for governor of the new State, for the first time, with the following result: William King, Democrat, received twenty votes ; Ruel Williams, Democrat, received six votes; Albion K. Paris, Democrat, received three votes; Moses Buswell received one vote.
Mr. King's vote in the State was twenty-one thousand and eighty-three, against one thousand eight hundred and three for all other candidates. His election had long been predicted on account of his ability and popu- larity as a man. Mr. Williams was a man of decided ability, and highly esteemed for liberality in matters of public importance. He was afterwards elected to the Senate of the United States. Mr. Paris was highly esteemed for his excellent qualities. He was the second governor elected by the people, although he was preceded by two acting governors.
On the day of the gubernatorial election, the legal
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voters of Garland deposited their votes for representa- tive to the State Legislature with result as follows: Cornelius Coolidge of Dexter received seventeen votes ; Amos Gordon of Garland received eleven votes; Joseph Garland of Garland received one vote.
Some town business was transacted on the same day, April 3d, 1820. Reuben Bartlett, John Chandler and John Trefethen were appointed to select and purchase one acre of land suitable for a cemetery. This was the first action of the town looking to a common burial place for the dead. Previous to this date it had been the custom of families to bury relatives on their own premises.
There having been no choice of representative to the Legislature at the first trial, the legal voters assembled on April 13th for a second trial, with result as follows: Captain Joseph Kelsey of Guilford received seven votes; Seba French of Dexter received five votes; Cornelius Coolidge of Dexter received eleven votes.
At that time the representative class embraced . the towns of Dexter, Garland, Guilford, Sangerville and Plantation Number Three in the sixth range.
A New Epoch
The year 1820 opened a new epoch in the history of Maine. It had hitherto been a dependency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Now it had assumed the character of an independent state. The tide of emigration had been setting from the State. It had now turned this way. In common with other towns, the town of Garland shared in the stimulating influences of
、
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returning prosperity. Among the accessions to its population was the family of Reuben Bartlett from Nottingham, N. H.
Mr. Bartlett purchased the village mill property of Mr. Church, which included a saw and grist-mill. He moved his family into a small house a few rods west of the present saw-mill which had been built by his prede- cessor, Mr. Church. Five or six years later he built the two-story house now owned by C. F. Osgood, where he lived until his death in 1835.
The coming of the True family from Deerfield, N. H., occurred in 1820. This family embraced the father and mother, Joseph True and wife, two sons, Abram True and Joseph, Jr., and several daughters. Mr. True moved into the house built by James McCluer on the place now owned by David Allen, where he lived several years.
About the year 1827 he moved into the house built by his son, Joseph True, Jr., at the center of the town, now owned by James Stone. Abram True moved his family into the house of a Mrs. Burton, which was located on a site at the foot of the hill below the present resi- dence of Mrs. Charles E. Merriam. He afterwards built and occupied a house near the residence of the writer.
Joseph True, Jr., gives the following account of the journey of his father's family to Maine. Joseph was at that time a resolute boy of nineteen years. On the same day that the other members of the family took passage on a sailing vessel at Portsmouth, N. H., he started on horseback and traveled solitary and alone on his way to Garland. During his six days' ride no inci- dent intervened to relieve the monotony of the journey. But, as showing that the early settlers of western Penobscot were largely from New Hampshire, he passed four of the five nights of his journey with families who had emigrated from his own school-district in Deerfield.
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Garland in 1821
The legal voters of Garland assembled on the 22d of January, 1821, "to see if the town will allow the inhab- itants to pay their taxes in grain after the 20th of February instant." Upon this question it was voted that the treasurer should receive grain in payment for taxes until the 15th day of February next. It was also voted to have the highway taxes for 1820 made agree- ably to the Constitution of Maine. The call for this action is not quite apparent.
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