History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 129

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100

USA > Maine > Penobscot County > History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 129

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Joseph Mansel came from Bagaduce (Castine) to Ban- gor in 1771. He built a saw-mill for the Harthorns on the easterly side of the Penjejawock* Stream a little beyond where the railroad bridge now is, and assisted in building a dam and bridge on that stream above, where, subsequently, was the county road. About fifteen years

*Pronounced Penja-jaw-wock.

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afterwards he built a grist-mill near the same place, which was the first grist-mill in the Plantation. Before this the people were obliged to carry their corn by water to be ground, to a grist-mill a little way above Fort Point, until Benjamin Wheeler built his grist-mill in Hampden, on the Sowadabscock Stream, in 1776, when they carried it there, and afterwards to Brewer's mill on the Segeun- deunk, until this mill was built.

Robert Treat, who was born in Boston in 1752, left there in 1769, when he was seventeen years of age, and came to Fort Pownall, where he was an armorer. He came to Bangor in 1774, when twenty-two years old, and built his cabin near the foot of Newbury street. He shortly afterward removed further up the river, and opened a shop for traffic a little southerly of the Penje- jawock Stream.

Dr. John Herbert came from the West in 1774. He had had trouble with his wife. He took lodgings at Mr. David Howard's, and was here until 1779, when his son came and took him home, where he soon afterward died. He was bowed down with melancholy, but was highly esteemed. He was a Calvinist, and took the lead in re- ligious meetings, which were generally held every Sun- day. He was learned and a good physician, though not regularly educated to that profession. He taught school in a house southerly of Penjejawock Stream, and was probably the first male teacher in the place. He was a fine teacher and elegant penman. Many debts were due him when he left, which were never called for or paid.

The first school in the settlement was taught by Abi- gail Ford. It was commenced in 1773, in a log house just under the Hickbon hill, near Treat's Falls, and a few rods from the river.

In 1772 Mr. Cotton came and settled near the wester- ly end of the bridge now over the Penobscot, but did not survive the year. His was the first death.

The first trading-house was opened about this time near the mouth of the Kenduskeag by Thomas Gold- thwait, son of the commander of Fort Pownall. He was a Tory, and disappeared when the Revolutionary war commenced.

The first two births of white children occurred this year. Mary Howard, daughter of Thomas Howard, was born June 30, 1772. She married Andrew Mayhew and was the mother of our late fellow-citizen, Captain John A. Mayhew.

Hannah Harthorn, daughter of Silas Harthorn, was born September 10. She had three husbands-first, An- drew Mclaughlin; second, Samuel Babbige, and third, Captain Joseph Mansell. Mansell was at the first wed- ding in Bangor, of a daughter of Jacob Bussell.

James Dunning came from Brunswick in 1772 or '73, and took the lot on the westerly side of the Kenduskeag, at its confluence with the Penobscot. He first built on the low land a few rods south of the Kenduskeag bridge. He afterward built a one-story frame house on High street, easterly of the angle, and where Mr. Burpee's house (built by Oliver Frost) now stands. Some of his descendants are among the principal citizens of Bangor and Charleston, in this county.

Simon Crosby, who established himself near the Hamp- den line, was from Woolwich, and the maiden name of his wife was Sarah Sewall, who was from Bath, and was of the distinguished Sewall family. His dwelling was about a mile southerly of the Kenduskeag Stream, and upon his lot are now several fine residences of his descendants of the third, fourth, and fifth generations. He was the father of General John Crosby, a former enterprising merchant of Hampden, and grandfather of our late fellow-citizens James and Timothy Crosby, and of Jotham S. Crosby, who is still living; of the late Major John Crosby, of Hampden, and of Deacon Benjamin Crosby, recently deceased. The family has ever been highly prosperous and respected.

Mrs. Crosby was a religious woman and much beloved. There were other women of similar religious sentiments within four or five miles of her in every direction, and they agreed to hold private meetings for prayer by them- selves, whenever circumstances would permit. The ar- rangement was observed with much fidelity, and was the origin of all strictly female prayer-meetings that have been held in the towns in which those ladies resided. These meetings were held by them together, probably until 1787, after which it was more convenient for the ladies in the several towns to have separate meetings .*

Before 1774 there had been several religious meetings in the settlement. They were held in the cabins of the settlers, and in barns when the weather was favorable. A Calvinist preacher by the name of Ripley is the first of whom mention is made.

On September 18, 1784, Rev. Daniel Little, of Kenne- bunk, was at Captain Smart's, at Condeskeag. It being Sunday he preached and baptized six children. He noticed that "the people on the river were very dissimilar in their education and outward circumstances. Some of good life, sense, and known virtue; some quite the reverse." One Canadian Indian attended his meeting.

The next morning Mr. Little, with Captain Smart, went to Captain Preble's-who was then truckmaster for the Indian trade, at the head of the tide, or falls-for the purpose of seeing the Indians. None were there, however; but in the afternoon, with Captain Jonathan Lowder for a pilot, he walked up on the western side of the river about two miles, when he saw an encampment of Indians on the eastern side. Calling for a pass, Pierre Sock, a young Indian, came and took them across in a birch canoe. He found about twenty Indians, young and old, and nearly half of them were so drunk as to be incapable of seeing, hearing, speaking, or moving- "dead drunk." Of the rest, about seven were Canadians, and the others "the dregs or remains of the old Penob- scot tribe." They were smoking, laughing, or frowning, strutting, or jumping. He found that they were not in a condition to receive instruction from him and soon left them.

But he took much interest in Pierre Sock, who was a Canadian Indian, about nineteen years of age. He visited Mr. Little at the truck-house in the evening after his return, dressed partly in French habit. He conversed

* Jacob McGaw's Journal.

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in French, and, as Mr. Little had an interpreter with him belonging to the truckmaster, he passed a very agreeable evening .. He had come from Trois Rivieres about six weeks before, with his parents. His grandmother was probably English. His mother had English features, but it was questionable whether she were altogether Eng- lish. "She was delivered of a child the other night abroad in the rain, and well the next day in the truck- house-which is Indian by art, if not by nature." Pierre said he would go away with Mr. Little, if his parents were willing. He said that he had been half the time with the French and half the time with the Indians ; that he was baptized when six years old; that he went to the priest for the pardon of his sins; that he should have them all pardoned after he had been once, twice, six times, and honestly told him all that he knew of his bad words, actions, and thoughts; but when sick, or a great way from the priest, he believed he was in no danger, and was not afraid of his sin, for he prayed to God every night and morning. Neither Mr. Little nor Pierre could influence his parents to permit their son to leave them. When they walked together in the bushes his parents would halloo, lest he should be stolen, and Pierre would say, "Can't go against parents." "Will you come and live with me when you are free?" "Never free with us Indians-never free until we are married."

After paying tribute to the innocence and integrity of Pierre, who possessed more than all the rest, Mr. Little exclaims: "O, Penobscot! into what a sink of filth, folly, and beastly nastiness and intemperance have thy original warlike inhabitants fallen! Oh! my soul pities all those who are never likely to be brought by any means to know the pleasures of men and wise men. May these remains be treated justly and temperately by all the English that now dwell on their borders. Took my leave of Pierre Sock and his parents and some of the dreadful, ugly, yet to be pitied Penobscot tribe."*

The Indians were uncomfortable neighbors. They were poor and degraded, as Mr. Little says, but the set- tlers pitied them, as he did, and endured them. In 1771 one named Nunguenat, of a churlish and violent dispos- ition, on returning from hunting, fell upon his wife, a weak and complaining woman, who was groaning, and exclaimed "always yawl," and with great fury killed her. He concealed her body under the ice near "the Point." It was afterwards found and buried. It was not under- stood that his people proceeded against him for murder. But before the British were at Castine, there was another Indian about the country whose hand had been burnt off for murdering his squaw.

Before the Revolutionary war the Indians threatened to drive the settlers out, but after hostilities were com- menced they professed great friendship for the Americans. For years after the first settlement, in the day-time and in the night-time, they burst in the doors of the cabins and went in to warm themselves. If the people of the house were before the fire, they would make them remove that they might make themselves comfortable, and some- times would stretch themselves upon the floor with their

feet towards the fire. If any food was in sight they ap- propriated it, but stole nothing else.

One morning an Indian visited the house of Mrs. Howard and employed her to prepare a breakfast for him. She did so, and placed it upon a barrel in the cor- ner of the room. The moment it was ready another Indian rushed in, and, seeing the first, there was a strug- gle, and both fell upon the floor. The assailant turned the other upon his face, and, kneeling upon his shoulders, seized his lock of hair with both hands and twisted his neck and head with such violence that he came near dis- locating it. In the midst of this contest a third Indian came in, and, seeing the breakfast, commenced devouring it, when Mrs. Howard told him to whoin it belonged. "Ay," said he, "very good fight," and having coolly dis- posed of it, went his way, leaving its owner in a very melancholy frame of mind.

To keep themselves from starvation and from suffering by cold were the chief objects of these people. They were always hungry. When first visited by Champlain they clothed themselves in the skins of wild beasts. They then gradually adopted the coarse blankets of civil- ization, and the material and fashion of their apparel have been gradually modified, until within a few years it is similar to that of their American neighbors. They were esteemed chaste, and no Indian was known to offer vi- olence to a female. They were very expert in hunting and fishing. The young men were very fond of playing at ball. The men had their hair cut short, with the ex- ception of a lock around the crown of the head. They slept upon bear-skins and covered themselves with blan- kets. Before Europeans visited the country, the notice of the engagement of a female to be married was given by her wearing one blue stocking and one red one. At one time, on Saturdays, they had a kind of religious meeting, with prayers and singing.

Some of the Indians lived to a great age. Tomer died before the Revolutionary war, at the age of one hundred and ten. Osson, who held a commission of Justice of the Peace, lived to be a hundred years old, and Orono was about one hundred and ten when he died. Orono was a principal chief-in the Indian language K'tche sun- gur-mur. The next in rank was called Sungur-mur, from which sagamore; from which sa-chem-o; from which sachem. The Indians did not use the word sachem. It was transmitted by the whites .*

The men and women were fond of showy dresses and ornaments. Colonel John Allan states that when he was initiated into the St. John tribe, Ambroise, the chief, was dressed in a blue Persian silk coat, embroidered crimson silk waistcoat four inches deep, and scarlet knit breeches; also gold-laced hat with white cockade. Another had blue silk trimmed with vellum, crimson breeches, and gold-laced hat. The other chiefs were richly dressed after their fashion-their blankets were curiously laced with ribbons. That day the men had a feast, and, as was the custom, a feast was provided for the squaws, after which there were dancing and festivities in the evening by the young men and women, who were dressed elegantly

*Williamson's Annals of Bangor.

*Mr. Little's Journal of 1774.

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after their fashion, and adorned with bracelets, large brooches, and hair-boxes of silver curiously engraved with the figures of divers kinds of animals, flowers, etc .*

On the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, the Provincial Congress made earnest efforts to secure the Eastern Indians in the American interest. On May 15, 1775, they wrote a letter to them from Watertown, Mas- sachusetts, setting forth that the Ministry of Great Brit- ain had land deep plots to take away the liberties of the people of this country, Americans and Indians, and to make them pay them all their money when they never earned it; to make them their servants; to let them have nothing to eat or drink or wear except. what they pleased; to prevent their having guns and powder to kill deer, wolves and other game ; to break up the trade in skins and furs; and that Captain Goldthwait had given up Fort Pownall to their enemies, at which both Americans and Indians were angry, and expressing the hope that neither they nor the Indians in Canada would join their enemies, and that they should be able soon to supply them with guns and powder of their own making, and promising also to supply them with clothing and warlike stores as fast as they could. They sent Captain John Lane to raise a company among them to join in the war, and promised to give each one who enlisted a blanket and a ribbon, as they had the Indians of Stockbridge, and to pay them while they were from home in the service.

The Penobscot Indians were pleased with the proposi- tions, and made generous offers of friendship and assist- ance in the war, and made Captain Lane their agent to look after their interests. Whereupon the Provincial Congress, on June 21, 1775, sent them a letter, in which they thanked them for their offers, and strictly for- bade "any person or persons whatsoever from trespassing or making waste upon any of the lands and territories or possessions beginning at the head of the tide on Penob- scot River, extending six miles on each side of said river now claimed by the Indians of the Penobscot tribe." They promised, "as soon as they could take breath from their present fight, to furnish them with a proper commis- sary to supply them with provisions, ammunition, and goods at a reasonable rate, and to take effectual measures to prevent dishonest persons from carrying on a fraudu- lent traffic with them." They also accepted Captain Lane as their agent, whom they authorized to report to them any molestation of or depredation on the tribe, that they might have seasonable and effectual redress.

Colonel Thomas Goldthwait had permitted Mowatt to dismantle Fort Pownall in April. It was considered a treasonable act by the people, and as the truck trade - which was important to the Indians, as they could obtain their goods of the Government agents without paying the prices they were obliged to pay to outsiders, and pay for them in skins and furs - was stopped by it, the Indians were incensed against him. It was contemplated by peo- ple in the neighborhood to arrest him.t Mr. Elihu Hewes, who was then at Hampden, thought that, "on a fair and impartial examination, it would appear that Col-

* Kidder's Eastern Maine, 98-9.

+Enoch Freeman's Letter, Massachusetts Archives, May, 1775.

onel Goldthwait had been a steady, uniform friend to our Constitution." General Jedediah Preble wrote to Hon. Joseph Warren, President of the Continental Con- gress, from Falmouth, June 15, that he had no doubt that Goldthwait would make interest to have provision made for subsistence of the garrison at Penobscot, but was "such a man fit to command such a fortification as Fort Pownall, who would suffer two schooners to rob it of guns and ammunition?"

The General, in the same letter, said it would be the height of imprudence to neglect the supplying the truck trade, and urged Mr. Warren to use his influence that his son, Jedediah, Jr., be continued truckmaster, as he had been at great expense to provide himself with a habita- tion and other necessaries for carrying on the Indian trade.

In June, 1775, Captain Lane went to Boston with Orono, Jo Peare, Poris, and another chief, and Andrew Gilman as interpreter, to meet the Provincial Congress. They called on General Preble, at Falmouth, and were provided with carriages to convey them, and with money, given to Captain Lane, to pay their expenses. General Preble said : "Orono, the chief man, seems to be sensi- ble, and hearty in our cause. He reserves what he chief- ly has to say till he comes to the Congress." It was be- lieved at Penobscot that he was of white parentage and stolen by the Indians when a child. The residents es- teemed him as honest, kind-hearted, and intelligent .. Gilman is represented as inferior in mind and stature, but was possessed of some vivacity and cunning. He dressed in the Indian costume, hunted and traded with the In- dians, and spoke their language as well as a native. He was never married, but had a son by a native. He orig. inated in York county .*

The visit of Orono to Boston produced good results. The Provincial Congress, on June 24, recommended to "our good brethren, the Indians of the Penobscot tribe, to immediately apply to General Preble and Colonel Freeman for a supply of provisions and all the necessary goods," and, on July 9, it empowered those gentlemen to supply them, at the truck-house at Penobscot, with goods not exceeding £300 in value, and to receive furs and skins in exchange. On July 10 the Committee on Supplies were directed to deliver to Captain Lane twen- ty-five pounds of powder for the Indians.

The arrangement made by the Provincial Congress with the Penobscots had a favorable effect upon the Maracheet, or St. John Indians. Their chiefs, Ambroise and Pierre Toma, appeared at the truck-house of Mr. Preble, and availed themselves of the services of Jona- than Lowder, a recent gunner at Fort Pownall, in com- municating with the council. Captain Thomas Fletcher and Lieutenant Andrew Gilman were present as inter- preters. On the 12th of September, 1775, they directed to the Congress a letter, in which they said that they had learned that the Americans were engaged in a war with Great Britain, and that the Penobscot tribe had engaged to join them-that they heartily joined with that tribe in every arrangement they had made or should

* Williamson's History of Maine, II., 426; Bangor Centennial, 38.

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make with the Massachusetts Colony, and were re- solved to stand together and oppose the people of " Old England" in their endeavors to deprive them of their lands and liberties-that the Americans and Indians were brothers of one father, " and one God made us all, and we will stand by you as long as the Almighty will give us strength "-that they had nowhere to look for assistance but to the Council, and desired that they would help them to a priest, that he might pray with them to God Almighty-that they had no place to go to but Penobscot for support, and that they desired the Council would provide ammunition, provisions and goods for them there, and they would in return give them their furs and skins, and assistance. *

An arrangement was made with the St. John and Passamaquoddy Indians, who, under Colonel John Allan, performed good service. t

On October 16, 1775, the Provincial Congress sent a resolve with a letter to the St. John and Micmac In- dians, informing them that their truckmaster would sup- ply them with provisions, etc., in exchange for furs, and expressing a hope that they should have their assistance in the war against "the wicked people of Old England."

Jedidiah Preble, Jr., who had been the truckmaster at Fort Pownall, was appointed to the same position at Penobscot Falls in 1774. Stephen Smith was appointed truckmaster at Machias, and supplied the St. John and Passamaquoddy Indians.

Mr. Preble was not popular with the Indians. In a letter to Captain Lane, evidently written by Jonathan Lowder, dated November 22, 1775, they complained of him as truckmaster, and said that he delayed furnishing the supplies to those who came for them; so they got drunk, and didn't carry them to the Indians when they had received them; that he laid in bed until Io o'clock, and if they spoke to him to trade with them, he would go away and be gone for a whole day together ; that they wanted Jonathan Lowder for truckmaster; that they had chosen him, and the General Court confirmed their choice. On May 3, 1776, the letter was replied to. It was admitted to be a mistake that Preble was appointed instead of Lowder; and promise was given that Lieuten- ant Gilman would be with the Indians at Penobscot dur- ing the summer, and when the General Court was in session it would find such a truckmaster as would supply them with what they wanted. ;

The frame house built by the Harthorns in 1773-4, was doubtless the "habitation" referred to by his (Preble's) father. It was built for him, and he occupied it as a truck-house. It was a large one-story house, and stood on the river side of the road, nearly opposite the present residence of Mr. Charles Forbes, by whose father it was occupied for many years after 1800.

There is a tradition that Preble had a daughter who, with her maid, made a clandestine arrangement with two young Tarratines to elope with them. He discovered it, however, in season to prevent the project being consum-

mated, and confined his romantic child until he had an opportunity to send her westward to his friends.

Mr. Preble was born in York in 1734. He was the General's oldest son. He married Avis Phillips, of Boston in 1761-2. He possessed a very retentive memory --- repeated the whole of Whitfield's sermon concerning Abraham offering up Isaac, on hearing it once. He possessed talents and genius, "but sometimes indulged in language unbecoming a rational creature," until the loss of property made him more patient. He dreamed that Whitfield, pointing to the text-"He that being often reproved," etc.,-directed him to preach. He did not, however, but being a genius, made some attempts at poetry. One poem of five stanzas he dedicated to his son Jedidiah. The first stanza will give an idea of his ability as a votary of the mases.

"Jeddy, my first-born, study to please. Then with thy days thy wisdom will increase. Ne'er to thy fond father be thou unkind, But cultivate a docile, gentle mind. Thy conduct, let it ever virtuous be, Warring against each sin most hopefully."

Could he have been a Tory? Such was the belief at Penobscot, but this is doubted by his kindred of this day. In 1782 or 1783 he was in a vessel, bound from Castine for Passamaquoddy, which was wrecked on Seal Island about nine leagues from the coast. It was very dark when the vessel struck, and while he was engaged forward, the crew and passengers hurried ashore, leaving him alone. Upon discovering this, he attempted to land. There was a raging surf, and the vessel was thrown so violently against the rocks that, when he was going aft, the planks separated, and he stepped unwit- tingly between them, when they instantly closed and crushed and shattered his leg. When the vessel struck again, the seam re-opened, and he extricated himself and succeeded in getting ashore. Little could be done for his relief. He lived upon water and a fowl called gannet, which his companions caught and cooked for him, though very badly for want of fuel. After nine days of suffering, he died. It is said that a writing was found upon him, giving an account of his sufferings and expressing regret for the course he had taken. He was enterprising. His age at the time of his death was forty-eight or forty-nine .*

* Bangor Centennial, 34. Captain George Henry Preble's Geneo- logical Sketch of the Prebles. In a note Captain Preble says, " I doubt his having been a Tory as stated."

*Kidder's Eastern Maine, 54-5.

tMassachusetts Archives, v. 144, P. 322.

Massachusetts Archives, v. 144, P. 353.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 129

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co. Number of Pages: 1100

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100