History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 134

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 134

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Some time prior to 1791, before the forests had been to any great extent removed, there came to Bangor a Frenchman, who was called Junin .* He established himself in a log hut on the river-side about twenty rods above where the Central Railroad station now is. In this hut he lived and carried on a traffic with the Indians. He had with him a nephew, Louis Perrin or Perrinneau. His business was what was called a trucking business; that is, an exchange traffic, where little or no money was used. His stock consisted of guns, ammunition, rum, blankets, blue and red broadcloth, ribbons, plumes, green and red baize, and a variety of other goods, which he exchanged for furs. He appeared to be doing busi- ness solely on his own account, and was supposed to have considerable means.

On the evening of February 18, 1791, his nephew, in a state of apparent excitement, rushed into the house of Mr. Jacob Dennet, who lived a few rods westerly, and expressed alarm for his uncle, as there were Indians about from whom he was in danger and he feared they would kill him. He remained a short time, and soon after he left the report of a gun was heard. Afterwards Junin's house was visited, and he was found dead in his bed with two bullet-holes through his brains.

The murder naturally created great excitement among the settlers. Jacob Dennet, John Dennet, Elisha May- hew, John Emery, and John Emery, Jr., searched the woods for the Indians, but found none. It is probable that, if Indians perpetrated the murder, they knew better where to conceal themselves than their hunters knew where to find them.

An inquest on the body was held.

On the next day after the murder, Jonathan Eddy, Esq., who lived about four miles above, on the easterly side of the river, issued his warrant to Abraham Tour- tellott, a constable, to summon thirteen good men legally qualified to hold an inquest. The persons summoned were Captain Thomas Campbell, Major Robert Treat, Captain James Budge, Captain John Rider, William Plympton, Robert Hickborn, Andrew Webster, John

Smart, William Hasey, Elijah Smith, Nathaniel Harlow, and Abraham Allan, who were sworn as jurors.

The jury soon came to the conclusion that Junin was killed, for there was the evidence of two shot-holes through his head, plain to be seen. It took them longer not to determine who killed him. Indians or Louis probably committed the murder. It was a locality for Indians, and it was proved that muskrat skins were dis- covered scattered about the house at the time Junin was found dead. 'It was proved also that Louis went to the house of Dennet, as above stated. As Indians could not be found, notwithstanding the assertion of Louis before the murder that they were "about," it was thought that Louis must have been the murderer to obtain his uncle's property. The jury had not the actual evidence that he was the murderer, and they returned the verdict that there was probable cause for the belief that " Louis Parronneau " committed the murder.

Whether or not there were any other facts to influence public opinion than what have come down to us, it ap- pears to have concurred with the verdict of the jury .*

On the 23d of February, Jona. Eddy, Esq., and Simeon Fowler, Esq., issued their warrant for the arrest of Louis, and as he had not absented himself, he was taken by deputy Sheriff Joshua Woodbury before them. After examination they issued their mittimus for his committal to the goal in Pownalborough (now Dresden) then the shire town of the county of Lincoln, in which Bangor was.

The French Consul at Boston was made acquainted with the case, and interested himself in behalf of Louis, and used all his influence to procure an acquittal. Why he should have done this, if from examination he had reason to believe him guilty, is a question not easy to answer. Louis was defended by two of the most emi- nent counsel of the Kennebec and Lincoln Bars, the distinguished barrister, John Gardiner, Esq., and General William Lithgow, Jr., and was acquitted.

From the strong circumstantial evidence, the tradition is that the people held him guilty; and some believed that he got off to France with the fruits of his robbery; and that he escaped directly after the murder was com- mitted. But of what became of him after his acquittal we have no record or tradition.

The body of Junin was laid in the burial ground at the intersection of Oak and Washington streets (where the Hinckley & Egery Iron Foundry now is), and his headstone was standing early in the century.

Two individuals, who afterward became prominent citizens of the town, established themselves at Condeskeag between 1787 and 1791. They were William Boyd from Bristol, Maine, and Nathaniel Harlow from Plymouth, Massachusetts. The former was a ship-carpenter, the latter a pump- and block-maker. Mr. Harlow had been into the West, and explored the country previous to settling here. He preferred Condeskeag to any place he had seen. He saw in the West houses built of hewn tim-

* There is a tradition that Louis slept with the Dennet boys that night, and shook and trembled badly, which was construed as evidence against him.

*Sometimes Junot.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

ber, and built one similar on the side hill, near where the First Baptist meeting-house now stands, which he oc- cupied until his means enabled him to build the two- story frame-house which now stands in the rear of the First Baptist Chapel.

The population slowly increased. It had reached the number of one hundred and fifty, or thereabouts. The people were ambitious. They were not content with the primitive organization of the Plantation of that day. Their incorporation as a town would give them dignity, and peradventure in many ways advance their interests. They resolved that the sunny banks of their river, to which the æsthetic Parson Noble had given the fitting name Sunbury, should with their inhabitants be incor- porated and bear the name legally, and delegated that reverend gentleman to proceed to the General Court at Boston, and procure an act of incorporation. But he was fond of music-he was a singer-the minor key was very appropriately in vogue in this locality during the Revolution and for a generation afterwards, and the music set to the words-

Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound ! Mine ears, attend the cry- Ye living men, come view the ground Where you must shortly lie ;

which bore the name of Bangor, so haunted his im- agination, and was often breathed through his lips, that he felt it to be more euphonious and a more fitting name for the town than Sunbury. He therefore substituted it, and the act incorporating the town of Bangor was passed on February 25, 1791. It has never been hinted that his constituents were dissatisfied with his conduct, and to this day the name has been satisfactory to all its people.

With its incorporation Bangor received a new impetus. Mr. Treat had been successful in his traffic. From the poultry trade he derived enormous profits. His means were sufficient to enable him to go into the business of ship-building. He employed Mr. Boyd as master-car- penter, and in 1791 laid the keel of a vessel, which in two years was ready to receive her rigging and sails. Mr. Treat had the opportunity to avail himself of the craft of Mr. Harlow for pumps and blocks ; that of Mr. Timothy Crosby, son of Simon, for masts and spars; and that of Mr. Jacob Dennett for boats. This vessel was the first, larger than a boat, ever built in the region of Bangor .*

About 1794, several farms were commenced on the banks of the Condeskeag. William Potter had the farm whose westerly line was near Lover's Leap, and was sub- sequently owned and occupied by Francis Carr, more re- cently by Simon Norvell, afterwards, so much as remained of it, by Captain Thomas Norvell, his son ; then by Mr. Frank H. Lowell, and now by Mr. Johnson, from New York. Aaron Clark commenced a farm a mile further up the stream, near what are now the Hatch or Merrill Mills. Samuel Sherburne took up a lot at the intersection of the Six-Mile-Falls and Pushaw roads. But agriculture did not occupy all the attention of the

farmers. The winters were long; timber was abundant, and they were tempted to engage themselves in the pro- duction of what has ever since been the chief staple of this region-lumber. William Potter had built a small mill on the fall under Lover's Leap as early as 1786, and Clark, Sherburne, and others could do no less than contribute their share of shingles for the market. Fish, too, began to be a marketable commodity. The streams were full of them. Salmon, shad, and alewives were taken under Lover's Leap, at the mouths of the Manta- wassuck, Segeunkedunk, and Sowadabscook Streams, and at Penobscot Falls. Vessels began to frequent the river, and the surplus lumber and fish of the inhabitants were taken at remunerative prices.

No record was made of the quantity or value of the fish taken at Bangor in any one year, but between thirty and four hundred barrels of shad and alewives were usu- ally taken at one tide at each of the several fishing places or eddies-the average would be from seventy-five to one hundred barrels. At Treat's Falls sometimes forty salmon were taken in a day.

The fishing season, in the spring, continued about five weeks ; time of greatest plenty, two weeks. Salmon were taken during three months at least, but they were not abundant .* From $1 to $1.25 per barrel were paid from the vessels for alewives, and what were then considered fair prices for shad. Newburyport vessels were engaged in the trade and took large quantities of fish to the Southern markets and the West Indies for plantation pur- poses.

In 1795 William Hammond and John Smart erected a saw-mill at the head of the tide on the Condeskeag, where the Morse & Co. mills now are. There was a great supply of good lumber upon the stream, which con- tinued to supply the mills there until about the year 1850.

Game was found in great abundance along the banks of this river. There are those living who had fine sport in hunting moose and the larger animals of the forest, as well as birds and smaller game. Besides the fish men- tioned, bass were plenty in the Penobscot, and sturgeon, which were esteemed of no value for food, made havoc with the seines of the fishermen. They were, however, made use of in furnishing sport for the boys. When caught a rope would be attached to their tail, and they would be returned to the water and used as a motive power for the boats, which they drew very swiftly until they became exhausted, and then, like any other tired draft animal, had to be urged forward by sticks. t

The records of the Plantation and of the town of Ban- gor are extremely meagre until after the year 1800. It is supposed that at some time when there was danger of their being destroyed-perhaps when the British made their incursion-some careful person deposited them in a garret for safety, and the rats and mice, having no more respect for them than the British would have had, con- verted them into linings for their nests. At any rate, but a small remnant could ever be found, and that affords

*Jacob McGaw's Sketch of Bangor, in Library of Maine Historical Society.

*McGaw's Sketch. +Bangor Centennial, '81.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

hardly as much evidence of the business transacted as of the want of business knowledge of the persons whose pe- culiar business it was to preserve that evidence-the Clerks. In several instances they did not certify to the truth of the record, or even sign their names to it, and in no instance does it appear that they were sworn.

The action of the town upon the act of incorporation appears nowhere.

The petition for an act of incorporation is as follows : PENOBSCOT RIVER, 18th May, 1790. To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled.

The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of and living upon a tract of land in the county of Lincoln, by the name of No. One, Second Range, lying on the west side of Penobscot River, bounded as follows, viz. : Southerly on No. One, Easterly on Penobscot River, northerly and west- erly on Govmnt land, as will appear by Captain Stone's survey. Humbly sheweth that there is living upon said land forty-five families, seventy-nine pools [polls], and are possessed of about two-thirds of the property of what is commonly called Kenduskeag Plantation, or the Plantation from the Widow Wheeler's Mills and upwards to the head of the settlement on the West side of the Penobscot River. We labor under many disadvantages for want of being incorporated with town privileges, therefore humbly pray your honours would be pleased to take our difficult circumstances into your wise consideration, and incorpor- ate it into a town by the name of Bangor. We have no Justice of the Peace for thirty miles this side of the River-No Grand Jury, and some people not of the best morals. Your Honours know what the con- sequence must be. We doubt not but you will grant us our request, and your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray.

ANDREW WEBSTER, Clerk.

P. S .- The inhabitants of said Plantation, at sundry legal meetings for two years past, have unanimously Voted to be incorporated, without which we can have no benefit of our school or ministerial lands.

From the form of the petition it would seem that the town voted that the name should be Bangor. Mr. Wil- liamson, author of the History of Maine, learned from some of the earliest and most intelligent inhabitants, who knew the fact, that Mr. Noble, from his fondness for the old church tune, procured the incorporation of the town by the name mentioned in the petition.

Colonel Porter's Memoirs of Colonel Eddy contains the warrant to organize the town. It is as follows:

Hancock, ss. To Captain James Budge, of Bangor, in said county. Gentleman-Greeting :

WHEREAS an act passed the General Court in the State of Massa- chusetts, February the 25th Day, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, incorporated into a town a certain tract of Land known by the name of Condiskeag plantation, together with the inhabitants therein, by the name of Bangor; and called on me to issue a warrant to some suitable inhabitant of Bangor to have a meeting of the inhabitants at some convenient time and place, to choose such officers as towns are by law required to choose in the months of March and April, annually, Therefore, in the name of the Commonwealth you are Required to warn the above said inhabitants to meet at some con- venient time and Place for the aforesaid purposes, and this shall be your sufficient Warrant for so Doing. Given under my hand and seal this 25 Day of February, in the year 1792.

JONA. EDDY, Justice of the Peace.

In obedience to the written warrant to me Directed, I have warned the within-named Inhabitants to meet at the Dwelling house of Major Robert Treat, on Thursday, the 22 day of March.

JAMES BUDGE.

The town was doubtless organized under the act, for it appears that on April 4, 1796, the inhabitants met at Captain James Budge's, and having chosen William Boyd Moderator, elected William Hammond, Jr., Town Clerk, and other town officers, They then made Nathaniel Harlow, Andrew Webster, and William Hammond, Jr., a

committee to settle town business with the Town Treas- urer and Collector from the incorporation of the town ; and William Boyd and Nathaniel Harlow a committee to hire a minister, and "voted 66 Dollars 66 cents for the Gospel." There were twenty-five votes cast at this meeting, fifteen of which were for Samuel Adams for Governor, and ten for Increase Sumner. Moses Gill re- ceived all save one for Lieutenant-Governor, and Isaac Parker twenty, Daniel Conant one, and Alexander three, for Senator.

The next meeting of which there was a record was held on May 2, 1796. Robert Hickborn, Buckley Emerson, and Simon Crosby were appointed a committee to settle with the former Collector and Treasurer of Condeskeag Plantation. "To settle with the part not of the town, and the remainder to be assessed their proportions, and have six shillings a day for actual service."

A meeting was held at Captain Budge's, October 24th, of the same year, and ten votes were cast for Isaac Parker for Elector, and nine votes for Henry Dearborn for Rep- resentative to Congress.

Another meeting was held on February 6, 1797, at Captain Budge's, where their votes were cast for Isaac Parker for Elector, and all for Henry Dearborn for Representative to Congress, except one for Isaac Parker. Politics did not run high.

Rev. Mr. Noble continued in Bangor, and betwixt June I, 1796, and December 15, solemnized five marriages. The persons made happy by this benignant clergyman were Aaron Griffin and Peggy Webster, both of Bangor ; William Hammond, of Bangor, and Susannah Campbell, of Orrington; William McPhetres and Esther Ayres, of Colbourn as a Plantation; Ichabod Clark and Mary Lan- kester, both of Condeskeag; and Benjamin Low and Mary Hutchings, both of Bangor.

The year 1797 was very prolific of town meetings. On April 3 it was voted to lay out a road on the northeast side of Condeskeag (Harlow street), and that there should be two pounds in the town. Twenty-two votes were cast for Moses Gill for Governor and Increase Summer, Lieu- tenant-Governor.

On May 10 they met at Captain Budge's "for the pur- pose of separating the State and choosing a Representa- tive to Congress." This is the full record of the proceed- ings of the meeting :

Vote I. William Boyd, Moderator. 2. Henry Dearborn, Esq., 12 votes for Rep. to Congress.

3. Voted to sepperate the State.

Dissolved without day.

WM. H., T. Clerk.

At another meeting on November 30, it was voted, "that William Hammond, of Newtown, be an agent to receive a petition from the town to get the settlers' land granted to them, and a title," and to raise $40 to pay the expenses of the petition; and that "the Selectmen be a committee to rite a petition and fix the papers that is necessary to send to court for a Lottery to build a Bridge over Condeskg Stream." The record is signed by Mr. Hammond, "Wm. T., T. Clerk."

Rev. Joshua Hall, a Methodist clergyman, itinerated in this region in 1794-95. His circuit extended from

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Union, in the county of Lincoln, northerly to Stillwater, and from Stetson Plantation easterly to Orland. He preached in Bangor once in six weeks through the year. Deacon William Boyd, Nathaniel Harlow, James Budge, Jacob Dennett, and James Dunning were the only resi- dents then near the Kenduskeag. There was only one store-that kept by Major Treat-though not far from that time Captain Budge kept goods for sale in his log cabin. That is said to have been the first store in the present business part of the city. The land on the west- ern side of the Condeskge was covered with wood. There being no bridge near Bangor, nor boat or gondola of sufficient size above Buckstown [Bucksport] to convey horses across the river, Rev. Mr. Hall sometimes resorted to the expedient of lashing two canoes together, side by side, and then putting his horse on board with his fore feet in one and hind feet in the other; and thus, at great risk when the current was strong, he ferried his docile beast over the river, though generally the horse had to make the passage by swimming, while his master went in a canoe. Roads there were none worthy the name, and the locomotion was chiefly by canoes. The people went in them from ten to twenty miles to attend Mr. Hall's ministrations. He was at that time about twenty-six years of age. His residence, during the latter part of his life, was in Frankfort .*

* Colonel Little's letter in Bangor Jeffersonian, December, 1852.

CHAPTER V.

Hampden Incorporated-Its Extent-Why so Named-Population in 1790-First Town Meeting-Ballard's Survey-First Meeting House --- General Crosby's Mill and Brick Store-His Enterprise-Academy -- Settlers of New Worcester-Bangor Settlers-A Minister, Rev. James Boyd-His Ordination-His Delinquencies and Removal -- Rev. Mr. Mudge-School-house-Legislature and Settlers-Park Holland's Survey-Bangor in 1800-Voters in 1801-Taverns in 1802-Town Officers-Two School Districts-School Committees- Votes for Governor and Representative to Congress-Dr. Balch- Bridge Project-$400 Raised for Schools-Eliashib Adams-Morals of the People-Town House Contemplated-Main and Water Streets -Cemetery-Change of Annual Meeting-Town Officers in 1804- School Committee-Excursion to Mt. Katahdin.

1800 to 1805. Hampden was incorporated as a town February 24, 1794. It extended from about a mile and a half below the Kenduskeag Stream to Bald Hill Cove, and embraced about twenty-three thousand acres. Its name was adopted in memory of the eminent English Republican, John Hampden. With the people of Or- rington and Bangor they were equally annoyed by the British in 1779, and some of the inhabitants removed to the places whence they originally came-the Ken- nebec and beyond-but returned at the close of the war.

A portion of the town was assigned to General Knox to supply a deficiency in the Waldo Patent, and a portion was surveyed and lotted by Ephraim Ballard, and each settler received a lot of one hundred acres, upon the pay- ment of six dollars and fifty-six cents, if he came before January, 1784, and fifty dollars if he took up his lot be- tween that time and January, 1794. It is uncertain what was the population within the limits of the territory incorporated in 1790. Bangor, including the territory above the Sowadabscook, contained a population of 567. In 1800, after incorporation with that territory eliminated, it contained but 277. If it increased none in the dec- ade, the prior adjacent territory must have contained a population of 290. Of this one-half -- 145, if not more -- was probably in the Hampden part. The remaining portion of Hampden contained more than that number, and the population of the incorporated Hampden terri- tory was in 1790 between 300 and 400.

The first warrant for a meeting of the inhabitants of Hampden was issued by Simeon Fowler, Esq., of Or- rington, and was directed to Simeon Gorton, Constable. The meeting was at the house of Benjamin Wheeler, which stood on the side-hill towards the Dudley resi- dence, near High Head, and there the town meetings were regularly held for several years afterwards.

Ballard's survey was made in 1796. He gave each settler a certificate of the survey of his lot, and the next year the agents of Massachusetts arranged with the set- tlers, and gave them deeds agreeably to the certificates.

As in Condeskeag and New Worcester, the idea of a meeting-house was prominent in the minds of the inhab- itants of Hampden. It proves that they felt that, not- withstanding they had set down on the extreme confines of civilization, they were still the subjects of Christian influences.

At their first town meeting they voted to build a meet- ing-house, and made some arrangements for raising the funds. It progressed slowly, however, but was suffi- ciently completed to accommodate a town meeting in 1798, after the Wheeler house was considered too small for the purpose. Mortified that the town should be so indifferent in regard to its completion, Mr. John Crosby, who was an enterprising and prosperous merchant, pressed to have it finished, and succeeded in 1800. The pews were then sold to individuals for $750 more than the cost of the whole structure.

Mr. Crosby erected a saw-mill on the privilege near the mouth of the Sowadabscook, and extended his business largely. He engaged in navigation, and had wharves not only at the mouth of the Sowadabscook, but also two miles further up the Penobscot. At one time he was probably the most prominent merchant and ship-owner upon the Penobscot. In 1809 he built the brick store near the Upper Corner, which bids fair to stand many a century, a monument of his enterprising spirit and of his town's early prosperity.

General Crosby, besides being enterprising in business, was ambitious tor the religious and educational improve- ment of his town. He built what in his day was es- teemed an elegant residence, which he occupied. Every-

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

thing about it indicated comfort, and gave evidence of the well-to-do proprietor .- It was the home of the missionary while attending to the religious needs of the people of his locality, and the resort of all good people. Rev. Jotham Sewall was always a welcome guest. His wife was the worthy companion of such a man, and they reared a family worthy of themselves - intelligent, indus- trious, and exemplary sons, and refined and beautiful daughters. He was instrumental in the establishment of Hampden Academy, an institution that, for two-thirds of a century, has educated the youth of the valley of the Penobscot, and sent many hundreds of men and women into the world who have risen to honorable positions in their several spheres. He obtained the act incorporating it, having previously obtained a subscription of about $3,000 to its funds. In after life, however, he was un- fortunate in business, but he never forgot his early habits of industry. A late work was to secure the erection of a grist-mill near the site of the ancient Wheeler mill, and this he superintended until old age compelled him to yield to its behests.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 134

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