History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 158

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 158

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Jingling-the shingle weavers come- The roads are full, the streets beset-

To buy molasses or new rum, Or any thing that they can get.

The bells are jingling-farmers hie With beef, or pork, or wheat, or oats;

Of winter goods to get supply- And some hard cash to pay their notes.

Jingle the bells-the merchant smiles, And at dull times no longer frets;

Takes care of profits-and the whiles Most carefully collects his debts.

The're jingling, too, the lawyers please, In office pent so long and wary;

It tells of clients and of fees, And the next Court, in January.

This jingle, too, the printer cheers, He loves to hear the merry clash,

It soundeth to his practised ears, As saying-"produce, sir, or cash." All love to see the busy men, And motion of the bustling throng: And those, the loveliest in the scene, The merry belles that glide along.

Mr. Tilly Brown, a respected citizen, a native of Con- cord, Massachusetts, died at the age of forty. He was employed in aiding the settlement of Township No. 2, Old Indian Purchase, and building mills, surveying and running lines, but over-exerting himself among the fallen timber, he burst a blood-vessel and died from loss of blood.

CHAPTER XX.

Mozart Society-Female Charitable Society-Amos Patten Elected Councillor-Case of Call and Williamson-Judge Perham Nomi- nated for Congress- Penobscot Gazette Discontinued- Colonel Hodsdon Elected Major-General-Obstructions at Piscataquis-Ed- ward Kent Chief Justice Court of Sessions-Early and late Canvass -More Politics-Mr. Williamson again Nominated-Wilkins, Her- rick, Harriman, and Carr in the Field-No Choice-Fire Wardens- Horse Ferry-boat -Eastern Republican Established - Nathaniel Haynes Editor-Greek Cause-Northeast Boundary-Road Travel- River Obstructions-Major Harriman's Pitchforks-Great Haul of Shad and Alewives-Houlton Mail-Penobscot Indians in New York -Boston Survey of Lumber-Needham, the Mail Robber-Fourth of July-Temperance-Independent Volunteers' Anniversary-Politi- cal Movements-Major-General Hodsdon-Samuel Butman Nomi- nated for Congress-General Hodsdon Nominated-Party History- Poor Farm-Abuse of Indians-State Election-Death of Mrs. How- ard-Washington Guards-Circus-Hops-Anna Royal-Arrest of Baker at Madawaska-Methodist Meeting-house Contemplated-Mil- itary Order-Death of Dr. Skinner-Orono Canal Contemplated- Agent on Boundary Troubles - Governor's Proclamation-War Feared-Isaac R. Park's Peril-Stillwater Bridge-Death of Thomas Howard-British Claims-The Clarion-Military Road-The Baker Case at Washington-Brig Bold Jack Lost-Business Men.

1827. The year 1827 was ushered in with music. The Bangor Mozart Society, of which Mr. Levi Cram was Clerk, devoted much time to the practice of the "hard masters."

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

The Female Charitable Society did not forget its mis- sion. It assembled at the dwelling of Mr. Asa Davis, under the promptings of Mrs. Dorcas P. Pike, in the performance of its objects, early in January.

Amos Patten, of Bangor, was elected as a member of Governor Lincoln's Council, for Penobscot.

At the session of the Court of Common Pleas, in Jan- uary, William D. Williamson was tried a second time for an assault upon Samuel Call. Mr. Call was Surveyor of Highways, and at some time in the year 1826 was repair- ing the street in front of Mr. Williamson's dwelling, and in such a way as to render the entrance inconvenient. As politics were high, and these two gentlemen were not politically friendly, Mr. Williamson imagined that Call was taking advantage of his position to annoy him, and interfered, with his stepson, Benjamin Wiggin, sufficient- ly to give an occasion for an indictment for assault and battery. After two trials-the jury declining to agree-a nolle prosequi was entered. The result was as might have been expected, with politics an element in the case.

On January 31 Albion K. Parris was elected a United States Senator for Maine.

A prospectus for a new paper, to be called the Eastern Republican, was circulated, to the dismay of the Register. It was to be a "genuine Republican" paper, and the Reg- ister never forgot that announcement.

William King, of Bath, and Rufus McIntyre, of Par- sonfield, were appointed Commissioners for the survey and establishment of the boundary line between Maine and New Hampshire.

The report of the Land Agent showed that the net receipts of the State for lands, timber, and grass sold the past year, were $38,884.32.

The delegation in the Legislature from the Penobscot and Somerset District, nominated Judge Perham as can- didate for Congress.

The Penobscot Gazette was discontinued. The Reg- ister gave as the cause of its death "an atrophy," though it had been reported that it was strangled to make room for " Miss Eastern Republican."

The abduction of William Morgan by Free Masons, as was alleged, for publishing a book revealing the secrets of Free Masonry, occurred about this time and caused great excitement.

The members of the Legislature re-nominated Governor Enoch Lincoln for re-election.

Colonel Isaac Hodsdon was elected Major-General of the Third Division of Militia, to fill the vacancy occa- sioned by the resignation of General Jedediah Herrick.

George B. Moody, of Oldtown, and Nathaniel Haynes, of Bangor, formed a law copartnership.

Great indignation was occasioned among the business men on the Piscataquis River by the erection of a dam at its mouth, and a meeting was held in Sebec, by which it was declared a public nuisance in its situation and an effectual obstacle to the passage of rafts of lumber and timber. A committee, consisting of John Bradbury, of Foxcroft; Francis Brown, of Brownville; and Josiah Towle, of Sebec, was appointed to cause the obstructions there and at Oldtown, if necessary, to be removed.

At the annual meeting for the choice of town officers, Alexander Savage was elected Town Clerk; George Starrett, Treasurer; Jacob McGaw, Agent ; Amos Pat- ten, James Crosby, Daniel Pike, Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of the Poor ; Swan L. Pomroy, William D. Williamson, Benjamin Nourse, Joshua P. Dickinson, and John Godfrey, Superintending School Committee.

Edward Kent was appointed by the Governor Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions. Joshua Carpenter, of Howland, was appointed a commissioner to lay out a road from Township No. 2 to'Mattanawcook; and Joel Wellington, of Albion, a commissioner to lay out a road from Mattanawcook to Houlton.

A convention of the "Democratic Republicans" of the District was held in Bangor, to nominate a candidate for Representative to Congress. Joshua Chamberlain was Chairman; Isaac Hodsdon, Secretary. Two sets of delegates presented themselves from Bangor. A meeting had been called by the trained politicians at the unusual hour of 6 o'clock, at which time a dozen persons as- sembled and selected delegates and adjourned. Presently about thirty persons appeared at the usual hour for such meetings and elected another set of delegates. The con- vention concluded that the delegates elected by the prompt caucus, that elected delegates before they took their supper, were entitled to be recognized rather than the delegates elected by the late caucus, after supper ! They therefore received the delegates of the former and rejected those of the latter, not considering that when anything was to be accomplished in a political conven- tion, there was such a thing as being "too smart." Such proceedings are not yet obsolete-the prompt men at caucuses doing everything in their own way, and leaving the later men to reconcile themselves to the fact as best they can.

The convention nominated William D. Williamson as candidate for Congress, sixteen to ten.

Another meeting was held at Mr. Chick's hotel by gentlemen who deemed that the first meeting was unfairly conducted, and nominated General Jedediah Herrick as a candidate.

The model proclamation of Governor Lincoln for a day of fasting and prayer was published at this time, and ought to have been carefully studied by the politi- cians.

"I recommend to every one," he said, "to observe the day [April 5] as a Christian; if he be under the influence of any vice, to banish it; if in error, to correct it; if under obligations to others, honestly to discharge them; if suf- fering injuries, to forgive them; if aware of animosities, to extinguish them; and if able to do any benevolent act to any being created by the Almighty Power to which he owes his existence and his faculties, to do it.

"And with a conscience thus prepared, may we visit the Temple of God, to worship him with humble and happy disposition, which always belongs to piety and innocence; beseeching Him that the religion he sent by our Saviour may not be perverted through the pride and prejudices of sectarianism, but may universally receive the homage of a correct faith and good works.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

"Especially I recommend that, being members of one. great community, we unite as Christian politicians, so. that we may render perpetual the peace and prosperity of our country and of this State."

The nomination of Mr. Williamson by a packed cau- cus occasioned no little animadversion among the Dem- ocratic Republicans. There were but twenty-six votes cast, and the balloting did not take place until after two adjournments-for lunch at 11 o'clock and dinner at I, in Mr. Chick's hotel.

"An Elector" could not adopt the nomination of Mr. · Williamson, made by such a caucus, "after spending most of the day in taking a little refreshment prepared for the occasion, and adding a few talesmen to make a decent number in the convention, but preferred to vote for the unanimously nominated Republican candidate, John Wilkins.

"Penobscot" fearlessly asserted that the convention was packed; that some of the friends of the candidate "very ingenuously confessed that they assembled at the convention, not for the purpose of an interchange of sentiment, not to nominate a candidate who would unite the Republicans, but to nominate William D. William- son."

An anonymous writer publishes the circular of Mr. Williamson, Mr. Hodsdon, Mr. Clark, and Mr. Tilton, addressed to the electors before the last trial, recom- mending Mr. Wilkins, and urges that, as Mr. Wilkins was regularly nominated and had not withdrawn, he should be supported in preference to Mr. Williamson, who had withdrawn, and was afterward nominated at the expense of every fair principle, because he could not be satisfied until he was permitted to figure once more upon the floor of Congress. But the people were not stupid fools; they could read, they could see, they could think.

"Cato" wanted his fellow citizens to look at the can- didates. First, there was William D. Williamson "clothed with the recommendations of the conventions of each county," which at first blush had an imposing appear- ance, but when it was understood how the conventions were managed "by less than half a dozen inconsistent intriguers," their doings were of no binding force.

Second, there was John Wilkins, whom Mr. William- son and others of his present supporters had recom- mended as "a Democratic Republican from his youth, the poor man's friend and the good man's companion."

Then there was Jedediah Herrick, whose "abilities were far above mediocrity, whose integrity was undoubt- ed ; a man of extensive views and general information."

Then there was Joseph Carr, "one of the oldest set- tlers, a firm and undeviating Republican from his child- hood. . Of these candidates choose ye whom ye will, but so act that ye may not repent."

"Philo Justitia" eschewed old party distinctions, and said we had good examples for doing so ; Georgia, a Re- publican State, had elected a Berrien, an old Federalist, to Congress ; Virginia, a Tazewell; Delaware, a McLane; and Massachusetts, a Webster. Let us do likewise, and elect from among the candidates, without regard to party predilections, the one best competent to serve us -Gen-

eral Jedediah Herrick. The writer's admiration of that gentleman was unbounded.

"Penobscot" favored General Herrick as a "man of undoubted integrity, superior talents, and an undeviating friend of the administration of John Quincy Adams."

"A Republican of the Old School" treated the course of Mr. Williamson's friends to a choice bit of irony. Simon Harriman again lifted his clarion voice :

I am the proper person to be elected. I have been consistent in my course; I have not, like a brother candidate, at.one election withdrawn my name, and then endeavored to force myself again into nomination; nor have I, like another candidate, been dispirited by two unsuccessful attempts, and then retired from the contest too late for my friends to substitute another in my stead. No, my friends, I have pursued a uni- form course; I have, and do still offer myself to you.

On March 26 the Republicans from several towns in the county met at the Franklin House, Benjamin Gar- land in the chair and Joseph R. Lumbert Secretary, and nominated Joseph Carr as "a pure and tried Republican and a firm friend of the National Administration;" as one to whom the Republican electors would not hesitate to give their votes.

An address to the Republicans of 1812 in the District set forth that when the country was suffering from the restrictive measures which became necessary in conse- quence of the British impressment of our seamen and Orders in Council and French Decrees, the late Hon. Francis Carr was willing to risk his all-to see his ship rot on her stocks, and the debts due to him sacrificed, for the support of the honor of his country; that when in Congress from this District, he did not hesitate to make the sacrifice; that when our country was struggling hard in the contest of war for her rights, Hon. James Carr sustained these rights in a manner highly honorable to himself and useful to his constituents." Now several who had always basked in the sunshine of public favor, but had never sacrificed a cent for the public good, were urging an addition "to their wealth, their ease and their honor." But all the electors of the District had not for- gotten to be grateful for past favors. Some remembered that another member of that family still lived, and they well knew that Joseph Carr, Esq., of Bangor, possessed talents at least equal to those of his late honorable father and brother. He was the instrument for restoring union among friends. If he is elected to Congress "our coun- try will honor our judgment, and our consciences approve of our deeds."

A convention at Norridgewock on the 11th of March voted to concur in Mr. Williamson's nomination. The report outside was that the "convention barely con- curred."

The vote was taken April 2. Bangor gave for Mr. Carr, 105; for Mr. Wilkins, 38; for General Herrick, 28; for "Major" Harriman, 27; for Judge Williamson, 41; scattering, 6.

The vote of the District was, for Carr, 579; Wilkins, 225; Herrick, 760; Williamson, 1,520; others, 567. There was no choice.

The Fire Wardens of the town held a meeting and dis- tributed the duties among themselves thus: Amos Patten, or in his absence George W. Brown, to have the direc-

635

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

tion of Washington engine at any fire; Benjamin Has- kell or J. B. Fiske, the direction of engine No. 1; George Bradford, charge of fire hooks and removing vessels; David Hill, charge of ladders; John Barker, Jacob Mc- Gaw, Wiggins Hill, and John Ham, to form lines to con- vey water to Washington engine ; Edmund Dole, Abner Taylor, and John M. Prince, to form lines for engine No. I; J. B. Fiske and G. W. Brown, charge of removing furniture and merchandise.

G. W. Brimmer, Esq., of Boston, interested himself in putting a horse ferry-boat on the Bangor ferry this sea- son.

The Eastern Republican was established, under the editorial management of Nathaniel Haynes, a lawyer of liberal education. Samuel Call, who wrote the edi- torials for the Register, suggested "that he was not the first young man who had been disappointed in his ex- pectations to lead the inhabitants of the county of Pe- nobscot;" that he must treat his seniors with respect, his equals with courtesy; that he should learn to see him- self as others saw him; that he should learn to express his ideas in English, and not vaunt himself on a smatter- ing of Latin; and that he should never attempt wit."

On April 13th Mr. Chick served to his guests a fine fresh salmon.

Much interest was felt for the Greek cause. A public meeting was held in the Court-house April 16th; Amos Patten, Chairman; Edward Kent, Secretary. William D. Williamson, James Crosby, Professor Smith, Mark L. Hill, Jr., Nathaniel Harlow, and Rufus Dwinel were ap- pointed a committee to solicit contributions. Prominent gentlemen named in the several towns in the county were requested to co-operate. Samuel Call, Jacob Mc- Gaw, and Edward Kent were appointed a committee to address the citizens of the county on the situation and sufferings of the Greeks, and they published a very clear statement of the condition of that people. They were struggling for liberty against the Turks. They were strug- gling for the same principle for which the founders of our Republic struggled successfully, and "we owe a debt of humanity."

John G. Deane, Esq., of Ellsworth, about this time commenced a series of valuable articles upon the North- eastern boundary, in the "Independent Courier," under the signature of "Cato."

Miss Brown commenced her first summer term of a school for young ladies in Bangor on the Ist of May. Tuition from $3 to $5 per quarter. The higher English studies were taught, with drawing, painting, and orna- mental needlework. It was a good and successful school.

The travel upon the road leading into Bangor was be- coming noticeable. A person confined to his house on the Orono road, about a mile from the Kenduskeag Stream, counted the people, horses, and carriages that passed between 7 o'clock A. M. and 7 P. M. There were 219 persons, 90 horses, 35 chaises, 39 wagons. He cal- culated that one-third as many passed before 7 A. M. and after 7 P. M., and there was no unusual excitement. It was the everyday travel.

. The business men of Piscataquis were in earnest in re- · gard to the Piscataquis dam. A party of men was em- ployed and removed the obstruction to the navigation of the river without the consent of the owner. The Fiske & Bridge sluice at Oldtown was of no benefit, and the dam was the occasion of so much complaint that the owners were compelled to satisfy the public in regard to a passage for luniber.

Major Harriman did not permit his want of success in running for Congress to prevent his caring for the farmers as usual. He could afford no time for recrimi- nation, but continued the manufacture of pitchforks, ox, cow, and sheep bells, "warranted to be heard from one to five miles." He, however, removed his shop "to Fore street, next door to Mr. Chick's Maine Coffee House," probably having a faint idea that such proximity to so famous a political hotel would give him some ad- vantages in enforcing his claims to high position in the Government.

Major Nathaniel Haynes, aid of Major-General Hods- don, gave notice of the appointment by that officer of George W. Pickering Division Inspector, and Samuel Lowder, Jr. Division Quartermaster.

The grand caravan, with lions, tigers, elephant, ichneu- mon, Dandy Jack, and Captain Dick, accompanied by wax statues, made its annual visit in May.

The finding a piece of wood with the appearance of a petrified post, in the ground in the front of the Court- house, was thought worthy of note. Mr. Comins was digging a cellar, and was astonished when he fell upon this piece of "wooden stone."

Some opinion may be formed in regard to the im- mense quantities of fish in the Penobscot at the head of the tide, when it is understood that seven thousand shad and a hundred barrels of alewives were taken at one haul of the seine, about the middle of May this year. They were taken by Mr. Luther Eaton, of Eddington. This was an unusual fish year. Shad were sold at Oldtown at fifty cents a hundred, and alewives were deemed hardly worth saving.

Samuel K. Gilman, of Hallowell, was appointed Col- lector of Customs for Penobscot, in place of Josiah Hook, deceased.

" The mail was carried from Bangor to Houlton by James Lander, on the 31st of May; after that it left Ban- gor for that town on every succeeding fourth, and Houl- ton on every succeeding third Thursday following.

Edward Kent was admitted at the June term of the Supreme Court, as an attorney of that court.

On June 9th sixty-four vessels were lying in the harbor.

On the 11th Mr. Fifield picked cucumbers from his vines measuring from five to six and one-half inches in length, raised in the open air in this town. They were said to be the earliest then ever raised in the county. Mr. Chick had green peas pretty well filled on his table the 19th of June, and in a day or two after treated a party to turtle soup, green peas, etc .!

A party of about fifty Penobscot Indians encamped on an island in the North River, New York, between Water-

636

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

ford and Lansingburg, this season. They went by the way of the River St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain, and the . Northern Canal in their canoes. They might have been a portion of the tribe that seceded the first of the cen- tury, on the election of a Governor, and went to Canada. They attracted much attention by their expert manage- ment of their canoes.

The annuity this year was paid by the State to about three hundred and seventy Indians, which was not far from the number in the tribe at home.

A newspaper was established in this year in Castine, called the American.

There was a great deal of feeling in Maine at this time relative to the "Boston survey" of lumber. The justice of their complaint was acknowledged in Boston, but it was alleged that the difficulty grew out of a want of definiteness in the law. This, however, was not the whole reason of the complaint. Gross frauds were alleged on the part of the purchaser and surveyor, who, instead of making reasonable allowance for a rot that damaged two feet of a board measuring forty feet, condemned the whole board as refuse, and in this way obtained much good lumber for nothing-refuse being half the price of merchantable. Then, what was really refuse they called mill-refuse, which they valued at one-fourth the price of merchantable. Then, if boards sold at a high price in Boston, the refuse and mill-refuse made the greater por- tion of the cargo. There was no principle, except the interest of the purchaser, that governed the surveyor.

The matter was a constant theme of conversation among the lumber-dealers of Bangor. A writer in the Boston Patriot said that the Boston survey was a pro- verbial expression of reproach in Maine, and that many of the good people of the State "actually believed that there was a secret, nefarious understanding between the surveyors and buyers by which in some way great benefit accrued to them-in other words, that the surveyors were bribed; that the present method of survey was cal- culated to deceive in regard to the quality of the lumber; that the superior goodness of the lumber from the neigh- borhood of Penobscot and Passamaquoddy is admitted by all, and often a subject of conversation. The writer then asks what the decision of the public would be, if they were to judge by the survey, when they were in- formed that three-fourths of this excellent lumber is pro- nounced refuse. When delivered in Boston the lumber is assorted and divided into qualities designated by them as " clear, merchantable, refuse, and mill refuse" [scoots]. Then to show the difference betwixt the Maine and the Boston surveys, he gives the contents of a cargo surveyed in Calais and shipped to Boston and there surveyed. By Maine survey it contained 68,026 feet of clear boards ; 8,057 feet of refuse boards; 13,760 feet of merchantable; total, 89,843. By the Boston survey: 8,527 feet of clear; 50,507 feet of merchantable; 28,021 feet of ref- use ; 1,230 feet of mill-refuse ; total, 88,285.

The difference these surveys made against the seller and in favor of the purchaser may be determined by the sales of a cargo: 52 feet of clear boards, at $26 per M; 2,334 feet of merchantable, at $21 per M; 21,532 feet of

refuse, at $10.50 per M; 9,550 feet mill-refuse, at $5.25 per M.

The logs from which these boards were made cost $7.50 per thousand feet, and netted to the shipper less than $7.25. Of course the cost of sawing, rafting, and removing was lost.

The people of Maine submitted to this until forbear- ance ceased tobe a virtue, when they sought other markets, and Boston began to experience the conse- quences.

On the 28th June considerable excitement grew out of the arrest of one George Needham, on a charge of rob- bing the mail. He was carried before William D. Wil- liamson, Esq. The case was continued a week, and he was ordered to recognize for his appearance in the sum of $500. As he could not obtain bail, he was ordered to be committed to gaol. On his way to the gaol he obtained leave from the officer to change his apparel at his lodgings. After this, when near the gaol, he drew a dirk and pistol from under his coat, and pointing them at the officer (Simon B. Harriman) and his assistant, started and ran up Hammond street. Simon was dumb- founded for an instant, and, being somewhat heavy, it was difficult for him to run; he therefore, as soon as he recovered himself, secured a big boulder and flung it to- ward the retreating malefactor, who, fortunately, was a long way beyond its reach, or it would have smashed his skull or his bones, if it had hit either. Needham's legs were good, and he nearly reached the wood southerly of the seminary buildings before he was overtaken. When he felt a strong hand upon his shoulder he drew his dirk and stabbed a student who had seized him, inflicting a slight wound. But he was again a prisoner, and lodged that night in the gaol. On the next day he was taken before Justice Jonathan P. Rogers, on one charge of re- sisting the officer and on another for a murderous assault on Mr. Cushing. On the first charge he was ordered to recognize in $200, and on the-last $500. Being no more able to procure bail for these sums than he had been for the first, Mr. Simon B. Harriman had the felicity of wit- nessing this genteel criminal incarcerated, as he supposed for some time.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 158

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