History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 169

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 169

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The City Government this year was composed of Mayor, Allen Gilman.

Aldermen: Ward I, Henry Call; Ward 2, Moses Pat- ten; Ward 3, William Abbot; Ward 4, John Wilkins; Ward 5, John Fiske; Ward 6, John Brown; Ward 7, Samuel Veazie.

Common Council : Ward I, Charles Hayes, Jesse Wentworth, Rufus K. Cushing; Ward 2, John Barker, Jonathan C. Taylor, Timothy Crosby; Ward 3, Henry A. Head, Edmund Dole, Samuel Garnsey; Ward 4, John Godfrey, John Sargent, John R. Greenough; Ward 5, Nathan B. Wiggin, Edward Kent, Abner R. Hallowell; Ward 6, Franklin Muzzy, Bradford Harlow, Horatio Beals; Ward 7, Samuel Sylvester, Charles Forbes, Mar- cena Johnson.

Among the subordinate officers elected were: John S. Sayward, City Clerk; James Crosby, Treasurer; John Ham, Street Commissioner; William Emerson, second, City Marshal; Edward Kent, City Solicitor and Agent; John Lancey, Collector; John Lancey, City Constable and Messenger; James Crosby, George Starrett, Abner R. Hallowell, Assessors; Rufus K. Cushing, City Physician; Amos Patten, William Abbot, John Barker, Overseers of the Poor.

The Baptist Society of Bangor held its services on Sunday, April 25, in the Unitarian church.

Mr. F. A. Firmbach, an accomplished musician, gave an instrumental concert of much merit to a Bangor audience. His instruments were the guitar, violin, and flute. He was assisted by the accomplished organist of the First Parish church, Mr. Oliver J. Shaw. Mr. Firm- bach sang one German song. His concert was highly complimented.

In May the stock in the Bangor & Oldtown Railroad was partly taken. It was divided into one thousand shares, and it was thought that the cost of the road would be about $250,000. The company was organized July 11, on a call by Rufus Dwinel, Ira Wadleigh, and Mil- ford P. Norton.

The land speculations in Maine had at this time filled the country with excitement. Men flocked here fron all quarters. Glowing accounts of fortunes acquired in an incredibly short space of time had been sent abroad. Communications in the newspapers were of the most ex- citing character and were read with avidity.

A "Young Men's Mutual Reform Society" was in operation at this time, holding its meetings in Hammond Street church vestry.

The editor of the Whig deemed it important to an- nounce that he was writing on May 14 with a quill taken from the wing of a grey eagle which had been recently shot at Bucksport, by Mr. J. McLaughlin, at a distance of seventy yards, with a pistol the barrel of which was only six inches long.

Mr. Henry P. Pratt, of the Calais Gazette, explained to the editor of the Bangor Courier the origin of the "Mung News," which occasioned great excitement about this time. He called on a respectable merchant doing business in St. Stephen, and was assured by him that the brig "Mung" had arrived from Liverpool with goods for him, and that he had received a letter from a merchant at St. Andrews, stating that the brig brought news that the French Chambers had dissolved without making an appropriation for the American claim, and that he had no doubt of its correctness ; but that the letter was "a base and infamous fabrication to enhance the value of English shipping at the expense of American interests."

Mr. John Ham, Street Commissioner, on May 16 ad- vertised for two men who are acquainted with road- making, and "one man acquainted with the use of car- penters' tools, who will be employed in laying down sew- ers and plank sidewalks"!

Mr. H. Manning, from New York, advertised that he would instruct "young ladies, misses, and masters in the accomplishments of dancing and waltzing gracefully," and that, "having long been impressed with the belief that attention to manners and morals should form an im- portant part in the instruction," the strictest attention would be paid to improve the "deportment of the schol- ars."

The freshet in the river was unusually high this season. The booms were crowded with logs. The editor of the Whig said: "The dexterity of the drivers, as they are called, is really wonderful ; we saw a raft of timber, with four men upon it, pass through the breach in the mill- dam works yesterday, and it was a glorious sight ! - worth all the theatres, pantomimes, and exhibitions of art in Christendom " !

On May 20 C. & E. D. Godfrey opened a stock of dry goods at 28 Main street ; and Samuel Sylvester and Alexander Drummond, as "A. Drummond & Co.," opened a stock of West India and domestic goods at the east end of Kenduskeag Bridge ; G. C. Cargill & Co. advertised " spirits and wines."

It was found by Dr. Dickinson that some cases of sick- ness in town, thought to be occasioned by poison, had their origin in the milk of some cows that had eaten de- cayed vegetables.

The editor of the Whig, on May 22, gave his knowl-

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

edge of Castine (St. Castin). He said that he was ".a nobleman [son of a nobleman] who commanded a regi- ment in the south of France [he did not]; was ordered to Quebec about 1690 [1665]; that, for some unknown cause, he came to Penobscot and "married two daugh- ters of Madockawance [one at a time, doubtless], over whom he exercised unlimited control. He constructed a fort upon the peninsula ; " went to France about 1712 [1701], and carried with him 200,000 crowns. It is said that he took with him a daughter, who caused much ex- citement in his native country."

Richard Thurston opened a commission, and S. C. Hemaway a dry-goods store, on the 25th of May.

The Portland Advertiser said that the last Maine Leg- islature consumed a hogshead of molasses !

The " cattle up country " were reported this spring as in-a suffering condition-those that had not died-mere skeletons, meagre and so weak as scarcely to be able to get out to the grass, just starting.

A reservoir was built this year near the First Parish church, and another near Hammond Street church.

The Corban Society was organized, to obtain a fund for the education of the indigent.

A sacred concert was given at the Unitarian church on May 31.

The First Baptist society put a fine organ into their church, from which "rich volumes of sound" were elicited by Mr. Oliver J. Shaw, a master of the instrument.

The Stillwater Canal, at Orono, was built.

The Eastern Magazine, a monthly, edited by Mr. Car- ter, and published by John S. Carter, appeared in Jan- uary.

John J. Jerome made his appearance in the conmis- sion business this year.

The steamer Bangor brought three hundred passen- gers the first trip in June, and the hotels were more than filled.

There was one case of small-pox, not fatal, this season.

The Bangor made an excursion to Belfast and Cas- tine on June 9. This vessel was thronged every trip with land speculators. One from Boston was the pur- chaser of the third or fourth bond of the same tract, and on discovering it, inquired if to sell several bonds to convey the same land at the same time accorded with the prevailing ethics of Bangor! That class of operators came from the West.

At a State land sale, by Head & Pillsbury, at the Ban- gor House, on June 10, No. 6, ninth range, was sold in mile sections. Eighteen sections were sold. The mini- mum valuation of the pine was $3 and spruce $1 per thousand. The eighteen sections contained 11,520 acres; their minimum value, $43,546. They sold for $108,796 -- an advance over the minimum of $65,250. Ira Wad- leigh purchased nine sections; Samuel Smith four ; Amos Davis three; and Jefferson Sinclair two.

No. 1, eighth range, was sold in quarters. Northeast quarter, containing 5,760 acres, put up at a minimum of $3 per acre, sold for $5; southeast quarter sold at $3.37; northwest at $4.08; southwest at $5.17, to Ira Wadleigh, Amos Davis, Milford P. Norton, and B. H. Cheever.

West half of No. 5, ninth range, 11,520 acres, sold to Ira Wadleigh for $1. 15-minimum $1.

Eleven store lots on Fore street sold for nearly $13, -- 000, which a few days before were purchased for $10,000.

Benjamin Goodwin, a prominent citizen of Brewer, died June 10, of consumption, aged forty-six. "Mary Blake, wife of General Blake, died on the 9th, aged sev -. enty-three.

The Penobscot Freeman, a newspaper published by Anson Herrick and edited by Asa Walker, Jr., as an anti-Masonic paper, got itself into trouble, first, by accept- ing the poetical effusion of some novice under the pre- tense that it was worthy of publication, and then ridicul- ing it, and next by praising Richard M. Johnson, the candidate of the Democrats for Vice-President, whom the. Whigs called the "favorite of the atheists and agrarians.".

An out-of-the-State visitor wrote from Bangor, June 10,. to the Boston Gazette that he defied any man to live in the atmosphere of Bangor twenty-four hours without be- ing infected with the prevailing fever. He would almost imperceptibly find himself the owner of part of a town- ship, and, with little or no effort, a purchaser could be found who would pay him a handsome advance. A re- markable feature of the speculation was that no one who participated in it lost money! Property to the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars daily changed hands, and every successive purchaser realized. a handsome profit. He could not prophecy how it would be in a twelve-month.

At the law term of the Supreme Court, John Hodg- don, Frederick H. Allen, E. G. Rawson, Augustus J .. Brown, Enoch E. Brown, Charles Gilman, and Abraham Sanborn were admitted as counsellors; John E. Godfrey, Moses L. Appleton, and Hannibal Hamlin as attorneys.

D. Parker, William Cutler, and Charles A. Stackpole formed a copartnership as commission merchants, as Parker, Stackpole & Co., May 20.

A correspondent of the Portland Advertiser wrote that every thing had changed in Bangor within eight .or ten years. Where there was " a little, dirty, insignificant vil- lage, without character and without name, now stands Bangor, which lifts its head in (justly) anticipated great- ness, speaks of Boston and New York as sisters," and looks down upon lovely Portland as a country cousin. Eight years before it had but few brick buildings .; now it had long ranges of lofty stores, which had as much or more of a city air than anything in Portland. Then there was no communication with the far East, except by a foot-path or batteau ; now there was a four-horse stage daily to Mattawamkeag, and three times a week to. Houlton; then "a miserable, rickety, two-horse machine,". which plied between Bangor and Oldtown, was succeeded by four and six-horse coaches in constant communication between those places, and stock in a railroad was taken up and selling above par. When that road should be finished, a steamboat from Oldtown to. the Mattawam- keag would be wanted, "and indeed these down-easters already begin to talk about it, and with them to talk is generally to do." Locks and wing dams would not be necessary to improve the navigation for these people;

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

they would be more likely to "get up a boat to run up all the falls and rapids on the route like their own salmon." Surely they would do this if they could build an engine on the plan of the nervous system of one of the citizens (Sam Smith), "who is the very genius of locomotion in- carnate; he is here, there, everywhere, and nowhere all at the same time; breakfasts at home, dining at Port- land, and goes without his supper somewhere between Boston and New York, and before his clerk knows he has been absent, he returns, having sold out a concern just before it all goes over the dam together, and is ever "ripe for a trade," either to sell every thing he has got, or to buy any thing anybody else has to sell ; a real, double-distilled Yankee, with eye-teeth all sound, where every movement seems to say, "Go ahead." · He did not know whether he first regarded the motto, "Be sure you're right."

Meadow Brook bridge, on Harlow street, this year was built of stone and earth, under the supervision of John Fiske, Esq. A substantial and economical, because permanent, bridge.

On June 20th Hon. Martin Kinsley, of Hampden, died at Roxbury, at the age of eighty-one. He was an ardent Whig in the Revolution ; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Massachusetts; was after- wards a Representative, Senator, Councillor, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Maine, and Representa- tive in Congress, and was Judge of Probate in Penobscot county at the age of seventy, when he was barred by his age from holding it longer.

Judge Kinsley was born in Bridgwater, Massachusetts, June 2, 1754, "of very respectable parents." The very ingenious Dr. Apollos Kinsley, of Hartford, Connecticut, was his brother. With the patrimony received from his father's estate he pursued the college course in Harvard, then commenced the study of medicine, but abandoned it for trade and politics. He was a citizen of Hardwick, Worcester county. When a member of the Constitutional

Convention. He voted against the Massachusetts Con- stitution because of defects that were afterwards remedied, but supported it cordially after its adoption. He was a member of the General Court almost constantly from either Hardwick or Hampden, in which latter place he resided for more than thirty years towards the close of his life.

He was fond of literature, and produced some speci- mens of poetry which were published and received with favor. He was benevolent and sympathizing-sustained the claims of the soldiers of the Revolution-voted against slavery, and for the encouragement of domestic industry. He was hospitable, of kindly manners, genial, with a fine flow of spirits, enlivening his conversation with anecdotes. After the close of his business career he united with the Baptist church in Hampden, at the same time assuming the obligation of thorough temper- ance, which he made a part of his Christian profession. His daughter-a beautiful woman-became the wife of Samuel J. Gardner, Esq., of Roxbury, Massachusetts, at whose house he died.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, and Miss Woodward and Mr. 1

Comer, of Boston, on the Ist of July regaled our citi- zens at City Hall with a very pleasant concert. "Hark! Apollo Strikes the Lyre," "On the Margin of Fair Zurich's . Waters," "The Sea," "Pretty Polly Hopkins," "Chouch and Crow," "Master and Scholar," "Mr. Punchinello," were among the pieces performed. Miss Woodward was delightful in "Fair Zurich," and Comer, although passe as to voice, was as fresh as ever in his old fun.

Isaac S. Whitman, Nathan B. Wiggin, John A. French, Edward Kent, and Eben French caused William Abbott, Esq., to call a meeting to organize a company to build a church on the east side of the Kenduskeag. This was to be a church for a second Unitarian society, on Broadway, of granite. It. did not get as far as the corner-stone,

Shaw & Merrill had their furniture warehouse at No. 8 Mercantile Block.

On September 2 Ist William E. P. Rogers sold out his interest in the Whig and Courier to Gamaliel Marchant and Jacob C. Smith. Messrs. Upton-father and son-re- tired from the editorship, and Mr. Marchant assumed the conduct of the paper.

Bangor was still the subject of comment abroad. A visitor sent the Boston Courier his views. There was not perhaps another place in our vast country "which has so completely outstripped all anticipations by its rapid growth," nor one that will in any way compare with it in "the astonishing accumulation of fortunes within a few years." Men with nothing but industry and enterprise had made large fortunes in a single year. "As you -go out into the midst of the busy and driving population, and look upon the bustle, industry, and enterprise which prevail everywhere, you can think of no other description than that Bangor is New York in miniature.' Rows. of brick stores are going up; public and private edifices are erecting, but the builders were rather capricious in their architectural taste." There were all sorts of orders and disorders, and very many of the buildings were arranged in "admirable disorder.". The taste, however, was im- proving. People are here from everywhere. "They do not know each other," he says, "nor do they meddle with each other's matters at all. Strangers, when they come here, continue strangers to a great extent in every rela- tion of life. Nine chances out of ten, when you ride into this city and inquire for some gentleman who has been doing business here for years, if you don't have your patience pretty much used up by the universal reply, that 'I don't know such a man.'" It was a matter of gratulation among newcomers that they had got into a place where the citizens did not meddle with each other's matters at all. " A state of society," they said, "of all others the most desirable, and the only one which a ra- tional man can enjoy." Commenting upon these views the enthusiastic editor of the Whig said, " The time will come, and that, too, on the right side of fifty years, when Bangor in size, character, architectural taste, and general importance will equal, if not rival, Boston."

James Crosby, Stephen S. Crosby, Timothy Crosby, and Horen Mitchell asked the Legislature to set off that

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY MAINE.

part of lot thirty-four lying in Hampden, to Bangor, where the other part lay.

A drill of military companies in the street on Septem- ber 24th was highly complimented. There were several; those particularly noticed were "a corps of juvenile in- fantry," and a rifle corps under Capt. Samuel P. Dutton.

A curious controversy arose in regard to a Justice of the Peace commission. Henry Warren, of Palmyra, ap- plied for such a commission, and Henry Warren, a "lot- tery-ticket vender," of Bangor, got possession of a com- mission which the friends of the Palmyra Henry said was his. They charged that the Bangor Henry refused to give it up when informed that it belonged to the other Henry, and therefore did not behave honorably. So all thought.

The grading of the streets of Bangor was in progress at this time. Paving was suggested, and that would "probably be accomplished all in good time."*

The Belfast Journal was enthusiastic about a railroad from Quebec, the Atlantic terminus of which would be at Belfast. Colonel Long had made a reconnoissance by way of Carritunk Falls, and found that the greatest ele- vation would not exceed two-thirds of a degree in half a mile.

Some excitement was occasioned by the report of the murder of one Samuel Perry, of China, a drover, near the "Pumpkin Tavern." Peleg and Francis Hathorn, and Jeremiah Legg, were before the Municipal Court on a charge of murdering him, and were discharged for want of evidence; and well they might have been, for Perry afterwards turned up unmurdered in Massachusetts, al- though the Aldermen offered $100 for the apprehension of the murderer.

Charles Hayes, Leonard March, M. P. Norton, R. M. N. Smyth, Allen Haines, and Ransom Clark induced Jonas Cutting, Esq., to issue his warrant for the purpose of incorporating them as a parish, "agreeably to the Canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States." The society was organized, and stock was presently taken up for "St. John's Church."

Dr. Shaw established himself in Bangor as a dentist.

On the 25th of September Daniel Webster visited Ban- gor on business. At this time his reputation as an orator and statesman was at its height, and the people were anxious to see and hear him. A public meeting was held, and John Wilkins, Henry Hall, Moses Patten, Jacob McGaw, Edward Kent, Samuel J. Foster, Isaac S. Whit- man, Waldo T. Pierce, N. B. Wiggin, E. H. Allen, Wil- liam Abbot, Henry Warren, and M. P. Norton, were ap- pointed a committee to invite him to partake of a public dinner.

He accepted the invitation, and the dinner was given to him at the Bangor House on Tuesday, the 28th of September. "Edward Kent, Esq., presided with great ability, and was ably assisted by Messrs. Henry Call, Elisha H. Allen, Henry Warren, John Wilkins, and James Crosby, Esqs."

After several sentiments were disposed of, Jacob· Mc- Gaw, Esq., responded to a call for a sentiment. He

said that "few men live to middle age and participate in all the great transactions of the times without being exposed to the just censure of the public. But there are some persons who, from deep moral principles and deliberate consideration, added to exalted native powers, properly disciplined, who live above the reach of just rebuke, though not above the mean attacks of malignity and envy. This day this numerous assembly beholds and delights to honor a man of this description;" that he inherited "from a father who fought for the liber- ties of his country that pure spirit which filled the patriots of the American Revolution." Those principles had now become part of the man. "He now stands without a compeer in our nation. Clustering honors now come thick upon him, but have not had the effect to lull to apathy in the lap of indulgence the feelings and the ener- gies of this man-on the contrary, the present visit to Maine gives evidence that he has no wishes other than to be a workingman, and traveling to do good to his fel- low man." (He was in the State attending court, and engaged in a suit at law. His name was at the head of the columns of the Whig as a candidate for the Presi- dency). Mr. McGaw gave as a sentiment :

"Our distinguished guest-Hon. Daniel Webster."

This disposed of, Elisha H. Allen, Esq., arose "in be- half of the multitude about the house" who wished to hear Mr. Webster. Whereupon he was conducted to the balcony and addressed the assembled thousands. He said, after thanking the company for their manifestations of regard :

Having occasion to come into the State on professional business, I have gladly availed myself of the opportunity to visit this city, the growing magnitude and importance of which have recently attracted so much general notice. I am happy to say that I see around me ample proofs of the correctness of those favorable representations which have gone abroad. Your city, gentlemen, has undoubtedly experienced an extraordinary growth; and it is a growth, I think, which there is reason to hope is not unnatural, or greatly disproportionate to the eminent ad- vantages of the place. It so happened, that, at an early period of my life, I came to this spot, attracted by that favorable position which the slightest glance on the map must satisfy every one that it occupies, It is near the head of tide-water, on a river which brings to it from the sea a volume of water equal to the demands of the largest vessel of war, and whose branches, uniting here from great distances above, traverse in their course extensive tracts now covered with valuable pro- ductions of the forest, and capable, most of them, of profitable agri- cultural cultivation. But at the period I speak of the time had not come for the proper development and display of these advantages. Neither the place nor the country were then ready. A long course of commercial restriction and embargo and a foreign war were not to be gone through before the local advantages of such a spot could be ex- hibited or enjoyed, or the country could be in a condition to create an active demand for its main products.

I believe some twelve or twenty houses were all that Bangor could enumerate when I was in it before; and I remember to have crossed the stream which now divides your locality on some floating logs, for the purpose of visiting a former friend and neighbor* who had just settled here, a gentleman always most respectable and now venerable for his age and his character, whom I have great pleasure in seeing among you to-day in the enjoyment of health and happiness.

It is quite obvious, gentlemen, that while the local advantages of a

"The first street paving in Bangor was in 1881, on Exchange street.

* Luke Wilder, Esq. Mr. Webster had great regard for this gentle- man, and suggested that if there were an artist here he would like to have his portrait painted at his (Mr. Webster's) expense. Mr. McGaw procured the services of Jeremiah P. Hardy, Esq., a promising young artist, to paint the portrait; but Mr. Webster, with his characteristic disregard of personal financial matters, neglected to pay for or take the portrait, and it was left upon Mr. McGaw's hands.

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noble river and a large surrounding country may be justly considered as the original spring of the present prosperity of the city, the current of this prosperity has, nevertheless, been put in motion, enlarged and impelled, by the general progress of improvement and growth of wealth throughout the whole country.

At the period of my former visit there was, of course, neither railroad, nor steamboat, nor canal to favor communication; nor do I recollect that any public or stage-coach came within fifty miles of the town.

Mr. Webster then spoke of internal improvement, the objects of the Constitution of the United States, and matters of polity, occupying perhaps half an hour, and closing with ---

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 169

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