History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 211

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 211

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The following acts of the Maine Legislature also af- fected this county :

An Act setting off the northerly part of the County of Penobscot, and annexing the same to the County of Aroostook.

Be it Enacted, etc., All the lands in the County of Penobscot, lying north of townships numbered 8 in the Sixth range, 8 in the Seventh range, and 8 in the Eighth range of townships west from the east line of the State, with all the inhabitants thereof, shall be and hereby are set off from the County of Penobscot, and annexed to the County of Aroostook.

Passed March 21, 1843.

An Act altering the division lines between the counties of Hancock and Washington; and between Penobscot and Washington; Penob- scot, Piscataquis, and Aroostook; and between Piscataquis and Somerset.

SEC. 2. The division line between the counties of Penobscot and Washington is hereby established as follows : Beginning in the line of the County of Penobscot, as now established in the northerly line of Bingham's Penobscot Purchase; thence running easterly in the north

line of said Purchase to the westerly line of township numbered 6, in the First range north of said Purchase; thence northerly in the line di- viding 5 and 6 in the First range, 6 and 7 in the Second range, 7 and 8 in the Third range, and 7 and 8 in the Fourth range, to the southerly line of Aroostook county.

SEC. 3. That part of the dividing line between Penobscot and Piscataquis, north of township numbered 4 in the Ninth range, north of the Waldo Patent, shall be established as follows: Beginning in the east line of the county of Piscataquis, at the northeast corner of said township; thence westerly on the north line of said township, to the east line of township B, in the Tenth range of townships west from the east line of the State; then north on the line between the Ninth and Tenth ranges of townships, until it strikes the west line of Indian town- ship No. 4 (or the west upper Indian township); thence along said west line to the northwest corner of said Indian township; thence east- erly on the northerly line of said Indian township, to the southeast corner of township numbered I, in the Ninth range; thence north on the line di- viding the Eighth and Ninth ranges of the townships, to the northeast corner of the township No. 8, Range Eight.

. Passed March 12, 1844.

[Civil List.]-The very large number of Senators and Representatives in the State Legislature from Penobscot county, from 1816 to 1882 (there have been nearly eight hundred of the latter), and the cost of obtaining a com- plete list, have precluded its procurement for this work.

CHAPTER XIII.

Add the following to the Faculty of the Bangor Theo- logical Seminary: Rev. Charles J. H. Ropes, vice Daniel S. Talcott, Hayes Professor of Sacred Literature; Rev. Francis B. Denio, Instructor in New Testament Greek.

CHAPTER XIV.

[ The following addition to the chapter on the Penobscot Press, bringing its history down to the present, has been kindly contributed by Judge Godfrey, author of the chapter in question. ]

BANGOR DAILY WHIG AND COURIER.

For almost half a century this journal has been sus- tained by the people of Bangor and its neighborhood. The history of its various fortunes has been before writ- ten, It has been, from the beginning (July, 1834,) the leading organ of the Whig and Republican parties. It has been under various publishers and various editors, and has always been an influential paper.

After it fell into the hands of Messrs. Wheeler and Lynde, in May, 1854, it steadily improved. Mr. Wheeler, who had been the editorial manager of the Kennebec Journal, was its chiet editor, and he gave it a character for dignity and ability second to that of no paper in the State, until he sold his interest to Mr. Lynde, in the fall of 1868.

Mr. Lynde was a model newspaper publisher. He

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had acquired a knowledge of the printing business in the office of the Maine Farmer. A man of will, shrewd, and enterprising, he bent all his energies to make the paper a success. Politically it was the organ of the great Re- publican party in the region of its circulation. He strove to make it an acceptable organ to the party, and he strove to make it a successful business organ. In various ways he caused its circulation to be extended, and thus made it indispensable to business men as an advertising medium. And he always kept in view the important mission of a newspaper-to furnish its readers with the earliest possi- ble intelligence of what was transpiring at home and abroad. He saw to it, also, that its moral tone was un- exceptionable, and that it was as fit for the family as for the business man. He did not presume to edit the paper, but he understood when a paper was well edited, and did presume to select his editors, and sometimes to suggest how certain subjects should be treated by the editorial pen, that no loss should accrue from inadvertent mention. He saw men; he listened to their opinions; he reflected; and he made few mistakes in his manage- ment. The financial affairs of the establishment he at- tended to himself, and when he died it was a surprise to many that, as a newspaper publisher, he had here accu- mulated so good an estate.

The close application that Mr. Lynde gave to his busi- ness had an effect upon his health, and in the winter of 1874 he visited the South with a view to its restoration. His destination was Florida, but on reaching Savannah, Georgia, in consequence of a cold that had fastened it- self upon him, he was compelled to take his bed, from which he never arose. He died on March 12, 1874, at the age of forty-seven years. Mr. Lynde's qualities were well known to the newspaper press, and the expressions of sorrow on his demise were very general in and out of the State, as well as among his neighbors in the city of his home.

The editors under Mr. Lynde, who succeeded Mr. Wheeler, were, first, Mr. Joseph W. Bartlett, of Bangor. He was a native of Litchfield, Maine. After spending some time in editorial labor upon the Whig he left for a position upon the New York Post.

The next was Mr. Ed. A. Perry, of Bangor, who had been a local editor of the Whig. He afterwards had a place upon the Boston Herald.

The next was Captain Charles A. Boutelle, who be- came the permanent editor-in-chief under Mr. Lynde, and has ever since occupied that position. A sketch of his life and public career is given in a previous chapter.

In 1870, having had considerable experience in cor- respondence and in writing for the newspapers, he felt a desire to try his hand at " practical journalism." Under advice from an accomplished ex-editor, he concluded to engage with Mr. Lynde. He at first engaged for three months, and so satisfactory did his services prove that Mr. Lynde engaged him as permanent editor at a very liberal salary, and he was in the position at Mr. Lynde's death.

Having become accustomed to the editorial harness, Captain Boutelle had no desire to put it off. He there-

fore formed a connection with Benjamin A. Burr, Esq., and they purchased the Whig establishment-Captain Boutelle becoming the proprietor of five-eighths. The copartnership still exists.

Mr. Burr was born in Brewer, Maine, is a practical printer ; had served three years as night-workman on the Boston Atlas; had been connected with the publica- tion of various papers, particularly with that of the Ban- gor Jeffersonian, in connection with Joseph Bartlett, Esq. -for many years Register of Probate-who was its editor. Originally Democratic, the Jeffersonian became first a Free-soil, then a Republican paper, and for twen- ty-two years was an interesting and useful journal, Mr. Bartlett's editorial labors having been terminated by his death, and Free-soilism having become merged in Re- publicanism, Mr. Burr in 1870 sold his subscription list to Mr. Lynde, and when the opportunity came that he could return to his old business as publisher of a jour- nal sustaining the principles of the Jeffersonian, and of wider influence, he was happy to avail himself of it.

On the 15th of May, 1870, Messrs. Boutelle & Burr entered upon their new enterprise, Captain Boutelle hav- ing full control of the editorial, and Mr. Burr of the busi- ness department.

Under the present management the Whig and Courier has been and is one of the most ably conducted and managed papers in the State. Captain Boutelle is per- fectly fearless. He wields a ready pen. Confident of the correctness of his position, he is ever ready to defend it. If friends question it, he turns them aside by a few skilful strokes; and when impelled thereto falls upon his enemies with masterly vigor. He makes no compromise with wrong. Among the first to discover what he con- sidered the seditious purposes of the mushroom politi- cians of 1879, to frustrate the will of the people, he fought against them with admirable zeal and persistency; and had the satisfaction, finally, of feeling that he had been largely instrumental in keeping the State out of the hands of political burglars. A believer in the great principles of Republicanism, he never hesitates to do battle for them when the occasion requires; a believer in progress, he is at all times ready to give it intelligent aid. As a writer he is earnest, and his style is chaste and per- spicuous.

In 1880 Captain Boutelle was the candidate for Mem- ber of Congress of the Republicans of the Fourth Dis- trict. He has been a campaign speaker in and out of the State in the past two years.

The local editors under the present management have been Mr. James Swett Rowe, Mr. E. H. Trafton, Mr. E. A. Meigs, who is now editorially connected with the New Haven Palladium; Mr. W. J. Curtis, now a lawyer in New York City; Mr. E. P. Boutelle, brother of the editor-in-chief; and Mr. Paul R. Seavey-the last two being now connected with the paper, and, as all readers of the Whig and Courier know, are rendering efficient service.

The daily circulation of the paper is about two thou- sand. The subscription price is $8 a year. It is a large folio sheet, with eight columns to the page.

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BANGOR WEEKLY COURIER.

This is a large six-page paper of eight columns to the page, and is made up of the matter of the Whig and Courier. Of course it is under the same management. It has a circulation of about three thousand. The sub- scription price is $2 a year, in advance.

BANGOR DAILY COMMERCIAL.

Marcellus Emery continued to edit and publish this journal in Bangor until his decease, in February, 1879. From being mildly partisan, as at first, it became at length intensely partisan, and was largely instrumental in bringing about the fusion between the Democrats and Greenbackers.

Mr. Emery had established a local department, which helped to increase the circulation of the paper. This department was at first under the management of Mr. F. R. Guernsey, then of Mr. A. W. Decrow, then of Mr. E. M. Blanding, who came to Bangor from Saco.

The Daily Commercial-a folio evening paper-was sustained both by subscription and by the sale of single copies. The subscription price was $7 a year; price of single copies three cents. The circulation at Mr. Em- ery's decease was eleven hundred or twelve hundred copies.

· After the decease of Mr. Emery the establishment was purchased by the enterprising firm of J. P. Bass & Co., consisting of Hon. Joseph P. Bass, a former Mayor, Frank H. Getchell, and Miller D. Mudgett, Esqs. From May 1, 1879, to January 1, 1880, George B. Good- win, Esq., who had been on the Boston Post, was its editor-in-chief. Under him it was honorably conducted. As he would not, by expression or implication, give countenance to what was then the policy of the Fusion party, he withdrew from the paper.

From January 1, 1880, Hon. Daniel Sanborn had the editorial charge of the paper until November Ist of the same year, when he took up his connection with it. Mr. Sanborn was an old journalist, and wielded a racy pen.

Mr. Sanborn was succeeded in the editorial chair by Mr. Getchell, one of the proprietors, who still continues editor-in-chief. Mr. Getchell is a good writer, a discrim- inating editor, and gives his best energies to making the paper, though partisan, a desirable newspaper. He is a Democrat, and has his heart in the success of his party and of his paper.

Since the Commercial came under its present manage- ment it has been made a bi-daily-that is, there is a noon as well as an evening edition.

Mr. Blanding, after several years very satisfactory labor upon the local columns, "saw money" in another enter- prise, and about the Ist of January, 1880, left the Com- mercial to establish the Maine Mining Journal, of which he and his brother became the editors. The Commercial found a competent successor to Mr. Bland- ing in A. P. Wiggin, Esq., from Belfast, a gentleman of editorial experience and ability.

The proprietors are gratified with the success of the paper, and with its present editorial management. The circulation, of course, fluctuates, according to the interest

of the public matters which it promulgates. In the time of the illness of President Garfield, in some days it ran up to three thousand copies daily. Its publishers claim that eighteen hundred is its fair average circulation, and that it is gradually increasing. Feeling that their adver- tising patronage was highly flattering in the fall of 1881, they enlarged the paper to accommodate it.

From the Daily Commercial is made up

THE COMMERCIAL AND DEMOCRAT,

a folio weekly, which has a circulation in the State of about three thousand. Its subscription price_is_ $1 per year, payable in advance.

THE NORTHERN BORDER.

A journal with a lengthy announcement, of which the following is a part:

We, an association of citizens, to wit: B. F. Tefft, O. F. Knowles, Hannibal Hamlin, S. F. Hersey, John B. Foster, Chapin Humphrey, A. J. Chapman, H. W. Knowles, G. W. Merrill, Noah Woods, D. White, G. A. White, C. Holyoke, Otis Gilmore, W. F. Currier, W. H. Knowles, W. S. McDonald, Isaac M. Bragg, David Brown, Joseph Baker, Charles A. Coombs, and Norris E. Bragg, organized as a stock company, propose to publish a weekly periodical at the city of Bangor, Rev. Dr. B. F. Tefft as editor-in-chief, and Oscar F. Knowles as printer, the editorial department to be aided by a number of the ablest writers in this country, and with several well-known European correspondents."

And with the above name was started in Bangor about the Ist of January, 1873. It was not to be sectarian nor political, nor sectional; it was to work for home interests, "for the development of our resources, for the advance- ment of this portion of our continent by encouraging, advocating, and befriending every enterprise that has this great end in view."

Great things were, of course, expected of a journal with such an announcement. Its editor-in-chief was known as a voluminous writer and ready speaker, as a Methodist clergyman of cosmopolitan ideas, and con- fident of progress in whatever he undertook.

The paper was a large five-column quarto, well printed, and contained much interesting matter, though not more than most other weekly journals of its size. Terms of subscription, $2 a year in advance. The pen of the editor-in-chief was prolific of suggestions in behalf of our home interests, etc., and his labors were incessant to make the enterprise successful in a business point of view. He may have been aided by "a number of the ablest writers in the country," and by "several well- known European correspondents," but from some cause the anticipated "advancement of this portion of our con- tinent " was not realized, or "our resources " developed to any remarkable extent. For years the industrious editor labored with brains and hands to carry out his plan, and especially to make the enterprise financially a success. The ingenuity displayed was the occasion of frequent remarks, and if no portion of the continent was greatly benefited because of the existence of the Northern Border, it was not for want of effort, intellectual or financial.

Many were interested for the success of the journal, and seconded the efforts of the editor-in-chief to the ex- tent of their ability, but in its inception the cost of carry .

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ing on such an enterprise evidently had not been counted. Many fortunes might have been sunk if it had been con- tinued, therefore it was concluded to bring it to an end, and let the advancement of this part of the continent await the natural order of things.

DIRIGO RURAL.

This is a weekly, five-column octavo agricultural paper. It was established in Bangor in 1874 by D. M. Hall, Esq., who continues to be its editor and proprietor. It is the organ of the Grange, and has a circulation of upwards of two thousand copies all over the State, which is increasing. Being in the interest of the farmers its col- umns are freighted with matter designed for their ben- efit.

Besides much interesting miscellaneous reading it con- tains reports, addresses, communications, hints and directions in regard to various matters connected with husbandry, besides items of news and numerous adver- tisements.

If the Rural has nothing to do with partisanism in politics, or sectarianism in religion, or with any subject over which people will be likely to come in angry col- lision, there is no reason why it should not be a very valuable aid to those who are engaged in developing the agricultural resources of the State and endeavoring to build up fortunes by the labor of their head and hands, and not simply by carrying into practice the principle that "a dollar saved is two dollars earned."

But if it shall seriously persist in propagating the theory embraced in the following extract from the lead- ing editorial in the issue of November 19, 1881, it may stir up an opposition which will seriously affect its influ- ence. Laboring men are the men who acquire and ought to acquire and have the benefit of fortunes in this country, not the men who spend a good portion of their time in croaking and envying those who by the industri- ous application of brains and hands become the posses- sors of large accumulations. This is the extract:

The simplest understanding can comprehend that all wealth is simply the product of labor, and that to create the hundreds of millionaires now numbered in this country, thousands of laboring men must be de- prived of the just proportion that should be the reward of their toil. And yet there are some servile natures that believe rich men are to be desired; mistakenly supposing that they are the ones that set the wheels of industry in motion, while, in fact, they only are the ones who se- cure the profits. For the purposes of carriage we esteem a few inches of snow evenly distributed over the earth. of great advantage; but if the wind takes this well-distributed snow and gathers it into immense heaps leaving the ground bare, except where the huge drifts lie, then are all the plans that rested on the promises of sledding defeated. So, too, are the general business energies and capacities of the people crippled and destroyed in proportion as money and property are gath- ered into a few hands. If only $25 are unduly taken every year from each household of laboring men and given to the few, the aggre- gate sum is immense and capable of working great depression. It is not only the loss of the $25 of which he is robbed, but the ability of all his neighbors upon whom his business interests depend are weakened in the same way; and they are, in a measure, incapacitated for giving their patronage to his and other industries.

Distribute the fortunes of the millionaires and how long will it be before they are in the hands of the million- aires again ? It is not "wind" that heaps up fortunes, it is work. The subscription price is $1.50 per year.

MAINE MINING JOURNAL.

This is an interesting and useful publication, established in Bangor early in the year 1880, to aid in promoting the development of the mineral resources of Maine and adjacent States and Provinces. It is the only publica- tion in New England devoted exclusively to this object. It is published every Friday, and gives valuable informa- tion in regard to newly discovered mines, newly opened mines, old mines, and the progress making in all the mines. Nothing of interest in relation to mining, to ores, to the reduction of ores, to the new discoveries, to the action of companies, and the movements of indivi- duals, connected in any way with the industry, escapes the notice of its enterprising editors, who are E. M. Blanding, Esq., for years an efficient and careful local editor of the Bangor Daily Commercial, and his brother, W. F. Blanding, Esq. The paper is in good style, neatly printed, containing sixteen pages of matter, about two- thirds of which is reading, and the rest advertisements. It has a large and increasing circulation. The subscrip- tion price is two dollars a year, in advance.

E. H. Dakin is the business manager. The office is at 28 West Market Square, Bangor, Maine.

THE BANGOR TRIBUNE

was a Greenback paper started in Bangor in 1878, for the campaign of that year. The price for the campaign was ten cents, and the paper obtained a circulation of thirty thousand. It was published in Bangor from three to five months. It was afterward removed to Augusta, and thence to Portland, where it was incorporated with the New Era.

While in Bangor, the editor in charge of the Tribune was Charles S. Conant, Esq.

THE GREENBACKER.

In 1879 this was published in Bangor, as a campaign paper, with the politics of the Tribune, by Mr. M. A. Walton, at twenty-five cents.

THE RECORD

was the name of the campaign Greenback paper pub- lished in 1880. It was under the management of Mr. Walton. Price twenty-five cents for the campaign, same as that of the Greenbacker.

THE FREEHOLDER.

This is a weekly paper published in Bangor, and was established early in 1881. Its thirty-fifth number was issued November II, 1881, and 5,300 copies of that number were sent out.

The first column in the paper has this heading :

The Freeholder. A Greenback Newspaper. Published every Friday at Bangor, Maine, by the Freeholder Publishing Co. Hon. Joseph L. Smith, of Oldtown, President.

Herbert J. Banton, Business Manager. T. J. McIntyre, Editor.

The President has been several times in the State Sen- ate, and is understood to be a man of much wealth. He was the Greenback candidate for Governor in 1878 and 1879, in which years there was no election by the people. It was claimed by his friends that he was elected Gov- ernor by the Legislature, but the Supreme Court held

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that the body claiming to have elected him was illegal. By the prominence of his position in the publication of the Freeholder, he evidently has great faith in the future prosperity of his party ; and the issue of November II, above referred to, in its leading editorial has this lan- guage :

The National Greenback party has thus far been a party of marvel- ous growth, without a parallel in the history of parties. The old party organs endeavor to screen this fact out of sight. But, like Banquo's ghost, it will not down.

Let no lover of justice despair. The Greenback party, whose sole purpose it is to restore to the people the government of the fathers, is already acknowledged as a party of glorious achievements. It is the only defender of those principles of equity and justice upon which was reared the fabric of our Republic. Therefore it follows, as a natural sequence, that if the Republic is to endure the National party must of necessity be the party of the future, consecrated as it is to the defense of those principles without which the Republic must away.

For the price, the paper is large and well-printed, and its selections are good. Its advertising patronage ap- pears to be large, and, if it shall continue to hold 5,000 paying subscribers year after year, it may be considered as permanently established. The editor, who is an Irish gentleman, has "faith," and that, St. Paul says, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

THE MESSENGER.

It would seem that the Greenback party in Bangor is in a flourishing condition, if the number of its journals is an indication. The Messenger is the second which has been established within a year. Now (November, 1881,) it is not three months old, and it claims to have twenty- five hundred subscribers, with additions at the rate of two hundred per week.

The Messenger is a large quarto sheet with six columns on a page. It purports to be rather a literary than a po- litical journal, though it has a pronounced political faith. About one page is devoted to editorial and political arti- cles, about five to literature and news, and about two to advertisements. The terms of the paper are the same as those of the Freeholder, $1 for a year, fifty cents for half a year, and twenty-five cents for three months.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 211

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