History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 69

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 69

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258

Daniel Sargent

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Captain John Brewer, a settler at Segeunkedunk (in Brewer), went on board the fleet. He had been in the fort on the 25th July, and exam- ined it ; and now gave the General and Commodore every information they could desire.

Three weeks afterwards, from his home at "Segeunke- dunk," he viewed the destruction of a large part of the American fleet, which had fled up the river to "places above and just below the mouth of the Kenduskeag,"where the vessels were burned or blown up by their own crews, to keep them from falling into the hands of the pursuing enemy; and he left express testimony as to the time when several of these were destroyed, viz, on the 15th of August. A number of our people who had been wound- ed in the affairs at Major-biguyduce Peninsula, or Cas- tine, were taken to Colonel Brewer's house, and there received treatment from Dr. Downing, a surgeon of the ruined fleet. After the burning by the British of Cap- tain Jonathan Buck's mill, dwelling, and much other property, with several houses of his neighbors at Eastern River (Bucksport), Captain Mowett, commander of the British fleet, and a surly, brutal fellow, came up to the Segeunkedunk, and actually threatened to stab Colonel Brewer with his sword, because he had been instrumental in the escape of one Captain Ross, commander of an armed American vessel. A cartel had been allowed the patriots by the British General McLane, who was a man of very different character from Mowett, under which they were permitted to take home the wounded that were scattered in different settlements along the river; and Colonel Brewer's offense was simply that, by virtue of this arrangement, he had aided Captain Ross to get away through the wilderness homeward. Colonel Brewer and family were so alarmed by the acts of the savage Mowett and his companions that they, with the family of a Mr. Crosby and others residing on the west side of the river, hastily packed up their effects and went on a vessel down the river and bay to Camden, where they were pro- tected until they could safely return. Their cattle had to be driven down thither through the dense woods.

OTHER INHABITANTS, ETC.

By the time the Revolution was fairly under way, it is estimated that there were one hundred and sixty inhabi- tants in the Brewer region. They became much scat- tered during the war, but less than ten years after it closed, by the census of 1790, Orrington, "and adjacent places," including Brewer, contained 477 inhabitants.

Among the early settlers were Isaac Robinson, Elisha Skinner, Lot Rider, Deodat Brastow, Benjamin Snow, and the Holyoke, Farrington, and Burr families.

Many interesting notes concerning the beginnings at Brewer will be found included in the early chapters of Judge Godfrey's Annals of Bangor, in this volume.

In 1800 the municipality in which Brewer was in- cluded had 786 inhabitants; in 1810, 1,341. When the next census was taken Brewer had become a separate town and had 734 people. Its subsequent statistics of population are as follow: 1830, 1,078; 1840, 1,736; 1850, 2,628; 1860, 2,835; 1870, 3,214; 1880, 3, 170.

The number of polls in Brewer at the time of its erec- tion, 1812, was 162. In 1820 it had 147 polls. Forty

years thereafter, in 1860, the number had mounted to 554; in 1870 there were 634, and in 1880, 796.

The statistics of estates for these same years are: 1812, $3,981, with a tax of but 61 cents on the $1,000; 1820, $49,699; 1860, $562,499; 1870, 669,867; 1880, $735,169.

In the year 1800, when the Congregational church was established at Brewer Village, there were but nine houses within a circuit of three miles from the place. In 1816, there were eighty-six dwellings in Brewer, besides other buildings.

ANTIQUITIES.

One of the supposed sites of Norumbega, the fabulous city in the Penobscot wilderness, is on the "Brimmer Flats," in this town, opposite the mouth of the Kendus- keag. The name is usually appropriated as the pre-his- toric title of the Bangor site; but it is certain that the old maps represent Norumbega on the east side of the river, and if there was any such place. and its situation is repre- sented with approximate correctness upon these charts, it must have stood upon or near the present territory of Brewer.

It was upon this side of the river, also (although Mr. Williamson says "on the westerly side"), near Treat's Falls, that Governor Pownal landed, with General Samuel Waldo and an armed party of one hundred and thirty- six men, on his expedition up the Penobscot in May, 1759, while his fort was building at Fort Point. "From this place," says Mr. Williamson, "he sent a message to the Tarratine tribe, giving them notice of the enterprise undertaken at Fort Point, and assuring them if they should fall upon the English and kill any of them, the whole tribe should be hunted and driven from the coun- try. 'But,' added he, 'though we neither fear your re- sentment nor seek your favor, we pity your distresses; and if you will become the subjects of his Majesty and live near the fort, you shall have our protection and en- joy your planting grounds and your hunting berths with- out molestation.""

A certain tragic interest attaches to this visit and to the spot "just above the falls," says Governor Pownal in his journal. General Waldo, the Governor's compan- ion during the excursion, was one of the grantees of the Muscongus (commonly called the Waldo) Patent, on the west side of the Lower Penobscot, and was naturally much interested in the construction of Fort Pownal, which promised protection and warranted rapid settle- ment in all the Penobscot country. He had conceived the impression that the Patent, when surveyed, would be found to include the ground upon which the party were then standing; and separating himself from them a little distance, he took a comprehensive survey of the surroundings, and exclaimed, "Here is my bound." No sooner had he thus congratulated himself upon the ex- tent and value of the domain of the Waldo proprietors than he fell and almost instantly expired of a stroke of apoplexy. This was on the 23d of May, 1759. The General was sixty-three years of age, and had been one of the most prominent characters of his time in military and other enterprises, bearing an especially conspicu-

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

ous and honorable part in the taking of Louisburg.

The leaden plate which Governor Pownal buried somewhere in this vicinity was not marked, as Mr. Wil- liamson asserts, with "an inscription of the melancholy event," but rather with a declaration of the supremacy of the English power in this region. Its full text, with co- pious extracts from the Governor's journal, may be found in our Military Chapter in the General History.

MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION.

Brewer, as we have seen in a notice of the census of 1790, was at first merely included in the mention of "adjacent places" to Orrington. The first corporate name in the present Penobscot county, west of the river, was New Worcester, under which designation were in- cluded the later Brewer, Orrington, and Holden. The name was taken from the ancestral home of Colonel Brewer. It was also known as Plantation No. 9, from the township number in the surveys. When Orrington was erected as the fifty-third town in the district, March 21, 1788, it included the territory of the subsequent Brewer. The township had been regularly surveyed four years before, by Barnabas Dodge; and the next year (1785) a grant was made by the State of Massachu- setts to Colonel Brewer and Simeon Fowler, of Orrington, of all its front or water lots,-that is, those that lay on the Penobscot,-while the rest of the Orrington and Brewer territory was granted to Moses Knapp and others associated with him. The former amounted to ten thousand eight hundred and sixty-four acres, for which Brewer and Fowler paid £3,000, in the consoli- dated notes of the period.

By 1812 the population of the large town of old Or- rington had become so numerous and so widely dispersed throughout its territory that a new town was demanded; and on the 22d of February, a date forever associated with the birth of the Father of his Country, shortly be- fore the outbreak of the last war with Great Britain, the town of Brewer was carved from its northern part, with about its present boundaries. It was the one hundred and ninety-first town erected in the District of Maine. The new town contained 23,582 acres, or the lion's share of the 37,304 acres constituting the old Orrington.

THE FIRST POST-OFFICE

was established at Brewer Village in 1800, with Colonel Brewer as the first postmaster. He handled the light mails of his day here for thirty years. Until 1812, when the office was opened at Orrington, it was the only post- office west of the river, in the present Penobscot county. The mail was carried to it in the early days on horseback once a week. Mr. Daniel Shedd is the postmaster at this writing.

An office was later established at Brewer, at the end of the wagon bridge. Mr. W. P. Burns is now the offi- cial in charge. These are so far the only post-offices in the town.

ITEMS OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

The good people of Brewer relied in their earlier day for their pulpit instructions and religious ministrations mainly upon Bangor, where the Rev. Seth Noble-he

who had the place named for his favorite hymn-tune- had been settled as a Congregational preacher in 1788. His congregation, indeed, had been made up of Congre- gationalists and sympathizers with their faith, in the towns of Bangor and Orrington (Brewer inclusive), and had a name to correspond. He remained eight years, and was dismissed. In 1800 came the Rev. James Boyd, who remained one year, and was in his turn dismissed. In this year, the opening one of the century, the First Con- gregational church of Brewer, and the first Congrega- tional church, so called, in the county, was organized. The exact date is September 7, 1800. The Rev. C. A. Beckwith is now its pastor.

The Second Congregational church, or the society at Brewer Village, was organized January 18, 1843. The Rev. Clarence E. Sargent was its last pastor, leaving it so lately as September, 1881, after some years of successful ministry.

A Methodist church has also been organized in the town, of which Rev. A. S. Townsend was preacher in charge in 1881.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.

The people of Brewer are not greatly given, it would seem, to associated effort. The only society, beside the religious bodies named, that has any public notoriety in the town, is the Pine Grove Grange, No. 233, of the Patrons of Industry. It was organized November 15, 1877, and meets on Monday evenings.

SCHOOL-HOUSES

in the town number eleven, with fifteen schools therein, and one free high school at the ferry village.

INDUSTRIES OF BREWER.

At the beginning of the century but one vessel was owned in Brewer. It subsequently became, however, a great place for shipbuilding, more vessels having been launched here most years than at Bangor or any other place on the river. In 1861, for example, the steamer Gazelle and the brigs Moses Day and Timothy Field, the latter of 397 and 167 tons, respectively, were launched here. The next year the brigs Caroline Eddy and Fron- tier, the barks Monitor, Limerick Lass, City of Bangor, Ironsides, and Templar, and the schooner Maria Lunt, with an aggregate tonnage of 3,303, came from the Brewer shipyards. Then, in successive years, were launched the ships Dumbarton (941 tons), Nevada, and F. Carver, the brig Clara P. Gibbs, the bark Evening Star, the schooners July Fourth and General Banks, 1863 (Bangor launched but one vessel this year) ; the ship David Brown, the brigs Katahdin, T. A. Darrell, and Atlas, the bark Charlotte A. Litchfield, and the schooners Moses Patten and Mary Patten, in 1864; in 1865, the ships Jennie Hight (1, 117 tons) Hattie E. Tapley (946) and Florence Treat (790), the brig Eugenia, the schoon- ers Mattie Holmes, Fanny Elder, and Izetta; in 1866 the ship Phineas Pendleton (1,333 tons), the barks Helena, Albert Emerson, Argentine, and Hosea Rich, the brigs Caroline Gulliver, Charlotte, and Rachel Coney, and the schooners Mary Collins, Paul Seavey, and Dauntless; and in 1867 the brigs George E. Dake, Mau-

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

rice, and Manson, and the schooners Darius Eddy, Charles E. Hellier, Nellie Treat, Fred Smith, and Iona. Bangor launched but one vessel this year-the schooner Anna Leland, of 139 tons,

Brick-making is also a leading industry in the town, for which the clay in its soil affords excellent opportuni- ties. About a dozen persons or firms are engaged in this manufacture, some of them, as the Brewer Steam Brick Company, quite extensively. Brick machines are also made by two firms.

There are about half the number of brick-makers en- gaged in saw-milling; but the greatness of their annual product makes this industry much more important than the other. Some of the works, as those of Messrs. D. Sargent's Sons, at Brewer Village, upon the old mill-site of Colonel Brewer, are very extensive. There are two plan- ing- and molding-mills, and two grist-mills.

Among the lesser but still important industries in Brewer are the manufactures of sails, boats, leather, wooden boxes, carriages, boots and shoes, brush woods and broom handles, churns and spinning-wheels, woolen mittens, cooperage, harness, etc., etc., and the usual trades and professions are represented in large number.

Joseph Oakes & Son, ship-builders, have a marine rail- way on Main street, in the upper village.

Agriculture is not neglected, and is extensively pur- sued in the town, adding considerably to its resources and wealth.

THE BREWER SAVINGS-BANK

was organized on the first of May, 1869. In 1877 it re- ported for the year $49,013.75 deposits and profits; in 1880, $42,592.98, with 313 depositors and a reserve fund of $263.34. Mr. William P. Burr is President, and E. P. Farrington Treasurer of the bank.

The town has as yet no National bank.

BRIDGES AND FERRY.

Mr. E. F. Duren furnishes the following historical note concerning the bridge across the Penobscot, con- necting Brewer and Bangor :

The Bangor Bridge Company built the first bridge over the Penob- scot River in 1832. It was 440 yards in length; its cost $50,000. It was carried away by the flood in 1846, and rebuilt in 1847. A Railroad bridge for the Bangor & Bucksport Road crosses the Penobscot River east of the covered Penobscot bridge. It was built in 1873.

A ferry for foot passengers has also long plied to Brewer from the foot of Union street, in Bangor.

THE FLOOD OF '46.

The Bangor Courier, in a vivid account of the great flood of 1846, caused by the jam of ice in the Penobscot and the Kenduskeag, includes the following incident :

There were some families in great peril. A family living at the Point, between Brewer Village and the river, were alarmed by the ap- proach of the flood, and started, several women in the number, for higher land in the vicinity, but before reaching it the water was up to thheir armpits. They reached what was then an island, and were com- pelled to remain during the night.

Twenty women and children, as the water flowed over the plain at Brewer, fied to a school-house, but could not return, and were obliged to go back upon the hills and remain until the water subsided.

BIOGRAPHICAL

A humorous article on "Penobscot Characters," in the

entertaining little volume entitled Voices from the Ken- duskeag, contains the following anecdotes of one of the old-time notabilities of this town :

A character of considerable humor was Captain Jacob Hart, of East Brewer. He was an officer in the War of the Revolution, and while in the army acquired habits of military precision and military vivacity that adhered to him through life. He had also the habit of interlard- ing his observations with the expressions "pretty likely-hum," "of course-yes." At one time he had indulged too freely, and, coming out of the Hatch tavern, he attempted to descend the long flight of steps that used to lead to the road; but, making a misstep, he rolled to the bottom. Picking himself up as speedily as possible, he turned to the right-about-face, and said with military promptness: "As you are, Jake Hart, pretty likely." Then, looking towards the witnesses of his mishap, the Captain made the following proposition: "If any man in the town of Bangor can tumble down stairs equal to old Jake Hart, he has an undoubted right to try it-hum-pretty likely-of course- yes. “

He once sold a citizen some hay. The gentleman inquired if it was fine hay. The Captain replied: "Hum, pretty likely-fine hay, of course, yes." Without examining it, the gentleman paid him and di- rected him to put it into his barn. On using it he found it was very coarse hay, and when the Captain again made his appearance, he took him to task for cheating him. The Captain raised his eyes in amaze- ment, and inquired wherein he had cheated him.

" In the hay; you told me it was fine hay, when it was coarse."

"Hum-pretty likely-I told you 'twas fine hay, of coarse, yes-of c-o-a-r-s-e.'

Of course the gentleman said no more.

The following military biographies are extracted from General Hodsdon's reports as Adjutant-General of the State during the war period :

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL THOMAS D. CHAMBERLAIN en- listed as a private in the Twentieth Maine Volunteers at the organization of the regiment. He was subsequently promoted to be Sergeant, and upon recommendation of his company and regimental commanders was still farther promoted in January of 1862, to the first Lieutenantcy of Company G. He was soon afterwards detailed as Acting Adjutant of the regiment. For general efficiency and gallantry at the battle of Gettysburg, he was promoted to the captaincy of Company G. In this capacity he served through all the campaign of 1864, was wounded at Bethesda Church, Virginia, and breveted Major for gallant and distinguished services at the battle of Peebles' Farm, Virginia. In December, 1864, he was appointed Provost Marshal of First Division, Fifth Corps, and per- formed the duties of this office until May, 1865, when he was appointed by order of the War Department Com- missary of Musters of the same command, and mustered out of service the larger part of the troops of that di- vision.

In June, 1865, he was commissioned Lieutenant- Colonel of the Twentieth Regiment, and subsequently recommended for brevet colonelcy for gallant and distin- guished services at the battle of Five Forks, Virginia. He was mustered out of service with his regiment at the disbanding of the provisional corps, having risen from the ranks, served three years constantly at the front, in twenty-five battles and skirmishes, every engagement in which his regiment participated, aud having been twice breveted for gallant services.

CAPTAIN BILLINGS BRASTOW, of Brewer, enlisted into the United States service as Second Lieutenant, Com- pany I, Ninth Infantry, and was subsequently promoted

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

First Lieutenant, and then Captain of the same com- mand. When his regiment was in General Gilmore's department, his name was often rendered conspicuous for valor, and especially for the gallantry of his com- mand in the charges and capture of battle-flags at Fort Wagner. While a Lieutenant, he was for a large part of the time Acting Adjutant and Captain; and whilst Cap- tain, Acting Colonel. He participated in every battle in which his regiment was engaged, excepting one-making, in all, nearly thirty actions. Captain Brastow was in command of the regiment at the taking of St. Mary's; and at Morris Island, with one hundred and twenty-five men, he attacked the Twenty-first South Carolina Regi- ment, numbering about six hundred, driving them from their rifle-pits and taking some thirty prisoners and two stands of colors. At the battle of Deep Bottom his regiment was outflanked upon the right and left, but by a bold and rapid movement he pierced the enemy's lines, and in the midst of a most deadly fire carried his com- mand to our lines with the loss of thirty-nine men and all his officers then on duty who were either killed, wounded, or otherwise disabled. He also led the attack upon the enemy at the time that General Weitzel was in danger of losing his right, dislodging the enemy, and driving him more than a mile over almost impassable barriers.

Captain Brastow never asked his men to go where he was not in readiness to lead them in person. After the fatal attack upon Battery Gilmore, the command of the regiment again devolved upon Captain Brastow, when, leading his men against the enemy at the battle of Laurel Hill Church, September 29, 1864, he was instantly killed. The deceased was a noble young man; none braver ever drew a sword.

The following notices are included in the Roll of Honor of Bowdoin College, also published in the Adju- tant-General's reports. The figures prefixed name the classes to which the soldiers belonged:

1852 .- Joshua L. Chamberlain ; born, Brewer, Septem- ber, 1828; early education in Colonel Whiting's military school, Ellsworth: graduated Bangor Theological Semin- ary, 1855; Tutor Bowdoin College the same year; Pro- fessor of Rhetoric and Oratory, 1856; . Professor of Modern Languages, 1860. Leave of absence being granted, August, 1862, for the purpose of visiting Europe, he tendered his services to the Government; August 8th appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Twentieth Maine; partici- pated in battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chan- cellorsville; promoted Colonel, May, 1863; commanded our left flank on Little Round Top, Gettysburg; specially commended for handling his troops, and promoted to command the famous Light Brigade, Fifth Corps; in all the campaigns of the army of the Potomac from that time till the close of the war; severely wounded in front of Petersburg; promoted Brigadier-General on the field by General Grant "for gallant conduct in leading his brigade in a charge," June, 1864; President court-martial while recovering from wounds; opened Grant's last campaign by assault on the enemy's right flank at "Quaker Road," March, 1865, for brilliant success in which was breveted

Major- General, and assigned to command a division; in battles of White Oak Road and Five Forks had two horses shot under him, and was twice wounded in the breast and arm; had the advance in the last action, April 9, 1865, and was designated to receive the formal sur- render of Lee's army at Appomattox Court House; re- turned to his Professorship, September, 1865; Governor of Maine.

1857 .- Louis O. Barstow; born, Brewer, November, 1834; pursued a theological course at Bangor; was set- tled in the ministry at St. Johnsbury, Vermont; served as Chaplain of the Fourteenth Vermont.

1859 .- John C. Chamberlain; born, Brewer, August, 1838; pursued a theological course at Bangor; commis- sioned Chaplain Eleventh Maine, but served on United States Christian Commission, and rendered important service at the battle of Gettysburg.

Lieutenant-Colonel J. Sumner Rogers, late Principal of the Military Academy at Orchard Lake, Michigan, and many other soldiers of more or less distinction, were also from Brewer. They will be found mentioned in our Military Chapter.

A full biographical sketch of Mr. Daniel Sargent, head of the influential Sargent family of this town, is given on another page. As there noted, he has had four children, viz: Susan P., Harlan P., Daniel A., and Albert P., all of whom now live in Brewer. Daniel A. married for his first wife Fannie F. Bragg, by whom he had four chil- dren, viz: Donald A., Robert P. (deceased), Fannie F., and Allston (twins). Mrs. Sargent died in 1874, and Mr. Sargent married for his second wife Helen F. Nick- erson, of Brewer, by whom he has one child-George G. In 1873 Mr. Sargent added the ice trade to his other business, so he now is engaged in the lumber and ice busi- ness, while the old gentleman looks after the affairs of the grocery.

S. H. Smith, of the firm of Smith, Woodbury & Co., is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Smith, from the west- ern part of this State. They had three children, two boys and one girl, of whom Mr. Smith is the only one living. Daniel Smith had also ·four children by a previ- ous wife. J. H. Smith was born March 19, 1834, in Piscataquis county, Maine. He came to Brewer when seventeen years old, where he has ever since lived. He worked at the joiner's trade until 1862, then went into the army. After the war he went into the mill in Brewer. He married Miss Emeline Hatch, of Nobleboro, in 1856. By her he had two children, viz: Lizzie May, and Carrie E., who died in 1881. Mrs. Smith died in 1860, and Mr. Smith married for his second wife Lydia H. Genthner, of Parkman. They have one child-Lena A. The planing-mill was first started here by Washing- ton Hall, in 1851, by whom it was run until 1872, when he sold out entirely. Mr. Smith bought an interest in this mill in 1865, and has bought further interests from time to time since, adding other kinds of manufacturing. Mr. James bought an interest in 1873, and they added the manufacture of brush-woods, broom and duster handles. Mr. James subsequently bought out that part of the busi- ness and still runs it himself. In 1878 they added the

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 69

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