History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 95

Author: Williams, Chase & Co., Cleveland (Ohio)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Williams, Chase & Co.
Number of Pages: 1100

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JOHN HAMPDEN.

This town bears the most distinguished name of any in the county. At the first glance, it would be said that Lincoln is an exception ; but that was not named from the martyred President. Some ardent ad- mirer of the character and deeds of the great English patriot of the era of the Rebellion which dethroned Charles I. had the good taste to secure the family name of John Hampden for the designation of the new town in the valley of the Penobscot. The "Great Commoner" was born in London in 1594, oldest son of William Hampden and Elizabeth Cromwell, whose nephew Oliver Cromwell was. He was educated at Oxford, became a law student at the Inner Temple, and early attained pro- fessional and literary renown. In 1625, when less than thirty years old, he was sent to Parliament from Wen- dover, and again in 1626, when that body denied to the King the right to levy tonnage and poundage dues with- out their consent. Charles presently resorted to the ex- pedient of forced loans, which Hampden, with many others, refused to pay, and was imprisoned, but shortly restored to liberty. In 1636 he declined to pay the few shillings of "ship money" demanded of him, as the de- mand, he held, was an exercise of despotism. Perse- cuted and prosecuted for the refusal, he prepared to emigrate to America, with his cousin Cromwell, who afterwards became Protector. They were prevented by the Government, however; and in 1640 Hampden be- came a member of the famous Long Parliament, in which

he became leader of the opposition to the Crown and the most popular man in the kingdom. When the civil war broke out soon after, he took a commission as colonel in the Parliamentary army and raised a regiment in his own county of Bucks, which had for its motto the excellent words, " Vestigia nulla retrorsum"-No footsteps back- ward. He passed safely through the battle of Edgehill and several minor actions, as well as tremendous labors upon the Committee of Public Safety and otherwise; but in June, 1643, in a skirmish with a party of Prince Rupert's men, he received a shot in the shoulder, from the effects of which he died in a few days.

Hampden was one of the very purest and strongest men of his time. His youth was free from vice, and his later life developed no vulnerable point in his character. Clarendon, author of a History of the Rebellion, was politically opposed to Hampden, and yet pays him the following tribute in his great work :

He was indeed a very wise man, and possessed with the most abso- lute spirit of popularity, and the most absolute faculties to govern the people, of any man I ever knew. His reputation of honesty was universal. The eyes of all men were fixed upon him as their patrice pater, and the pilot that must steer the vessel through the tempests that threatened it.

HAMPDEN'S HOME.

The father of John Hampden was known as "William Hampden of Hampden." This indicates that Hamp- den was already a geographical name among English- speaking people. There are, in fact, a "Great Hamp- den " and "Little Hampden" in England --- both in Bucks county, in the south of the island, near London, and a part of the ancient Mercia of the Roman period. It was in the former that the ancestral seat of the Hamp- dens stood. The county gave to them the exalted title of earl, which John Hampden never assumed, although at an early age he inherited the ample estate of his an- cestors, including their stately mansion. It is still in existence, and the following beautiful sketch of it and the surroundings, taken from Green's recent History of the English People, will also be read here with interest in its association with the fine Penobscot town which may quite worthily be compared with them. Says Mr. Green in his third volume:

With the dissolution of this Parliament Hampden again withdrew to his home, the home that, however disguised by tasteless changes with- out, still stands unaltered within on a rise of the Chilterns, its Eliza- bethan hall girt round with galleries and stately staircases winding up beneath shadowy portraits in ruffs and farthingales. Around are the quiet undulations of the chalk counrry, billowy heavings and sinkings as of some primeval sea suddenly hushed into motionlessness, soft slopes of gray grass or brown-red corn falling gently to dry bottoms, woodland flung here and there in masses over the hills. A country of fine and lucid air, of far shadowy distances, of hollows tenderly veiled by mist, graceful everywhere with a flowing, unaccentuated grace, as though Hampden's own temper had grown out of it. As we look on it, we recall the "flowing courtesy to all men," the "seeming humility and submission of judgment," the "rare affability and temper in debate," that woke admiration and regard even in the fiercest of his opponents.

STATISTICS OF GROWTH.

The population of this town was not separately enu- merated in 1790, as it had not yet been incorporated. It was probably included with that of Frankfort, or possibly was counted among the "adjacent places" with Bangor as having altogether 567 people. In 1800 it had a popu-

HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

lation of 904, and now handsomely led Bangor in this particular, the latter having but 786. The supremacy of population, as well as business, was maintained for many years. In 1810 Hampden had 1,279 people, or. 429 more than Bangor. In 1820, again, it led its now popu- lous sister by 257, having then 1,478 within its borders; and it was not overtaken and passed by Bangor until long after that. In 1840 it had a population of 2,663 ; in 1850, 3,195; in 1860, 3,085; in 1870, 3,068; in 1880, 2,9II. It has thus pretty nearly kept tune to the old motto of its patriotic namesake, "No footsteps back- ward."

Hampden had 288 polls in 1812, with a valuation of $7,573.59, and a tax of $1. 15 on the $100. In 1820 it had 341 voters, and estates officially valued at $107,593. Forty years later its polls numbered 651; in 1870, 674; In 1880, 731. The voters, it thus appears, have been constantly increasing in number.

The estates for these years, respectively, were $587,- 718, $739,339, and $676,017.

The valuation of this town in 1801, when Hampden was in Hancock county, and Hancock county was in Massachusetts, is given as follows in a curious old official record in the possession of the Bangor Historical Soci- ety :

Polls, 200; III dwellings, at 24 shillings; 5 shops, at 18; I tannery, 36; I potash factory, 36; 8 ware- houses, 30; 2 grist-mills, 60; I saw-mill, $15; I other mill, 36 shillings; 72 barns, 15; vessels, 319 tons; in trade, $5,800; cash, $1,200; tillage, 294 acres, at 90 cents; upland mowing land, 906 acres, $1.20; pasture, 327 acres, 3 shillings ; woodland, 17,601 acres, 9 shil- lings ; unimprovable, 146 acres; flowed by water, 1, 182 acres; horses, 62; oxen, 115; cows, 274; swine, 182.

HAMPDEN'S WAR RECORD.

The first taste which the good people of the infant set- tlement in this town had of real war was about the mid- dle of August, 1779, after the disgraceful abandonment by the American fleet of its position before Fort George,. at 'Biguyduce, on the Castine peninsula, and its escape up the river. When it was found that the vessels could not be saved from pursuit and destruction by the enemy, the patriots themselves began to destroy them. A number of them, as we have seen in the history of Brewer, were burned at Bangor; and the Vengeance, a vessel of twenty-four guns, and the General Putnam, mounting twenty-two guns, were similarly destroyed by their crews in the river opposite Hampden. It is an interesting fact that one of the ships of the fleet was itself named Hamp- den, carrying twenty guns. It was overtaken by the enemy in Marsh Bay, and surrendered to them.

In 1814, during the last war with Great Britain, this town was the scene of a sudden gathering of the local militia and volunteers, to repel the British fleet, which was reported ascending the Penobscot River, to capture the United States corvette Adams, which was lying at the wharf, with two valuable merchant vessels at anchor in the river. Brigadier-General Blake, of Brewer, was in command of the forces. Captain Morris, who had formed

two batteries upon Crosby's wharf, on perceiving the ap- proach of the fleet, preceded by barges full of soldiers, opened fire upon them for about half an hour; when, seeing that the militia on the hill were rapidly retreating, as appeared afterward without orders, and that they could not be rallied to his support, and knowing that in a very short time he would be outflanked by the enemy, he spiked his guns, set fire to the Adams and the store- houses, and retreated with his brave companions to Ban- gor, and thence through the woods to the Kennebec. The vessels and the village were soon within the power of the enemy; the people were maltreated, their houses and stores pillaged and burned, and their cattle killed.

A fuller account of this affair, with the subsequent movements of the British here and at Bangor, is com- prised in the Military Record, in the first division of this book, where also will be found a list of the militia en- gaged from this county.

The corvette Adams, it seems, had proved a serious scourge to the enemy. She was rated as an eighteen-gun vessel, but really carried twenty-four guns. ' Leaving Sa- vannah the preceding May, for a cruise, she had within three months captured two brigs, a ship, and a schooner. Her good fortune seemed to desert her, however, on en- tering Penobscot Bay the latter part of July. It was thick weather, and the corvette struck upon a rock, where she remained for some time, finally getting afloat and making her way up the river to Hampden with a great deal of difficulty, and arriving there August Ist, with several feet of water in the hold and a number of the crew disabled by scurvy. Here she was repairing and refitting when the British came up on the 14th of that month.

The names of the men of Hampden who served in the late civil war are also contained in our Military Chapter, in the rosters of their several companies and regiments. They make a long and honorable roll. We may properly add here some notices of the more promi- nent soldiers from Hampden, as found in the War Re- ports of General Hodsdon, Adjutant-General of the State:

CAPTAIN EZEKIEL R. MAYO was mustered into the U. S. service as First Lieutenant in the Third Maine Battery, at its original organization, December 1I, 1861, and remained with it in the State until April 1, 1862, when the Maine batteries were ordered to Washington. On their arrival, instead of being mounted, as had been anticipated, the Third Battery was assigned to special duty as pontoon engineers, and attached to the Depart- ment of the Rappahannock, under General McDowell. On reaching Fredericksburg, April 29th, the battery was immediately employed in bridging the Rappahannock for the passage of General McDowell's troops for his ex- pected movement on Richmond.

About the 20th of May, Lieutenant Mayo was placed in command of a detachment of fifty mounted men of his battery, armed with four twelve-pound howitzers, and assigned to General George D. Bayard's cavalry brigade, which he joined May 27th, while on the march from Falmouth to Front Royal. At the latter place, the

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

brigade was ordered to the assistance of General Fre- mont, and on June 2d crossed the north branch of the Shenandoah, joined General Fremont at Strasburg, and participated in the pursuit of Stonewall Jackson up the valley. Returning from the valley, he rejoined General McDowell's corps at Manassas Junction, but upon the consolidation of the forces in Northern Virginia he was directed to turn in the howitzers and report with his de- tachment to Captain Swett, who was still on pontoon service with a large portion of the Third Battery.

On the roth of September the pontoon bridge was transferred to the engineer brigade, and the Third Bat- tery assigned to duty in the defenses of Washington, Lieutenant Mayo serving there in different capacities un- til January 18, 1864.

March 28, 1863, the Third Battery was attached to the First Maine Heavy Artillery, and became Company M of that regiment, but did not join for duty until the roth of June following. Meanwhile, Captain Swett being dis- charged, Lieutenant Mayo assumed command of the company. On the 15th of June he was promoted to be Captain, and was mustered in as such in the Heavy Ar- tillery, with which regiment he served until January 18, 1864, when he was ordered to report at Augusta, Maine, with his company for furlough and reorganization, three- fourths of the men having re-enlisted as veterans. While there, in February, he received orders from Washington detaching his company from the Heavy Artillery and di- recting him to report at Camp Barry, District of Co- lumbia, to be equipped as a mounted battery, according to the original design. Captain Mayo reported March 29th, and remained in camp of instruction until July 5th, when he embarked with his battery for City Point, Vir- ginia, with orders to report to the Army of the Potomac for duty, where it was assigned to the Ninth Army Corps under General Burnside. On joining that corps beforc Petersburg, July 9th, the battery was at once ordered into position before the enemy's lines, near the Norfolk Railroad, and occupied various positions on those lines until October 25, 1864, being almost daily engaged with the enemy-the principal action being that of July 30th, known as the Petersburg Mine.

On October 25th, Captain Mayo was further ordered to the defenses of City Point, and placed in command of the reserve artillery brigade, Army of the Potomac, comprising five light batteries, the reserve ammunition and supply train, and one company of New York heavy artillery. He held that command until April 5, 1865, when the re- serve artillery was increased to a command of several brigades, under General William Hayes, Captain Mayo being in the First Brigade, until about the Ist of June, when the several volunteer batteries in the Army of the Potomac were ordered to their respective States to be mustered out of service. Captain Mayo, returning with his own to Maine, was discharged at Augusta, June 17, 1865.

CAPTAIN HENRY CROSBY .- At the time of his entering the army, Mr. Crosby was part owner and superintendent of a paper mill in Hampden, the place of his birth. From the commencement he took a strong interest in

everything pertaining to the war, and his first impulse was to enlist among the foremost men who entered the service. But being at that time prevented by private duties of paramount importance, he gave his immediate attention to aid in raising the quotas of his town. When, however, in 1862, the call for troops for nine months was made, he obtained the necessary recruiting papers, and in a few days enlisted the town's quota of about sixty men, who with others from neighboring towns were organized a company, of which he was unanimously elected captain. This company being the first organized to report at the muster-in of the Twenty-second regiment at Bangor, became company A.

From the time he was mustered in at Bangor until his death before Port Hudson, he remained with his com- pany; his brief career in the army is therefore comprised in the history of the Twenty-second Regiment. Though not favored by the fortunes of war with many opportuni- ties for the display of courage and bravery in battle, there were not wanting daily opportunities for the exhibition of virtues perhaps more rare. Accepting the command of his company as a position imposing responsibilities rather than as conferring privileges, he considered it to be his duty to relieve his men as far as possible of the hardships and privations incident to camp life.

Captain Crosby was struck by a musket ball in the side early on the morning of June 11, 1863, while lead- ing his company in a reconnoissance before Port Hud- son. He lived until the next morning, and dying, left as a legacy to his mourning comrades his last words: "It is a glorious cause to die for." Dr. Lincoln, chaplain of the regiment, in writing of the deceased to the Bangor Whig, paid a well-merited tribute of respect to his mem- ory, when he said: "In the death of Captain Crosby we lost one of our best officers and one of the noblest of men. He was frank, large-hearted, and true. He was like a father in his company and universally beloved. He had won the confidence of his superiors as a military man, and only the day before he was wounded General Banks had offered him the command of a colored regi- ment. But he had borne his part and his work was done. Brave and faithful to the last, he fell at the head of his company leading forward his men."

His remains were entombed in New Orleans to be brought home for their final resting place in his native town.

The following named appear on the Roll of Honor of Bowdoin College, as published in the same Reports:

Class of 1857 .- Charles Hamlin was born in Hamp- den in September, 1837; was Major of the Eighteenth Maine, which was re-organized into the First Heavy Ar- tillery, rank bearing date July, 1862; was appointed As- sistant Adjutant-General United States Volunteers on the staff of Major-General Berry, Third Army Corps; was As- sistant Inspector of Artillery; was Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet, and brevetted Brigadier-General; was commended by Major-General Humphreys for services at Gettysburg. Class of 1860 .- Ezekiel R. Mayo, previously noticed. Class of 1862 .- George E. Brown was born in Hamp- den in November, 1841; was mustered in Sergeant of the

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

Twenty-second Maine in October, 1862; was promoted First Lieutenant; served on the Mississippi in General Grover's Division; at Port Hudson he, with Captain Case (class of 1848), volunteered with five men from the regiment to form a storming party.

Class of 1863 .- Arthur B. Arey was born in Hamp- den in May, 1840; did not prosecute his college course; United States Navy.

Class of 1867 .- Melvin F. Arey was born in Hamp- den in January, 1844; was admitted, and after a year's service returned and fell back a year in his course; mus- tered into United States service in October, 1862, Twenty-second Maine; private and then corporal.

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.

The first church building in Hampden is said to have been erected in 1796, and for thirty years it was the only one in the town. . It survived as one of the relics of early times, and for many years has been used as a Town Hall.

The Congregational Church here dates from May 6, 1817. In 1821 it numbered about thirty members. It is now ministered unto by the Rev. C. D. Crane.

The Calvinistic Baptist Church was founded in Hamp- den long before this-as early as 1809. The Rev. Otis Briggs, a graduate of Brown University, was its pastor for eight years. He was the first Baptist preacher to be set- tled in Bangor, where he remained two years. The Hampden church had thirty-six members in 1821. Elder Ephraim Drew is now the pastor of the Baptist church at West Hampden.

There are also two Methodist Episcopal churches in the town-one at Hampden Corner, in charge (1881) of Rev. A. S. Townsend; the other at West Hampden, un- der Rev. L. A. Gould.

The Academy in Hampden was incorporated on the 7th of March, 1803. It was the first of the higher schools in the Valley, and has had a long, honorable, and highly useful career.

BUSINESS.

Besides the manufacturing enterprises mentioned in the preceding part of this sketch, it may be mentioned that shipbuilding was for many years one of the indus- tries of the Penobscot shore in this town. In April, 1861, the schooner Dahlia, 126 tons, was built here; also, in November, 1866, the schooner Ward J. Parks, 240 tons, new measurement. From time to time other vessels have been launched from the Hamp- den shipyard.

There are also in the town about thirty general stores and merchants in various lines of operation; two resi- dent physicians and one lawyer, one civil engineer, one steamboat agent, one hotel (the Penobscot House), and one livery stable in connection, one insurance agent, four blacksmiths and one shipsmith, one rigger, four calkers, two dock repairers, one saw-filer, three butchers, four carpenters and builders, one dressmaker, two hair- workers, two painters, one paper-hanger, one stone-cutter, and three masons.

MINING COMPANIES.

At least two of these have been organized for opera-

tions in Hampden-the Norombega Silver Mining Com- pany, and the Consolidated Hampden Silver Company. Both were organized in Bangor, and are officered there. Mr. J. S. Ricker is President of the former, E. H. Dakin Secretary, and William H. Darling Superintendeut. Of the latter ex-Mayor F. M. Laughton is President, C. F. Bragg Secretary, and Charles Dunton Superintendent.

SOCIETIES.

The Free Masons have a lodge in Hampden, the "Mystic," meeting on the third Saturday of each month. The Hampden Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars, and the Eastern Star Grange, No. I, of the Patrons of Husbandry-one of the earliest formed in the State-are the remaining societies of the town. The Hampden Band might be added, which has Mr. George E. Reed for leader.

PUBLIC OFFICERS IN 1880.

The postmasters of the town are as follow: A. C. Wing; East, T. Cary; West, I. C. York; Neally's Corner, Thomas J. Knowles; Corner, Benjamin F. Smith; Center, Alonzo Taylor.

B. B. Thomas, R. W. Murch, A. H. Loud, Selectmen; B. B. Thomas, Town Clerk; Lewis Robinson, Treasurer; Lewis Robinson, Collector; S. Phipps, I. N. Mayo, H. C. Mayo, Oliver Littlefield, Constables; H. W. Mayo, L. A. Gould, George E. Keyes, School Committee; J. G. Patten, H. L. Hopkins, A. K. Walker, E. H. Barrett, John Leary, Jr., Rufus Jones, Henry W. Mayo, Benja- min B. Thomas, Wilbur Sawyer, Joseph W. Higgins, Samuel Phipps, John Dudley, James H. Stewart, Trial Justices.

SETTLEMENT NOTES.

Daniel Crosby, of Hampden, is a son of John Cros- by, who was born in Hampden. His grandfather was also named John, and was one of the early settlers of Hampden. He came from Woolwich, Maine, about 1795. He was President of a bank in Bucksport, and engaged in importing goods from Europe and the East Indies. He was a man of prominence during his life. His son, John Crosby, Jr., married Ann K. Stetson. The Stetson family was one of the early families here. Their history appears in this work. John Crosby, Jr., was a manufacturer of lumber and was engaged for many years here in trade. He built vessels and was an im- porter of West India goods .* He did not engage in public life, but acquired a competency in legitimate bus- iness. He died in 1863 at the age of seventy-seven. He had nine children, viz : Charles S., deceased, was County Attorney of this county; John, now in Min- nesota, in the business of flour manufacture; Elizabeth K .; Henry, deceased (Captain of Company A, Twenty- second Maine Volunteers, killed at Port Hudson); Daniel; Ann K., wife of L. A. Emery, of Ellsworth, Maine; Sarah D., unmarried; Simeon S., deceased; and Maria B., widow of the late Abram Hammatt. Daniel Crosby, the fourth son of this family, is a graduate of Bowdoin College class of 1855. After completing his

* Also senior partner of the paper manufacturing firms of Crosby, Holt & Co. and J. & B. Crosby.

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HISTORY OF PENOBSCOT COUNTY, MAINE.

college course he studied law and was admitted to the Penobscot Bar, but soon after removed to Missouri. He remained in Missouri three years, engaged in teaching and publishing a paper. During the war, in 1862, he re- turned to Hampden, Maine, and bought an interest in the paper-mill here in addition to that held by his father. The firm names of the two mills are Crosby, Holt & Co., and J. and B. Crosby & Co. Here he has since lived. These mills have a capacity of five thousand pounds per day of book and news paper. Mr. Crosby is not married.

Colonel Amasa K. Walker, of Hampden, is a son of Aaron Walker and Betsey Knowles Walker. His grand- father's name was Eleazer Walker, who was a native of England and came over in the Mayflower. Aaron and Betsey Walker had eleven children, of whom Amasa K. is the oldest son that lived to grow up, and the next to the youngest child. Aaron Walker came to Hampden in 1786. He drove the first ox team from Hampden to the west part of the town, in 1800. He settled on the place where Amasa now lives. He would not accept town office. He was in the War of 1812 and in the battle of Hampden. Mr. Amasa Walker has as a souvenir of this engagement a belt, scabbard, bayonet, and gun. The belt has a bullet hole through it, and is covered with blood, as taken from the body of a British soldier at the battle of Hampden. Mr. Walker died September 27, 1847. Mrs. Walker survived him, dying February 28, 1860. Amasa Walker was born December 12, 1817, on the farm in West Hampden, now Neally's Corner. He has been engaged principally in farming. He married Miss Mary Ann Cobb, of Hampden. Mrs. Walker died January 1, 1879. They had six children, viz : Charles L., deceased; William F., deceased; An- drew M., also deceased; Mary E .; Sarah, wife of Charles W. Page, of Newburg; and Eva D. Mr. Walker was elected as Lieutenant in the Hampden Light Infantry; was promoted to Captain and went into the Aroostook war, where he was promoted to Colonel. In 1854 and 1855 he represented his town in the Legislature and again in 1864 and 1865. He is and has always been, a Re- publican. He has held prominent town offices in his town. He has a good farm of one hundred and twenty acres, being the old homestead, where his father settled in 1800.

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History of Penobscot County, Maine; with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 95

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