USA > Maine > York County > Saco > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 26
USA > Maine > York County > Biddeford > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 26
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Mr. Whitcomb discontinued preaching in the summer .. of 1810. He was succeeded by Rev. JONATHAN COGS- WELL, from Rowley, Mass. a graduate of Harvard Coll. - 1806. The ordination of Mr. Cogswell took place 24 : Octo. 1810 ; sermon by the late Rev. Dr. Appleton, president of Bowdoin Coll. ; charge by Rev. Paul Cof- fin, D. D. of Buxton ; right hand of fellowship, by Rev. John Turner, of the Second Parish in Biddeford. Mr. .Cogswell sustained his connexion with the town for fifteen years, at the expiration of which period. the society was constituted a distinct parish. In October, 1828, in -. duced by the failure of his health, Mr. Cogswell resign- ,ed his pastoral relation, after a laborious and successful ministry of nearly eighteen years. He is now happily settled in the town of New Britain, Conn. The present ; pastor of the First Parish, the Rev. SAMUEL JOHNSON, a graduate of Bowdoin Coll. 1817, was installed Nov. 5, .1828.
About the year 1782, a few converts were made in the . north part of the town, to the religious belief of the FREEWILL BAPTISTS, under the preaching of Elders Randall and. Hubbard. The number was not much in-
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creased until 1808, when a church consisting of 85 mem- bers, was organized. The present meetinghouse, 44 by 36 feet, was erected the following year ; its distance from the Falls is about six miles. The society was incorpo- rated 1811. Elder GEORGE PARCHER was qualified as a preacher in 1810, and has continued from that time to `the present, the stated minister of the society.
A Calvanistic Baptist Society, composed of families in Buxton and the upper part of Saco, was incorpora- ted 1807. A meetinghouse had been built five years before, which stands on the line dividing the two towns. The Rev. Abner Flanders formerly preached alternately in this house and in Buxton. The dimensions of the house are 46 by 36 feet.
In February, 1827, a church of the same denomina- tion was formed in the village, under the ministry of Rev. Frederic Clarke, consisting originally of seven members ; the present number is forty six. The frame of a mee- tinghouse, yet unfinished, was raised by this society in the fall of 1828. Their meetings are now held in a vestry.
A class or society of Wesleyan Methodists was for- med in Saco, under the preaching of Rev. Asa Heath, 1804 ; the number, at first about twenty, has increased - to nearly fifty. The town has been a station only two years, having previously formed a part of a Circuit. The first methodist sermon preached in Maine, was delivered in this place, at the house of Mr. Elisha Ayer, Sept. 10, 1793, by Rev. Jesse Lee, of Virginia, author of a His- tory of Methodism .*
" An EPISCOPAL SOCIETY was incorporated March, 1827. A church was erected the same year, 65 feet by 46, the cost of which, including the land, is estimated at $4500. The exterior of the edifice is in the Gothic style, and ex- hibits a handsome appearance. The first minister of this denomination in Saco, since the time of the original . colonists, was the Rev. Eleazer M. P. Wells, now of South Boston, under whose temporary labors the society was formed. He was succeeded by the Rev. Horatio Potter, at present a Professor, and Rev. Samuel Fuller,
*Greenleaf. Eccl. Sketches. 20.
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a tutor, in Washington Coll. Hartford, Conn. In Feb. 1829, Rev. CLEMENT F. JONES was instituted Rector, but, in consequence of ill health, resigned the situation in August following. The Rev. Gideon W. Olney, late of Gardiner, has since officiated as Rector.
The "First Universalist Society of Saco and Bidde- ford" was formed in April, 1827, and consisted at that time of thirty one members. The Rev. Jacob Wood was their minister during one year.
A site for a Roman Catholic chapel was purchased by Father French, and conveyed to the Bishop of Bos- ton, in trust for the Catholics of Saco, March, 1827. It is on the corner of Elm and North streets (Buxton road). No further measures have yet been taken for the erection of a church.
CHAPTER IX.
The immediate successor of Mr. Sullivan in the prac- tice of law at Biddeford, was the late Hon. GEORGE THACHER, who came about 1782, having previously resi- ded a short tine at York. On the termination of the war, business became once more flourishing on the river, and enterprising men from various parts of New England removed into this quarter. The interior at the distance of a few miles only from the sea, had remained compara- tively wild and uncleared, notwithstanding the antiquity of the maritime settlements, and the proprietors were just beginning to look up their lands, to which the titles in many instances going back to a remote period, were not established without difficulty. Litigation under these circumstances was unavoidable. Mr. Thacher, who had prepared himself for his profession in a very diligent and faithful manner, almost immediately entered upon a great extent of practice, and became highly popular and suc- cessful as an advocate, attending the terms of the courts in all the counties of the District. "He bad great acute-
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ness of mind," says a distinguished cotemporary, in an elegant tribute to the memory of our townsman, "much law learning, and was able to bring to his aid in argument more general knowledge on scientific subjects than any of his competitors." In the meantime, before the adop- tion of the Federal Constitution, he was chosen by the Mass. Legislature a delegate to Congress, and afterwards was successively elected by the people a member of the house of Representatives in Congress, until 1801, when he resigned his seat, and accepted the appointment of an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Mass. 'While in Congress," in the words of the writer already quoted, "Judge Thacher was by no means an undistin- guished member. The debates of that period will show that he took an active part in all the important con- cerns of the time, and his speeches will be found to con- tain, in the midst of frequent irony and sometimes sharp satire, much useful information and sound argument.
*** "On the bench of the Supreme Court, Judge Thacher was a faithful and upright public servant. His ยท mind was well stored with legal principles, and his strong memory enabled him to apply them to the question that *
occurred, with great facility. ** * His asssociates upon the bench have been often heard to say, that in their con- sultations upon cases argued, his discriminating powers, sound technical knowledge, and recollection of old cases, not reported, have been invaluable to them. His integri- ty, independence, impartiality and firmness have been surpassed by none who have adorned the seat of justice." Judge Thacher was a descendant, of the fourth genera- tion, from Anthony Thacher, a planter, who came to New England 1635, and was one of three grantees of land at Yarmouth, in the Colony of Plymouth, Jan. 7, 1638-9, where he settled the same year. He died 1668, at an advanced age *. His son, Col. John Thacher, of
* "An Essay for the recording of illustrious Providences," by Dr. Increase Mather, contains a letter from Anthony Thacher to his bro- ther, Rev. Peter Thacher, of Sarum, Eng. describing the shipwreck of himself and family, with many others, on an island near Salem harbor, since called Thacher's island, 14 Aug. 1635. They had em- barked at Ipswich. Mass. for Marblehead. None were saved except Mr. Thacher and his wife,
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Yarmouth, was elected a member of the provincial Council on the union of Plymouth Colony with Mass. Bay, under the charter of 1692, and continued in that capacity near- ly twenty years. Peter Thacher, the oldest son of the Colonel, was appointed a justice of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, 1720; he also resided at Yarmouth, where his son, Peter Thacher jr. the father of our respected townsman, was born and passed his life. He married Anner, daughter of Mr. George Lewis, of Barnstable ; the Judge was the youngest but one of their eleven chil- dren, and was born 12 April, 1754. He was prepared for college by Rev. Timothy Hilliard, of Barnstable, af- terwards of Cambridge, and graduated at Harvard Coll. 1776. He pursued the study of law with S. Bourne, Esq. of the former town, but was employed as an instruc- ter some time before he commenced the practice. Soon after settling in Biddeford, he married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Phillips Savage, Esq. of Weston, Mass. July 20, 1784. Mr. Savage, his father in law, had resided in Boston before the war, and was among the leading whigs of that period.
On the separation of Maine, Judge Thacher removed to Newburyport, where he resided until January, 1824. He resigned his office at that time, and returned to pass the remainder of his life, already protracted beyond his own anticipations, in that retirement which, in his best days, he had sought and loved. He died on the 6 April following, and was buried in the graveyard adjoining the meetinghouse of the Second Society. His children were five sons and five daughters ; of the latter, Lucy Savage, wife of the late Col. Abner Sawyer, died Aug. 1820. The others survived their father. The house in which Judge Thacher lived during nearly the whole period of his abode in Biddeford, is situated about one mile west of the Falls ; it is a plain, unostentatious dwelling, consisting of one story, with nothing about it of an ornamental na- ture except a few fir trees of singular beauty. The of- fice or study of the Judge was opposite the house, and contained his valuable library, which comprised a rare collection of legal, philosophical and theological works. A part of these he bequeathed to Bowdoin College.
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The habits of the Judge were eminently studious ; in the vacations, a book was usually his steady companion. He read slowly, and with so perfect an abstraction of. the at- tention, that he suffered no interruption in the midst of his family. He was far, however, from being averse to so- ciety ; none surpassed him in the disposition and the power to render those around him happy. His company was eagerly sought by the young as well as the old, on all social occasions, to which his presence added freedom ra- ther than restraint. His religious opinions were of a lib- eral character ; having formed an acquaintance with Dr. Priestly at Philadelphia, during the sessions of Congress, he imbibed the theological doctrines taught by that cele- brated man, which his subsequent reading had the effect to confirm and establish in his mind. The Second So- ciety in Biddeford, one of the earliest in America that departed from the standard of strict orthodoxy, (as noti- ced in a publication of the late Mr. Belsham, of London,) was formed through the influence of Judge Thacher.
The following additional extract from the able article before quoted, gives a no less just than striking view of the private and domestic character of this great and good man.
"It is in private life, among his friends and in his family, that we are to look for those virtues or blemishes which exhibit the real features of moral beauty or deformity that make up the character of inan. And it is in this de- partment that I would chiefly hold up my departed friend as an example. His heart was most disinterestedly be- nevolent and kind ; all human beings were his friends and brothers. He either could not see faults or he would "not acknowledge thein. Even the poor criminal at the bar, had sometimes more of his compassion than suited the stern demands of justice. He had apologies and palliations for every body, and altho' he often indulged his natural proneness to satire in the presence of those with whoin he was called into conflict, no man can re- member that he ever said a harsh thing of any one who was absent. He had a vein of wit and humour which irresistibly propelled him to put into ludicrous shapes the arguments and opinions of those with whom he entered 26*
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into the war of words ; but his heart never took side in the struggle, and the first appearance of wounded feelings, would blunt his weapons and make him give the field to his adversary. No better proof can be given of the universal admission of the real kindness of his temper and feelings, than the fact that those who have been the most exposed to the keenness of his controversial talent, have been his ardent, most constant, most unshaken friends, till his death. In his domestic relations, he had no fault unless an excess of kindness and indulgence be one. Surrounded by his sons and daughters, and their children, and having the government of his family upon equal terms with a most exemplary and excellent wife, his humble dwelling was the abode of peace, love and benevolence. It was also the scene of the most unlimi- ted, frugal hospitality, where every human face was re- ceived with welcome. Great personages, the President of the U. S. and several foreign noblemen, have partaken of his hospitality under his roof, and though they saw no- thing of pomp, parade, fashion or circumstance there, I doubt whether they ever received more favorable im- pressions in their visits to the wealthy and powerful."
The next attorney in Biddeford was George Stacy, Esq. who came about 1789, and remained two or three years without obtaining much professional business.
Hon. PRENTISS MELLEN, the present Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Maine, removed to Biddeford, Ju- ly, 1792. Judge Mellen occupied the house now Dr. Dean's, and resided in town until February, 1806, when he removed to Portland.
Hon. SAMUEL HUBBARD, of Boston, commenced the practice of law in Biddeford, November, 1806. He re- moved to Boston, September, 1810.
Hon. WILLIAM PITT PREBLE, now Minister to the Neth- erlands, succeeded Mr. Hubbard. He soon after chan- ged his residence to Saco.
The late Hon. CYRUS KING was the first regular at- torney in Saco. He was the son of Richard King, Esq. a successful merchant, prior to the revolutionary war, in Scarboro'. Mr. King married Isabella, daughter of Mr. Samuel Bragdon, of York, 1753 ; this lady died 1759,
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leaving three children, Rufus, Mary, and Paulina. The son was the late distinguished statesman of New York ; Mary, the eldest daughter, was married to Hon. Robert Southgate ; Paulina, to Dr. Aaron Porter, Mr. King afterwards married Mary, daughter of Mr. Samuel Black, of York ; of their five children, Cyrus was the youngest. The father died 1775, at the age of fifty seven. Cyrus was prepared for College at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. and entered Columbia College, in the city of New- York, 1790. He graduated with the highest honors of the institution, and commenced the study of law with his brother in that city. When the latter received the ap- pointment of Minister to Great Britain, 1796, he went out as his private secretary, but desirous of completing his professional studies, he returned at the expiration of one year, and entered the office of Judge Mellen in Bid- . deford. He commenced the practice in Saco. In Octo. 1797, he was married by Rev. Mr. Fairfield, to Han- nah, eldest daughter of Capt. Seth Storer. Posses- sing brilliant and highly cultivated powers of mind, uni- ted with habits of patient and zealous application, Mr. King soon rose to eminence in the profession. As an ad- vocate, he was unrivalled ; his style of speaking was ele- vated and commanding ; rich in the higher graces of pol- ished oratory, and, at the same time, argumentative and convincing. "In the vehemence and gravity of his manner," says a Rev. writer, "he resembled rather the Grecian than the Roman orator. His addresses were more like an impetuous torrent descending from the mountains, than a smooth, gentle stream winding its way over the plains." In 1812, Mr. King was elected a rep- resentative in Congress, and retained his seat until 1816. His speeches on the floor of Congress, it is almost unne- cessary to say, were not unworthy the reputation he en- joyed at the bar. In 1815, he was chosen Major Gene- ral of the 6th Division of the Militia ; an office on which he conferred honor. He died suddenly, 25 April, 1817, at the age of forty four years.
Judge PREBLE resided in Saco from 1812 to 1817. There are at present nine attorneys and counsellors in Saco, and one attorney in Biddeford.
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* PHYSICIANS. Dr. Rice came to Saco about 1786, and remained a short time. He removed to Scarboro'.
Dr. THOMAS G. THORNTON, late Marshal of Maine, settled in Saco, 1791. He was married to Sarah, daugh- ter of Col. Cutts, 1793, and soon after relinquished his profession for mercantile business. In 1803, he was ap- pointed Marshal, and continued in that office until his de- cease, March 4, 1824.
Dr. John Allen, from England, commenced practising 1796 ; he died 1825.
Richard Cutts Shannon, M. D. of Dover, N. H. a graduate of Harvard Coll. 1795, studied medicine with Dr. Jacob Kittredge of that place, and obtained a com- mission of surgeon in the U. S. navy. He was not long in the service, having settled in Saco in the fall of 1800. For a period of nearly twenty eight years, Dr. Shannon was the principal physician of the town. He died sud- denly, 19 April, 1828, universally lamented. At the time of his decease, Dr. Shannon was deacon of the first church, of which he had been for many years an exem- plary and justly esteemed member.
There are at present two physicians in Saco, and the same number in Biddeford.
Prior to the revolutionary war, there appears to have been no Collector of the customs stationed at Saco river ; the vessels were probably registered at Falmouth, but the books not having been preserved, we are unable to recur to the state of navigation at that period. During the war, Mr. Nathaniel Scamman was commissioned for that pur- pose by the provincial legislature. The first collector under the Federal government, was Jeremiah Hill, Esq. who was appointed 1789, and retained the office until 1809. He was succeeded by Daniel Granger, Esq., the late incumbent.
The late Hon. Matthew Cobb, of Portland, was the principal merchant in Biddeford at that period. He caine from Barnstable, Mass. about 1780, with a stock of goods for which he had obtained credit. In a few years he amassed a large property, occupying a store which still remains in a ruinous condition, nearly opposite that of Mr. Deshon. Mr. Cobb removed to Portland 1796.
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The late-Daniel Cleaves, Esq. one of the most suc- cessful merchants in this quarter, came from Danvers, Mass. to Saco, 1790, with a small stock of goods and commenced business in a building that stood near the house of Capt. Warren. He afterwards built the store now occupied by Mr. S. Adams, and in 1797, formed a partnership with Jona. Tucker, Esq., which continued sixteen years. Mr. Cleaves was married to Sarah, daugh- ter of Rev. John Fairfield, 1795. He died 1817, at his seat in Biddeford, in the forty seventh year of his age.
Foxwell Cutts, Esq. the oldest son of Col. Cutts, was largely interested in navigation for several years previous to the late war. His large and costly ships were pro- fitably employed in freighting valuable cargoes to various parts of the world. Mr. Cutts built at that period the mansion house afterwards occupied by Marshal Thorn- ton. . He died 1816, at the age of fifty one.
The property of the Pepperell family, in Saco, passed into other hands towards the close of the last century. The young Sir William having adhered to the crown and left the country on the commencement of the war, his estates were confiscated, by an act of the General Court, 1779. A life interest in them was enjoyed by Lady Mary, the relict of the former Sir William, and Mrs. Eli- zabeth Sparhawk, his daughter, as devised to them by his will. In exchange for the right thus arising, the State assigned two ninths in absolute 'property to Lady Mary and her daughter, by a deed executed 1788. The lat- ter appointed Charles Chauncy, Esq. her agent soon af- ter, by whom several lots were sold in Saco. In 1801, the sale of the mill lot, on the lower side of Main street, forty rods in width, and from the river to the middle line in length, took place. The house lots on Middle and High streets, and the eastern side of Main street, were laid out and sold at that time by Hon. David Sewall, the agent of the Commonwealth. A grant of ten acres was made to the town, "for the purpose of placing a meeting- house, and for a trainingfield and burying ground." Judge Sewall located one acre for a meetinghouse where that of the First Parish has been since erected ; the re- maining nine acres were located contiguous to the other
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town land. A company was formed about this time for the purpose of building a wharf, who purchased of the agent the land necessary for that object. The wharf was commenced soon after. The other wharf, near the free- bridge, where Pepperrell's had stood, was built by Messrs. Cleaves and Tucker, and Capt. Spring at the same time.
The Pepperell half (about 1200 acres) of the Great lot, was purchased in different portions by Col. Cutts ; who also obtained the title to nearly 1000 acres of the remainder of that tract, valued by the appraisers of his estate at $20,450. The Pepperell half of the sawmill was purchased by the Colonel, with other parts of the confiscated property. Col. Cutts died Jan. 10, 1821, aged eighty five years. The real estate which he pos- sessed at the time of his decease, was estimated at nearly $100,000 in value. The improvements on the island at. that time, were a large Iron factory, two sawmills, double and treble, a treble gristmill, with various mechanics' shops. The Iron works were erected under the direc- tion of Josiah Calef, Esq. 1811, and owned jointly by Mr. Calef and Col. Cutts. They are still in operation, and comprise a rolling and slitting mill, and eleven ma- chines for the manufacture of nails. At present about 3500 lbs. of nails are produced per day in this valuable establishment.
In the spring of 1825, the island, with the exception of a small part, the property of Mr. D. Cutts, was pur- chased by a Company, principally of Boston, for the pur- pose of erecting a Cotton Factory. The Iron works with the other improvements were included in the pur- chase. The whole cost to the Company was $110,000. They bought at the same time a considerable part of the privileges on the opposite side of the river, for $10,000. The operations of the Company were not rapid in their progress. The first year preparations only were made. In 1826, a mill was erected, 210 feet in length, 47 in breadth, consisting of seven floors, and calculated to contain 12000 spindles and 300 looms. The excavation of a canal, leading from the head of the Fall to the site of the factory, and carried in part through a bed of solid rock, was attended with great labor and
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expense. A large number of experienced and skilful workmen were employed in the construction of the ne- cessary machinery, and the establishment was gradually put in operation. In the summer of 1829, there were about 500 persons connected with it, of whom more than four hundred occupied the Company's tenements on the island. The goods manufactured acquired a high repu- tation in the market, and notwithstanding the pressure of the times, a handsome profit was realized from the pro- ceeds of the sales. Early in the present year, the stock of machinery for the whole establishment was completed, on which the sum of $200,000 had been expended by the Company. But the fruits of all this labor (much of which was executed with a skill and ingenuity seldom equalled,) and expense, were unfortunately swept away by the late destructive conflagration. The fire commenced at about 2 o'clock P. M. on Sunday, Feb. 21, in the base- ment story, and rapidly extended through every part of the building, leaving it in the course of three hours a heap of smouldering ruins. Thus perished one of the noblest monuments of New England enterprise, and the well founded expectations of its enterprising projectors and proprietors.
The superior advantages presented by the island (which comprehends a surface of about 30 acres) for manufac- turing purposes, cannot be suffered to remain long unim- proved. The mill sites which it contains are not sur- passed in New England .* The water on the western side descends from forty to fifty feet, and is abundant at all seasons of the year ; neither drought nor frost impairs the value of the privilege. The convenience of sloop navigation almost to the foot of the Falls, and the ready supply of the materials for building, in the inexhaustible beds of clay and quarries of stone within the immediate
*In a slight sketch of the condition of the town, prepared by Rev. Mr. COGSWELL, for the Mass. Hist. Society, 1815, the writer ob- serves : "It is no exaggeration to say, there is probably not a better place in the world for all kinds of mills and factories. Vessels of 100 tons can come up within a few rods of all these mill seats, where there is through the year water enough for 2000 mills and factories. This town will one day be celebrated for its manufactories."
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