USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 23
USA > Maine > Knox County > Rockland > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 23
USA > Maine > Knox County > South Thomaston > History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine, from their first exploration, A. D. 1605; with family genealogies, Vol. I > Part 23
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
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away to their reward, as a splendid monument of public spirit and religious reverence ; and, furnished as it was by the mu- nificence of Gen. Knox with a heavy and fine-toned bell, whose mellifluous calls to worship were the first heard in all this region, it continued to be cherished as the chief ornament of the place, and attracted admiration as the finest in this part of the country.
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
CHAPTER XI.
KNOX, AND HIS HOME IN THOMASTON.
THE year 1795, is a memorable epoch in the history of this town, and the adjacent country ; made so in consequence of the resignation of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, as Secretary of War under Washington, and his removal to Thomaston. This gentleman, whom we left in 1776 with the rank of Col- onel in the chief command of the artillery of the American army, had continued to win additional honors by his skill and bravery in the successive battles of Trenton and Princeton, Germantown and Monmouth, and had risen in rank and fame until the closing scene at Yorktown, which capped the climax of both, when his merits were duly acknowledged by Washington and rewarded by Congress with a commission of Major General, -a grade second only to that of the command- er-in-chief. During the continuance of the war, the corps of artillery was principally employed with the main body of the army, near the person of Washington; and was relied on as an essential auxiliary in the most important battles. As a mark of Washington's appreciation of his services, Knox was selected to receive the sword of Cornwallis when that com- mander with his army was forced to surrender at Yorktown ; and, on the conclusion of peace, he was intrusted with the difficult and delicate business of disbanding the American army at West Point. The painful separation of the officers and soldiers who had so long and gallantly served together in the cause which had at length become triumphant, and who were now about to return, unpaid and war-worn, to the pov- erty that awaited them at home, was extremely heart-rending to the soul of Knox, and not without vexation to his pleasure- loving partner who had followed the fortunes of the army, more or less closely, through all its movements. On breaking up the camp, she is said to have exclaimed "we have been posting about all over the country till we have just got settled down here in comfortable quarters, and now this plaguy peace has come, to set us all going again !" Wherever Washington fought, Knox was by his side; and there can be no higher testimony to his merits than that, during a war of so long continuance, he uniformly retained his confidence and es- teem. This confidence, before their separation, had ripened · into friendship which was kept up by a frequent and affec-
VOL. I. 18
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tionate correspondence till discontinued by the death of Wash- ington .*
After the close of the war, Knox with his family returned and spent one year in his native Boston, but, in 1784, was ap- pointed by the Congress under the old confederation, Secretary of War; to which office, in 1789, he was re-appointed by Presi- dent Washington under the new federal constitution. This commission, the original of which was given by the Gen- eral's son to a lady , whose kindness during his last sickness- he appreciated, is now, 1862, in her possession in this town, and reads as follows : -
" George Washington, President of the United States of America, to all who shall see these presents, greeting : KNOW YE, that reposing special Trust and Confidence in the Patriot- ism, Integrity; and Abilities of Henry Knox, Esquire, a Citi- zen of Massachusetts and a Major General in the late Army of the United States, I have nominated and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, do appoint him Sec- retary for the Department of War, and do authorize and em- power him to execute and fulfil the duties of that Office ac- cording to Law, and to have and to hold the said Office with all the Powers, Privileges and Emoluments to the same of Right appertaining, during the pleasure of the President of the United States for the Time being. In testimony whereof I have caused these Letters to be made patent and the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed. Given under my Hand at the City of New York, the twelfth day of Sep- tember, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
"G : Washington."
The duties of this office were ultimately increased by hav- ing those of the navy attached to them -to the establish- ment of which, Knox's counsel and exertions eminently con- tributed. But, having filled the office for eleven years, and being now desirous of attending more exclusively to his own somewhat neglected affairs and providing for a numerous fam- ily, he obtained the reluctant consent of Washington to retire. His attention was first drawn to this part of the country in consequence of his marriage with Lucy Flucker, as before re- lated, and her inheritance of a portion of the Waldo patent. Brigadier Waldo's estate was divided into five portions ; and, his son Ralph having previously deceased without issue, was
* Thatcher's Journal. - A writer in the Belfast Republican Journal, 1351, on authority of Jos. P. Martin of Prospect, who served with Knox under Washington all through the war; &c .. &c.
t Mrs. Norton, of Thomaston.
--------
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shared as follows : viz., Col. Samuel Waldo (2d), by right of primogeniture, two shares ; Francis Waldo, Mrs. Hannah Flucker, and Mrs. Lucy Winslow, one share each. Thomas Flucker, the husband of Hannah Waldo, having in 1765* purchased of her brother Samuel his two shares of said es- tate, and having since, in consequence of his having joined the British, been declared an outlaw, and his estate confisca- ted, Mrs. Knox, the only loyal member of his family, became · seized in right of her mother of one-fifth part of the Waldo patent; and the two other fifths belonging to her father re- mained to be disposed of by an agent or administrator ap- pointed by the Judge of Probate for the county of Suffolk, the late residence of said Flucker. Joseph Pierce, the agent first appointed, seems to have confined his doings to the pro- perty in Boston, or other parts of Massachusetts proper, and, having resigned his office, was succeeded by Gen. Knox, in accordance with a resolve of the General Court of June 28, 1784. His bond was given to Oliver Wendell, Judge of Pro- bate for Suffolk county, for £20,000, with Benjamin Hitch- born and Henry Jackson, Esqs., as sureties; at which time Flucker was styled an absentee, lately deceased .; In Octo- ber, 1790, Knox obtained license of the Supreme Judicial Court to sell all the real estate of Thomas Flucker; and, May 27, 1791, gave bonds faithfully to account for the same to the State treasurer. Having been duly sworn before Judge Ire- dell of Philadelphia, and having caused advertisements, dated March 21, 1791, to be posted up in Boston, Charlestown, and Roxbury, as also at Pownalboro', Newcastle, Nobleboro', Wal- doboro', Warren, Cushing, Megunticook, Thomaston, Camden, Meduncook, Ducktrap, Frankfort, Belfast, Penobscot, Union, and Hope, he made sale, at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in State street, Boston, July 2, 1791, to Oliver Sinith of Bos- ton, of the two-fifths of the Waldo patent belonging to said Flucker's estate, estimated at 65,000 or 70,000 acres, with the exception of what had been sold prior to April 19, 1775, and subject to the conditions of the resolves of 1785 and 1788. This purchase Smith conveyed to Henry Jackson of Boston, who, October 1, 1792, transferred it to Gen. Knox, still of Philadelphia, for the sum of $5,200. In the follow- ing year, 1793, Knox purchased of Samuel Waldo (3d) and others, the two remaining fiftlis; and thus, in his own right and that inherited by his wife, became sole proprietor of the
* Original Deed in possession of John Bulfinch, Esq., Waldoboro'.
t Copy of document in J. Bulfinch's possession.
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Waldo estate, with the exception of what had been previously alienated.
I have been thus particular in tracing Knox's title to this estate in consequence of having heard frequent vague sug- gestions of some unfairness in the manner of his acquiring it; and more especially as these suggestions have at length assumed the form of a grave accusation, not at all creditable to the memory of a worthy patriot and public benefactor. In the history of Camden, page 23, it is stated on the authority . of the late Dr. B. J. Porter, that, "after the Revolutionary war was over, Gen. Knox went to the General Court of Mas- sachusetts to have his titles confirmed, and obtain, if he could, a share of the sequestered portion of his wife's rela- tives' claims. He arrived on the day of the adjournment of the Court, and, as many representatives had not left Boston, he collected quite a number of them together and gave them a sumptuous supper ; after which they were in a pretty good mood to accede to his proposals. We have been credibly in- formed that a committee was formed by these members, when a bill was soon framed, which ultimated in his favor. . . .
. Thus the General, by his adroit mancuvring principally, came in possession of the confiscated titles of the absentees, to which in fact he had no right above that of any other citizen." To say nothing of the utter improbability of a committee be- ing formed and a bill digested and framed, after a sumptuous supper, in the evening or night after the day of the Court's adjourning, the charge itself is too sweeping and general to be thus made upon a professedly jocose observation of one who had in early life participated in the conflicting claims of proprietors and settlers, and in old age would naturally feel disposed to gratify the young and curious questioner of the past with something of piquancy. Such authority, however, is of little -value unless confirmed by written documents. Where are. these to be found? What bill was passed? At the close of what session was it concocted? What benefits did it confer, and what titles confirm? These are important questions; and, till some one of them were answered, no jury would venture an indictment, nor do we see any ground for the suspicion to rest on.
Knox having now become, and so far as we can perceive fairly become, the owner of an extensive domain, lost no time in taking possession, occupying, and improving the same. As the quit-claim deed from the heirs of Francis Waldo and Lucy Winslow could legally transfer only such estate as they were in actual possession of, and large portions of it had been
209
ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
taken up and were in the actual possession of those who had settled upon it during and since the war of the revolution, it was necessary to put the grantee in possession by actual en- try on those lots and by " livery and seizin made by sod and twig." This legal ceremony was gone through with by Eben- ezer Vesey, attorney to the said heirs, and John S. Tyler, at- torney to Gen. Knox, in the autumn of 1793, upon the lots of eighty-seven settlers in Thomaston, eighteen on Thomaston Marsh, sixty-one in Warren, seventy-five in Cushing, twelve in Camden, five in Canaan, seventy-two in Ducktrap, ten in Meduncook, one hundred and one in Waldoboro', one on Brigadier Island, eighteen on Long Island, eight on the Pond back of Ducktrap, and forty-seven in Frankfort.
Prior to this delivery, however, viz., in the spring or sum- mer of 1793, Knox had sent workmen from Boston, under the superintendence of Ebenezer Dunton the architect, who commenced preparing and erecting a spacious mansion of three lofty stories, including the basement of brick, and sur- · mounted by a fourth, central and cupola-like, in the roof ; - together with stables, farmhouse, and other out-buildings, to match. The work was finished the following year, at a cost of $50,000, in a style of beauty, symmetry, and magnifi- cence, seldom excelled, and at that time said to be unequalled in any part of the Commonwealth. The site chosen for this palace, as it might well be called, or chateau as French trav- ellers and visitors delighted to term it, was well selected, nearly on that of the old fortress, though a little further from the banks of the George's, with a delightful prospect in front extending eight or ten miles down that river, finely sheltered by forest on the North-east, and open on the south-west to the breezes which on the hottest days of summer seldom failed to come with the tide to fan and refresh the balconies and corridors, arbors and alcoves, of this tasteful and noble residence. At the present time, the view from its roof, in which the villages of Thomaston and St. George lie like a map beneath the eye, is superb; but the original grandeur and elegance of this residence can scarcely be conceived of from what now remains of it. On each hand, a little back from the mansion, a range or wing of out-houses extended east and west from it, inclining backwards from the river so as to form, with the mansion in front, a crescent or segment of a circle; - nine buildings in each wing, commencing on one side with the cook-house, and on the other with the mews or stable. These two structures of the range, being built of brick, are still remaining in their places. The rest
18*
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HISTORY OF THOMASTON,
have been removed or taken down; one was purchased by Capt. Edward Robinson and removed for a store to the Fort- wharf, another by Mr. Elliott and made into a sail-loft. Two others have also been removed and are now occupied as dwelling-houses by Messrs. A. Leveusaler and Win. Young, respectively. The General also erected, on a sightly spot back of the present Maine street, a large three-story resi- dence intended for his son-in-law, Mr. Thatcher, but which, left unfinished at Knox's death, was subsequently sold to Jacob Ulmer, taken down, and removed. To this a fine avenue was to have been opened through the intervening woods to keep the two residences in communication with and view of each other. Nothing is now to be seen of the piazzas, balconies, balustrades, and other ornaments, of the mansion, - the splendid gateway leading into what is now Knox street, surmounted by the American eagle well carved in wood, the walks, summer-houses, gardens, orchards, well- arranged grounds, lawns, and forest openings. Time has gathered them all with their renowned author, and all the proud spirits or broken hearts that once composed his family, to their native dust. But we must not anticipate.
Beautifully at the water's edge sat this sumptuous villa, as it first caught the eye and struck the lofty mind of Mrs. Knox, as she with her husband, children, and retinue, first passed up between the sombre evergreens and dusky forests that shaded either side of the river, to take possession of her new abode, on her ancestrel domain. Pleased with so ele- gant a creation, the romance of its site, and the contrast it presented to the surrounding landscape, its new mistress, in conformity to the French taste, imbibed through her intimate friend, Mrs. Bingham" of Philadelphia, for some time a resi- dent in France, named the mansion Montpelier. The fami- ly was brought hither, from Philadelphia, in the spring or simmer of 1795, in a sloop commanded by Capt. Andrew Malcolm of Warren, who was then, and afterwards, much employed by Knox in transporting his various products to different foreign and domestic markets.
When the mansion was completed, it was thrown open, and a general invitation given to the people of this town and all the neighboring settlements, to assemble on the Fourth of July, to inspect the building and partake of its hospitalities. Tables were set in the long piazzas, which extended on all sides around the lower and second stories ; and the mansion
* Wife of Hon. Wm. Bingham, a United States Senator, &c.
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
and grounds were vocal with music and conversation." The ordinary style of living adopted was not less magnificent than the building, resembling more that of the old baronial castles than that of a private dwelling. It is said that a hundred beds were made, an ox and twenty sheep often slaughtered in a week, and twenty saddle horses and corresponding car- riages kept to accommodate-guests and sojourners.t This may be, however, an exaggerated tradition, or confined to extraordi- nary occasions, such as that above described ; it probably in- cluded the provision for the workmen lodged at the farm-house and other neighboring boarding houses. The Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited the General this autumn, 1795, says, " the House is a handsome, though not a magnifi- cent structure ; neatly, if not sumptuously furnished ; suffi- ciently spacious and convenient for the accommodation of a numerous family, with additional lodging for the occasional re- ception of seven or eight friends, or even more ; who, however unexpected their coming, would not fail to find themselves as comfortably entertained as they could desire." But the Duke, though now an exile and a wanderer, brought with him ideas of magnificence which centuries of oppression had enabled the old noblesse of France to maintain for them- selves. At any rate, the kindness of the munificent Knox replenished the wardrobe of this aristocratic wanderer, who is said to have exclaimed despond ngly one day while here, as he struck his forehead with his hand, " I have three duke- doms on my head, and not one whole coat on my back.#
Nor did the General in his hospitality overlook the former occupants of the soil; now a broken people, fast melting away before the approach of a foreign and uncongenial civil- ization. He invited the whole 'Tarratine or Penobscot tribe to pay him a visit, and, after feasting them and supplying them with beef, pork, corn, flour, and meal, he divided a cracker and, giving one half to the chief, signified his liberal disposition and desire of mutual friendship in the possession of the country, by saying, in the Indian manner, " me give you one half and me keep one half;"-adding, however, af- ter their stay had been wearisomely prolonged, for days and
* Mr. N. Fales (3d), who well remembers the occasion, and the kindness of the General in inquiring of him, a boy of ten years, then standing un- der the piazza, if he had had anything to eat ; and, taking him up to the tables, heaped his plate high with viands, and told him to eat whatever he liked till he was satished.
+ Mrs. Ellet, in Lady's Book, who quotes Sullivan. A correspondent of Republican Journal, 1851, &c.
+ Published Letter of Mrs. Thatcher, &c.
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weeks, "now we have had a good visit, and you had better go home."*
In the mean time, the General had published advertisements in the public papers, offering favorable terms to new settlers, and extolling the fertility of the soil and salubrity of the cli- mate, to the latter of which the balsamic firs, he said, so greatly contributed. As a farther encouragement to the set- tlement of the country, he commenced several kinds of busi- · ness on an extensive scale, which gave employment to a large number of workmen, and afforded a market for the products * of the soil and the forest. He went largely into the brick- making business, near the water below the upper wharf, which he had rebuilt and greatly enlarged soon after his appoint- ment as agent, in 1784, and which, in contradistinction to Fort wharf near the mansion, was called Knox's wharf, but which, from its successive owners and occupants, has since been known as Vose's, King's, Green's, Boynton's, and now O' Brien's wharf. Here, too, he had also erected a capacious store, and, under the management of Capt. Thomas Vose, as clerk at first, afterwards as partner, carried on an extensive mercantile business. The manufacture of lime also received his earliest attention, and was vigorously prosecuted at the quarry now belonging to the State Prison, and the kilns on the bank of the river a little above where the lower toll- bridge has since been erected. Nor were the soil and forest neglected. The orchard, garden, and farm were cultivated with neatness and skill ; and the mills at Warren upper falls, which he purchased, improved or rebuilt, were actively em- ployed in manufacturing various kinds of lumber from the logs which his own workmen or the pioneer settlers cut and floated down the river for that purpose. Making an arrange- ment with the only seven squatters whom he found on Briga- dier's Island, he converted it into a nursery for improved breeds of cattle and sheep which he attempted to introduce. Among the latter was a large coarse-wooled breed, which he imported from England, some of which being brought to this town and crossed with the native flocks, added much to the weight, if not the quality, both of the carcass and fleece. Wild game, also, was not beneath his attention; among other experiments, he caused some quails brought from Massachu- setts to be turned out here, but which probably perished un- der the hard-crusted snows of the first winter; though many persons, Knowing only the whistling reputation of this bird,
· Mr. James Vose, &c.
.
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mistook for it the screaming humility or tattler, which to this day, among many, retains the name of quail. The business of ship-building was also undertaken by him as early as 1796; and several coasters, before and after the close of the century, were launched and kept running in his employ.
.
These various branches of business, creating as they did a large demand for logs, wood, provisions, and all the products of the soil, as well as the additional employment they gave to coasting and other vessels, stimulated the general business of the place and vicinity, and gave great facilities to the new settler in the payment for his lands, and to the older inhabi- tants in clearing themselves of the debts and incumbrances which the revolution had bequeathed them. To facilitate his lumber operations, Knox purchased the right to improve the navigation of the George's River, (which had previously been granted to Charles Barrett, a principal proprietor and active agent in the settlement of the town of Hope,) and, after some experiments and disappointments, he completed locks of suf- ficient capacity for the passage of rafts and gondolas at the several falls in Warren, -opening the navigation of the river as far up as the mills in Union.
The various works thus carried on, brought to the place a large number of mechanics, such as carpenters, masons, mill- wrights, blacksmiths, coopers, tanners, shoemakers, as well as farmers, lime-burners, brick-makers, and emigrants in general; most of whom became permanent residents of this or the neighboring towns. Among these may be mentioned Howland Rogers, a ship and house carpenter, from Marsh- field, who, after building in this and the preceding season one vessel for M'Glathery, Prince, and others, in Camden, the first ever built there, came to this town, built vessels, and, among other of Knox's buildings, framed and worked upon the three-story house in Wadsworth street, now the man- sion of H. B. Humphrey, Esq .; John Rynier, a Scotch- man and fair penman, who was employed as a clerk and scrivener, but removed ; Edmund Wiggin, who came in 1794, followed somewhat later by his brother, Wm. Howe Wig- gin ; Ward Russell, foreman in the brick-yard; the wife of Wm. McIntosh, who, together with Mrs. Mitchell afterwards Mrs. Gleason, and Olive White afterwards Mrs. Austin, came in Knox's family ; Aaron Austin and Preserved Willis, em- ployed by Knox in the lime manufacture, and who afterwards purchased fine farms at the Meadows, the latter where his widow has resided for the last fifty-eight years, and the former where his descendants still improve; Benjamin Hastings, a
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brick-maker, who built and kept the tavern which his widow continued many years after him in Wadsworth street ; David and Eliphalet Conner, coopers; Luther, Lot, and Isaac Lin- coln, masons; Samuel Kenneston and his four brothers ; Samuel Hammond, who afterwards settled at or beyond the Meadows ; and Marlborough and Ephraim Conant, and Ste- phen Thompson attended by his deaf and dumb brother, the four last joiners by trade, from Bridgewater. E. Dunton, before mentioned, after completing the Knox mansion and building for himself the house subsequently owned by Capt. T. Vose, in consequence of some trouble or misunderstanding between himself and wife, sold out, and embarked for the West Indies or South America, where he was said to have married a Spanish or Creole lady, and never returned. His deserted wife set up a milliner's shop here, believed to be the first in the place.
Knox, at the time of his coming to Thomaston, was forty- five years of age ; in the full possession and maturity of all his faculties, both of mind and body. His voice was natu- rally powerful, and, in the army and when occasion required . it, easily rose above the storm of battle and the elements combined. His stature was rather above the medium height ; his frame well proportioned and muscular, inclining to cor- pulency, and weighing 280 lbs., according to a memorandum made by an officer of the Massachusetts line, Aug. 19, 1783, being the heaviest of eleven distinguished Revolutionary offi- cers then present, among whom Washington is set down at 209 lbs .* In connection with this fulness of bodily habit, it is said that, when Knox was selected, together with one Capt. Sargent, to represent to Congress the starving and naked con- dition of the army at Valley Forge, one of the committee who heard them took occasion to remark that, nevertheless, he had not for a long time seen a fatter man than one of the gentlemen who had spoken, nor one better dressed than the other. Knox remaining mute, probably from indignation, his subordinate rejoined, that " the corps had, out of respect to Congress and themselves, sent as their representatives the only man among them with an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body and the only other who possessed a complete suit of clothes."t The General usually dressed in black, carried a cane, and habitually concealed his mutilated hand by a handkerchief or otherwise. His features were regular ; his
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