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 24
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 24
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 24
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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
* Floating paragraph in Thomaston Recorder of Ju. 10. 1845, &c.
t Life of Major John Andre, by Winthrop Sargent, p 144, note.
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Grecian nose prominent ; his face full and open; his com- plexion florid, hair naturally dark ; eyes grey, sharp, and pen- etrating, seldom failing to recognise a countenance they had once rested upon. His mental perception was equally pene- frating ; and he needed but little time to form an opinion of a person's character, nor many words to express it in. When asked his opinion of Aaron Burr, about the time that person was accused of conspiring for dividing the Union, he replied, " that man has a head to conceive and a hand to execute any- thing." Gen. George Ulmer of Ducktrap, now Lincolnville, introducing himself as a land-surveyor who would gladly ren- der any service in that line which might be wanted, detailing somewhat ostentatiously his long past experience, together with his recent purchase of a new set of instruments with their superior appendages, the General exclaimed, "you are the very man I have been wanting to see this long time ! I've a hundred acres of land which I want to divide into house- lots of ten acres each-how many will it make ?" Ulmer, a little disconcerted by the suddenness of the question and supposing it one of difficult solution, began to prepare him- self for the task, by mustering up his powers, mentally re- stating the premises, carefully considering the different steps of the operation and striving to acquire sufficient coolness to perform it correctly, when Knox, having counted as many seconds as he thought necessary, interrupted his cogitations by remarking, " it is no matte. about an answer at present, any other time will do as well," and began to talk upon other matters. Ulmer was so chagrined, he said, at his own stupidity, that he never recurred to the subject again.
Knox's disposition was social and humane; his temper ardent ; and, when perplexed with the many and various branches of business in which he allowed himself to engage, and the importunate multitudes that, on a first return from a winter's absence in Boston, thronged his gates, clamoring for money due for staves, for hoop-poles, for lime-casks, mill- logs, timber, boards, plank, masts, spars, kiln-wood, cord- wood, bark, freight of cargoes, wages for labor in the ship- yard, brick-yard, at the lime-kilns, on the farm, in the garden, the mansion, the mills, on houses and other buildings he was erecting, with bills of the blacksmith, the physician, the tai- lor, the mantuamaker, and the milliner, together with other miscellaneous matters that in so large an establishment needed examination and adjustment, - he was liable to become irri- table and even irascible. Yet, so foreign was this state of mind to his naturally genial temperament, that he generally
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contrived to extract from it a pleasant joke, or a pun, and a hearty laugh, upon which to glide down into his usual placidity. " Here, Gleason," said he, after listening to a rather prolix but importunate claimant, " give Hector McNeal Watts a deed of his land or he'll hector my life out!" One of his townsmen was liable to a peculiar convulsive affection of his jaws, which frequently, especially when a little ex- cited, would set his mouth wide open in the midst of a con- versation with no power to close it again or speak for some time. On one occasion in his eagerness to get a hearing up- on some business matters with Knox, this affection manifested itself with extraordinary pertinacity. The General, witness- ing the phenomenon, and growing impatient at its continu- ance, at length put an end to it by thrusting the head of his cane into the man's mouth, begging his pardon, and adding, " I thought I must shut up your mouth, in some way; - if I couldn't with money."
Among the many mechanics which his business brought to the place, was Maj. Nathan Parsons, a blacksmith, whose workmanship as an artisan was not less defective than his character in some other particulars, and who, it was said, in attempting to act the gentleman as well as the mechanic, but poorly succeeded in either. Having been, like many others, occasionally noticed and invited to dine by Knox, he loved to indulge his vanity by enlarging upon such attentions and pa- rading an account of them on all occasions. On some com- plaint made by the workmen employed in erecting a stable for the General respecting the hinges which Parsons had furn- ished, Knox inspected them himself and immediately dis- patched a lad to ask Major Parsons to come over there. The message was correctly announced, but in such general terms that neither Parsons nor the lad could exactly compre- hend its drift, - whether for consultation on some matter of employment, or for dining with his patron. Vanity suggest- ing the latter, he thought it best to be on the safe side, and, putting on his best broadcloth and purest ruffles, walked over to the General's. Meeting with Capt. Vose on the way, he was asked to take something to drink, but replied "no ! - go- ing to dine with the General." On his arrival, Knox, greet- ing him politely and taking him to the hinges, said, Major Parsons, I want you to tell me what these things are ?" " Them ?" said Parsons, " they're hinges." "Oh!" very well, was the reply, " that is all that I wanted of you, Ma- jor."
Difficult as he found it to obtain suitable persons to take
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the lead and oversee the different branches of business in which he was engaged, Gen. Knox was peculiarly fortunate in the selection of one to take the superintendence of the whole and in his absence to manage every part of his business. This was the late John Gleason. Esa .. - scarcely less known and distinguished here, than his employer. His ready per- ception, imperturbable temper, obsequious disposition, correct judgment, and reliability in all the details of business, emi- nently fitted him for the place he was selected to fill. As a surveyor, conveyancer, and general factotum, he was consulted on all occasions, and was supposed to know more about the General's affairs than the General himself. On one occasion when Knox had contracted in Boston to furnish a lot of tim- ber of dimensions which he had himself taken down in writ- ing and on his arrival here handed to some lumberer, the man brought the paper back to him saying he was unable to read it. " Take it to Gleason," said Knox. "I have :" said the man, "and he couldn't read it." " No," said the other, whose quick eye had by this time sufficiently inspected the document, " no! nor the devil couldn't read it!" This carelessness and want of legibility in his handwriting, which in early life and his later hours of leisure was not wanting in clearness, he had probably fallen into, first, from the prompt- ness and despatch required by his station in the army, the complicated and multifarious duties of his office as Secretary of war, and the equally various and distracting business which succeeded upon his resignation of that office. The same causes had led him to contract, on all ordinary occasions where neither the warmth of old affection nor the importance of the matter required the contrary, a remarkable brevity of expression. Witness the following letter, lately in the pos- session of Capt. B. Webb of Thomaston, deceased, directed to Mrs. Knox at Philadelphia. " 12 Miles on the road to Bos- ton from Providence. 12 o'clock Wednesday 13 Augt, 1794 Here I am my love sound and well-our passage from New York to Newport tedious, but I expected it, 50 hours -We arrived at Providence this morg. we have breakfasted and are here-I shall write you before my departure from Bos- ton. Yours ever and ever IKnox. " Mrs. Knox." "
His peculiar signature, EKnox, in which the latter stroke of the H formed the first stroke of the K, was acquired ear- ly, however, and continued through life.
The faithful services of Gleason, which were ever duly appreciated, did not prevent his employer from observing one VOL. I. · 19
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peculiarity into which his affability and accommodating dis- position had led-which was that of answering " yes, yes," to almost every question or proposition before and whilst con- sidering the nature and bearing of it. Knox on one occa- sion, whilst walking with him past the three-story house in Wadsworth street, which, with several others, he had then nearly completed, took it into his head to try if he could not for once compel Gleason to answer directly, no. "Don't you think," said he, "that the chimneys in this house"- which were then all finished and topped out-" could be removed without being taken down, and put into that ?"-pointing to another in a less forward state at nearly half a mile's distance. " Yes, yes," replied the other, as usual; but, in a moment perceiving its absurdity, added, "it might be done, but it would injure the buildings,"-an answer which Knox greatly enjoyed as characteristic alike of the habit, the quick percep- tion, and ready resources of the man.
Nor was the General less pleased when, like Falstaff, he himself was not only a fountain of wit, " but the cause of wit in others." Joseph Calef (commonly pronounced Calf ) a cooper from Marblehead, attracted hither like many others by the fame and wages of Knox, when first introduced by that name, was accosted in the following manner. "Calf ! Calf! certainly your mother was not a cow?" "No! nor my father an ox;" said he, punning on the General's own name.
Though fond of such pleasantries in his promiscuous inter- course with the people, his general character was not frivo- lous nor his heart unsusceptible of more serious and tender emotions. He was a firm believer in the truth of Christianity, the immortality and immateriality of the soul ; and, from his reflections on religion committed to paper, it is evident that his thoughts were often and intensely employed on the all im- portant concerns of a future and, as he believed, progressive state of existence. He had little regard for the distinctions of creeds and sects, for his charity was as diffusive as the globe and extensive as the family of man." He was a sup- porter of Christian institutions, and contributed much, by his liberality and his example, to promote the preaching of the Gospel. 'hen in town, and there was worship in the sanctuary, he was uniformly found in his pew on the Sab- bath; differing much in this respect from his wife, who, though she was fain to send for a carpenter and have the
* Thatcher's Journal, &c.
1
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structure of her pew altered, the better to suit her ease or her fancy, yet, it is said, was never seen there but one-half day afterward. Indeed such was the prejudice or perversity of this spoiled child of fortune and indulgence, that it often interfered with her husband's good intentions and correct sense of propriety. The Rev. Mr. Whiting sometimes spoke of the pains she once took to slight and mortify him: when, having supplied the pulpit, he was invited home' to dine by the General, who, on their coming to the table and finding her seated, pleasantly said, "rise, my dear, and the parson will ask a blessing." She took no notice, but sat unmoved in her stateliness. He repeated his request in a more distinct, loud, and emphatic manner. Still she did not move. Then, with something of that stentorian voice which at the battle of Trenton rose above the tempest, he repeated "rise ! - my -dear! - the parson is going to ask a blessing!" This being also without effect, the blessing was asked, and the dinner partaken of, without any allusion to the circumstance. Mrs. Knox had, however, her different moods, and was well fitted to move in the higher circles of wealth and fashion, where she was a general favorite. She was, we are told, "possessed of a mind of a high and powerful cast, with such qualities of character as make a deep and abiding impression ; and her influence on all with whom she came in contact was very decided. The deference of General and Mrs. Washing- ton, and the homage paid to her intellectual superiority by many persons of judgment and talent, show this influence to have been great and well-founded; in general society, it was commanding, and gave a tone to the manners of the time." She is described as having been, even in her latter days when upwards of sixty, "a remarkably fine-looking woman, with brilliant black eyes and a blooming complexion. Her style of dress, which was somewhat peculiar, and her dignified manners, gave her the appearance of being taller than she really was."" She has also been described as " enormously large:" and, at the time of Washington's inauguration at New York, she and her husband were considered " the largest couple in the city, where both were favorites: he, for really brilliant conversation and unfailing good humor, and she as a lively and meddlesome, but amiable leader of society, with- out whose cooperation, it was believed by many besides her self, that nothing could be properly done in the drawing-room or the ball-room, or any place, indeed, where fashionable men
* Letter of her daughter to Mrs. Ellet.
.
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and women sought enjoyment .* Her talents for the sway of the general taste were said to have been of great service to the lady of President Washington ; who, retiring and domestic in her habits, relied on the assistance of her friend, whom she had learned to appreciate both in the army and at Mt. Vernon, where she had been her guest during the siege of Yorktown.t
Whilst his companion delighted in displaying her person and accomplishments in the crowded assembly or the giddy dance, Knox loved to draw around him men of wisdom and wit, information and thought, talent and invention. His val- uable library, according to the inventory, contained at the time of his decease, not less than 1585 volumes, of which 364 volumes were in the French language ; besides which, ten dollars worth of pamphlets, fourteen of maps and charts, three microscopes, two thermometers, a pentagraph, two cop- ying presses, two globes, mathematical instruments, spirit levels, one spy-glass, one telescope, and various other mat- ters of the kind, are enumerated. His martial proclivity was indicated by the enumeration in the same document of two pairs of pistols, eleven small-arms, four guns, a blunder- buss and two cannons ; while a piano forte, the first and only one then in this region, a billiard table, and a barge for sail- ing, were among the means of amusement for his family and guests. His house was the seat of elegant hospitality ; and many persons of distinction, both of this and of for- eign countries, were happy to partake of it. Among the latter were Rochefoucault Liancourt, before mentioned, Tal- leyrand, and Louis Philippe ; the first of whom thus writes : "On the 3d day of .October [1795] four and twenty hours after our arrival at St. George's," [after a journey down cast with the General and his negro servant, mostly on horseback] " I was obliged to set out for Boston. I had experienced such friendly entertainment from Gen. Knox and his family, that it was with real concern I left them. They did not treat me as a stranger, but with the kind and easy attentions which are paid to one who is at once a relation and a friend. Mrs. Knox is a lady of whom you conceive a still higher opinion the longer you are acquainted with her. Seeing her at Phil- adelphia, you think of her but as a fortunate player at whist. At her own house in the country, you discover her to possess wit, intelligence, a good heart, an excellent understanding.
* Duyckinck's Biog. of Knox, in National Portrait Gallery, who quotes Griswold's Republican Court, p 172.
t Letter of Mrs. Thatcher, before quoted.
٠
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
In the country, Miss Knox" lay's aside her excessive timidity, and you admire alike her beauty, wit, and cheerfulness. As for Mrs. Flunker,t you find her interesting at a first acquaint- ance and no less so upon a longer familiarity. I say nothing of the General. I have already said he is one of the worth- iest men 1 have known ; cheerful, agreeable, valuable equally as an excellent friend and an engaging companion. With a heart grateful for so much kindness, I took my leave of this worthy family ; and the whole family saw me de- part with the same kind concern as if I had been a near re- lation." ±
The General's hospitality was not, however, confined to such. Many a poorer exile from his native land, many a weary missionary in his round of frontier duty, many a dis- tressed adventurer with some real or pretended improvement in science or art, found here a refuge from oppression, rest from fatigue, a hearing and perhaps adoption of some scheme or discovery. He loved to see every one happy, and could sympathize with people of every class and condition, rejoice in their prosperity, and aid them in adversity. His compan- ion, on the contrary, wished to have nothing to do with what she considered the lower classes, unless when she needed their service ; and made no visits, exchanged no civilities that we are aware of, with any families in the place-except, per- haps, on one occasion at the house of Capt. Vose. She used to ride out in her coach, the only one in the vicinity ; but re- turn, like Noah's dove, finding no place to alight at. On one of these occasions her carriage breaking down, she had to wait for some temporary repairs to be made ; the good peo- ple of a neighboring house came out, inviting her and her children into their dwelling; but she chose to remain stand- ing in the muddy street till the injury was repaired. Her principal resource was in summer to entice some of her city acquaintances and friends to make long visits at the mansion, and to spend her winters in Boston in the midst of gay amusements, splendid parties, or the excitement of the gaming table, where. she. delighted to play deep and risk extravagant sums, insomuch that her coming to the city was said to be dreaded as a misfortune by the wife of Lieut. Gov. Phillips and other sober and considerate matrons. These journeys were often made by land, especially in winter ; but on ac-
* Lucy, afterwards Mrs. Thatcher.
t Quære, who ?
Travel- in North America by the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, London edition, 1799, p. 440, vol. 1.
19*
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count of the imperfect condition of the roads and want of suitable accommodations at the stopping places, a passage by water was generally preferred in summer. But even the pro- verbial levelling exigencies of a wood-coaster could not over- come her repugnance against mingling with the ignobile cul- gus. A daughter of Capt. Malcolm, being the youngest of a deceased mother, and often accompanying her father in his trips to Boston, remembers making the passage when Mrs. Knox, her children, and their nurse were on board, and that the lady remained shut up in her carriage during the whole voyage, neither speaking nor having any intercourse with any but her servants, although one of her daughters, Henri- etta, was suffering with the consumption, of which she after- wards died, and the dry nurse was too ill with sea-sickness to give much attention to the other children, who were glad to run about the deck and play with their little fellow pas- senger. On another occasion, when my informant went with her father, the commander of the vessel, to see the General on business at his residence, she was welcomed with delight by the children, who were sporting on the lawn, till her fath- er returned with the General, when one of them ran up ex- claiming, " Oh, pa ! here's a little girl !" On this, the Gen- eral took the little visitor up in his arms, and caressed her with all the tenderness and affection of a fond parent and true- hearted gentleman. Indeed, it is said, that he seldom pass- ed children in the street without speaking to them and often tossing them bits of change. Another lady", still living in town, testifies that the General's wife, also, "was not so much stuck up as our aristocracy are now-a-days," for, being employed, when a small girl, to bring some of her mother's butter at every churning, as better flavored than that of Mrs. Knox's own dairy, the latter used to call her to her room and, with many kind words, pay her with her own hands. Yet, it is also said, that her pride of rank and family was always wounded by any allusion to her husband's early occupation. It is related that, when visiting at the house of a respectable friend in Massachusetts, with her little petted and spoiled son, who busied himself in disarranging every thing about the room, and especially the books, she said to the mistress of the house " Henry must not be restrained ; we never think of thwarting him in anything ;" and, on the lady's replying, "but I cannot have my books spoiled, as my husband is not a bookbinder," Mrs. Knox was so offended that she immedi- ately and unceremoniously took her departure."
. Mrs. Mary Hyler.
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ROCKLAND AND SOUTH THOMASTON.
Among the fine arrangements in and about her magnificent residence, there was one feature which to persons of a true and cultivated taste would have enhanced its charms, but which to Mrs. Knox was only a source of annoyance and a subject of frequent complaint. Near the dwelling and in sight from its windows, was a small cluster of ancient graves and humble memorial stones of early settlers who had taken refuge in the Fort, of soldiers who had fallen in its defence, or of chaplains and missionaries who here closed their labors and were buried beneath its walls. These could not fail at times to interrupt her gayety by the unwelcome thoughts of death; and she proposed to have them removed. Her com- panion was shocked at the idea, and gave no countenance to such a violation of the last resting-place of humble but brave defenders of this frontier post in the wilderness. Subse- quently, however, in his absence, the work was done by her order, and the monuments all broken or levelled and re- moved, -to the indignation of those whose kindred and an- cestrel dust was thus disturbed, and to the regret and mortifi- cation of the General, who on his return is said to have seized his hair with both hands, tearing it and pouring out hearty execrations on such vandalism.
Whilst Mrs. Knox was thus by her haughtiness and capri- cious conduct sinking in public estimation, her husband con- tinued to maintain his own popularity by the frankness, sin- cerity, and liberality so natural to him. Among other things he gave a piece of land for a burying-ground north of Main street, since the principal cemetery in Thomaston ; a large pulpit bible still in use by the Congregational Church there ; singing or hymn books, it is believed ; and the bell, before mentioned, the first that ever called a Christian assembly to worship in this the landing place of the earliest Anglo-Saxon explorers. Though pressed with his own business and multi- form occupations, he was often consulted by his townsmen, and readily gave his counsel and aid in relation to the settling or employing a minister, and other matters of importance ; was repeatedly chosen to represent the town in the General Court; was a member of the executive council, and his opin- ions had great weight with Gov. Strong, then the chief magis- trate of the Commonwealth. Though independent and firm in his political sentiments, like Strong he was disposed to conciliate those who differed from him in opinion, and was wholly free from the spirit of intoler ince. Having now reached the height of his earthly wishes; beloved and re- spected by the people to whose prosperity he had so much
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contributed; courted and admired as the ornament of the highest circles, he was yet, -we may add, lest our account should savor of partiality, - not without his defects. He is said to have made too frequent a use of profane language ; - a habit he had probably contracted in the army. It was not, however, with him that vulgar, senseless, unmeaning use of sacred language so often met with, but consisted rather of solemn asseverations upon too unimportant and frivolous oc- casions. For instance, on some dispute with a back-woods- man about the number of logs furnished him, which the man offered to make oath to, "well!" he said, " if you are willing to risk your immortal soul for four and six pence, do it, in the name of G -! " This was uttered in so solemn a tone and manner that the man. quailed and precipitately fled from his presence. Other faults of the General were, that he at- tempted more business than he could carry on without loss to himself and dissatisfaction to his employees; and was too easily persuaded to adopt the specious and Utopian schemes of pretentious empirics and adventurers. As specimens of these last, we may mention the substitution of an inclined plane of earth for a lock, at his mills in Warren, for which the Frenchinan who constructed it took care to get his pay and be off before the water was high enough to make trial of it; as also a marble-mill, the first in the place, which he was persuaded to have built back of the Scotch or Nicholson house, on a brook or stream, so small that after the mill was set agoing and the saw had worked into a block of marble about half its width, it stopped for want of water, and there remained, for years after the General's death, - a monument of easy confidence and misapplied expenditure. The build- ing was subsequently removed and converted into the dwell- inghouse now owned and occupied by Peter Williams. The project, probably, seemed at the time less chimerical than now; as, in early times, before the clearing up of the woods, the waters of this as well as of other streams were much more copious. It is moreover said that it was part of the plan to supply the deficiency of water by diverting the Part- ridge brook, so called, from its course into Mill River and turning it by means of a dam and canal into the brook in question. Knox seems to have been not unaware of this weak point in his character. When in the Legislature, and wishing to get an appropriation made for one of the pages of the House, he requested another to offer the resolution, saying he would do it himself, but " people say already that I would bankrupt the nation."
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