USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 17
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 17
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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
FINANCES
From the earliest times the church has had a small annual income from land donated to it by Edward God- frey, the income of which has been used for the general purposes of the parish. The main support of the church, however, was originally by town appropriations until 1732 when the parish was organized and rates assessed on persons living within its bounds. This was later sup- plemented by a special fund derived from donations received from time to time. It was not until 1912 that the parish became the residuary legatee of the late Jere- miah McIntire. He left, specifically, ten thousand dollars, the income of which was to be used in three equal parts for repairs to the fabric, music and general expenses. The funds available at the present time are as follows:
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HISTORY OF YORK
Cemetery Fund (General) $8,174.00
Cemetery (Perpetual Care Fund) 8,700.00
Ministerial Fund .
11,350.00
McIntire Fund
78,937.26
$107,161.26
SEATING THE MEETING HOUSE
With entire disregard for comfort, our forefathers gave no thought of providing beds of ease in the matter of seats in the meeting houses. At first they were rude benches without backs. Pews were a later introduction and took the form of high box enclosures with benches on three sides. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the church and the children were generally herded in galleries, as soon as these extra accommodations were erected in the churches, or on the stairs. The assignment of seating space and pews was a matter of great social importance and were topics of discussion in town meeting. Whittier wrote of this custom:
In the goodly house of worship where in order due and fit, As by public vote directed, classed and ranked, the people sit.
As an example of this method of allocating seats the following from the town records in 1725 will be of interest.
Voted that Messrs. Jeremiah Moulton and Daniel Simpson be desired to take their Place in the Meeting House in the fore Seat below. Voted that Colo. Johnson Harmon be desired to sit in the sd seat. Voted that the wives of Capt. Jeremiah Moulton and Mr. Daniel Simpson as also the Widow Came, the Widow Young, the Widow Blackledge, the Widow Plaisted and the wife of Mr. Joseph Sayward be desired to take their Place in the womens Fore Seat Below. Voted that the Daughters of Alexander Junkins, Daniel Junkins and William Shaw have liberty to build themselves a seat over the womens stairs.
In 1838-9 when the meeting house was remodeled, the interior arrangement of seating was altered to conform to the new plans and the orientation of the building. The galleries, the elders' seats, the high pulpit and the sound- ing board were removed, thus changing the entire aspect of the interior. This latter change made it necessary that there should be a new seating arrangement, and in order to forestall controversies in this delicate matter, three gentlemen from Eliot, Wells and Kittery were chosen
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EVOLUTION OF THE PURITAN SABBATH
as a disinterested committee to appraise the pews when rearranged. The plan of seating is shown in the drafts of the floor plan and gallery. This committee on valuation of the pews appraised the 76 floor pews at $1.50 to $2.00 per annum, and the 31 pews in the gallery at $1.10 each. Salvation was not exactly free but the rates were extremely low in those days. In 1882 a more extensive and elaborate remodeling of the building was made and the interior was entirely changed. The gallery, formerly used by the choir, was removed, the pulpit transferred to the northern end of the auditorium with the organ and choir seats at the left of the platform. This was necessitated by another orientation of the building which is explained elsewhere. Subsequent interior adornments have been made by indi- viduals and church societies. In 1893 permission was granted to Mrs. Charlotte Sewall Eastman to place memorials to Jonathan Sayward and Samuel Sewall in the windows. In 1912 the old pulpit was restored to its place and a motor to blow the organ, both by the gen- erosity of John E. Norwood. The King's Daughters are to be credited with many constructive alterations and additions including a window with their motto "I. H. N." and also a marble clock.
SEXTON
The first reference to a person employed as a caretaker for the church and to attend to ringing the bell on Sabbath days occurs in 1752 when Samuel Ingraham was employed as sexton. Two years later he is mentioned as receiving extra pay for "taking care of the boys on Sabbath days." In 1758 his widow was attending to these duties, probably to fill out his term. Job Young succeeded in 1759, but dying the next year, his widow also succeeded to the duties. She held the place for a year when Darby Quinn undertook the work at a salary of £4-16-0 per annum and continued in the work of calling the people to service on Sundays and keeping the building clean for a third of a century. He died in 1797. Sayward calls him Jeremy Quin.
LIQUOR
It may be a matter of more than common interest to those who are partisans of the Prohibition Amendment
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HISTORY OF YORK
to know that none of the accounts of the parish involve expenditures for rum. It was customary in the days of early New England to sanctify the ceremony of raising the frames of meetinghouses or dedications of them and other parish buildings as well as celebrating ordinations by providing a plentiful supply of ardent spirits to lend zest and jollity to these occasions. In the parish accounts in recording expenditures of these occasions there are charges for fish and bread "&c" for workmen. Without inquiring why so much bread was needed for the purpose, the author ventures to quote the opinion of an old resident that the symbol "&c" represented the indispensable adjunct of all such ceremonies. It is not to be expected that the solid men of Colonial York could raise a meeting- house on bread and fish. Exception must be made, how- ever, with the accounts of the assessors of the parish in 1770, 1775 and 1776 when they met at Preble's Tavern. Charges were made for their services including "3 boals" (punch), a "mug of tody" and "4 muggs" (contents not specified). It is safe to say that it was not empty crockery, although it was probably returned in that condition.
Early in the last century the attitude of the people towards the custom of indiscriminate use of spirits was gradually changing and it finally took definite form in the organization of societies to minimize the existing custom of indulgence in strong drink. This was known as the Washingtonian movement instituted to promote temper- ance but not prohibition. In 1833 the parish granted the use of the abandoned courthouse on Sabbath evenings to the local Temperance Society.
FAST DAYS
Our forefathers indulged in a sort of secondary Sabbath Day, not of a strictly church character, but one called by the civil authorities for general observance as a religious rite. They were called Fast Days, because the people were expected to chasten the flesh as a means of humili- ating the spirit. It is the general belief that Fast Day is a New England product. In a certain restricted sense it is, for it was not observed in other parts of the country, New York and the South. For the first time, in 1634, the General Court of Massachusetts ordered a Fast Day, and usually twice a year thereafter it had called upon the
186
187
·
THE MEETING HOUSE
-
---
-
----
-
EVOLUTION OF THE PURITAN SABBATH
188
31
32
33
34
35
Pulpit
30
36
37
7
29
60
59
62
8
28
76
44
57
56
63
64
End Entrance
66
65
53
.54
10
27
67
74
73
72
11
26
68
69
70
7'
46
47
48
49
12
25
13
24
23
22
2/
20
19
Front Entrance
18
17
16
15
14
SEATING PLAN OF THE MEETING HOUSE
HISTORY OF YORK
3
4
5
1
2
40
41
42
6
38
39
43
58
6,
55
75
9
45
52
51
50
EVOLUTION OF THE PURITAN SABBATH
people to humble themselves before the Lord for their many disobediences and wickednesses. To this semi- annual practice some extra days were decreed by the General Court for special humiliation on account of speci- fied visitations of Divine wrath, such as droughts, small- pox or severe winters. Days set aside by the ecclesiastical authorities for prayer and fasting on account of the plague and like national calamities are as old as the Christian church and provided for by the rules of every branch of Christendom. Only in New England was it given civil sanction and initiative.
While Maine was under the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts the General Court ordered about three dozen fast days before the Charter of William and Mary, but there is nothing of record to show that they were observed here, as the people were not in sympathy with the religious polity of their masters. The Provincial Court records show that the local court ordered a Fast Day to be observed in November 1666, and in 1692 there is reference to a Fast Day held before the Massacre, but it had no connection with that event. In the following century this custom still continued and in the last century it came to be a regular annual observance set for April 19 each year, which happened to be the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. In the process of time the day became a general spring holiday and lost all of its original signifi- cance, despite the proclamations of Governors to meet and bewail our manifold sins and wickednesses. It marked the opening of the baseball season and the younger fry "humiliated" themselves by playing their first game of marbles. Everybody was out for a good time and a bountiful dinner marked the conclusion of this imitation fast day. The end was inevitable. A religious observance ordered by the civil authorities was against the sentiment of the people and never had much sympathetic response in the last hundred years. It was the last gasp of the cleri- cal oligarchy in their scheme to ignore the Constitutional provisions respecting the observances of religion under civil control.
189
CHAPTER XII
FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE IN COLONIAL DAYS
The subject matter of previous chapters in this history of York has concerned the political, military, ecclesiastical and material interests of the town almost to the exclusion of the more intimate things which constitute the social life of the people. Wars, politics, theologies and the elements creating wealth, concern the people of every town alike, and the story of one applies to all with some unimportant differences of local coloring. Wars do not bulk large in the life of a community as an integral part of a nation, politics affect few directly, theology affords a distorted refraction in individual cases, while industrial concerns tell us little of the people themselves. To know where the people lived, how they lived and what they did and the way they met the common experiences of man- kind in their daily lives is of more human value and of much more sustained interest. This subject can be touched upon only in a fragmentary way, owing to the infinite details which enter into an exposition of such a topic. It is based largely upon careful study of the early records of the town as well as of the Province, and if it lacks the glamor of narratives of military campaigns it is closer to the normal lives of the people.
THE CRADLE
The ushering in of a new life into the community is analogous to the beginning of a town or the birth of a nation. Far from being a natural and safe process which we are accustomed to associate with motherhood today, the pre-natal existence and final processes of parturition were surrounded by all the superstitions, ignorance of the most primitive sanitary measures, and with none of the specialized obstetrical knowledge which now aids in usher- ing the new-born child into his inheritance. The genera- tion of emigrants came from settled communities in England where some of the advantages of an old civiliza- tion helped to minimize the terrible mortality attending childbirth, but here in the forest primeval even these
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FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE IN COLONIAL DAYS
crude helps were wanting. It is not an exaggeration to say that three out of every five mothers died in the first child-bed from puerperal fever and her newly born infant followed in a few days from inanition. Unclean midwives presided at these death functions, conveying from victim to victim the germs of disease. In one parish in Devon. from which several emigrants came to York, maternal and infant mortality were so great that the population remained stationary for a century. The same conditions prevailed throughout all England. Under modern condi- tions York should have had a population of ten thousand by 1800 from the normal birth rate over deaths. If a mother weathered the dangers of the first child-birth further immunity from its dangers generally followed. The first information we have concerning the existence of professed medical assistance in this connection is the indictment of Capt. Francis Raynes in 1675 for "pre- suming to act the part of a mid-wife." For this he was fined £2-10. for the offense and on the further payment of five shillings court fees was discharged. It is not known that Captain Raynes had a medical education, but it is an illustration of the ignorance and prejudice of Colonial days that denied even amateur aid to a woman in this extremity. Untutored midwives were considered the only persons capable of attending to or being present at the birth of the children of York. Most young mothers went to their parents' home for this ordeal, in order that her mother might give her the benefit of her experience and care. In her account as administratrix settling the estate of her husband, Mary (Rishworth) Plaistead enters a charge for a midwife "and expense for my Lying In, I Barrel Beer, wine, Shugar, spice, fruit etc." for which £1-12. was charged. In 1746 when the wife of Rev. Samuel Chandler of the Second Parish was about to give birth to a child, he entered in his diary: "My wife sent out for the women."
BAPTISMS
Such children as passed this dreadful gauntlet were, in the first century, brought to baptism within three days as was the custom in Old England under the canons of the Established Church. This was the church of our first forefathers and, unless clergymen were lacking, as often
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HISTORY OF YORK
happened from time to time, or until a clergyman from an adjoining town could be drafted for the purpose this rule was followed. A child dying before this ceremony did not become a candidate for eternal torture, as that was a later doctrine inflicted on the suffering people of New England by Puritan theologians. All the canons of the English Church were followed after this, including the churching of women until it became disused through the opposition of the Nonconformists. The days of the young child thenceforward were one continued series of afflic- tions imposed on it through superstitions regarding diet, clothing, etc. until the teeth were finally erupted. Its cradle was a crude wooden affair seldom eased by rockers, and in this the child spent the first few years of its life buried in countless folds of heavy clothing and coverlids to keep it from "catching cold."
YOUTH AND PLAY
Children of normal physical and mental endowments in those days were no different in their animal exuberance than obtains in this generation. Their parents had brought with them the traditions of the sports and child- hood games of Merrie England and the early settlers here were free from the Puritan prejudices which took all the joy out of life. The severity of the climate as compared to England reduced the opportunities for outdoor sports, but the winter snows furnished a new medium of enjoy- ment for Colonial children. There is no reference in our records to the famous spring dances around the Maypole but one could not safely say that this innocent pastime was not enjoyed here. Such references to it as appear in other colonies relate to its suppression. When our ances- tors were emigrating hither the Book of Sports was read weekly in the churches by command of King James. It is no stretch of the imagination to picture the young boys playing Indian with more intimate knowledge of the model than is afforded the youngster of today who indulges in the ancient pastime. Doubtless, the young boys of York were trained in archery and the girls had their quaintly dressed dolls. It is safe to say that the children of 1650 had as happy a childhood as those of today, making allow- ance for some of the luxuries enjoyed by the children of modern times.
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FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE IN COLONIAL DAYS
COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE
The relations of the sexes in the associations preceding marriage were necessarily different in a pioneer settlement from the older established society of Medieval England. The emigrants left behind them the long established cus- toms which surrounded pre-nuptial views. Marriage was essentially a bargain counter sale in England from the highest in society to the lowest in the community. It was a scarcely veiled commercial transaction. Parents schemed to marry off their daughters to secure for them the most favorable cash offer. In the circles of nobility children were bought and sold in this way and given in marriage at incredibly early ages, unknown to each other. Among the yeomanry the prospective bride's father gave his daughter as large a dowry as his small means would permit and the bridegroom's parents did likewise. Hun- dreds of chancery suits exist based on the failure of one or the other parties to fulfill these pre-nuptial trades. In this unsettled country these age-long habits could not be carried out although the principle of them found expres- sion wherever conditions permitted in later years. Ready money was a rare commodity in early times while land was the cheapest kind of property. Fathers dowered their daughters with acres instead of pounds sterling. Associations between the young were naturally more familiar where the necessity of common safety made them dependent on each other for the preservation of life and property. The dwellings of the settlers, often not divided into more than two rooms, gave eligible suitors and sweethearts scant opportunity to exchange in desirable privacy the "sweet nothings" which are an integral part of every properly organized courtship. The need for this privacy came to be recognized as time went on and a device known as "bundling" was instituted, a peculiar New England invention for the accommodation of the lovelorn (see Stiles' "Bundling"). This unique privi- lege fell into discard for a variety of reasons in later years when more comfortable houses, separation of rooms and the appearance of the parlor gave the interested couple the rightful opportunities for their lovemaking. The rush light was considered sufficient illumination to discourage neighborhood gossip.
Marriage of the young people of York was, in a large
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HISTORY OF YORK
majority of cases, a religious ceremony, but after the Puritans seized the Province this ancient church rite was superseded by the custom of civil marriages brought over by the Pilgrims from Holland and carried to their usual excess by the Puritans of Massachusetts. It was con- sidered almost a crime by them for a minister to preside at this ceremony. Weddings were solemnized by magis- trates or justices of the peace. Before a marriage could be solemnized it was necessary that an intention of mar- riage should be filed with the town clerk a specified number of days before the ceremony could be performed. This requirement took the place of calling the banns in open meeting. The town records show that in some cases six months and even a year elapsed before the marriage was consummated. Interested parties had the right to forbid the marriage and numerous instances of this formal declaration, sometimes by the woman, sometimes by the man and often by a third party, are to be found in the records. Such of our town records as remain do not con- tain any references to marriages by ministers until some- time after 1700. The first known marriage in York took place in 1638 when Henry Simpson, a widower and re- cently arriving from England, married Jane, orphan daughter of Lt .- Col. Walter Norton, one of the patentees.
VITAL STATISTICS
For a century prior to emigration the Church of England had carried on a system of registration of the three great events in an individual's religious life - his baptism, marriage and burial. The pioneers of our New England settlements adopted an additional registration by the civil authorities of births, marriages and deaths so that there was a double record kept of these happenings in the life of a citizen. The civil registration was simply one of the gestures of the Nonconformists to emphasize their divorce from ecclesiastical requirements.
PRIMOGENITURE AND SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS
The centuries old English custom of according the eldest born son all the privileges of a royal heir apparent to the exclusion of his less fortunate brothers who appeared on the scene later, was brought over to our shores and
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FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE IN COLONIAL DAYS
applied in a modified form, which gave the eldest son a financial but not the social distinction that fell to his lot in England. This custom was enacted into law by which in the settlement of an estate the eldest son was to be given a double portion of the property. If there were five children the property would be divided into six parts of which the eldest son would be awarded two shares. A knowledge of this will help to settle many disputed ques- tions of heirships and number of children in a particular family. In this scheme the eldest son was also given first choice of real and moveable property. An exception to this was pleaded by a York settler coming from Kent where the custom of "gavelkind" was in force. This was an ancient form of tenure in that county by which lands of a father were divided among all his sons, legitimate or otherwise. Daughters were entirely excluded. (Lambarde: Perambulation of Kent 1596, p. 530.) The custom of dowries generally excluded daughters in a division of the real property and frequently they were not men- tioned in wills, or if mentioned, were referred to as having received their portion. If married daughters did inherit land it usually became the property of their husbands. Daughters always participated in division of personal property. Social distinctions were more in evidence in York than in any of the New England colonies. The town was under the patronage of one of the nobility, his nephew resided here as Deputy Governor, and such early settlers as Godfrey, Johnson, Norton, Bradbury and Raynes were either descendants of armigerous families or belonged to a recognized social grade in society which entitled them to be known and accepted officially as "gentlemen." As became this quality, they were from the first leaders in the political and social life of the town. Certain other of the early settlers having been burgesses in their English homes, freemen in the Guild Companies, of established business capacity or professionally educated were given the prefix of "Mr." or, more properly, "Master" as William Hooke, Roger Garde, John Gooch, Henry Norton, Thomas Morton, William Hilton, Edward Rish- worth and Thomas Wheelwright. Ministers were always accorded this prefix which was next below that of "gentle- man" in the social scale. This title was not bestowed in the seventeenth century by clerical accident in the records
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HISTORY OF YORK
or in the indiscriminate manner in vogue at the present time. Persons who acquired political prominence in the town came to enjoy this title as a complimentary award for public service. The next lower in the social scale were given the title of "Goodman" while his consort was known as "Goodwife" or, in the abbreviated form of "Goody." Old John Parker was designated as "Gaffer" - an old colloquial word for grandfather. The lowest in the social grade were without designation or prefix and appear in the records as John Smith or William Brown. These distinctions were maintained in all walks of life until the period of the Revolution, when the leveling of all ranks to a common basis was enunciated in the Decla- ration of Independence, as all men were then declared to be "born free and equal." Ever since that time man has become a "Mr." or an "Esquire."
HOUSES
Dwellings were probably log huts at first, constructed in a manner so familiar to all that description is unnec- essary. Cracks were daubed with clay and the roofs covered with coarse salt hay obtained from the marshes of the upper branches of the York River. The inflam- mable and unclean character of this material rendered it unsafe as well as unsanitary, and when carpenters were added to the list of artisans in the community wooden shingles were split from logs and superseded the old thatches. These shingles were fastened with wooden pegs during the first years but, when the village smithy appeared on the scene, wrought iron nails were beaten out by hand and a more permanent covering was secured. These houses were single-storied, most of them of the "low double" variety with only a small cellar for storage of vegetables which was reached from an outside opening. Chimneys were constructed of mud bricks held by straw bonds, sun-dried or at least roughly burnt in a crude kiln with a limited capacity of a few bricks at a burning. We are told that the parsonage in 1648 had three chimneys which seems an architectural luxury. The chimney, usu- ally of large dimensions, was placed in the middle of the house with openings into each contiguous room. The kitchen fireplace was specially constructed with cranes for hanging of pots and spits for roasting and, in the more
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