USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 29
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 29
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1 Joseph Moody, later Rev., graduated from Harvard in 1718. John, son of William and Agnes Shaw, who died Aug. 26, 1727, a. 20 yrs. 8 mos. 24 ds., "had been a Student at Harvard College three Years." David Sewall graduated from Harvard in 1755.
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erally trained minds who could give tone to ordinary social intercourse. Wigglesworth Toppan, who had come to York from Newbury about 1730 and became a Deacon of the church, was a descendant of the famous author of "The Day of Doom," that much printed piece of lugu- brious poetry which scared the children of his generation out of a year's growth. Doubtless he inherited the literary tendencies of his distinguished clerical ancestor, and Judge Sayward in recording his death in 1781, stated that he was "a man of Great Reading & Tenatious Memory. I suppose he had the Biggest Library in the County" (Diary). During the half century he lived here his home must have been the center of literary culture in this vicinity.
EARLY TYPE OF "LOW DOUBLE" HOUSE (About 1700) On Rowland Young home lot, Meeting House Creek
It was a community of hardy and enterprising men when finally released from the demands of military service. They did not lapse into a life of ease, but promptly seized upon the raw materials provided by nature to bring forth and turn into wealth and make themselves independent. There were few idlers. He that did not work could not eat. Sea-borne traffic with the larger communities south of us, with agrarian pursuits as a sure foundation for a stable existence, occupied their energies, and the town was rarely destitute of the common necessaries of life as often hap- pened in towns like Falmouth where the farming interests
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were neglected for industrial pursuits. When three- quarters of the century had been reached there was a distinct class of wealthy citizens who had accumulated a competency as a result of their energy and thrift.
The outward condition of the people in their style of habitations bore no comparison to the grandeur of the present day. The buildings, with one known exception, were all of wood, generally unpainted and most of them but one story high. Only a few of them survive today, either from decay of material or from abandonment and replacement by larger and more convenient structures. The mansion of Jonathan Sayward survives as a relic of the earlier part of the century; the Emerson residence, of somewhat later construction, yet houses a remarkable collection of contemporary antiques owned by his de- scendants, while the frame of the "grand new house" of Judge Sewall, as described by Judge Sayward, was not "raised" till 1794 and now exists as "Coventry Hall." It stands almost as staunch as when it was built, a beautiful monument of Colonial architecture; "one of the grandest billt in the county," added the Judge in his diary. These represented the accumulated wealth of the slowly growing aristocracy of the town.
To adequately express their significance required the intimate touch of the women of York. As always, the female element of society is the first to put on the external adornments which accompany a more leisurely existence. By 1765 the wives and daughters of the well-to-do were wearing high headdresses, attractive stomachers, gowns of ample folds, ruffles at neck and elbows, high heeled shoes and cloaks in colors for occasions of a social char- acter. Nor were the men who had money to loan on mort- gages or fumbled with warrants for soldiers' wages far behind their women folk in personal dress. The office, shop or warehouse being closed, they emerged in the evening in habits so different from their working clothes that they presented an entirely new appearance. Like characters on the stage they paraded in cocked hats, full bottomed wigs, ruffles at the wrists, embroidered vests, small clothes with dazzling buckles at the knees and on their shoes, silken hose and silver-headed canes. Scarlet was the favorite color for cloaks en fete; in this brave apparel the gayeties of birthdays and weddings were enjoyed.
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Evidence of the growth of the town in its observance of the official and social amenities of life is strikingly por- trayed in a contemporary account of an escort prepared for the arrival of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Province in the year preceding the outbreak of the Revo- lution. It is told by John Adams in a letter to his wife, June 29, 1774, and reads as follows:
When I got to the tavern on the eastern side of Piscataqua river, I found the Sheriff of York (Jotham Moulton), and six of his deputies, all with gold laced hats, ruffles, swords, and very gay clothes, all likely young men, who had come out to that place ten miles, to escort the Court into town. This unusual parade excited my curiosity and I soon suspected that it was to show respect and be a guard of honor to the Chief Justice, if he had been coming to Court (Life and Letters of John Adams ii, 340).
This brave array of mounted civil officials in cocked hats, scarlet coats, short clothes, knee and shoe buckles, armed with swords, shows how far York had traveled since the lean and drab days of the early part of the century.
The references made elsewhere in this history to the social proclivities of Judge Sayward might convey the impression that his mansion was the only center of hos- pitality and conviviality in the town. This was far from the case, as other families like the Emersons, Lymans and Sewalls shared with him the leadership in social functions. On April 12, 1771, Dr. Job Lyman gave an entertainment and reception to the Court and "society" in the town to celebrate his appointment as a Justice of the County of York. At his house on the main street the elite gathered to congratulate him and partake of his decorated pasties and authoritative punch. These affairs lacked none of the gorgeousness of Provincial dress and gayety. Myriad candles whose rays were multiplied in the pendant glass prisms of the chandeliers gave brilliancy to the scene while the music of viols and harpsichords helped to lure the young to show their gracefulness in the minuet. When the affair was over Mr. Justice Lyman knew that he had been properly installed in his new office with popular approval.
On the occasion of reaching his majority young Edward Emerson gave an entertainment January 19, 1786, to the young gentlemen and ladies of York at the fort. For an adventure of this kind in midwinter only youth could
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enjoy. According to one who chronicled the event "it was exceeding bad traveling, notwithstanding the young ladies were so much ingaged in the Frolic that they went knee- deep in snow to honor Mr. Emerson and see and get sweet- hearts." It can be safely said that life in York in the Pro- vincial period was not lacking in opportunities for social enjoyment, and for picturesqueness it has no equal at the present day.
The institution of marriage as a part of the social system was originally separated, as far as possible, from any connection with the church, but in the Provincial era the clergy had recovered, to a great extent, their lost jurisdiction over the marriage ceremony. It was from the first regarded as a civil function in which the minister derived his authority from the State and acted as its agent in performing the legal act of marrying. The basis of our social fabric has been as much under the control of Justices of the Peace as of the clergy.
Following the English and Continental customs, without their formalities of betrothal, it was a part of the program for the bride's father to give her a marriage "portion," or dower, and this was usually in the form of a lot for a homestead or gifts in money or in kind, depend- ing on the material wealth of the parent. The calling of the banns in public meeting was also enjoined, as was the law in England, and in addition a license to marry was required by the town officials. If one of the parties resided in another town a license was required in both places. Instances of objection to the granting of licenses are recorded here, sometimes by the parents of the proposed bride and often by some disappointed suitor who forbade the ceremony on the plea that a prior "engagement" already existed in his or her favor.
Like all other occasions when rejoicing was an accept- able part of a social event, weddings were the opportuni- ties of relaxation and mirth for the somber atmosphere of a Provincial town, and the usual festivities attendant upon the ceremony, which usually took place in the eve- ning, were indulged by the family, neighbors and friends of the happy couple in proportion to their ability to provide the settings of a feast. But this age-old custom was not always to be enjoyed, as there grew up in New England, borrowed from the old country, an example of thrift on the
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part of the bridegroom which, fortunately, did not obtain much transplanted popularity. When marrying a widow, the prospective husband, wishing to give public notice that he took his new wife dowerless and without obliga- tions to pay any debts of the previous husband, required that the bride should be married naked or lightly clad in
HOUSE OF EARLY PROVINCIAL PERIOD - BANKS-HUTCHINS HOUSE Site of home of Richard Banks, 1643 (Scituate Row)
a chemise or smock as evidence that she brought nothing of her former marriage to their new relationship. It was the custom for the woman to cross the King's Highway thus clad at night as an ocular demonstration of this legal relief, and sometimes she was married standing in a closet in this semi-nude state, reaching out her hand and arm to enact her part of this strange ceremony. The bridegroom provided a complete wardrobe for his bride who was then dressed by her friends. These deliberate legal quibbles to save the bridegroom harmless were known as "shift" or "smock" marriages and were rather common in New
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England until the beginning of the nineteenth century. In fact, one occurred in England as late as 1900.
This town had an example about 1730 when William Bracey, a resident of York, went through this solemn farce when taking for his third wife, the Widow Rylance, as testified by the witnesses. Two of her women friends made oath:
... that before William Brasey married the widow Rilance he brought her cloath to us the Deponents both Linning and Woolling and all things that was needful for the Dressing of a woman and delivered us to dress the aforesaid woman to be married in and we were present and saw the said Brassey married to the sd Rilance in those cloathes before mentioned. (Deeds xiii, 265.)
In the material improvements of life the increasing facilities of travel and communication brought to the town some of the privileges enjoyed by the big towns of New England. While Boston, Newburyport and Ports- mouth had the advantages of a regular "post, " it was not till 1760 that a weekly mail service was established to the eastward. Elsewhere is related the development of this novelty which was an external aid in bringing York in touch with the outside world. Until then the only "news" brought to town came from the casual coasters who enter- tained the townsfolk with relations of their visits to Boston, New York and Charleston, or the more frequent travelers to Portsmouth who brought back the intimate gossip of that town for home consumption.
With the regular mails brought by the post-rider came copies of the Boston News Letter or the New Hampshire Gazette. It is not known to whom the honor of early patronage of this adjunct of modern life belongs, but as far as recorded evidence permits a decision, it belongs to Capt. John Bradbury, as established by the following entry in his Diary:
York July the 29 1763 This day entered my name to take the hamshire papers for one year Capt James Carlisle paying one half to Daniel Fowle.
In 1771 Jonathan Sayward notes his subscription "for one year newspapers to Thomas Fleet" of Boston, publisher of the News Letter, although he had probably been a reader of this much earlier. In 1759 James Sayward was the local agent of the Portsmouth paper as appears by the notice he inserted in an issue of December of that year:
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This is to desire those Persons in the County of YORK who entered their Names or engage to take the NEW HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE of me the Subscriber, to pay what is due for the same.
JAMES SAYWARD
As early as 1761 Edward Emerson and Jonathan Sayward had inserted advertisements in the Portsmouth paper and presumably both were subscribers. A careful inspection of the files of the Boston News Letter shows that items of "news," as then interpreted, were being sent to it from here as early as 1707 and intermittently thereafter. At first they were tales of Indian depredations, but in 1728 an obituary notice of ten lines reporting the death of "the vertuous and Pious Wife" of Parson Moody appeared in the News Letter, concluding with the "full assurance that she had entered on her Eternal jubilee." In 1752 the birth of triplets to the wife of David Preble enlivened the issue of January 30. As these were their first-born, it may be said that it was an excellent start in raising a family. There can be no doubt that this event was a sensation in the town, but not an example to be generally adopted.
The execution of Tony, a Negro slave, who had killed his master's daughter, and "behaved very penitently" on the gallows, appeared in July 1759 as an item of local concern. Arrivals and departures of vessels, shipwrecks, eclipses in 1758 and 1765, and accounts of the earthquakes which stirred the superstitious here, as frowns of a venge- ful God, made up the bulk of the news. One item, however, printed in 1761, tells of the performance of a surgical operation on a York lady of the age of threescore and ten years by Dr. Jackson of Portsmouth. She "having labour'd under a Dropsy of the Belly for a long Time was tap'd and near five gallons of Water came away," and it was reported as successful a month later. In 1760 James Sayward "who is now gone on the present Expedition," local agent for the Gazette, requested delinquents to pay their dues for the paper to David Sewall or Thomas Moulton.
Of course, no account of the life of the people in the eighteenth century would be complete without a reference to the universal acceptance of and indulgence in the social glass, sanctioned by the clergy and approved by centuries
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of racial tradition. Liquor appeared everywhere on all sorts of occasions from the ordination of ministers, funerals and weddings, to raising the frame of a barn. Probably every family was supplied with "spirits," as West India rum was designated, and the various hot concoctions pre- pared from it on cold winter days and nights were part
BRADBURY HOUSE, NEWTOWN Built about 1750 Early type elongated, instead of adding a second story
of the routine of their lives. For the casual visitors and transient residents the taverns provided ample opportu- nity for indulgence and in them congregated the gregarious townsmen who had a tenacious respect for royal birthdays and national holidays. Toasts to the king were easily offered on all occasions, but some one was always present with a prodigious knowledge of the natal days of princes and statesmen who could induce all present to fill their glasses in honor of the alleged event. Appointments to office, commissions in the military establishment and train- ing days sufficed to fill in any lack of birthdays as an excuse for drinking healths. Of course this custom resulted in some abuses, but when it is considered that they had little of outside entertainment to lighten the dullness of their restricted environment we can at least look on their social
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indulgences with tempered approval. Even such excite- ment as the earthquake on Sunday, June 3, 1744, when the congregation thought it was an Indian attack and the men seized their guns for action, could not furnish indefi- nitely a reason for social interchange. To this pleasant aid in passing the long hours of leisure there may be added the general use of the comforting pipe of tobacco. Evi- dences of it here in 1762 and 1771 are available, but it is a certainty that it was a part of the equipment of both men and women much earlier.
There are no indications that evening entertainments, as we understand them, came to town with that century. It is certain that a community must creep before it walks in the development of its community life, and enough has been shown to establish the gradual growth to a civilized stature in the last half of the eighteenth century. It is true that all of it was not uplifting, as our modern reform- ers would say, but it paralleled the customs of other com- munities of its size in taking on new offerings of interest. The gambling instinct of the English people found oppor- tunity here in the local lotteries. There is an Arabian proverb which says: "If God purposes the destruction of an ant He allows wings to grow on her," and while this method of finance was not sound yet the spirit of adven- ture in taking a "flyer" was strong. Early in 1758 the York County Lottery was advertised to be drawn at our Town House, and tickets were sold to secure funds to build bridges across the Saco and Presumpscot Rivers, and Daniel Moulton, who seemed to be the local manager, announced that he would take "Province Notes for the Tickets." It is to be remembered that lotteries were a common device to raise money for strictly moral purposes and even Harvard College and the immortal George Washington gave their approval to the practice, the former to build a new hall and the other to aid the construction of a canal.
Perhaps the most interesting event happening in this period was the visit of the Rev. George Whitefield, the famous English evangelist, to York in 1744 and his occu- pancy of the pulpit of the First Church on Sunday, November 4, that year. He had come directly from Lon- don and had put in here on account of weather conditions at sea, but it was not his first visit to America. Probably
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no minister of the gospel encountered so much hostility in New England even in the halcyon days of Puritan persecution as this stormy petrel of the new religion. It was his methods and manners in the pulpit rather than his character as a clergyman that aroused the bitterest hostility as well as the most ardent champions of his cause. He disdained droning out long sermons divided into first- lies and fifthlies and spoke without notes. He was the advance prophet of the itinerant preachers of a half century later and as such had a common bond of sympathy with Parson Moody, as their methods were much alike. His invasion of Maine caused the greatest upheaval in the life of the local churches. One diarist wrote: "the Parish are like to be in a flame on account of Mr. White- field's coming, the leading men violently oppose him," (Smith's Journal, 115). His meetings became scenes of emotional extravagance, confusion and disorder owing to his dramatic appeals to "sinners" to come to repentance, and the staid, conservative element was shocked at his influence over the people. The old guard of the Puritan theocracy resented any innovations which disturbed the comfortable doldrums characteristic of the Dark Ages in religious New England. In the course of years Whitefield finally overcame these prejudices and a quarter of a cen- tury later he occupied this same pulpit Thursday, Sep- tember 27, 1770, by favor of Rev. Isaac Lyman, preaching from John XIV: 6, "I am the way." He was accompanied on this visit "by a number of Ladies and Gentlemen of Portsmouth" (New Hampshire Gazette). This proved to be his last sermon and public appearance as he died sud- denly on Sunday morning three days later at Newbury- port.
On July 17, 1785, the town was treated to the unusual spectacle of a visiting Italian nobleman. This was Count Luigi Castiglioni, Cavaliere dell' Ordine di S. Stefano, a citizen of Milano. He was a young man about twenty- three years of age who evidently came to York with a letter of introduction to Judge Sewall and by him was presented to Judge Sayward. "He speaks so much inglish," wrote the latter, "as to be well understood. He is making the tower of the States (and) hath been as far as Baggaduce." The Count was traveling with a suite, as Judge Sayward noticed that "his waitting men appear
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HISTORY OF YORK
Dressed better than himself which I am assured is the Common Practice," (Diary). Whatever the source of this assurance it is evident that the Count was dressing as a Democrat in a Democratic country.
RESIDENCE OF LATER PROVINCIAL PERIOD Coventry Hall, built 1794 by Judge Sewall
The observations of Count Castiglioni relative to the people of this town and their economic situation is worth repeating:
The land of old York is dotted with poor cabins where dwell the cultivators who came only a few years ago and whose food consists of rye bread, and maize with pork and salt beef, and whose drink is Grog and spruce beer. This is obtained by boiling the young shoots of pitch pine to extract the flavor from the bark and then mixing that decoction with a sufficient quantity of molasses. Cider is not so abundant as in the more Southern parts of Massachusetts, because the orchards are not yet numerous enough and the Grog which is made from Rum mixed with water is the most common liquor. The progress of agriculture is quite considerable in proportion to the brief time since the beginning of cultivation in this country. The homes of the inhabitants are quite distant from each other (Viaggio negli Stati Uniti dell' America Settentrionale, Vol. I, C. II, S. 4, p. 46).
The visit of Governor Shirley has already been described (Volume I, p. 370), and on June 24, 1791, the famous first signer of the Declaration of Independence, Gov. John Hancock and his equally famous wife, "Doro- thy Q," with the Governor's official suite visited York as guests of Judge Sayward. The Governor and the Judge were old friends in pre-Revolutionary times and a bond of local interest existed as a topic of conversation between
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HALL AND STAIRWAY, JUDGE DAVID SEWALL MANSION "COVENTRY HALL, " YORK VILLAGE, MAINE
Now owned by Mrs. Edith C. Matthews of New York
DOMESTIC LIFE IN PROVINCIAL TIMES
them, for the Governor's grandfather preached at York for a season prior to the settlement of Parson Moody. In 1767 Jonathan Sayward had built a brig for Hancock, but in the years following their political paths on which they had recently started had widely diverged. Now Hancock was in the height of his public career as a result of his political acumen while the reputation of Sayward had long been in eclipse. It was a gracious gesture for this Republican statesman to show to this upholder of the Royal prerogative after the clash of arms had brought the latter to defeat. The Judge records the circumstance in his Diary:
Governor Hancock & Lady & his Sute paid me an agreeable visit and dined with a large company with which he honoured me and in con- fidence regained my judgment of men for the good of the country in which I hope I have done some service.
Under the mellowing influences of old wines to aid the digestion of a well-stocked table, these political antago- nists could forget the asperities of the past and the man- sion once more was the scene of a brilliant entertainment in which the Judge regained his good opinion of the men he had so long but unhappily opposed.
In keeping with the general dislocation of the times - social, political and religious - an eminent Quaker, Mr. David Sands, came to town as an exponent of the religion made famous by William Penn. While the privileges of the church building were not extended to him although it was not occupied on Thursday, April 8, the date of his visit, nevertheless he was accommodated at "the Brick house in this town," (Ingraham's Tavern, near the site of " Coventry Hall"). He preached there "to a large con- gregation to acceptance" (Sayward Diary), and thus added his mite to the liberalizing tendencies of the era in Maine. There were two Quakers who had been living here for several years before his appearance. But this sect, ad- vocating resistance to war as one of their doctrines, found its greatest support in the midst of a distressing conflict and during the period of prostration which followed, and when these conditions ceased the sympathetic interest in their peaceful system lost its appeal and never was revived. It was against the spirit of a dominant pioneering race.
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NEGRO SLAVES
In view of the attitude, in the last century, of this sec- tion of New England, on the moral question of human slavery, as expressed in opinions and emphasized in actions in the Civil War, it seems strange that the records of this town give ample evidence that negro slavery was an accepted and acceptable part of the social life in York in Colonial times and down to the early part of the last century. It had the unhesitating approval of Parson Moody and the people. In fact the parish actually bought a slave for the Parson. At a meeting held January 9, 1732-33, it was
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