USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Bristol > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 35
USA > Maine > York County > York > History of York, Maine, successively known as Bristol (1632), Agamenticus (1641), Gorgeana (1642), and York (1652) Vol. II > Part 35
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Samuel Moody. The earliest literary item bearing the name of York on the title page is to be credited to Parson Moody who is so completely identified with the town, where all his published books were written, that he can be claimed as deriving his inspiration from it and its people. Specimens of his style are given in the account of his life (Chapter VII); and as all of his writings are on religious or doctrinal topics they have little present interest except as typical horrendous prophecies of the fate of the "damned," according to his beliefs. His works include the following titles :
The Vain Youth Summoned to Appear at Christ's Bar. Lecture sermon preached at York June 25, 1701. 24 mo. pp. 64, Boston, 1707.
Doleful State of the Damned. S vo. pp. vi-ISI Boston, 1710.
Judas the Traitor Hung Up in Chains, etc. 24 mo. pp. x, 84 Boston, 1714.
The Debtors Monitor, Directory and Comforter; or the Way to Get & Keep Out of Debt. 24 mo. pp. ii, 99; Boston, 1715.
Smoaking flax Inflamed; or Weary Sinners incouraged to go to Christ from the Certainty & Eternity of their Happiness. 24 mo. pp. 45, Boston, 1718.
A Sermon Preached before His Excellency Samuel Shute, Esq. &c. May 31, 1721. 16 mo. pp. iii, 64. Boston, 1721.
A Summary Account of the Life and Death of Joseph Quasson, Indian. 12 mo. pp. 41. Boston, 1726.
A Faithful Narrative of God's Gracious Dealings with a person lately recovered from the dangerous errors of Arminius. 16 mo. pp. 8; Boston, 1737.
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HISTORY OF YORK
A Dialogue Containing Questions and Answers Tending to Awaken the Secure and Direct the Seeking Sons in order to a sound conversion. 12 mo. pp. 19. New London, 1768.
Sketch of a Sermon preached to some children in York, Maine, July 25, 1721. 24 mo. pp. 18. Boston, 1813.
A Faithful Narrative of the Wicked Life and Remarkable Con- version of Patience Boston alias Samson who was executed for Murder at York July 24, 1735; with a preface by Samuel and Joseph Moody. Boston, 1738.
It is not certain that this list comprises all his works but is a compilation of those which have survived for two centuries.
Sally Sayward Barrell. The first native writer of dis- tinction to attract attention was a woman, granddaughter of Jonathan Sayward, Esq. She was born October I, 1759, and began to publish her novels when forty years of age, the first bearing the title of "Julia and the Illumi- nated Baron." This was followed by "Dorval or the Speculator" (1801); "Amelia or the Influence of Virtue" (1802); "Ferdinand and Almira, a Russian Story" (1804), and after an interval of more than twenty years, "Tales of the Night" (1827). It is also stated that she left in manuscript several unpublished novels. Her writings are symptomatic of the period, painfully and stiffly formal in phrasing, strong in moralizing on the advantages of Virtue and the dire effects of Vice, both emphasized in capital letters. They are perhaps particularly notable as examples of the early appearance of a woman in the role of a public writer, although the first ones were printed anonymously. She evidently inherited literary ability from her mother whose talent in this line is delightfully shown in a letter written to Nathaniel Barrell, her intended husband, teasing him for his doubts of her constancy and bidding him act "as a Rational Lover for the future" (Sayward Family, Ipswich, 1890, pp. 81-82). After the death of her first husband, Richard Keating, in 1783, Sally Barrell remained a widow for twenty-one years, marrying Gen. Abiel Wood of Wiscasset in 1804, and was known there- after as Madame Wood. She died in Kennebunk, June 6, 1855, in her ninety-sixth year.
Peter Young (1784-1838). Brief Account of his Life, Experience, Call to the Ministry, Travels and Afflictions. Written by Himself. 12 mo, pp. 80, Portsmouth 1809.
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THE PROFESSIONS
This is an ephemeral item of the usual exaggerated type of that period. He was born April 29, 1784, son of Rowland and Mary (Norton) Young of this town, and became an itinerant Baptist preacher. He relates his religious experiences, because of a sense of his unworthi- ness and his adoption of the Baptist doctrines through the preaching of Elder William Bachelder. He traveled through Maine, New Hampshire and a part of Massa- chusetts, and preached here for a while. In 1808 he had his leg amputated above the knee by three surgeons of Portsmouth on the advice of Doctors Gilman and Lyman of this town. He married Mary Long of Bridgton, September 18, 1806.
Samuel Junkins and Mrs. Olive (Williams) ["They were very much at a loss for a name for me" (i.e., her per- secutors). "I was called Olive Williams, alias Olive Doe, straggling woman."] Junkins. "THE DEALINGS/ of/ a Few of the Church at York who call themselves Chris- tians,/ with /SAMUEL JUNKINS AND HIS WIFE/ together with/ a short sketch of her own CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE/ written by her own hand. If thou hast run with the foot- men and they have/ wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with/ horses? And if in the land of peace, wherein thou/ trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in/ the swelling Jordan- Scripture/ Printed for the author/ 1825."
This is a part of the casual literature produced by the Cochranites and has no literary value. An explanation of their connection with this sect is set forth in Chapter X. William Pitt Preble (1783-1857). "Genealogy of the Family of Abraham Preble," 8 vo. pp .-. 1850.
George Alexander Emery (1821-1894). "Ancient City of Gorgeana/ and Modern/ Town of York (Maine) from its Earliest Settlement/ to the Present Time/ also/ its Beaches and Summer Resorts," 12 mo. pp. 192, illustrated, Boston, 1873.
A typical guide-book or "handbook" of that period. It is composed of personal experiences of the author, local traditions and some real history. It served its pur- pose as a herald of York's advantages for recreational purposes, but is of little historical value.
Nathaniel Grant Marshall (1812-1882). An address delivered at the dedication of the New Town Hall in York,
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HISTORY OF YORK
Maine, on February 23, 1874. 8 vo. pp. 31, Portsmouth, N. H., 1874.
Edward C. Moody (1849-). Handbook History of the Town of York from Early Times to the Present. 8 vo., portrait, Augusta, 1914. Up to the date of publication this was the only consistent attempt to record the annals of the town, but it makes no pretension to completeness and the title describes its contents accurately. Its princi- pal value is its account of recent events falling within the personal knowledge of the author and in this particular will be a permanent reference book.
Frank Dennett Marshall (1870-). Historical Sketch of York prepared for the two hundred and fiftieth anni- versary of the town. 8 vo. pp. 48, illustrated. Portland, 1904. An accurate account of the salient points of the history of the town within the limitations of a brief essay prepared for a special occasion.
"MAUD MULLER" RAKED HAY IN BRIXHAM
According to John Marr, a native of Berwick, born in 1823, the famous poem of Whittier entitled "Maud Muller" was written at York Harbor "in the seventies" while summering here with his sister Elizabeth. Mr. Marr stated that Whittier told this himself, explaining that he drove out to Brixham one day in July and at a turn of the road stopped to inquire the way of a bare- footed girl. She was a rustic beauty wearing a broad- brimmed hat and was raking hay in an orchard by the roadside. While she was giving him directions she stealth- ily raked the hay over her feet to conceal them. On his return home he drafted the lines of the poem that since has become famous but thought so little of it that he cast it aside. His sister sent it to his publisher. Mr. Marr adds that the title of the poem was adopted from a family that lived near his father's farm in Haverhill.
The scene of the inspiration of this poem was situated just above the Grange Hall, where "Samuel Smith's spring" came bubbling out into the trough by the side of the road, refreshing many a horse, as well as traveler, with its tin dipper, which many of the older residents well remember.
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CHAPTER XXVII THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
POLITICAL ANIMOSITIES
Instead of a town almost united in a common purpose, the opening of this century in York found it divided into political parties which came to be bitterly antagonistic in their adhesion to the governmental philosophies of Alex- ander Hamilton and of Thomas Jefferson. The former came to be known as Federalists who supported the the- ory of a strong centralized government, and the latter as Republicans who had adopted the democratic principles of the third President of the United States. It is doubtful if at any period in our history political passions were so pro- nounced, except in war time. Each party considered that members of the other were unfitted to hold even the small- est offices without danger to the welfare of the country. Joseph Tucker, who had been appointed Collector of Cus- toms in 1795 by President Washington, was the first victim of this political warfare. He had survived the administra- tion of John Adams and was still kept in office by Jefferson when in 1803 the town solemnly voted that "Joseph Tucker has not a Republican spirit" and recommended that he be superseded by Jeremiah Clarke, who, it is to be supposed, was filled with it. The friends of Clarke were not able to secure the appointment of their candidate, for in 1804 Samuel Derby was given the post. Five years later Clarke was rewarded by the Federalists with an appoint- ment to this office which he held for two years. These antagonisms permeated most of the social relations of life and tinged every political movement as related elsewhere in the consideration of the campaigns for separation from Massachusetts. At this time it is difficult to see what rela- tions the doctrines of Hamilton and Jefferson had to this section, but their followers "saw red" every time the opposing party adopted a policy.
WILDCATS
The troubles which our ancestors had in the previous century with wolves seem to have been eradicated as we
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HISTORY OF YORK
hear no more of bounties offered for them after the begin- ning of this century. These dangerous pests were suc- ceeded by representatives of the wildcat family which demanded the attention of the authorities as early as 1806 when a bounty was offered for their pelts. This was renewed annually until 1817 when either the growth of the town or the industry of the hunters ended the menace.
VISIT OF PRESIDENT MONROE
The fifth President of the United States and the spon- sor for the famous Doctrine which has become a national policy, was the first chief executive to visit York. Accom- panied by a suite he left Washington in June 1817 for a visit to the northeastern states. He reached Portsmouth in the middle of July and on the fifteenth he crossed the Piscataqua into Maine. At his arrival on the east bank of the river he was met by a committee, of which a son of York, William Pitt Preble, Esq., was a member, and was by them welcomed with an address of "classical elegance." The President replied to this extemporaneously, and was then conducted to his carriage and proceeded to York under an escort of cavalry, followed by officers of the militia in uniform and citizens on horseback and in car- riages. The official historian of that tour relates these events which followed :
On his arrival at that place a Federal salute was fired by the Company of Artillery paraded for the occasion, commanded by Capt. ( ) Freeman. He was also met by the Committee of Arrangements at the head of which was the venerable and respectable Judge Sewall of the United States District Court, now in the eighty-second year of his age. The Venerable Judge in a short and appropriate address, for himself and in behalf of the citizens of York bade him a hearty wel- come, to which the President made an affectionate reply. The Presi- dent and suite then proceeded with the Judge, accompanied by the Committee of Arrangements, to his house where they sat down to an excellent breakfast. At nine o'clock the President again commenced his tour, preceded by cavalry and general officers of the division and followed by a large cavalcade of officers and citizens on horseback and in carriages. (Waldo, The Tour of James Monroe, p. 202.)
Thence he passed through Wells to Saco, Portland, and other towns in the eastern part of the district. It was a glorious event for York.
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PRESIDENT JAMES MONROE
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
Numerous references have been made in the course of the narration of events in the history of the town to the customs and habits of the people in respect to the use of wine and spirits as a beverage. In the previous century there was no truly organized attempt to regulate the use of liquor in public places, but early in this century a defi- nite movement was made to educate the people in regard to the deleterious effects following the unrestrained use of alcoholic beverages. The object sought was the temper- ate use of fermented and distilled liquors. Given the name of the Father of his Country presumably for its moral effect, the "Washingtonian Movement" gained great headway in this state and had its supporters in this town. There was no attempt at prohibiting its use, as the example of Wash- ington himself, who had his wines and spirits, could not be invoked in support of total abstinence.
As York was not an industrial town it is not probable that "the Eleven O'Clock Bell" summoned men from the bench each workday for their drink of rum, although it was customary in the fields to suspend labor for this well- established rite. At a town meeting in 1820 Samuel Adams and others requested "that the town authorize the Select- men to grant license to retailers to mix spirituous liquors in their stores," and with a gesture to the reformers asked that the Selectmen be instructed to perform their duty in regard to men of intemperate habits, "as the law pro- vides." In 1828 there were fourteen licenses issued by the town to retailers of strong drinks, and the grantees were among the "best people" whose descendants still retain their high standing in the community. This license was distinct from the innholders' franchise, and indicated that selling liquor was not regarded as an objectionable occu- pation at that time. But the leaven was working. Eight years later the doom of straight and mixed drinks was reached when with one dissenting vote it was resolved at a town meeting "that the sale of ardent spirits is an evil, consequently the granting of licenses is inexpedient and unnecessary." By this time the Washingtonian Move- ment, supported by a horde of reformed drunkards as exam- ples and converts, was sweeping the country, and "tem- perance" as a slogan began to give way to "prohibition" as a watchword.
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HISTORY OF YORK
Gen. James Appleton of Bangor, a veteran of the War of 1812, had concluded that previous efforts based on moral suasion had failed, and advised "legal suasion" -- a policy that was adopted by Gen. Neal Dow, the leader of the prohibition forces in this state. In 1852 Dow was able to secure passage and enactment of the first prohibi- tory act in Maine. George Bowden, who represented this town in the Legislature, was one of the supporters of this bill, and at a town meeting held after its passage the fol- lowing enthusiastic approval was made of the bill and incidentally of the representative from York:
Whereas our Legislature in June last enacted a law against drinking houses and tippling shops which is called by way of emphasis the Maine Law and is hailed by the Patriots and Philanthropists of our sister states as a bright star of human hope and all Inebriates their wives and mothers and children have our most cordial sympathy and shall have our untiring efforts to expel the Demon Alcohol from our Community.
As this book is written York has been governed by this law for eighty years, and whether it has accomplished its purpose is beyond the scope of this history.
VISIT OF GEN. HENRY SEWALL
A glimpse of the town in 1835 is to be found in a letter ' of a native of York who revisited it while on a journey to Boston in that year. The writer was Gen. Henry Sewall of Augusta, born here in 1752, a soldier in the Revolution and later a distinguished citizen of the state for many years. Describing his westward progress from Augusta to his son William, then living in Illinois, he said:
On Monday (September 13), we rode to York, the place of my nativity, and put up at the mansion of the late Judge David Sewall, occupied by his widow, where we had a welcome, hospitable recep- tion and passed the night. Here we spent the forenoon of Tuesday in visiting the domicil, about a mile north of the Meeting House, where I first breathed the vital air, where I was cradled and nursed, where I spent my boyhood, satisfied with my obscure limited circle, and from whence I trudged a mile and a half to school with my dinner in my satchel.
But on looking around, the neighboring houses are demolished - not a particle to be seen --- the fence, roads, the trees all changed, so as almost to destroy the identity of the scene.
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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
His description would locate his birthplace at "Newtown," which agrees with the records of his father's residence. (Deeds, 43, 208.) He was then eighty-three years old (died in 1846), and probably his childhood recollections had long since been lost in the passage of years and he found "all changed," even the trees! O Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.
PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON
York was again thrilled in 1833 by information that President Jackson, who had arranged a visit to New Eng- land, had included the shire town in his itinerary. In antic- ipation of this a town meeting was called and it was voted "to take into consideration the request of George Moody & others to see what measures the town will take in regard to meeting the President and suit on their contemplated visit to our State." In response thereto George Moody, Charles O. Emerson, Jeremiah McIntire, Howard Moody, Alexander McIntire, Jeremiah S. Putnam, Edgar McIn- tire, Luther Junkins and Jeremiah Brooks were chosen a committee to receive them. One of the biographers of the President gives the following account of the circumstances which prevented his appearance in York:
At Boston, the President overcome by fatigue, had a dangerous attack of his malady, bleeding at the lungs, which confined him to his room for several days. The carpets in the halls of the story occu- pied by the President were doubled and the streets were covered with tan. The President rallied and continued his journey as far as Con- cord. At that point he suddenly turned his course homeward, visit- ing Providence and Newport, steaming past New York without stop- ping and making the best of his way to the seat of government. The reason assigned for this hasty return was the precarious state of the President's health. But that was not the only reason. (Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson, III, 492.)
Seba Smith, the humorist of the period and a native of Maine who wrote under the nom de plume of Major Jack Downing, reported that the General was "amazingly tickled with the Yankees" but the people of this town were deprived of the privilege of hearing Old Hickory thunder out "by the Eternal" in a denunciation of his political enemies. The Major assured us that they "would stand no more chance down East here than a stump-tailed bull in fly time."1
1 This famous writer married a cousin of the author of this History, Elizabeth Oakes Prince, who became one of the earliest feminist leaders and author of popular poetry and novels of that period.
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HISTORY OF YORK
THE ERA OF "MORALITY"
As one excursion into the realms of inhibition of per- sonal conduct begets another, so this organized "temper- ance" movement developed the repressive character of our Puritan inheritance in the local Solons. Laws against the use of tobacco in the streets were enacted, and smokers of cigars found themselves in the custody of the constables charged with enforcement. Evidently the youths of the "flaming Forties" gave ample excuse to their elders for undertaking legal control of their exuberance. In 1847 the
IGANGIT
ARTILLERY
FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
town voted to "prohibit the sale and use of fire crackers"' with the evident intent of making our great national explo- sion on "the Fourth" a day of prayer and fasting. One: cannot be surprised that the boys of that decade rebelled against this shepherding and deprivation of their one glori -- ous opportunity to make a noise. Doubtless they were: unanimous in their resentment and rebellion. The next' year the elders became aroused to the situation, and at a: town meeting ten of the most competent lay preachers on. morals and behavior were appointed a committee to save the town from disaster. In a long and tedious homily which is spread at length on the town records the commit- tee viewed with alarm the tendencies of "our youth to let themselves loose from parental authority, the salutary
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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
restraints of virtue and religion and to indulge in practices which tend to pollute their character, to impair their health and to bring them to a premature and dishonored grave." After they had delivered themselves of this preach- ment, and predicted that inevitable ruin of our town morals would follow such loss of respect for authority, the town continued to survive as usual in such cases. The boys of 1848 were no worse and probably no better than the boys of any decade. Many of them lived to honor York in the Civil War. The sermon sounds familiar to the youth of 1928.
THE FRATERNITY OF TRAMPS
In the social readjustments following the Civil War, the usual development of unemployment, resulting from the demobilization of the Northern men, presented new problems for the people in the last quarter of this century. Economic fads of all types were offered for the solution of this situation, many of which found followers in this state as the business depression continued. "War" prices pre- vailed for a decade. Fiat money, the greenback craze and the exploitation of silver as a substitute for gold coinage followed each other in rapid succession. An "army" of the unemployed led by a quixotic "General" marched to Washington to demand employment and a reorganization of society to care for the laboring man. The assault of Coxey's army on Washington accomplished nothing. The countryside gradually became the highway for wandering men out of work who soon developed into a menace to the safety of the residential population. "Tramps," the word used to describe them, first appears in 1875 in the town records when 133 of them were accommodated with lodg- ings that year and furnished with 264 meals. In 1877 the town furnished lodgings for 215 tramps and 430 meals, and in the next year the peak was reached when 421 of the fraternity were given shelter with 842 meals. From that date onward there was a large drop to 50 in 1879 with but 90 meals furnished, and thenceforward the visits of these unfortunates were only casual. The spectacle was new to the people here and became the occasion of numberless jokes and caricatures in the periodicals of that period. The recipients of this emergency assistance were given only a night's lodging and breakfast and were required to saw wood or to perform some other useful job as recompense for their bed and board.
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CHAPTER XXVIII A CENTURY OF WARS, 1812-1914
THE WAR OF 1812
This was called the Seaman's War as it arose from the requirements of national honor to protect our ships and nationals from persistent molestation by officers of the British fleets. Our merchant vessels had submitted far too long to search and detention, and our flag was repeatedly insulted. Over six thousand of our seamen had been forci- bly impressed into British warships and were still reported detained therein. Our efforts to maintain a strict impartial neutrality in the warfare between England and France had been abused. Every measure taken by our national government towards them, unless favorable or partial to England, was viewed with jealousy and suspicion by the British cabinets. England persisted determinedly in her search and impressment demands. She refused to relax them though she knew our government, after Napoleon had receded from this predatory policy, must either take arms against her or violate every principle of national honor.
Such was the unhappy alternative to which the superior foresight of Bonaparte, the usurping ruler of nations, and the superior pride of England, assuming to be mistress of the seas, had now brought the American gov- ernment. It was vain to expostulate longer or talk of neutrality. Our forbearance was viewed as pusillanimity and our inadequate navy treated with disdain. In this political emergency Congress on April 4, 1812 laid a gen- eral embargo for ninety days on all vessels in the harbors of the United States, a measure which gave a shock to the American people who generally believed it to be a pre- cursor of war. Nor were these apprehensions mistaken, for Congress at the same session on June 18 declared a state of war to exist between Great Britain and the United States.
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