Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 32

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

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The seminary is now owned and managed by New England Yearly Meeting of Friends. Originally the Friends aimed at having " select schools " where their children might be taught by themselves; to-day their two schools in New England are open to all who are suitable to be admitted, and the seminary last year enrolled 131 students.

All such institutions have an inner history which no one can write and an influence no one can measure. Perhaps no other one thing which the friends of Kennebec county have started into existence has accomplished so much good or has in it so much possibility of future blessing, not only to this county, but to the state at large, as Oak Grove Seminary; and so long as it stands it will be a noble monument to the memory of the faithful and generous men who wrought for it in its infancy, who mourned for its reverses, and who lifted it from its ashes to its present condition of usefulness.

CHINA MONTHLY MEETING .- No Friends' meeting house was built in China or Harlem before the year 1807, but there had been scattered families of Friends in the town ever since 1774. So long as they had no common place for worship, they made their own homes sanctuaries, and from the rude house in the gloom of the forest, many an earnest cry went up to the loving Father. If there could be no gathering of the faithful, there was the beautiful possibility of individual soul- communion, and though there was no visible temple except the over- arching trees, centuries old, yet to each one of these spiritually-minded men and women came the inspired words, " Ye, yourselves, are Tem- ples of the living God." It seems never to have occurred to them that future generations would care to know what they were doing and suf- fering and striving for; at all events, they have given us no record of their life history. We are able to judge of them only by what we know from results that they must have achieved, and by the influence of their sturdy lives on the generation which succeeded them and in- herited many of their strong qualities.

Miriam Clark, wife of Jonathan Clark, sen., the first settler of the town, and mother of the four Clark brothers, was a member of the Society of Friends, as were also twoof her sons, Andrew and Ephraim Clark; the other two, as well as the father, not being members. One daughter, Jerusha, took the faith of her mother, and married a Friend from England by the name of George Fish, who was lost at sea while

OAK GROVE SEMINARY, VASSALBORO, ME.

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on a voyage to England to revisit his native home. His widow, dying many years later, was the first Friend buried in the grave yard adjoin- ing the " Pond meeting house." Of the four Clark brothers, the two Friends chose the eastern, and the other two the western side of the lake. The nearest meeting they could attend was at Durham, about forty miles away, until the meeting was begun at Vassalboro, in 1780; this would require a walk of about ten miles.

Twenty-one years subsequently, in 1795. David Braley and family settled about one mile from the head of the lake, on its east side, making them about five miles north of the Clark Friends. Some time during the next year their daughter, Olive Braley, became the wife of Ephraim Clark. Anna, the wife of David Braley, was a woman of great piety and an accredited minister of the society. After the meeting was begun at East Vassalboro in 1797, these Friends could easily and regularly attend, as the whole journey could be made by boat in summer and across the ice in winter.

The next year (1798) Benjamin Worth came from Nantucket and settled near the Clarks, on the lot now owned by Benjamin Fry. He was an able gospel minister, and his labors did much toward strength- ening the brethren and arousing the community. Soon after came Lemuel Hawkes, a man of precious memory, settling on the lot after- ward owned by Bowdoin Haskell, about two miles from the south end of the lake. In his house the first regular Friends' meeting in town was held, and meetings continued here until 1807; hence the Friends' meeting in China dates from 1802.

Abel Jones left his home in Durham in 1803, and joined this little band of Friends on the east shore of China lake. Two years later Jedediah Jepson and his son, John, and daughter, Susanna, came hither from Berwick. They rode on horseback a distance of 115 miles, bringing their few household treasures in saddle bags. The father, Jedediah, was a well approved minister and a scholar for his time, so that now the meeting, though still quite small, had three members on whom the "gift of ministration " had been conferred. Jedediah Jepson chose the lot subsequently owned by the late Cyrenus K. Evans, for his new home, and in the year following his daughter, Susanna, was married to Abel Jones. The marriage took place at one of the regular meetings, in the house of Lemuel Hawkes, and was the first marriage in the town according to regulations of Friends .*

* The marriage was conducted as follows: After a religious meeting or some time during the meeting, the bride and groom arose and taking hands said the ceremony, "In the presence of the Lord and before this assembly, I take thee, Susanna Jepson, to be my wife, promising to be unto thee a faithful and loving husband, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us." She saying in return, "In the presence of the Lord and before this assembly, I take thee, Abel Jones, to be my husband, promising to be unto thee a faithful and loving wife, until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us." It was concluded by the reading of the certificate and the signing of the proper names.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

The first meeting house erected in town, and which stands on its original site, was the well known Pond meeting house, situated on the east shore of the lake, about three miles from the north end. This was erected in 1807, on a piece of land purchased of Jedediah Jepson. The society records of 2d month, 1807, say: " This meeting concludes to build a meeting house in Harlem, 30x40 feet, and 10 feet posts; and apportions the expense of building said house to the property of each individual member of this meeting." "Reuben Fairfield, James Meader, Isaac Hussey and Jedediah Jepson are appointed to go for- ward in building said house in a way as to them may appear best, and report as the occasion may require."

The writer remembers having seen, as a boy, a set of wagon wheels which must have gone over 10,000 miles in making the journey back and forth between a Friend's house and this meeting house, a distance of a little over two miles. This house was used for meetings a few years before it was wholly finished. The building was originally heated by a wood fire in the potash kettle described elsewhere; fur- thermore, the seats were not models of comfort. The society has since erected houses at Dirigo, West China and South China. The house at Dirigo was built and meetings were held there continuously until the house at South China was erected in 1885, on the site of a former Bap- tist church which had been burned. The West China house, now a venerable structure, is still used for meetings.

The first meeting for business held in this town by Friends was a preparative meeting held 9th month, 1809. In 1813 they were per- mitted by the quarterly meeting to hold a monthly meeting in con- nection with Friends in Fairfax (now Albion). Since, in 1813, China monthly meeting was established, 939 of these monthly meetings have been held, and only in one instance has the meeting failed to be held, then owing to impassable roads. The only way to form an idea of Friends in this meeting will be for us to call up some of the best known of the individual members who have made their lives useful in the community, who have been tools in the hands of the Supreme Worker, and have done something which has built itself into other lives. In making special mention of a few, we must not forget that all the faithful, active members of this society have lived to some purpose, and though we make no definite record of them, we believe "they were a part of the divine power against evil, widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower."

Let us remark here that at this time the Friends in Kennebec county were with very few exceptions ignorant, so far as book educa- tion is concerned. They were unlettered men and women, with no opportunities for culture. The Bible was in many cases their one book. The heroes of faith pictured forth in the Old Testament, were the only heroes they ever heard about. David and Isaiah were their poets. This same book furnished their only history and ethics; it was

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the child's reading book and spelling book. But with all their days devoted to stubborn toil, with all the scarcity of books and difficulty they had in reading, yet these people in this wilderness grew refined, took on a culture and a grace, as they were faithful to the "Spirit of Truth." Many will bear witness that those who centered their thoughts on the things that are pure and lovely, and honest and of good report-with what there is of virtue and praise-became decid- edly possessed of a courtesy and nobility which stamped them as be- longing within a circle where an unseen influence ennobles and refines the life. This power of moulding lives and raising the whole indi- vidual out of the realm of the ordinary is an almost essential charac- teristic of genuine Quakerism, and some exemplars of this truth will occur to those who have had familiar intercourse among Friends in their various communities through the county. We should be far from claiming that all enrolled members of this society show this; it only applies to those who have dwelt in the "Spirit of Truth and Love," to use one of their most expressive phrases. Nor is it by any means confined to this society, being true of genuine Christianity everywhere.

Among the most important members of China monthly meeting, in its early history, and by the favor of long lives, even down to the last half of this century, were the two brothers, James and Elisha Jones, with their cousin, Stephen Jones, all of whom came into the town from Durham. Elisha was an approved minister, Stephen was a man of shrewd and careful judgment, looked to not only in his own home meetings, but of great influence in the yearly meeting assem- bly, as it met at Newport. He was a man of " ancient dignity," slow of speech, but with a clear mind to perceive and set forth the suitable line of action. He, as well as his two cousins, was marked by spotless integrity, and they made their lives felt widely in the country. Per- haps three men who were nearer the ideal of the old time Friend could not be found in the state.

James Jones was known among Friends throughout the United States as a minister of the gospel. He was especially marked by his power of prophecy. Nearly all who remember the man remember how on some particular occasion he saw the condition of some one in the meeting, or how he marked out the course in which the Lord would lead some one present. In fact his friends and acquaintances looked almost as trustingly for the fulfilment of his words of foresight as though they had been recorded on the same page as those of Isaiah. He made at least three religious visits to Friends as far as Iowa, going in his own carriage. Some think that he accomplished this journey no less than six times. He also visited Friends in North Carolina, Canada, Europe, and in various other remote regions. He generally drove his own horse to Newport and back at the time of the

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

yearly meeting. Nothing gives stronger evidence of the efficiency of his preaching than the influence it had on the young.

Benjamin Worth was, as has been said, a man universally loved, and a strong preacher of the gospel. He was a great friend of the children, and he was accounted a prophet in the community. There are some still living who heard him say in a public meeting shortly before the "cold year," that the time was soon coming when the chil- dren would cry for bread and the fathers and mothers would have none to give them, a state of things which was literally realized; for in the year 1816 there was a frost in every month, and a snow storm covered up the fallen apple blossoms the 12th day of sixth month. Corn ripened in this vicinity in only one field, on the slope of the hill behind the house where Edward H. Cook of Vassalboro now lives. Many such utterances, followed by evident fulfilment, made his neigh- bors have faith in his word as prophetic. He lived to a good old age, and was taken from his work here very much lamented and missed by those among whom he had lived and labored. He was at first settled in Harlem, but later he was a member of the meeting at East Vassal- boro, and the larger part of his service as minister was in the latter meeting.

The writer, when very young, used to count to see if he could find in China, as Abraham could not in Sodom, ten righteous persons, so that he might rest sure that no fire and brimstone would be poured down there for its destruction. The list generally began with Desire Abbot, a sweet and gentle woman, who seemed to be a saint dwelling on the earth. She still lives in the memory of many, as a soul ripened in the sunshine of God's love. Peace Jones is another who has made many lives richer by her presence and work in the world, and though happily still among us, she should be spoken of among those who have been the saving salt in the community. Even as a child, as she sat one day near the back seat of the old meeting house in Albion, she longed to be as good as those who sat on the high seats and seemed never to have temptations; as these longings were in her heart, a good Friend arose and said: " There are some here yearning to have their lives like those who seem to have reached a greater perfection. Let me tell such ones that if they give their lives wholly to the Lord and follow His will fully they will come to experience the life they are yearning for." The little girl knew in her heart that the speaker had been "led to feel out her condition," and she believed his words, which she has certainly verified. It is safe to say that few women in the same sphere of life have reached a fuller Christian experience or have been the cause of more blessing to others. She has always obeyed the voice when it has called her to labor in more remote places, having gone for religions service to Ohio, Iowa, Nova Scotia, and many times throughout New England.

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THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

No other Friend born in the county has made such a wide reputa- tion as Eli Jones. He was born in 1807, being the son of Abel and Susanna Jones, before mentioned. He received a fairly good educa- tion for the time and locality, but this was finely supplemented by a life of careful reading and keen observation. In 1833 he married Sybil Jones, of Brunswick, a woman wonderfully gifted for the work she was to perform, though of slight physical health. She possessed in large degree a poetic soul, and she was blessed with a beautiul, melodious voice and a flow of suitable words to give utterance to the thought which seemed to come to her by inspiration. For forty years they worked together, at home and in foreign fields, striving to show to as many as possible the meaning of the full gospel of Christ. Their first long journey was in 1850, to Liberia, which they made in a sail- ing packet. They spent a number of months along the coast preach- ing to and teaching the colonists of that young republic. The next year after their return from this visit, 1852, they made an extended missionary journey to England, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzer- land and Norway. Everywhere they found eager listeners, and this visit was greatly blessed.

In 1854 Eli Jones was in the legislature at Augusta, where he did much work for the cause of temperance, and being appointed to the office of major general, he delivered a speech in declining it which for its wit and eloquence is deservedly famous. In 1865 Sybil Jones, in obedience to a direct call, visited Washington to work among the soldiers in the hospitals, and in the work she carried a message of love to no less than 30,000 of these suffering and dying men. In 1867 Eli and Sybil Jones were liberated by China monthly meeting and Vassalboro quarterly meeting for religious work in England, France and the Holy Land. One of the results of this visit was the founding of two Friends' missions in the Holy Land, one on Mount Lebanon, the other, called the " Eli and Sybil Jones Mission," at Ramallah, near Jerusalem. Sybil Jones, after a life of continual activity, in which her spiritual power made itself remarkably felt in all parts of the world, was called to the kingdom of peace and joy in 1873. Eli Jones con- tinued to labor for the spread of the gospel, for the missions, for the causes of temperance, education and peace until 1890, dying at his home on the 4th of second month. His life was one of great value to the world. No better example of Friends, as George Fox intended them to be, have appeared in New England than Eli and Sybil Jones.

Alfred H. Jones, born in China, Me., 6th mo. 12, 1825, was educated in the public schools of China and Vassalboro, and in Waterville Classical Institute. After finishing his course of study he taught for eight years in Maine and four years in Ohio, returning to Maine in 1854. He has in many ways taken active part in the affairs of the town. He was a birthright member of the Society of Friends, and in

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

1858 his gift as a minister was acknowledged. In 1868 he was chosen superintendent of the Freedmen's schools and other mission work in Virginia and North Carolina, under the Friends' Freedmen's Aid Association, of Philadelphia, holding this responsible position until he resigned in 1880. Since that time he has devoted himself mostly to the ministry, doing the larger part of his service in his own meet- ing in West China. He was clerk of the meeting for ministry and oversight for New England from 1881 to 1892, besides holding various ·other clerkships in the subordinate meetings.

China monthly meeting has produced a number of Friends who have become well known as educators; among the number, Augustine Jones, LL.B., principal of Friends' Boarding School, Providence, R. I .; Richard M. Jones, LL.D., head master of the William Penn Charter School, Philadelphia, Pa .; Stephen A. Jones, Ph.B., president of Ne- vada State University; Wilmot R. Jones, A.B., principal of Stamford, Conn., High School; Rufus M. Jones, A.M., principal of Oak Grove Seminary, Vassalboro, Me .; Charles R. Jacob, A.B., professor of mod- ern languages in Friends' Boarding School; Arthur W. Jones, profes- sor of Latin in Penn College, Iowa. William Jacob and his wife, S. Narcissa Jacob, also Frank E. Jones, all ministers in this society, have labored faithfully here and elsewhere to. extend the blessing of the gospel.

Toward the close of 1810 a meeting for worship was established in Fairfax (now Albion) and two years afterward a preparative meeting was held at the same place. In a little more than a year after this, Vassalboro monthly meeting, to which the Friends in Fairfax had hitherto belonged, was divided and a new one established called Har- lem monthly meeting, which was to be held one-third of the time in Fairfax. A meeting house was built at this place, which is still stand- ing, one of the quaintest and most unadorned of the many meeting houses in the state.

The most noteworthy member of this meeting was John Warren, a minister. He was a man entirely original and sui generis, and he was undoubtedly endowed with a gift for the ministry. While living on the Maine coast as a young man, and concerned only with the things of this world, he had been told by a traveling Friend that he had a mission in the world. " John, thou must preach," were the words spoken to him, and he lived to feel the necessity laid upon him for service. He traveled much in the United States, and went on one religious visit to the British Isles.

There are many anecdotes told of him, a few of which may be re- lated, as bearing on the character of the man. At one time one of his neighbors, of a very irritable nature, became angry with him and said many hard things against him. John Warren listened quietly and then said: " Is that all thou canst say? If thou knewest John Warren

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as well as I do thou couldst say much more than that against him." At another time, being greatly troubled by one of his neighbor's cows, which had many times gotten into his field, he went to see the neigh- bor, somewhat vexed, though not " unscripturally angry," and said with emphasis: " If thee doesn't take care of thy cow I shall-I shall." " Well." said the man, " what will you do?" "I shall drive her home again!" During one of his visits at a certain place he appointed a meeting, through which he sat in perfect silence. As he was coming out he overheard a young man say to another, " That beats the Devil." John Warren turned to him and said, " That is what it was designed to do." It is related that on his return from England John Warren returned a portion of the money furnished him from the yearly meet- ing's treasury for his expenses, which was spoken of as a wonderful thing, never having happened before or since. While John Warren lived the meeting was in a flourishing condition; after his death it began slowly to decline, and at present the house is unused, there be- ing no Friends in the community.

FAIRFIELD QUARTERLY MEETING .- Litchfield Preparative .- In the latter part of the last century a meeting of Friends was begun in the township of Leeds. As this is now not a part of Kennebec county, we shall not go into any detailed history of the society there, though this meeting gave its name to the monthly meeting which included many subordinate meetings which were in the county.

Joseph Sampson was probably the first member of the society there, he having been a soldier in the revolutionary war, but was brought over to the society of peace loving Friends through the ef- forts of David Sands. Before the end of the last century a large meeting had been formed, composed of sturdy, hard-working men and women, extremely zealous for their tenets. Perhaps a little too stern sometimes in "dealing" with unfaithful members. The intent of their hearts was right, they believed greatly in righteousness, and the records show that here as well as elsewhere in the county those who yearned for a life in harmony with the Divine Spirit became pure, true, noble and graceful men and women.

Until 1813 Leeds Friends made a part of Durham monthly meet- ing; after that time they were joined with the Friends in Litchfield and Winthrop. In 1803 a religious meeting was commenced in Litch- field; this was at first made up of a few families who met for worship in a school house near the south end of the lake. The most influen- tial member of this meeting seems to have been Moses Wadsworth, a man of beautiful life and Christian character, a recognized minister. He was for sixteen years clerk of Leeds monthly meeting. Noah Farr was another very worthy member of the meeting. There was no organized meeting until 1812, when a preparative meeting was estab- lished, and on the 20th of second month a new monthly meeting was

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begun covering a large region, and including many Friends. The records of this first monthly meeting show the following extract from the quarterly meeting held at Windham second month, 1813: " We, your committee to consider the proposal from Durham for setting up a new monthly meeting at Leeds, are of the opinion that it will be best for Lewiston, Leeds, Litchfield, Winthrop and Wilton * to be set off and denominated Leeds monthly meeting." The name of this monthly meeting has often been changed, as we shall see.

In 1812 a proposition had been made in the Litchfield preparative meeting to build a meeting house on the farm of Noah Farr, near the south end of the lake, but in the 5th month, 1813, the following re- port was accepted in the monthly meeting: "The committee ap- pointed to visit Friends in Litchfield respecting building a meeting house report that they think best to build one near the place where they now meet (in the school house) twenty-six x thirty-six and ten feet posts." Later we find that they received " a donation of $150.00 from Friends toward building the house," and " the Treasurer is di- rected to pay $7.42 for the land."

This house was on the spot where the West Gardiner Friends meeting house now stands. The Friends in these meetings during the early part of the century were much disturbed by the tendency manifested by some members to chose wives outside the limits of the society. As a Friend in their eyes was no longer a Friend if he did not in every particular conform to "the good order of the society," they were often hasty in dropping fron membership some who with different treatment might have become valuable members, though they not unwisely saw that in order to maintain their good name, and to keep their principles unchanged through generations, they must purge themselves of all who loved the world more than the faith of their fathers. The following is a record often appearing:

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 32

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790