Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 50

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

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 50

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Augusta Bank was chartered January 21, 1814. The directors chosen were James Bridge, Daniel Cony, John Davis, Ben- jamin Brown, jun., John Eveleth, Samuel Wood and Thomas W. Smith. The capital stock was $100,000. James Bridge, the first president, was succeeded by Daniel Williams in 1834, Thomas W. Smith in 1841 and Samuel Cony in 1855. Its cashiers were George Crosby, George W. Allen and Joseph J. Eveleth. In 1864 the bank surrendered its charter. In 1848 the bank sold its banking house lot, and

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the Stanley House was built upon it. The Stanley House was burned in the great fire in 1865, and the present Cony House erected upon the same spot. After the funds of the bank had been put into a vault in the Stanley House, the vault was broken open in 1849, and $29,500 in specie stolen. The burglars were arrested, and one of them disclosed where the money had been secreted, under the speakers' stand in the representatives' hall. The whole amount was recovered.

The Freeman's bank was chartered March 2, 1833, with a capital stock, $50,000, subsequently increased to $100,000. The first directors were Benjamin Davis, John Eveleth, William Dewey, Watson F. Hal- lett, John Mulliken, George Cox and William H. Kittredge. Ben- jamin Davis was the first president, and Harlow Spaulding the first cashier. Watson F. Hallett was the only other president, and the succeeding cashiers were William Caldwell and Daniel Pike. The bank reorganized as the Freeman's National Bank, April 9, 1864, with Watson F. Hallett, John Mulliken, Charles F. Potter, Russell Eaton, Thomas Lambard and O. C. Whitehouse, as directors. Mr. Hallett was continued as president until his death ; also Mr. Pike as cashier, and was succeeded by Ai Brooks, jun., J. L. Adams and Frank H. Adams. In 1884, the charter having expired, the bank closed up its affairs. Its fixtures were sold to the new Augusta National Bank.

The Citizens' Bank was chartered January 26, 1833, with a capital stock of $60,000. The first directors were: John Dole, John Potter, Reuel Williams, H. W. Fuller, James L. Child, Greenlief White and Allen Lambard. John Dole was elected president, and Asa Reding- ton, cashier. The next president was Reuel Williams. In 1841 the stock of the bank was sold to parties who proposed to operate it in the West, but the same year the affairs of the bank were wound up in the hands of receivers.

The State Bank was organized in Augusta June 7, 1854, with George W. Stanley as president, and William R. Smith as cashier. It continued to do business until 1864, when it surrendered its charter, and closed up its affairs.

The First National Bank of Augusta was then organized. Though having no connection with the State Bank, it was its successor. Its capital stock was $100,000, subsequently increased to $250,000. Its first directors were: George W. Stanley, Joseph H. Williams, Peter F. Sanborn, John L. Cutler and Joseph A. Sanborn. George W. Stanley was president, and William R. Smith, cashier. The presidents since have been: Joseph H. Williams, James W. North, Daniel Cony and Oscar Holway; and cashiers, Israel Boothby, John W. Fogler and Charles S. Hichborn.

The Granite Bank was incorporated in April, 1836, with a capital of $100,000. The first directors were: John Chandler, Edmund T.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Bridge, George W. Stanley, Joseph Chandler, Alfred Redington, William A. Brooks and Eben Fuller. Mr. Bridge was chosen presi- dent, and Silas Leonard, cashier. The succeeding presidents have been: Joseph Chandler, William Woart, jun., and William A. Brooks. The cashiers: Silas Leonard, 1836; George W. Allen, 1858, and Will- iam T. Johnson,# 1860. This bank reorganized as the Granite Na- tional Bank July 11, 1864, with the same capital. William A. Brooks, Darius Alden, Benjamin H. Cushman, William Caldwell and James W. North were elected directors. The presidents have been: William A. Brooks, Darius Alden, Benjamin H. Cushman, James W. Bradbury and John W. Chase. Its cashiers have been: William T. Johnson, who at his death was succeeded by his son, Treby Johnson, October 11, 1881.

The Augusta National Bank was organized November 3, 1884, with a capital stock of $100,000. Its first board of directors were: Samuel Titcomb, Elias Milliken, Martin V. B. Chase, Edward C. Allen, Benjamin F. Parrott, John F. Hill and Samuel B. Glazier. Samuel Titcomb was chosen president, and at his death was succeeded by Elias Milliken. Its cashiers have been: Samuel B. Glazier, William B. Nickles and John R. Gould.

The Augusta Savings Bank, organized in August, 1848, is one of the largest institutions for savings in the state. The bank has depos- itors in forty-three states-the total deposits being $5,626,005.14. Its presidents have been: William A. Brooks, Thomas Lambard and William S. Badger; and its treasurers, Benjamin A. G. Fuller, Joseph J. Eveleth, Tobias T. Snow, William R. Smith and Edwin C. Dudley.

The Kennebec Savings Bank was incorporated March 7, 1870, and organized March 19th. It was always kept in the rooms of the Free- man's Bank and Freeman's National Bank, until the latter wound up its affairs, since which it has had its office with the Augusta National Bank. Its presidents have been Watson F. Hallett until his death, Russell Eaton and Martin V. B. Chase. Its treasurers, Joseph L. Adams, Frank H. Adams, Samuel B. Glazier, Russell Eaton, William B. Nickles and William G. Boothby.

The Augusta Loan & Building Association was organized June 27, 1887, with a capital stock of $10,000. Edward C. Allen was elected president, William H. Libby, secretary, and Treby Johnson, treasurer. The presidents since have been Samuel W. Lane and Thomas J.

* William Treby Johnson, son of William and grandson of Thomas Johnson, of Farmington, married first, Martha Tappan Chase, and second, her sister, Abby Baker Chase. By his first wife he had seven children, four of whom are living. About 1830 he came to Augusta, and learned the printers' trade, and worked in Portland and Bangor as a journeyman, returning to Augusta in 1840, where, for sixteen years, he was a printer and editor (see page 244).

COMFORT PUBLISHING HOUSE

PUBLISHING HOUSE OF THE GANNETT & MORSE CONCERN, AUGUSTA, ME.

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Lynch. The association has an accumulated capital of $150,179.34, and holds mortgages on real estate amounting to $149,800.

OTHER BUSINESS ENTERPRISES .- Peleg O. Vickery, after a career chiefly at Augusta as a practical printer, established in October, 1874, an office in Waverly Hall building, and commenced the publication of Vickery's Fireside Visitor. This met with great public favor and in March, 1876, he commenced the publication of the Illustrated Family Monthly, which was discontinued in 1885. Happy Hours was begun in 1881, and has a large circulation. Hearth and Home was begun in the autumn of 1883, under the title of Back-log Sketches, and is now pub- lished as a sixteen page monthly. Good Stories was commenced in 1890. In January, 1882, John F. Hill* who had married Mr. Vickery's daughter, Lizzie G., became a partner in the business, and the firm became Vickery & Hill, with Mr. Hill the business manager. In 1879 the establishment was removed to the large and convenient building erected for the purpose, on the northwest corner of the old Mansion House lot, and which has since been enlarged. About seventy-five persons are regularly employed, and at busy times, the number is largely increased. In 1889 the smaller printing presses were taken out, and a Scott web perfecting press of great capacity substituted, which does the printing for the entire establishment.

In 1888 William H. Gannett, then of the firm of Gannett & Morse, began in Augusta, under the business name of The Gannett & Morse Concern, the publication of Comfort, a literary monthly, the first num- ber of which appeared in November of that year. It was then an eight page folio. The first number-an edition of 13,000 copies-was printed at the Kennebec Journal office. This arrangement for composi- tion and press work was continued until May, 1890, when Mr. Gan- nett, the sole proprietor, located his printing establishment on Willow street where the whole work has since been done.

In 1889 the size of the publication was changed to sixteen page folio, and the circulation has increased phenomenally (exceeding one million copies each issue in less than three years from the start). The brick building shown in the preceding plate was erected in 1891 to meet the requirements of the business, which now furnishes employ- ment for more than one hundred people. One of the many popular features of Comfort is the department " Aunt Minerva and her Owls,"

*John Fremont Hill? (William,6 Samuel,5 Isaac, + Samuel,3 Joseph,2 John, 1 of Dover, N. H.) was born in Elliot, Me., 1855. His mother was Miriam, daughter of Andrew and Sarah C. (Odiorne) Leighton. John F. Hill read medicine, and graduated at the Maine Medical School, Brunswick, with a course of study at Long Island Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. After practicing his profession awhile in Augusta he became, and is still, the junior member of the publishing firm of Vickery & Hill, He was a member of the legislature in 1880, and in 1892 was elected to the state senate.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

edited by Annie Hayward Farnham, formerly of Augusta, now resid- ing in Lock Haven, Pa.

The publishing business which was established at Hallowell by Ezekiel Goodale, as noticed in the following chapter, became in 1880 the property of Captain Charles E. Nash, who in the following year removed the establishment to Augusta, and occupied temporarily the Waverly Hall building. In June, 1883, he located permanently in the block he had just erected for the purpose near the foot of Oak street. Among the works bearing his imprint are the last twelve volumes Maine Reports, the History of Methodism in Maine, several books of poems and numerous pamphlets, religious, literary and occasional.

There is no better illustration of the law of evolution in trade, than that furnished during the growth of Augusta in the great business of clothing the people. After the period when the flax field, the sheep flock, the home loom and the housewife's needle were the cardinal elements in the problem, came the palmy days of the old-time tailor. But that kind of tailoring has had its day; and within a period much more recent than young men suppose, began the age of ready-made clothing.

That period was important as furnishing an industrial pursuit, for it was the custom of city wholesalers to cut the garments in large quantities, ship their material to their agents in the river towns, and they, in turn, hired family labor throughout the country to finish the garments.

Among the early tailors of Augusta were: Benjamin Ross, John Hill, from London; William Hunt, who afterward manufactured in large quantities; Virgil H. Huse; William H. Chisam, from 1831 to 1860; John H. and Frank Chisam; Gilbert H. O'Reilly; James Gould; James Dealey, and William Cobb. Sylvanus Caldwell, Deane Pray and George Potter early began selling ready-made clothing in Augusta.

William H. Chisam used to receive cut clothing from Boston, and employed around Augusta at one time more than 700 women, making these garments. This method of manufacture has been almost entirely superseded by the factory with its hundreds of sewing machines.

Samuel W. Huntington, a well known resident of Hallowell, em- ployed fifty men in his shops there and nine teams on the road, to carry on the manufacture of ready-made garments, which were fin- ished in hundreds of homes in the surrounding country, and before the great fire of 1865 had a clothing store in Augusta where H. H. Hamlen's harness store now is. His brother, Benjamin Huntington, was his partner, and in 1868 his son, Samuel L., and Charles H. Nason formed the firm of S. W. Huntington & Co., and did business near the northwest corner of Bridge and Water streets, and opened branch

LE Hason.

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stores at Hallowell and Gardiner. S. L. Huntington and Mr. Nason, as Huntington, Nason & Co., continued at Augusta as merchants in ready-made clothing for about seven years prior to 1880. They added custom tailoring and manufacturing of ready-made, and thus marked what may be considered another step in the development of the cloth- ing business.

In 1875, the senior partners, S. W. and Benjamin Huntington, re- tired, and in 1879 the business was removed to the large double store opposite the Cony House. In 1880 S. L. Huntington withdrew from the firm, leaving Mr. Nason alone in the management of a large store. This opportunity for putting into execution a long cherished ambi- tion he confidently seized. Progressive ideas, with exact details of procedure, all carefully considered and matured, were at once put to a practical test. Special attention to the manufacturing department stimulated the confidence of buyers, which always means an increase of sales. For this reason his extensive stock of garments is still, as then, of his own make.

Continued expansion of trade compelled his removal, in 1890, to more commodious quarters. These were found in the Allen Build- ing, where two floors, with an area of 6,000 square feet, were fitted expressly for his wants. The unchecked march of his business abreast with the times from its commencement to the present has been the natural fruitage of logical thought and courageous persist- ence. And now, it is a compliment and an honor to Augusta, as well. as to Mr. Nason, that by the concurrent opinion of constant travel- ers, her leading clothier has the finest establishment of its kind in. Maine .*

The Fuller drug store was established in 1819 by Eben Fuller, and after the fire of 1865, he and his son, Henry L., rebuilt it and con- ducted it until Eben Fuller's death. Henry L. died a few years later,. and John D. Myrick, a son-in-law of Eben Fuller, carried on the busi-

*Mr. Nason comes of staunch New England parentage, his ancestry on both sides for many generations being noted for strict integrity, energy and public spirit. One of his ancestors was killed in the French and Indian war, and others served in the revolution and the war of 1812. His father was Joseph F. Nason, born June 29, 1813, died October 27, 1877, whose ancestor, Richard Nason, emi -- grated to Kittery, Me., in 1647. His mother, Mary Thompson Welch, was born March 10, 1813, and died May 3, 1852. She was descended on the maternal side from James Thompson, who settled at York, Me., prior to 1707, and whose sons, James and Cornelius, purchased, in 1739, the strip of land at Brunswick known as the "New Meadows." Charles H. was born at Hallowell, November 25, 1845, and was educated at the academy there, and at the Maine State Seminary at Lewiston. He began his business career in 1863, as a clerk in the dry goods store of Kilbourne & Barton, Augusta, remaining with them until 1868, when, as stated above, he became a member of the firm of S. W. Huntington & Co .. May 23, 1870, Mr. Nason married Emma C. Huntington, of Hallowell. [Page 263]. Their only child, Arthur Huntington Nason, was born February 3, 1877.

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ness until August 8, 1880, when he sold to Frank W. Kinsman. On January 1, 1887, Frank R. Partridge,“ the present druggist, purchased the business.

At the southeast corner of Market Square Dr. E. S. Tappan (a brother of Parson Tappan) and Dr. William S. Craig established, in January, 1828, what was subsequently known as the Craig drug store. Here J. E. Ladd, Mr. Cushing, William Black and Charles F. Potter were successively in trade. In May, 1865, Charles K. Partridget bought an interest with Charles F. Potter, for whom he had been clerk, and shortly before the fire of 1865 purchased Mr. Potter's share. In the following spring C. K. Partridge located in Granite Hall Block, where he was again burned out in December, 1890. His brother, Frank R., was his partner during thirteen years, prior to January, 1887. In 1892, after the Granite Block was rebuilt, he relocated his business at the same corner.

The City drug store was opened after the fire of 1865, by Frank W. Kinsman, who was succeeded in 1875 by James E. Devine & Co. In 1876, Nathaniel R. Howard became Mr. Devine's partner. Two years later Mr. Howard succeeded the firm, and in the fall of 1880 sold the store to Horace E. Bowditch and O. C. Webster, a registered pharmacist, who had been his clerk.

Joseph P. Dillingham and Lewis H. Titcomb had an early drug store where the E. C. Allen block now stands. They moved to cor- ner of Bridge and Water streets, where Mr. Titcomb and John Dorr continued in trade. Here Mr. Dorr and William Craig were in busi- ness, and here Mr. Dorr's adopted son, George W., became a partner, as J. & G. W. Dorr, druggists. In 1878, James E. Devine bought the store of Lewis H. Titcomb, and two years later, admitted his former clerk, John Coughlin, forming the present firm of Devine & Coughlin.

In 1876, Frank W. Kinsman opened the Centennial drug store, and sold it in 1880 to his son, Fred G. George M. Allen bought this cor- ner in June, 1883, and after a local fire in 1887 Fred G. Kinsman suc- ceeded to the business as now.

As early as 1869 Alfred C. Dana had a drug store where C. B. Mur- phy's business now is on Water street. Mr. Murphy was born in Pittston in 1862. At the age of thirteen he came to Augusta, and for a time was office boy with Doctors Brickett and Bolan. About 1882 he became a clerk in the drug store of F. G. Kinsman & Co., and in 1885 bought out the Dana stand of F. H. Gilman & Co.

*Mr. Partridge was the first registered pharmacist in the state to be licensed after an examination under the present law. Since March, 1889, he has been one of the three state commissioners of pharmacy.

+Charles K. Partridge, born in Augusta, in 1836, is a son of Reuben Partridge, who was once a merchant here, and grandson of Amos Partridge, formerly of Sidney.

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In May, 1879, the late Charles H. Guppy, and F. W. Kinsman, jun., bought of Doctor Crooker, at the northwest corner of State and Win- throp streets, a drug business, which he had begun two years prior. In 1881 W. O. Alden, jun., became a partner, and in 1883 Mr. Kins- man retired, and at Mr. Guppy's death in 1892, his nephew, L. J. Crooker, jun., succeeded to his interest.

Arthur Tetrault came to Augusta in 1889 and established a new drug store at Water street-the first French druggist in the city.

James Devine was the pioneer in supplying Augusta with pure water. He laid an aqueduct from springs on the hill south of the city, and for some years supplied a few families. He did not have much means, and finally the property fell into other hands. The Angusta Water Company was organized in 1870, the leading spirit in the movement being Warren Johnson. He built a dam below the springs, put down aqueducts, and much increased the supply of water. The directors were: Benjamin H. Cushman, Darius Alden, Adam Lemont, Charles Milliken, Warren Johnson, Henry S. Osgood and Alanson B. Farwell. Mr. Cushman was chosen president, and Mr. Osgood, secretary.

In 1885 the charter was purchased by a new company, whose ob- ject was to take a water supply from the river. Joseph R. Bodwell was president of the new company, and Joseph H. Manley, clerk and treasurer. Mr. Bodwell was succeeded by George P. Wescott, of Portland. A large reservoir was built upon the hill west of the city, into which water is pumped from the river above the dam. The com- pany supplies the city, the insane hospital, and the Kennebec Arsenal. In 1889 the company purchased the Devine water works, and continued to supply spring water to the extent of the capacity of the spring.

In 1847 Samuel Homan purchased a piece of land on the east side of the river, near the arsenal, and put up a steam saw mill. This was burned, and in 1862 Ira D. Sturgis bought the place of Henry Smith, and greatly enlarged the business. Albert Daily, of Providence, R. I., was his partner, and subsequently a half interest was sold to A. & W. Sprague. In 1866 the Kennebec Land & Lumber Company was organized, purchased the mills and other property, and operated the mills until October, 1875, when the mills and a large quantity of their product were burned. Ira D. Sturgis* was president of the com-

* Ira D. Sturgis, born 1815, died December, 1891, was a son of James, and grandson of Edward Sturgis, who came from Barnstable, Mass , about 1780, with his four sons-David, James, Jonathan and Heman-and bought a large tract included in the 750 acres now comprising the Sturgis farm in Vassalboro. On this farm are the graves of Indians who lived here and raised corn after Ed- ward Sturgis came. The first frame house on this farm was burned November 5, 1839, in which fire James Sturgis lost his life.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

pany, and J. Manchester Haynes, his son-in-law, was treasurer until 1875, when Mr. Haynes was elected president. In 1876 a company composed of Ira D. Sturgis, Thomas Lainbard and Ira H. Randall, rebuilt the mills, and operated them until 1889, when the Augusta Lumber Company was organized, with Ira D. Sturgis (since deceased) president, Thomas Lambard, clerk and treasurer, and Ira H. Randall, business manager.

In May, 1847, Orrin Williamson came from Worcester, Mass., with machinery for a door, sash and blind factory, which he located on the west end of the dam, where he and his brother, Elias W., operated it for five or six years. In 1859 Orrin Williamson became a partner with Josiah P. Wyman in the sash and blind business on Bond brook, where Mr. Wyman and Lemuel Davenport began the business in 1856. In September, 1865, Mr. Williamson retired, and that business was continued by Wyman & Son until 1884, when the son, Silas W. Wyman, John C. Webber and William E. Gage succeeded to the busi- ness for six years, when the firm became Webber & Gage. The business gives employment to from thirty to forty people.

While Mr. Williamson was in the firm they were the largest con- cern of the kind in the Kennebec valley, employing seventy-five men, and having $60,000 worth of their product in transit to California at one time. On March 19, 1870, Mr. Williamson succeeded Mark G. Brooks in the hardware business in Union Block, and since 1872 his large business in agricultural implements and farmers' supplies has made the use of an additional store necessary.

O. S. Smiley, a son of the late Hugh Smiley, of Sidney, located on the west end of the dam some thirty years ago, and in 1871 removed to the east side of the river, built a factory now producing 1,500,000 broom handles for export to Europe, and employs twelve to fifteen workmen.

Benjamin F. Morse and Josiah P. Wyman once had a carriage manufactory on Water street, where they made many of the stage coaches of earlier days. In 1875 Hiram Clark bought the business and plant, and in 1887, began to manufacture his patent drop axle and de- livery wagons. In October, 1889, the factory was burned, and he located on Willow street, where the Allen Lambert car shops had been, and made his brother, Joseph E. Clark, his partner (firm of Hiram Clark & Co.), and continues the manufacture of his drop axle wagons, which they finish, in all parts of the work employing from fifteen to twenty mechanics. Their father, Joseph, was a son of Thomas Clark, of Pittston, whose parents were of Wiscasset.

Josiah W. Bangs and Algernon S. Bangs, as Bangs Brothers, located in Augusta in 1880, on the west end of the dam, manufacturing doors, sash and blinds. Three years later they moved to the east end of dam, and made a specialty of window frames. They employ about fifty

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people and manufacture for Boston and New York wholesale trade. Their new plant, built especially for the window frame business, was completed in 1890, equipped with fifty-five horse power steam engine and electric lights.

In June, 1888, Willis M. Savage, William T. Parks and Frederick S. Lyman erected buildings on the east end of the dam, and com- menced the manufacture of ground wood pulp, as the Augusta Pulp Company. The Cushnoc Fiber Company was organized in 1889, for the purpose of manufacturing pulp by the sulphite process, and in February, 1891, the two companies were consolidated. The capital stock is $100,000, and F. S. Lyman was the first secretary and general manager. The manufacture of pulp by both processes has been highly successful, and seventy men find constant employment in the establishment. August 20, 1892, this company commenced the manu- facture of manilla paper, the daily output being eight tons, soon to be doubled. Of ground pulp, the daily output is seven tons, dry weight, and of fiber sulphite, eight tons. Mr. Lyman is now president and general manager, and Melvin S. Holway clerk and treasurer.

LOCALITIES .- Church Hill, a rural locality, northeast of the busi- ness center of Augusta, is named for Samuel Church, from Connecti- cut, who came to Maine about 1780, and to this vicinity in April, 1800. His wife was Ruby, daughter of Esquire Benjamin Pettengill. Their oldest child, Luther, was born in 1783, and died in 1826; their seventh child, Anson, was born at Church Hill, in June, 1800. Pettengill's Corner is the geographical monument to Benjamin Pettengill; and Bolton Hill preserves in a name the most that is remembered of the first generation of the old family of Boltons.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 50

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