Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 98

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 98


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146


Alexander Gordon was born in Scotland, and was a royalist soldier at the battle of Worcester, England, September 3d, 1651. He came to Boston in 1652, and died in Exeter, N. H., in 1697. His wife, Mary Lysson, was born in Marblehead, Mass. Their son, Thomas, born 1678, died 1761, married Elizabeth Harriman, born 1675, died 1720. Their son, Daniel, was born in 1704, and died in 1786. His wife, Susanna, was born in 1706, and died in 1786. Their son, Ithiel, died in 1828, and his wife, Mary Glidden, died in 1819. Their son, Josiah, born in 1757, married Elizabeth Smith. Their son, Jonathan, was born in 1786, and in 1808 married Sarah Pettingill, who was born in 1790. Their son, Joseph P., born 1819, died 1876, married Lydia J. Norris. She died in 1872, aged 48 years, 6 months. Their children were: Sarah F., born May 23, 1844; J. Benjamin, born May 26, 1845; Jonathan F., born February 17, 1847; Charlotte E., died in 1860, aged twelve years; and Willis W., born June 27, 1856. Jonathan F. mar- ried Mrs. Lena Kent. He is a granite cutter by trade, and came to the farm where he now resides in 1879. He carries on farming, and has a granite quarry, from which he cuts and ships granite.


John M. Gott, born in 1848, is a son of Charles and Annie (Wood) Gott, and grandson of William Gott, who came to Wayne from Greene in 1815, and settled on Morrison's Heights. Mr. Gott was a merchant three years, but has followed farming most of his life. He has car- ried on a corn canning business since 1890. He married Clara. E., daughter of Nathaniel Ladd, and their children are: C. Morrette,


822


HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.


George L., Bertha J., Edith M. and Annie M .; and an adopted son, Charles L.


Charles O. Graves, born in Wayne, December 14, 1858, is a son of Osgood and Mercy M. (Bishop) Graves, and grandson of Charles Graves, who died in 1885. Charles O. married Annie F., daughter of Cyrus Gould, and has one son, Leo. In 1881 Mr. Graves came to the farm where he now lives, to look after his Grandfather Bishop, who died June 10, 1883. Mr. Graves succeeded to the farm, his grand- mother dying in 1885.


Ellis L. Lincoln, born in Leeds, Me., is one of five sons of William C. and Mahala (Bishop) Lincoln, and grandson of Rufus Lincoln. He has been a merchant tailor in Wayne since 1882. He married Lillian, daughter of Orrin Maxim, and has two sons: Lendall and Carlisle. Since 1889 Norris K. Lincoln, a brother of Ellis L., has kept a boot and shoe store, also a barber shop, in the same building with Ellis L.


Daniel Manter came to Wayne about 1786, and settled on the farm where Albert N. Manter now lives. His sons were: Daniel, George and David (twins), Freeman, Silas, Eliphalet, Elias, Ezra and Eleazar. Silas stayed on the farm and had two sons: Freeman and Silas Albert, who married Alice A., daughter of Isaac Pettingill, and remained on the farm and had seven children: Albert N., Arthur W., Sewall P., Charles G., George L., Ellis A. and Flora M. Silas Albert died De- cember 28, 1875, when Albert N. succeeded him on the farm, where he now lives with his mother.


Benjamin F. Maxim, born in 1836, is a grandson of Benjamin Maxim, and son of Seth and Mary (Lewis) Maxim, who had six sons and five daughters. He married Ann, daughter of Edward and Roxanna Jones, and they have four children: Nellie M., Fred E., Lewis P. and Walter D. He enlisted in 1863, in Company B, 17th Maine, and was made sergeant. He returned to Wayne, where he has been select- man for five years, and in 1889 was a member of the state legislature. He was, previous to 1890, trustee of the Kennebec County Agricultural Society for eight years.


Luther S. Maxim is one of seven children of Ephraim and Ruth P. (Billington) Maxim, the others being: Leonard H., Olive A. (Mrs. Charles Norris), Ephraim H., George A., Josiah W. and Mary K. (Mrs. Grafton Norris). Grafton Norris was captain in Company C, 11th Maine, in the late war. Mr. Maxim was in business in Jersey City for eight years, and came to the farm where he now lives in 1867. He married Roxanna P., daughter of Samuel W. Frost. He is a grandson of Ephraim, and great-grandson of Nathan Maxim.


Samuel Maxim is one of the eight children of Isaac and Harriet B. Maxim. Those living are: Hiram S., of Kent, England, who is the inventor of the Maxim gun that has made the name of Maxim famous throughout the world: Hudson, and Samuel, who married Laura E.,


823


TOWN OF WAYNE.


daughter of George Maxim. She died in 1884, leaving three children: Charles U., Hiram H. and Harriet E. Samuel Maxim was educated at Kents Hill and has taught school. He is the patentee of several articles of value. He has lived on the farm where he now resides since 1872. His mother, who is now living with him, is a daughter of Levi Stevens.


Charles Norris, farmer and road commissioner, born in Wayne in 1827, is a son of Nathan and Abigail (Howard) Norris, grandson of Nathan, and great-grandson of Samuel Norris, of Cape Cod, Mass. Nathan, sen., had three sons: Samuel, Benjamin and Nathan, jun., who had three sons-Charles, Hiram and Nathan. Charles married Olive A. Maxim, and has had five children: Emma L. (Mrs. Samuel Libbey), Frank B., Ruth P., Luther M. and Herbert C. They live on the farm where Mrs. Norris was born.


Melvin Norris was born in Wayne in 1826, and is the only son of Ephraim and Temperance (Billington) Norris, grandson of Josiah, and great-grandson of Samuel Norris, who came from Cape Cod, Mass., to Wayne in 1787, where he died. Josiah succeeded Samuel on the home farm, and had four sons: Ephraim, Josiah, John A. and Oliver. He died in 1857. Ephraim, who died in 1875, on the home farmn, left this farm to his son, Melvin, who married Araminta, daughter of Isaac and Hannah Pettingill, and had five children, those now living being: Josiah E., Henry M., Willie P. and Charles W. The latter married Martha A., daughter of William Charlesworth, and they have one daughter, Pearl C., of the sixth generation of the Norris family that have lived on this farm, where Charles W. lives with his father, Melvin.


Rocellus C. Norris, born in Livermore in 1843, is a son of Ichabod C. and Fidelia (Wood) Norris, and grandson of Samuel Norris. He married Lois A., daughter of Jason Pettingill, of Leeds, and they have five children: Albert R., Irving C., Lora E., Asa G. and Harold M. He has occupied his present home farm since 1877.


Sewall Pettingill, a farmer of Wayne, born here in 1839, is a son of Isaac and Hannah (Norris) Pettingill, and grandson of William Pettingill, who came to Leeds, Me., about 1795. Sewall Pettingill married, first, Mary H. Sanborn, who died in 1862. He married for his' second wife, Emma F., daughter of Jesse Bishop, of Wayne, and they have three children: Mary E., who is a teacher; Blanche A. and Olin S. Mr. Pettingill enlisted in 1862, in Company F, 11th Maine, and served until 1865. He has been one of the selectmen of his town for nine years and a member of the school board for four years.


James M. Pike, born in 1836, is a son of James and Augusta (God- ding) Pike. He married Almina A., daughter of William Walker, and they have five children: Florence A., Francis M., Albert J., Mabel C. and Laura A. Mr. Pike went to California in 1859, where he remained


-


824


HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.


until 1881, when he came to Wayne and bought the farm where he now lives. He devotes considerable attention to fruit raising.


Peleg F. Pike, born December 11, 1813, in Fayette, is the eldest of six children of Benjamin Pike, who came from Amherst, N. H., to Fayette in 1788, with his father, Zachariah Pike. Mr. Pike was in mercantile trade in Fayette twelve years, afterward a farmer there until 1879, when he came to Wayne, where he now lives. He was two years (1862-3) in the senate, fifteen years first selectman and several years town treasurer in Fayette. He has been treasurer of Wayne one year and selectman five years. His first wife, Mary, daughter of James Cochrane, of Vienna, Me., died leaving seven children: Benja- min F. (deceased), Lewis, James C., Mary F., Nancy P., Joseph L. (de- ceased) and Charles S. All now reside in Iowa, except Mary F. His second wife was Mrs. Marcia A. Lake, daughter of Oliver Fuller, jun., of Jay, Me. Their only daughter, Mary L., died.


Captain Matthias Smith, born May 22, 1728, died 1806, came to Pondtown plantation, now Readfield and Winthrop, with his wife, Comfort Carpenter, and family, and settled on the farm now owned by William Harvey. He received his title of captain in the French and Indian war. His children were: Matthias, 2d, born August 30, 1759, died June 20, 1812; Rev. Comfort C., Charlotte, Cyril, Thomas, Captain John and Doctor Charles. Matthias, 2d, was born at Pomfret, Conn., and settled at Readfield, Me., on the farm now owned by Gus- tavus Smith and Nathaniel Jordan. He married Temperance Blos- som, who was born October 15, 1761, and died April 27, 1817. Their children were: James, Carpenter, Samuel, George, John, Captain Ben- jamin, Oliver, Matthias, Ansel and Harriet. Captain Benjamin Smith was born at Readfield, December 28, 1796, and died May 20, 1866. He settled at North Wayne, and was married by Rev. Comfort Smith, January 25, 1829, to Sarah B. Cresey, who was born October 29, 1806. Their children were: Elhanan, born December 27, 1829; Benjamin F., born October 5, 1831; Andrew, born May 2, 1833; Lycurgus, born January 4, 1835; Washington B., born January 28, 1837, died April 12, 1891; Captain Winfield, born January 1, 1839, received his title in the war of the rebellion; Fairfield, born February 3, 1841; Victoria R., born July 16, 1843, married John R. Grindall; and Glorvinia, born July 8, 1846, married Dr. Chauncy J. Raichard, deceased. Mrs. Raich- ard and her mother live with Elhanan Smith, in Wayne.


Greengrove M. True, born in 1829, is one of eight children of Dan- iel and Lydia (Ridley) True. Mr. True is a farmer, and his father was a farmer and lumberman. He married Julia, daughter of Benja- min Jones. They have had three children: Fred G., Willie J. and Alton M. The two last named are deceased.


3


John M. Gott


824b


HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.


JOHN M. GOTT, mentioned at page 821, was born in Wayne No- vember 3, 1848. His mother, Annie (Wood) Gott, was a daughter of Nathan and Rebecca Wood, whose family came from Kingfield, Me., and settled at Norridgwock. His grandfather, William Gott, jun., married Rhoda Knapp; his great-grandfather, William Gott, married Sally Gamedge. This family, of Scotch ancestry, were among the original settlers at Cape Ann.


William Gott, jun., came from the vicinity of Lewiston in 1815, bringing his family with him, and settled in the town of Wayne, on the place now occupied by Otis Howard, who married one of his daughters. He had a family of fourteen children, most of whom grew to years of maturity, several settling in Wayne and Winthrop. He was a natural mechanic, of an ingenious turn of mind, but engaged in farming throughout his life.


Charles Gott was six years of age when his father.located in the town of Wayne. He remained upon the paternal farm until he was twenty-nine years of age, then lived in the north part of the town a few years, but finally settled on Morrison's hill, afterward called Gott's mountain, at the place now occupied by Frank Bradford. Here he passed forty years of his life, engaged actively in agricultural pur- suits and gaining for himself the reputation of a successful and rep- resentative farmer. He was closely identified with the Free Baptist church at Wayne village, filling the office of deacon. Near the close of his life he located at the village of Wayne, where he died, Decem- ber 14, 1885.


Charles Gott's first wife was Jane Foss, by whom he had children: Gardner G., Charles S., Elijah, and Howard C. His second wife was Annie Wood, who died September 24, 1892. Of this union were born four children: John W., who died in infancy; George H., who died at the age of seventeen; John M. and Jennie M., now Mrs. C. C. Small.


John M. Gott was reared upon his father's farm and received a good common school education, supplemented by academic training at Lewiston. At the age of twenty-six he began the mercantile busi- ness at Wayne village, where he remained for three years. He sub- sequently removed to his "Cliff Cottage " farm, remaining there nine years. He then removed to the Leonard Wing place, which he now owns and occupies. He is now engaged with his sons in carrying on a successful canning business at Wayne village, and is recognized as one of the most active and progressive business men of his town. He has never aspired to public office nor sought for political prominence, but takes a decided interest in church affairs at the village, and is a deacon in the Baptist church.


825


TOWN OF WAYNE.


Moses B. Sylvester, born in Wayne, is a son of Rev. Bradbury and Lydia B. Sylvester, and grandson of Harvey Sylvester, who came from Massachusetts to Leeds and had seven sons. Bradbury had three sons: Moses B., George W., who died in 1864, and Charles B. His wife dying in 1864, he married for his second wife Mrs. Matilda Morse, of Greene, who, since he died in 1889, has lived on the old homestead farm, with Sylvester, who married Mary J., daughter of Daniel Pierce, of Monmonth. They have one son, George A.


George W. Walton, son of Nathaniel Walton, who settled in Fay- ette where G. P. Taylor now resides, and grandson of John Walton, was born in Wayne in 1835. In 1866 he married Sarah E., eldest daughter of Dea. Francis Dexter, and has two children: Carrie May, born in 1867, and Winfred W., born in 1872. Mr. Walton has taught more than fifty terms of school, also serving on the Wayne school board for twenty-five years. He represented the town in the state legislature in 1867 and has been auditor of the accounts of the town since 1887.


Charles E. Wing®, born July 15, 1845, is a son of Obed, jun., and Alice H. (Hunton) Wing (Obed', John3, John2 and John Wing'). His father was a cooper until 1845, when he began to run a grist mill and continued until 1876, when Charles E. succeeded him and has con- tinued the business since that time. The latter served two years in the late war in Company M, 2d Maine Cavalry. He married Frances L. Johnson, and they have one daughter, Alice.


James M. Wing, born in Wayne, is a son of James and Nancy (Norris) Wing, and grandson of Simeon Wing, who came from Ware- ham, Mass., to the farm where James now lives. James M. married Mary A., daughter of Isaac and Mary Boales, of Winthrop, and re- mained on the old homestead. They have had four children; the only two now living are Julia M. and Emery M.


CHAPTER XXXII.


TOWN OF WINTHROP.


Pondtown .- Incorporated as Winthrop .- Town Meetings .- First Matters Con- sidered. - Population and Valuation. - Action to Secure Preaching. - Churches .- Metcalf Neighborhood. - Mills .- Oil Cloth and other Manufactor- ies .- Old Settlers .- Town Reports .- Banks .- Post Offices .- Cemeteries .- Hotels .- Societies .- East Winthrop .- Snell Brook .- Cider Mills .- Centen- nial .- Civil Officers .- Personal Paragraphs.


O BSCURITY settles with lighter or deeper shade over the early history of all localities whose age has attained the dignity of a century. The ownership of real estate may usually be traced by legal records, but the acts of the owners, when and how they made improvements, built houses and mills, and started the wheels of in- dustry, become matters of great uncertainty. The truth of these re- flections comes with painful force to the anxious but baffled searcher after the facts that constitute the earliest history of Winthrop. All thanks to Parson Thurston for collecting what facts he did, with the sincerest regret that so many escaped him!


Pondtown was a descriptive name for a domain which had qualities that gave it an attractive reputation. Its woods and its waters were alive with native wealth. A hunter named Scott was its first recorded visitor. He built a cabin beside a pond. That tells the story. Hunt- ers are men of keen and wide observation, and of practical conclusions. Scott was a trapper, and he found beaver by the streams and fish in the ponds, neither of which thrive without good food and plenty of it. Land and water and climate must all be propitious, of which the higher types of game and fish are natural and unerring judges. Hunters and settlers follow safely where they lead.


Mr. Scott was the first squatter, and he made improvements that in 1764 brought him £30 from Timothy Foster, the first settler, who came from Attleboro, Mass., and afterward had trouble with Mr. Scott's creditors, because he took no receipt to show that he had bought and paid for the hunter's hut. Mr. Foster brought his wife and ten chil- dren in 1765, and settled on lot No. 8. Squier Bishop took a grant for lot No. 17, and Eben Bly for lot No. 18, in 1766. The next year Mr. Bishop brought his wife and six children- the second family of set- tlers. The names of some of the men to whom other land grants were


827


TOWN OF WINTHROP.


issued, with the number of the lot and the year, were: John Needham, lot No. 10, 1767; Samuel Needham, No. 13, Abraham Wyman, No. 12, Nathan Hall, No. 11, and Timothy Foster, jun., No. 5, in 1769; Na- thaniel Stanley took lot No. 18, Amos Boynton, No. 29, Peter Hopkins, No. 9, and Nathaniel Floyd, No. 42, in 1768; Capt. Billy Foster, of the revolution, No. 7, Jonathan Whiting, No. 101, Joseph Baker, No. 213, and Stephen Jones, No. 14, in 1772.


A petition to the general court of Massachusetts for the incorpora- of Pondtown Plantation, with the name of the town left blank, " Dated Kennebeck, 1770," was signed by the following men, whose names are familiar to all students of the early history of this town and Readfield: John Chandler, came from New Ipswich, Mass., built the first mills, settled on lots 25 and 26, now village; James Craigg, lot 212, an active, energetic man, who built the first saw mill at Read- field; Moses Ayer, lot 213; Elisha Smith, lot 134; John Blunt, ener- getic, was a captain of militia; Samuel Frost, lot 79; John Chandler, jun., son of above John, born 1754; Samuel Stevens, son of Joseph, born 1751, lot 139; Joseph Greeley, lot 135; Natt C. Emery, lot 23; Squier Bishop, on lot 55-the second settler and first innholder-came from Rehoboth, Mass .; Robert Waugh, lot 98; Joseph Chandler, lot 78; James Pullen; Amos Stevens; Benjamin Fairbanks, was fourth set- tler, born 1746, came from Dedham, Mass., in 1766, lot No. 6; Ste- phen Pullen, lot 56, third settler; Moses Greeley, from New Hamp- shire; Uright Brown, lot 64; Jonathan Emery, lot 23, now in Readfield; Richard Humphry, lot 83; Gideon Lambert, came in 1769 from Mar- tha's Vineyard, with four children, lot 71, and built the house now next south of Levi Jones' residence; Ichabod How, lot 72, came in 1769, with four children, from Martha's Vineyard, was a soldier; Seth Delano, of French origin, name originally De La Noye. lot 4, son of Zebedee, born 1751; Joseph Stevens, lot 65, born 1720, brought ten children with him; Joseph Brown, lot 21; Joseph Davenport, lot 91; and Arthur Dun.


Among the early settlers whose names do not appear on the peti- tion were: Timothy Foster, Jonathan Whiting, from Wrentham, Mass., one of the most prominent in town affairs, was first justice of the peace; and Zebedee Delano, born 1727, died 1804, had seven children, including Zebedee, jun., who became a Baptist preacher.


Winthrop was incorporated the next year after the date of this petition, April 26, 1771-the first town, not on navigable waters, in- corporated in the district of Maine, and probably named in honor of Governor Thomas L. Winthrop, who owned at least one lot in the plantation. The first town meeting was held at the house of Squier Bishop, on May 20th of the same year, Ichabod How, moderator.


One of the most important matters that came before the people at their early town meetings was the fish grievance. Before the dam


828


HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.


was built across the Cobbosseecontee at Gardiner various kinds of fish came every year from the Kennebec and stocked the numerous ponds from which the Cobbosseecontee drew its constant water supply. The loss was most serious, and to many a deprivation of the necessaries of life. At a town meeting held November 17, 1771, "they chose James Craigg, Jonathan Whiting and Ichabod How a committee to solicit Dr. Gardiner to open a place through or around his mill dam, to let the fish up for the benefit of the town." The same thing was done several times, each successive committee visiting Doctor Gardiner with their requests, but his dams remain yet.


The earliest obtainable valuation roll of the town-for the year 1800-contains the names of 209 property owners, 194 citizens liable to poll tax, and shows in the inventory that there were then in town 191 oxen, 409 cows, 88 young cattle three years old, 174 two years old, and 204 yearlings. There were also 121 horses, 36 two year old colts and 30 yearlings; and 252 swine. The town contained 134 houses; 136 barns, and 40 buildings. Seven persons were in trade, with stock worth $60,000, and eighteen persons had money at interest aggregat- ing $91,383. Assessing real estate at two per cent. of the full value, the aggregate was $5,548; the personal estates were assessed at six per cent. of the true value. The town was said to contain 16,765 acres, of which 10,352 were unimproved, 3,925 belonged to non-residents, 1,114 were mowing land, 975 pasture, 361} tillage, and 37} acres of orchard; $600 was raised for highways, $400 for schools, and $250 for town charges. The population of Winthrop in 1850 was 2,154; in 1860, 2,338; in 1870, 2,229; in 1880, 2,146. The total valuation of the town in 1860 was $769,018; in 1870 it was $1,122,839; in 1880, $1,125,337; and in 1890 it was $1,039,435.


" At a meeting of the town, September, 1808, Dudley Todd, Joseph Metcalf, Nathaniel Fairbanks and Samuel Wood were appointed to draft a petition to the President of the United States, to suspend the operation of the Embargo laws, in part or in whole, as shall be most conducive to the well being of said states in their present embarrassed and oppressed condition." The committee acted and sent a petition to the president. It was not heard from. Winthrop people were never troubled with mental apathy. Every public question, every re- form, had to be investigated and stamped with their approval or dis- approval, as the succeeding brief records will show.


May 2, 1808, Article VII in the town warrant was " To see if said town will vote that no spirituous liquors should be sold near the meet- ing on town meeting days." (The first recorded attempt at anti- liquor laws.)


March 27, 1815, the Winthrop Society for the Promotion of Good Morals was organized, Samuel Wood, president. They resolved to


829


TOWN OF WINTHROP.


pledge to the Massachusetts Society for Suppressing Intemperance their sincere and cordial cooperation. This society was merged into the Winthrop Sabbath School Union and a new constitution adopted March 21, 1827.


Dram drinking in stores was becoming an appalling evil, and March 25, 1816, the standing committee were instructed to take such measures as their discretion might dictate " to prevent the evils re- sulting from the present mode of retailing spiritous liquors from the stores."


In 1827 the Anderson Institution was organized. The constitution declared: " The object shall be mutual instruction in the sciences as connected with the mechanic arts and agriculture, and the discussion of such subjects as are of a practical nature and have a bearing on the common concerns of life." Thomas J. Lee was president; Pliny Har- ris, secretary: Samuel Benjamin, treasurer; and Dr. Issachar Snell and Joseph Fairbanks were directors. Such a list of officers shows that the best men of the village were in it. Women were also mem- bers.


April 6, 1830, the town passed a resolution offered by Samuel Wood " that it is not our duty as a town to tempt men to use ardent spirits by licensing any one except inn holders to sell it."


In 1832 a debating club, called the Franklin Society, was formed, and courses of lectures were maintained, in different years, with es- pecial success and interest in 1852 and 1853.


November 21, 1833, Rev. David Thurston preached his first anti- slavery sermon-one of the first, in fact, that was preached anywhere in the North. March 4, 1834, an anti-slavery society was organized with 107 members, with an anti-slavery library, and was followed by female and juvenile anti-slavery societies.


April, 1836, " voted not to license any person to sell ardent spirits in town the coming year in a less quantity than twenty eight gal- lons." October 15, 1841, the Washingtonian Society was formed.


In 1844 the anti-slavery men of Winthrop organized the Kennebec County Liberty Association, taking for their declaration of principles the words of Washington: "There is but one proper and effectual mode by which the overthrow of slavery can be accomplished and that is by legislative authority; and this so far as my suffrage can go shall not be wanting." Some of those who signed as members were: Stephen Sewall, Seth May, Benjamin P. Knight, Joseph A. Metcalf, Samuel Benjamin, B. H. Cushman, Eben Shaw, Anson Stanley, James Roberts, the only colored man in town: Henry Baker, Daniel Carr, Isaac Dexter, Luke Perkins, Eben Packard, Joseph Williams, Perez Southworth, Ira B. Davenport, Amos Woodward, Isaac Smith, Ezekiel Robinson and George W. Carr.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.