USA > Maine > Washington County > Machias > Memorial of the centennial anniversary of the settlement of Machias > Part 10
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" I feel like one who treads alone, Some banquet hall, deserted- Whose guests. are fled-whose lights are dead- And all but me, departed !"
We cannot fail to remember, on an occasion like the pres- ent, those prominent men, who once resided among us : and afterwards removed to other parts of the country. There was Judge Dickinson, Judge Allen, Pilsbury, Thacher, Pike, Dunn, S. H. Lowell, Lancaster, all members of the legal profession-Jackson, the Adamses, Ward, Stone, Buck, Bond, Williams and Sanborn, all clergymen-and among the most noted business men, were Col. Pope, Col. Hitchcock, Raymond, Dunning, F. A. Burrall, the late S. J. Bowles, Harwood and Garland.
FELLOW CITIZENS :- I must not forget, that I rose to re- . spond to the sentiment, " Natives of Muchias residing abroad." It is a wide theme. No man could do justice to the subject in the brief time allowed me. I am only speaking of them in groups and classes. With the assistance of friends, I have drawn up a list of some of the men, who were born within the limits of the old town, and are now residing elsewhere." On this imperfect list are more than three hundred names. Many of those, whose names are here written, have become distinguished in the learned professions, in scientific and literary pursuits, in commerce, in the mechanic arts, and as
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ship-masters and seamen. They are to be found in all parts of the country ; and are respected and honored, and occupy high positions in society ; not only in the Atlantic cities ; but also in the North Western States, and in the towns and cities on the Pacific.
In the learned professions, you have furnished Hillard, Cooper, Talbot and Knox-Foster, Fletcher, Bowles, Porter and the Stones-Harris, Hitchcock, Rich, Scott, the Talbots and the Smiths. Among the merchants, you have furnished the Popes, Talbots, Simpsons, Mayhews, Palmers, Hoveys, Harris, Hitchcock, Folsom and the Wilsons. Among the ship-masters, are your Fosters, Nortons, Averys, Talbots, Browns, Mayhews, Munsons, Spencers, Kellers, Petersons, Spragues and Crockers. For the Army, you have given your Burnhams, Talbots, Harrises, Wests, Chases, Longfel- lows, Hutchinson, Sevey, and many others.
I have, also, an imperfect list of the women,* born in Machias, and now residing abroad ; and I say to you of my own personal knowedge, that many of them are qualified to fill the most exalted positions in society ; are ornaments of their sex ; and an honor to the place of their nativity.
But I must close, with the expression of one additional thought. When the celebrated Roman matron, Cornelia, was requested on a certain occasion, to exhibit her jewels, it is said, that she produced her two sons, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, afterwards so renowned in history, saying: "These are the only jewels of which I can boast ;" and if a like request were made of the early settlers of Machias, they could with just pride, point to the noble MEN and WOMEN they have produced, and say-these, THESE are OUR JEWELS.
* The lists prepared by Mr. Lowell are inserted in the Appendix. .
APPENDIX.
The papers which have been selected and arranged in the appendix, are well worthy of preservation, and will be found of interest to all students of Machias history.
0- -
MEMORIAL OF THE INHABITANTS OF MACHIAS, ASKING AN ABATEMENT OF STATE TAX, PRESENTED IN 1787.
To the Hon. Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts :
The petition of the Town of Machias Humbly sheweth : That the Gen'l Court in March 17, 1786, Taxcd all the settlements in the Eastern parts of this Commonwealth, among which this town was taxed £301, the tax act not coming into the hands of the Assessors until last fall and all communication being stopped between this place and Boston during the course of the winter preventing our making application to Hon. Court before, we now beg leave to lay before you a true and unexaggerated state of our situation and the difficulties and burthens we have and still labor under.
In the month of May, 1763, about 12 men and three women came to Machias and began to erect a double saw mill, and in the month of August the same year
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the remainder of their families joined them. They supposing themselves to be un- der the Jurisdiction of the province of Nova Scotia applied there for a grant of a Township, but the Government supposing them not to be within their limits, re- fuscd making any Grant. In the year 1766, they having considerably increased in number, they made application to the Government of Massachusetts, but there being some errors in the petition, they failed, but repeatedly renewed their applica- tion until the year 1770, when a grant passed the Legislature, but then the King's approbation was to be obtained before the Grant would be valid. During all this time & until the War commenced, the people were in a state of uncertainty respecting their Lands, therefore directed the most of their time to Lumbering, and had made but very little improvement upon then Lands when Hostilities com- menced, at which time they had not 3 weeks provision in the Township, and the very early & active part they took in the late contest rendered them very ob- noxious to the British commanders, & they had reason to apprehend their ven- gcance, and for the first year all kinds of business but war was dropt. The next year attempts were made for improving our Lands but the frequent alarms upon our coasts embarrased the people so that but little progress was made, and in the month of August one Brig that was loaded in our River & bound to the West In- dies, and two Sloops, that were loaded by us & bound to Newbury were all taken off the mouth of the harbor soon after they sailed, By reason of which some peo- ple suffered greatly. In the fall of the same year Mr. Eddy came along from Boston having obtained some provisions by the order of the Gen'l Court .- Though not clothed with any authority by them, yet he proposed to carry on an expedition against Cumberland in Nova Scotia, and the Inhabitants of Machias full of zeal to support the common cause immediately engaged with Eddy and set out for Cumberland, but finally were defeated after the severe season had set in, and had to make a retreat through the wilderness upwards of 300 miles through the snow. The next year an expedition was formed under the Authority of our Government against Nova Scotia, and to enter that Province by way of Cumber- land, the Gen'l Rendezvous to be at Machias. This the enemy got inteligence of & before any considerable number of the troops or any cannon arrived here, a sınall squadron of three Ships consisting of one Ship of 44 Guns, three Frigates & an armed Brig entered our Harbor with a full determination to destroy "is, but by the goodness of Divine Providence, and the vigorous exertions of the people they were repulsed with great loss on their part & upon our side of one man killed, one wounded, two dwelling houses two Barns, & one mill burnt. They afterwards collected in force at the mouth of the river St. John, and we had frequent alarms & information that they were determined to make another attack upon us, so that all the peoples time & attention was taken up in making the necessary preparations of defence, until the season closed, when we were informed the enemy had retired- into winter quarters. In the year 1778 we had some little tranquility, and consid- crable exertions were made for improving the land. But in the year 1779 we
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were again thrown into the greatest distress by the enemy establishing a post at Major Biguaduce. We then expected nothing but subjugation, & people had no heart to do anything, after our troops arrived & besieged the enemy. Genl Loud found a reinforcement was necessary & sent an order for one half of the Militia to join him. The draft was immediately made, and set out with Col. Allen & had got as far as Deer Island when they received intelligence that the seige was raised .. The people then returned home again but were under considerable apprehension of being subjugated , the British Commander having issued a Proclamation denounc- ing vengeance against all those that did not come at that time & submit them- selves to the British Government & take an oath of Allegiance. Many persons to the westward of us were so discouraged as to propose to fall in with the British so far as to become neutral & had petitions drawn for that purpose which were sent to this town to join in the measures, but we refusing & the steps we took prevented those places who were in favor of it from falling, whereby the whole of the Country castward of Bagaduce was preserved. The people of this town were now almost reduced to a state of desperation, but still determined never to submit until reduced by superior force, although all communication with the Metropolis and all other parts of the state from which we had any hope of relief seemed to be cut off, frequent alarms now took place this & the ensuing year and whilst the War lasted the people were called out for to erect fortifications & keep guard .- Great pains was taken by the enemy to bring the Indians upon us, and in the fall of the year 1779 the noted Major Rogers was actually sent through by the way of St. Johns to Canada to bring a body of Indians against us carly in the spring, & they came a part of the way, as we were afterwards informed, until the Indians be- longing to St. Johns river met them & persuaded them to return, by telling them that the French & we were bretheren, and that to fight against us would be to fight against their father the French King, but as we had early intelligence of the business that Rogers was upon we really expected him, & was at the ex- pence of keeping Scouts up the river to discover the enemy if he approached .-- Several vessels that were bound here with supplies were taken, & one that was loaded with fish, furs & other valuable articles & owned in the place was taken on her passage to Boston, & others that had property on board belonging to the inhabitants fell into the enemy's hand. The numerous alarms & the want of provisions very much impeded the improvements of the lands, the remaining years of the War, and kept the people in a very naked situation. When the peace took place in 1783 and goods conld be obtained for lumber, they were under the neces- sity of obtaining considerable credit in order to carry on their business & clothe their families. The Mills during the war went to decay & were rotted down, but lumber being now in great demandl & commanding a great price they excited to rebuild their Mills but were at a very great expense in doing it, as laber of all kinds were exceeding high. We had just got under way & a prospect of discharg- ing the demands against them when the navigation act was passed, which imme-
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diately knocked the price of lumber down from 8 to 4 dollars per thousand, and is now a drag at 3 dollars. Thus were the people involved in the utmost distress for most of them were in debt at the commencement of the war, and during the contest, had no means of discharging it even with paper money which they would not have wished to have donc had it been in their power, and to those old debts they had under the necessity as before mentioned of adding a very considerable new debt, and the navigation act was followed by two ex- cceding dry seasons especially the last, when the drouth set in very severe in July. The Mills soon were stopped for want of water, and continued so the remaining part of the season, & winter set in very early without rain. The crops of potatoes cut prodigiously short & no credit to be obtained, so that the inhabi- tants were reduced to greater straights the winter past than during any part of the war.' They have also been at a very great expense in running out their Town- ship, laying out their Lots, setling a Minister & supporting him for 15 years, building & providing places for publie worship, making roads, & many other heavy expenses which arise in bringing forward the settlement of a new Town- ship. As an almost total stop was put to all business during the war the inhabi- tants in general were unable to pay the Minister yearly which obliged him to run in debt for the support of his family, & when peace took place there was nearly nine hundred pounds to be raised to pay his salary to enable him to discharge tis debts, which came very heavy on the people. Add to this his salary since the peace, £80 a year for a public school, £250 a year we have raised to make & rc- pair roads & highways & £200 wc have raised the present year for repairing our Meeting House with other expenses of the Town make it almost impossible to pay any State Taxes laid upon us at present, and our great desire to support the laws renders it necessary for us to make still further application, which is for a County to be erected in this district which if granted must be attended with very considerable expense but the necessities make us anxious for the accomplishment of it. There are many strong & urgent reasons for a County being established in this district in particular for the punishment of crimes against the public which al- though they are not numerous, yet there is some & among others of Fornication & Bastardy, also for granting licenses to persons as Innholders & Retailers of Spiritous liquors, for no person will be at the expense & fatigue of travelling 300 miles & upwards through Wilderness & exceeding bad roads & when they come there, must seek friends to be bondsmen for them which perhaps as they are strang- ers it will be impossible for them to obtain, and the consequence will be there will be no Licensed persons in this part of the Country. Liquors will be sold in a elan- derstine manner, and if one sell another may, & the matter will be so general that no person can be informed against or punished and individuals may thereby be very much injured by too free use of Spiritous liquors. A County Road is al- so exceedingly wanted, which will not be obtained untill a County is established here. In short as before observed our reasons are tonumerous to be mentioned. In
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the first years of the war thie Geul Court found it necessary to grant the settlement on the Eastern shore considerable sums of money to purchase provisions for the in- habitants. This place received with the others & have repaid the whole since the peace took place which amounted to near £1200 which we believe is the only place castward of Penobscot that has repaid the public any part of the sums received, neither have they been at the expense of supporting a Minister, building meeting houses, raising money for highways & public schools. We are informed the Hon. Court have been pleased to abate the Taxes laid on several of the plantations castward of Union River, in consideration of their inability to pay, and we are sensible that this place is the least able, for the reasons before mentioned, of pay- ing of any. in the eastern Country. At the time we petitioned to be incorporated several of members of the Genl Court informed us that it would not be the means of bringing on taxation any sooner, as they supposed it would be unreasonable to tax us sooner than the other places adjacent who were more able to pay, only because we wislied to be incorporated to come into better regulations among ourselves. We dont wish to flinch from the public burthen, but whenever we are able to pay any thing towards it, we wish to do it with cheerfulness, but from the many dif- ficulties we labored under during the war, our embarrased situation at the time & since the peace took place, the large sums we have been obliged to raise for the support of a Minister & other purposes, the punctual manner in which we repaid Government the moneys borrowed together with our inability at present, we hum- bly pray your Hon. Court to be pleased to take our distressed state into their wise consideration & be pleased to grant us relief by remitting our State Tax and as in duty bound will ever pray.
By order and in behalf of the Town of Machias.
STEPHEN JONES, JAMES AVERY,
Committee. JERE' O'BRIEN,
ATTEST : JAMES AVERY, Toun Clerk.
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APPENDIX.
2 SEPARATION OF MAINE.
In 1776, an attempt was made to obtain the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, and the influence of every impor- tant precinct was solicited. The following is the reply of the citizens of Machias to this proposition at that time. .
To the Hon. William Gorham, President of the Convention to assemble at Portland in January, 1787.
SIR :- The proceedings of the Convention of Delegates assembled at Portland Sept. 6, 1786 was received by the Seleetmem & laid before a legal meeting of the inhabitants of this town warned to assemble for that purpose & after mature de- liberation it was voted unanimously that the town does not think it expedient at this present period that a separation from the Commonwealth should take place, as you may observe by the enelosed copy of their proceedings, & appointed us a committee to transmit the same to you, & inform you as President of the Conven- tion the reasons which actuated them not to vote for it. We therefore according to the direction of the town, beg leave to state some of the reasons that influeneed the inhabitants in this measure. They eoneeive that what the Hon. Convention state as grievances are only inconveniences or burthens that are natural to all States & will always in some eases operate more powerfully in some parts of the state than in others, and we are not under the least apprehension but that the Legisla- ture will always be ready (when proper steps which the Convention points out for that purpose are justly directed to them) to remove those inconveniences or bur- thens so far as it is possible or consistent with the good of the whole, and al- thouh some aets of the General Court may operate more against the three East- er Counties, still the inhabitants of the town of Maehias do not think that their in- terests are so different as to be a sufficient foundation for them to seek a separation ; neither do we conceive that the General Court being so large operates any more against these Counties than the other parts of the Communities. That the Gen- eral Court is large and consequently makes their business more perplexing we readily admit, but for the removal of the evil we look forward to the year 1795 when a revisal of the Constitution is to take place when a full remedy may be obtained by having only three or four members out of a County instead of one from caeh town. In application to the Supreme Executive authority, the repair- ing to the office of the Supreme Judicial Court & State Treasurer in Boston ean be attended with much less expense than those inland Counties where the suitos have to travel by land which is more expensive than water conveyance which is frequent from the Eastern Ports. That a considerable part of the inhabitants in
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these Eastern Counties are not represented, cannot by any incans be considered as a grievance, for we apprehend the fault lies wholly at their own door, as the district & plantations on a proper application would doubtless be incorporated whierchy that difficulty would be removed. This we are convinced of by our own experience. Therefore think that cannot be a sufficient reason for separation. The present mode of taxation by Polls & Estates is one of those inconveniencies which will in all States operate more powerfully in some parts than others, but we are informed the Genl Court at their late session has righted that burtlien as much as they pos- sibly can, & that they have passed an act to receive Lumber for taxes. If this is true it will operate more in our favor than it will in favor of other Counties, as it will not be so expensive to send our Lumber to Boston from the Eastern part of the State to pay our taxes as it will cost those who have taxes to pay who only live twenty miles from Boston. The Excise & Impost act may be considered in the same light as the article respecting taxation, for that burthen is wholly or in a great measure removed by the Excise upon Cider which we are informed the Leg- is'ature has laid upon that article the last session. The difference of the duty up- on Deeds they with all due deference to the Opinions of the Hon. Convention think too trifling to mention. However should we be misinformed in respect to the acts passed the last session as is before mentioned, and even grant that the present mode of taxation, the Excise and duties on deeds operate more against the Eastern Counties than any other part of this Commonweath but still we are of opinion that it cannot operate to such a degree as to make a separation by any way nec- essary. To support a separate Government would in the opinion of this Town be attended with much greater expense than what these Counties pay towards the present, without any real advantage arising to us. The British have made en- croachments on our Eastern frontiers & are still endeavoring to extend their bound- ary line further West partly in consequence of their information that these East- ern Counties are wishing to be erected into a separate State and we would not in the smallest degree wish to gratify their inclination for they have ever boasted that if Government could once be divided with respect to interests & princip es & territo- ry they would more readily fall a prey to their wishes. Should a separation take place, these Counties would not be in a situation to settle the dispute so much to advantage as they will in their present connexion & the force of union to support it. The great extent of these Counties & their being but thinly inhabited & should a war with any foreign power take place this State in its weak situation would probably fall the first sacrifice, & Massachusetts would not think it so particularly her interest to use their exertions in its defence as it would in the present connex- ion, neither is it probable the Commonwealth will in the present situation of affairs be brought to give her consent, as it would be setting an example for the Coun- ties of Berkshire & Hampshire to separate which they seem inclined to do & when a State once begins to divide it may be attended with many fatal consequences, & Congress who are bound to support the Constitutional rights of cach State
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would not give their assent to such a measure. At a time when our affairs are in such a precarious situation, when we labor under so many embarassments when the deluded people in many of the Counties are rising in open rebellion to all law & Government, we think it impo itie, unwise, and unjustifiable to further perplex Government in pursuing measures so unwarrantable to obtain a separation at this time. We observe the Hon. Convention vote'd that those Towns & Plantations that does not send Delegates or send their votes will be considered as acquiesing in a separation. This we beg leave to observe is a method to collect the minds of the people different from what has been heretofore the practice & a construction put upon their silence not warranted upon any principle of reason, therefore lest so unjustifiable a constrnetion should be put upon our silence the Town have directed their proceedings to be transmitted to you.
We are, &e.,
S. JONES, - JAMES AVERY, Committee. R. H. BOWLES,
ATTEST : JAMES AVERV, Town Clerk.
Maelias. 20th. Nov. 1786.
MINISTERIAL SUBSCRIPTION LIST.
Below is appended a Ministerial Subscription toward the support of Rev. Mr. Lyon, in 1778. It is presumed that this was in aid of the regular annual salary of 80 £ per year, voted by the Proprietary, but which, in consequence of the War, had proved somewhat difficult of collection,-so much so, that at the end of the War, nearly 900£ was due Mr. L., for arreages :-
Whereas it has been Purposed by a Number of The Inhabitants of this Settle" ment, that the Rev. James Lyon tarry here this present Year and Preach the Gos- pel among us, and we, the said Inhabitants, being sensible that it is our Duty to Contraet for the honorable support of the Gospel, and in order that the said James Lyon might be Enabled to Comfortably support his Family, and in Some measure make his work as Easy as Possible, our circumstances will admit of in this Diffi- cult day, have proposed a subscription for the Encouragement of the said James Lyon's Tarrying among us.
APPENDIX. 143
And In consideration of his, the said James Lyon's Tarrying in this place and preaching the Gospel for the Term one whole Year, to commence the Last Day of Last March and to End the Last Day of Next March. We therefore promise and Engage to pay or cause to be paid to the said James Lyon, the several sums set against our Several Names hereunto annexed, Each one for himself, Either iu Cash or other Specie as we shall subscribe, which is to be paid in the following manner, viz: The one half between now and the first Day of September Next, and the other half to be paid by the Twenty-Sixth Day of March Next, provided Nevertheless, if it should suit the said James Lyon to Remove out of this place, or otherways Neglect the Preaching of the Gospel as aforesaid, Sickness except- ed, the: in that case we promise to pay him In Proportion for what Time he shall so preach, In Proportion to What We shall Severally Subscribe.
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