USA > Maine > Hancock County > Mount Desert > Mount Desert : a history > Part 11
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21st. Voted that no man intrude on any other man's former portions for hay, or any other arti- cle without leave from the former possessor.
22nd. Voted that Mr. James Cockel be allowed a share in the marsh equal to other settlers and no more.
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Of the men whose names are mentioned in these records, Josiah Black, Levi Higgins, and Elisha Cousins were settled at Hull's Cove ; James Richardson and Abraham Somes at Somes- ville; Thomas Richardson on the east side of Bass Harbor ; Thomas Wasgatt and Ebenezer Salsbury near Salsbury's Cove, and Silas Parker at Parker's Point north of Hull's Cove. The marshes referred to were at Bass Harbor, Pretty Marsh, and Northeast Creek. They were still evidently regarded as public property, for at a later meeting Elisha Cousins, Stephen Richard- son, and Silas Parker were chosen a committee to take care of the marshes, fence the marsh called Pretty Marsh, and " lay out the marshes into lots as may be wanted, which is not already possessed by ye inhabitants." The clerk was further in- structed to post up " notifications to forbid the inhabitants of the neighboring plantations from intruding on this island for hay, or any other article."
The inhabitants of the island also petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to protect them in their rights and give them titles to the lands which they occupied, as appears by the fol- lowing resolve, passed by the House of Repre- sentatives, November 9, 1776, and concurred in by the council November 12.
" On the petition of the inhabitants of the island of Mt. Desert, Resolved, that those persons
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who have settled upon said island, and have been to the expense of building, etc., there, be still continued in the peaceable possessions of their improvements, till the further order of this court ; and it is recommended to the committees of the neighboring places, to afford them their assistance in preventing persons from robbing them of any of the products of their labors."
It was doubtless in connection with this peti- tion that in the same year, 1776, Stephen Rich- ardson attended the General Court as represent- ing the people of Mount Desert. At a meeting held October 15, 1776, it was " voted that Mr. Stephen Richardson's account is accepted and that each subscriber pay three shillings lawful money to James Richardson on or before our next annual meeting ; and that said James pay off said Stephen's account for going to ye General Court in behalf of this island in October, 1776."
This amount was paid as shown by the follow- ing record : -
An account of use made of the money of the district :
MOUNT DESERT, December ye 25, 1776.
The District debtor to James Richardson for this book, 1£ 6s 8d1
For Stephen Richardson going to the Gen- eral Court in behalf of ye Island in Oct. 1776 £4 2s 4d
1 The subscription for the purchase of this town book again discloses the names of the leading citizens at the time of organi- zation: -
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The settlers were alive to the importance of improving their means of communication. At the plantation meeting of March 30, 1776, it was voted to lay out a public road approximately from Silas Parker's, just north of Hull's Cove, to James Burrill's at Cromwell's Harbor, just south of Bar Harbor. This would give a trail at least to connect the scattered homes along the northeastern shore. At the same time John Thomas, Elisha Cousins, and Silas Parker were instructed "to lay out three landing places, one at Mr. Black's Cove, one at Mr. Hadley's Brook and one at Mr. Higgins' landing." These were
MOUNT DESERT, March 30th, 1776.
Subscription for a Town Book Paid to James Richardson, Treas- urer,
Capt. Ezra Young, 2s, 10d, Stephen Richardson, 1s, Abram Somes, 1s, 4d,
5s 2d
John Thomas, Jr. 1s, 3d, Josiah Black, 6d, Timothy Smallidge, 6d, 2 3
Daniel Gott, 1s, Levi Higgins 1s, Silas Parker 1s, 3 0
James Burrill, 1s, 2d, Peter Gott, 1s, Ezra Leland, 7d 2 9
James Richardson, Jr., 1s, Elisha Cousins, 1s, 6d, John Hamor, 1s, 3 6
Ebenezer Salsbury, Jr., 1s, 2d, John Thomas, 1s, 3d, Thomas Richardson, 1s, 4d,
3 9
Job Stanwood, 1s, 6d, Joshua Norwood, 1s, Silas Bunker, 1s, 3 6
Thomas Wasgatt, Jr., 1s, Caleb Phinney, 1s, Na- than Scammons, 1s,
3 0
Simeon Hadley, 1s 1 0
1£ 7s 11do
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MOUNT DESERT PLANTATION
just north of Hull's Cove, at Hull's Cove, and at the mouth of Eddy's Brook. The next year at the plantation meeting held March 25, 1777, four men were chosen " to open the road already laid out " and to lay out new and longer roads, namely, from Mr. Smalledge's 1 house on the hill on the north side of Hull's Cove to the head of Somes Sound and from there one road to Bass Harbor Marsh and to Thomas Foss's house which was on the south side of Southwest Harbor. The description indicates that the latter road was to follow the eastern shore of Echo Lake. These roads were nothing more than rough paths, and were impassable for vehicles until many years later. Very few horses were owned on the is- land until the summer business developed. The 1777 plantation meeting also provided for four public landings, two at Southwest Harbor, and two at the head of the sound.
The settlers too had their independent opinions about public affairs. When they were called upon to ratify the form of government agreed upon by the convention of the new State of Massachusetts on February 28, 1778, they voted to approve with three amendments and two ob- jections, which are as follows : -
" 1st. Every person or persons shall have free liberty to petition the Governor and Senate and
1 This was Timothy Smalledge, who with his wife Jemima and one child came from Naskeag Point to Hull's Cove very early.
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House of Representatives as often as they shall find occasion.
"2nd. That any member of ye Senate, or House of Representatives shall have free liberty to speak his mind without being questioned afterwards.
" 3rd. That ye Governor, Lieutenant Gov- ernor, or any Senator, or any member of the House of Representatives having been elected three or four years in succession shall not be chosen again for three or four years afterwards."
The two objections were :-
" Article ye 6th against each town paying the expense of their own representative. Article 11th against the Governor marching with ye militia without the consent of ye Senate. Voted to ap- prove the whole as now stated. Total 20 voted present."
It is needless to pursue further the details of the Plantation Records. The harmony, the ease, the efficiency with which all this social and polit- ical organization was accomplished by a small body of untutored fishermen and lumberers may well be a wonder to people unused to the exer- cise of democratic power. These people, possessed of little more wealth than was represented in their axes and fish-hooks, were able, without commotion or friction or resort to any authority outside themselves, to constitute a self-governing community and to provide for its successful ad-
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MOUNT DESERT PLANTATION
ministration. No hereditary chief, no conspicuous leader, no authoritative guide, dictated the course of action. The people themselves, without sug- gestion or aid from any leader whose name it is easier to rescue from oblivion than another's, organized their society and established their government. By their own wit and determina- tion and conscience, by practical discussion, by the instinct of self-preservation, these plain folk gave evidence of their power not only to clear the wilderness and to wring a livelihood from a hostile environment, but also to plant enduring institutions and upbuild a Christian Common- wealth.
VI MOUNT DESERT TOWNSHIPS
The word of the Lord by night To the watching Pilgrims came, As they sat by the seaside, And filled their hearts with flame.
My angel, - his name is Freedom, - Choose him to be your king; He shall cut pathways east and west And fend you with his wing.
Lo ! I uncover the land Which I hid of old time in the West, As the sculptor uncovers the statue When he has wrought his best;
I will have never a noble, No lineage counted great; Fishers and choppers and ploughmen Shall constitute a state.
Go, cut down trees in the forest And trim the straightest boughs; Cut down trees in the forest And build me a wooden house.
Call the people together, The young men and the sires, The digger in the harvest field, Hireling and him that hires;
And here in a pine state-house They shall choose men to rule In every needful faculty, In church and state and school. EMERSON.
MOUNT DESERT TOWNSHIPS
LOCAL history is the root of national history. Our national history has indeed its own wonder- ful and widespread pattern and design which can be seen and appreciated only when set before us upon an ample scale ; but the detail of the pattern and the individual threads of the fabric are to be found in local, family, village history. There are the dyes that give color to the story, there are the touches of reality that give human inter- est to the record. The warp and woof of history are in the daily doings of average people, in the loves and courtships and married devotion that we can read between the lines of every family genealogy, in the industry that cleared the forest and dug wells and laid out roads and raised dwellings, in the eager cravings that founded schools and churches. Therefore it is that we can trace the record of the nation that we love, and enter into the secrets of her growth and sta- bility when we survey the history of a typical New England town.
The traits of the New England character that have proved the dynamic of national progress were abundantly illustrated in the history of Mount Desert. Certainly the first was enterprise
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and pioneer pluck. The motto of the forefathers was, " What ought to be done can be done." The sound of the axe rang bravely through the woods, and gradually the trails were converted into roads, and slowly, by dint of patient toil, the points and hillsides became pastures. The people were extraordinarily industrious. No eight- hour law for them. They worked fourteen hours a day, and for recreation went fishing. The strength of the stumps they wrestled with and the weight of the stones they piled into walls went not only into their arms and backs, but into their characters. In spite, too, of the pressure of the wilderness around them and their iso- lated lives, the founders of the town had a good shrewd Yankee sense of humor, and many a sally and repartee went the rounds of the community. A mean man who did not live squarely up to his agreements must have been very uncomfort- able.
The intelligence and stability and prosperity of the New England town is in no small degree the result of the form of local political organ- ization. When President John Adams was asked to mention the principal cause of the decision of the colonies to resist oppression in arms, he answered : "The town organizations of New England. It was in these assemblies that the sentiments of the people were formed and their resolutions were taken." Thomas Jefferson wrote :
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" The townships in New England are the vital principle of their government and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self- government and for its preservation." This testi- mony is confirmed by the judgment of all reflect- ing men.
The town meeting was a little parliament, and a trained watchfulness over local interests was and is the best preparation for efficient service in broader spheres. The citizen gained in self- respect, in consciousness of power ; he learned to respect his own manhood and to submit to the will of the majority. His cooperation in local affairs insured his attachment to local interests ; the well-being the community offered him secured his affection, and its welfare was the aim of his ambition. He took part in every occurrence of the place, practiced himself in the art of govern- ment in the small sphere within his reach, ac- quired an appreciation of good order, and gathered clear, practical notions about his own duties and the extent of his rights. It will be well to pause a while to consider the detail of the machinery in this typical pioneer community.
It was on March 24, 1788, that the General Court of Massachusetts, premising " that the in- habitants of that part of Lincoln County which is situated on and east of Penobscot river, labor under many inconveniences by reason of their
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great distance from the places where the courts of judicature are holden," ordered "that the proprietors and settlers of the following town- ships and plantations, viz. Mount Desert, Deer Island, Fox Island, Gouldsboro', townships No. 1, and 2, east of Union river ; No. 6, and 7, on said River ; No. 4, and 5, upon Bluehill Bay ; No. 1, and 2, on the east side of Penobscot River ; No. 1, on Kenduskeag ; No. 1, on lower Dabscook ; and the township of Frankfort all on the west side of Penobscot river ; and the town- ship of Camden on Penobscot Bay, be directed and hereby are directed to appear if they see fit on second Wednesday of the first September next, to show cause if any they have why these respective townships should not be incorporated." 1
In the following year and in accordance with this resolution there was duly passed : -
An act for incorporating the Plantation of Mount Desert, so called, in the county of Lincoln into a town by the name of Mount Desert.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same that the Plantation
1 The towns acted in accordance with this resolution, and Deer Island, Vinal Haven, Gouldsboro', Mount Desert, Trenton, Sullivan, Sedgwick, Frankfort, and Blue Hill were incorporated in 1789; Camden and Bangor in 1791; Bucksport in 1792; Steuben and Hampden in 1794; Harrington in 1796; Ellsworth and Orland in 1800; Surrey in 1804.
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TOWNSHIPS
called Mount Desert, together with the islands called Cranberry Islands, Bartlett's Island, Rob- ertson's Island and Beech Island, together with the inhabitants thereof be, and they hereby are, incorporated into a town by the name of Mount Desert, and the said town is hereby vested with all the privileges and immunities which other towns in this Commonwealth by law do, or may enjoy.
And be it further enacted that Gabriel Johon- not, Esq., be, and hereby is impowered to issue his warrant directed to some principal inhabitant of the said town, requiring him to notify the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as he shall therein appoint, to choose all such officers as towns are by law required to choose at their meetings in the month of March or April annually.
In the House of Representatives Feb. ye 16th, 1789. This bill had three several readings and passed to be enacted.
WILLIAM HEATH, Speaker Pro tem.
In Senate February 17th, 1789. This bill having had two several readings passed to be enacted.
SAMUEL PHILLIPS, President.
Approved. A true copy,
JOHN HANCOCK, Governor. JOHN AVERY, Secretary.
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By virtue of this act Gabriel Johonnot, Esq.,1 issued his warrant dated at Penobscot, March ye 17th, 1789, to Abraham Somes directing him " to notify a meeting of the inhabitants of said Township at ten of the clock in the forenoon at the dwelling house of the said Abraham Somes for the following purposes, viz. : -
" To choose all such officers as towns are by law required to choose at their annual meeting in the month of March or April, and to act on all such other business as shall be necessary to be done."
Mr. Somes gave the notice, as shown by his certificate, as follows : -
April ye 6th, Ye Year 1789.
Pursuant to the within warrant I have notified the inhabitants to meet at the time desired.
ABRAHAM SOMES.
It appears that the voters were required to take and subscribe to an oath of allegiance before they could act in a town capacity. The signatures give us a roster of the citizens of Mount Desert in
1 Gabriel Johonnot was the son of Zachary Johonnot and Elizabeth Quincy, and was born in Boston in 1748. He was pro- minent among the Revolutionary patriots, one of the committee to wait on the consignees of the tea cargoes, chairman of the com- mittee to confer with General Gage, and later lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Glover's regiment in the Continental army. He settled at Penobscot, now Castine, about 1784, and was a leading citizen, justice of the peace, and representative in the General Court. He removed later to Hampden, and died there October 20, 1820.
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TOWNSHIPS
1789 which is probably complete. This document reads as follows : -
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, LINCOLN SS; In the thirteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America.
We, the subscribers, severally do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and de- clare that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is and of right ought to be a free, sovereign and independent State, and we do swear that we will bear true faith and allegiance to the said Com- monwealth and that we will defend the same against traitorous conspiracies and all hostile attempt whatsoever; and that we do renounce and abjure all allegiance, subjection and obedi- ence to the King of Great Britain and every other foreign power whatsoever, and that no foreign Prince, person, prelate, State or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, superiority preëminence, authority of dispensing, or other power in any matter, civil, ecclesiastical or spiritual within this Commonwealth, or may be, vested by their constituents in the Congress of the United States ; and we do further testify and declare that no man, or body of men hath, or can have any right to absolve or discharge us from the obligation of this oath, declaration or affirmation and that we do make this acknowledgement, pro- fession, testimony, declaration, denial, renuncia-
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tion and abjuration, heartily and truly according to the common meaning and acceptation of the foregoing words without any equivocation, mental evasion or secret reservation whatsoever. So help us God.
Cornelius Thompson.
Abraham Somes.
James Richardson.
Davis Wasgatt.
Stephen Richardson.
Levi Higgins.
Andrew Tarr.
James Richardson, Jr.
Ezra Young.
John Manchester.
David Bartlett.
Israel Higgins.
Ezra Leland.
Andrew Tucker.
Joshua Norwood.
Jesse Higgins.
Elkanah Young.
John Hamor.
John Somes.
Eleazer Higgins.
John Cousins.
Benjamin Atherton.
Gideon Mayo.
Reuben Noble.
Joseph Hodgdon.
Timothy Smallidge.
Israel Higgins, Jr.
Reuben Freeman, Jr.
Peter Stanley.
For the Year 1790.
Elisha Cousins. Samuel Milliken.
Israel Bartlett.
Daniel Somes.
Nathaniel Bennet.
Joseph Mayo. William Heath.
Simeon Hadley.
Jacob Reed.
Peter Gott.
John Rich.
Joseph Hopkins.
Samuel Reed.
Ezra H. Dodge.
John G. Richardson. David Hamor.
Sylvanus Leonard.
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TOWNSHIPS
David Rodick.
Philip Langley. Stephen Salisbury. David Higgins. Elias Bartlett. Samuel Bowden. Robert Young.
Nicholas Thomas.
David Richardson.
George Butler.
David Wasgatt, Jr.
Ephraim Pray, Jr. Aaron Sawyer.
Thomas Manchester.
William Norwood.
Jonathan Hadlock.
Bither Jordan.
George Freeman.
Enoch Richardson.
Welch Moor.
George Harmon. William Nutter.
Joseph M. Ober.
James Reed.
Moses Ladd.
Daniel Gott, 2nd.
John McKinzey.
Simeon B. Milliken. Amos Eaton.
William Gilley. Ebenezer Leland. Isaac Mayo.
Thomas Wasgatt.
Ebenezer Salisbury.
Samuel Hadlock.
Henry Knowles. Nathaniel Marcyes. Richard Heath. David Higgins, Jr. Joshua Mayo. Samuel Hull.
John Rich, Jr.
John Thomas, Jr. Solomon Higgins. Ephraim Pray. Christopher Bartlett. Benjamin Ward. George Richardson. Jacob Lurvee.
Faranton S. Farrell
Reuben Freeman.
Thomas Richardson. Joseph Gott.
Peter Dolliver.
William Roberts. Daniel Tarr.
Tobias Fernald.
Isaac Ober.
Samuel Milliken.
Timothy Smallidge, 2nd.
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It appears from this list that there were more than one hundred voters within the limits of the town.
At the meeting held April 6 in accordance with the above warrant, the business of the town was transacted as follows :-
" 1st. Ezra Young was chosen Moderator.
"2nd. James Richardson was chosen Clerk. . . .
"3rd. Chose Lieut. Levi Higgins, Lieut. Abra- ham Somes, Mr. Stephen Richardson, Mr. Thomas Richardson and Capt. Ezra Young Se- lectmen for ye ensueing year.
"4th. Chose Cornelius Thompson and Joshua Norwood Constables.
"5th. Chose Davis Wasgatt Grand Jury- man.
" 6th. Chose Nicholas Thomas and Andrew Tarr, Surveyors of Highways.
"7th. Chose Ezra Young, Elkanah Young, James Richardson and John Manchester, Sur- veyors of Boards.
"8th. Chose David Bartlett, Joshua Mayo, Israel Higgins, Jesse Higgins and Jacob Reed, Deer Reefs.
" 9th. Chose John Thomas and Andrew Tarr, Cullers of Staves.
" 10th. Chose Thomas Richardson and Levi Higgins, Tything men.
"11th. Chose David Hamor and Joseph Lequo Jr., Hog Reefs.
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TOWNSHIPS
" 12th. Chose Ezra Young and Andrew Tuck- er, Fence Viewers.
" Voted. For Governor - For his Excellency, John Hancock, Esq., thirty votes.
" For Lieut. Governor - Samuel Adams, Esq., twenty-three votes.
" For Senator - Daniel Coney, Esq., twenty- three votes.
" For Register of Deeds for ye Middle Dis- trict - Mr. John Peters, thirty-five votes.
" Voted that this meeting be adjourned to ye 15th day of June next at the house of Lieut. Abraham Somes for the further choice of town officers and for any other business that shall be thought necessary to be done."
At the adjourned meeting, June 15, it was voted " that it is the sense of the town that the Selectmen do the duty of the Selectmen and As- sessors for the present year.
" Voted also that the Town expect that the Constables do the duty of Constables and Col- lectors for the present year, and until others be chosen and sworn in their stead.
" Voted that James Richardson be Town Treasurer for the present year.
" Voted that the town proceed as soon as pos- sible to assess and raise the sum of 24££ 5s 3d to pay the State Tax sent for.
" Voted that the town raise 12£ for Town Charges for this year.
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" Voted that the Selectmen be and are hereby impowered to assess the town and raise the money and pay the County tax if called for."
The territory of the town thus started in busi- ness consisted of Mount Desert Island, Thomp- son's Island, the Two Thomas Islands, Bar Island, Sutton's Island, Bear Island, Greening's Island, the two Cranberry Islands, Baker's Island, Moose Island, Tinker's Island, and Bartlett's Island. This was a large territory and very in- convenient for the transaction of business. The town was traversed from east to west by moun- tains and nearly separated from south to north by Somes Sound. It was fourteen miles in a straight line from Hadley's Point on the north to Bass Harbor Head on the south, and about the same in breadth. The settlements were on Bartlett's Island, on the Cranberry Isles, and at Southwest Harbor, Bass Harbor, Seal Cove, Pretty Marsh, Beech Hill, Somesville, The Nar- rows, Hadley's Point, Salisbury's. and Hull's Coves, Bar Harbor and Sandy Beach on the island of Mount Desert. There were no means of communication from one settlement to an- other except by water or over rough paths cut through the woods. It was no light undertaking for the citizens to gather in town meeting two or three times a year at Somesville or Bass Har- bor.
The settlers of the town were, however, a
ENTRANCE TO BAR HARBOR
why
SOMESVILLE
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TOWNSHIPS
resolute folk, and all of about the same degree of material prosperity, of education, and of po- litical experience. They were men who toiled with heart and brain and hands to get their new settlement " out of the woods," and went about their task with deliberation, patience, and cour- age. The foundations of the town were laid in its family life. A census of the inhabitants would have revealed very few bachelors and no old maids. It was a community of married cou- ples, usually with rapidly increasing families of children. The fundamental idea of the old-time . New England family was that marriage was not a merely sentimental arrangement but an indus- trial partnership for life. The law of service had practically no exceptions. Doubtless in this, as in similar communities, there were some half- conscious class distinctions. Perhaps a dozen of the fifty or sixty original families were more or less " looked up to " and relied upon for leader- ship in industrial and political affairs, but these partially superior families probably included the ten or twelve hardest-working men and women in the community. They literally fulfilled the Scrip- tural injunction : " Let him who is greatest be your servant." These families had no luxuries which their humbler neighbors did not equally enjoy. Men and women and children all alike worked with their hands.
The darker side of this family life was, first,
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its industrial intensity and, second, its ignorance or negligence of sanitary law. All the people worked very hard and for long periods. The men, unless "lost at sea," were often long-lived and vigorous, but the women too often broke down under the unceasing strain of household service. Too many of the families of the town were deci- mated by inherited diseases, which better diet, less intensity of labor, and reasonably sanitary precautions might have averted. There was, too, in such a community a great lack of wholesome amusement. The play side of life had little or no opportunity for development. Every one was engaged in the occupation of getting a living out of the stubborn hills, out of the stormy sea.
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