USA > Maine > Cumberland County > New Gloucester > New Gloucester, Maine, centennial, September 7, 1874 > Part 5
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I should like to refer right here to an anecdote which was related to me by General FESSENDEN himself, as it is a marked and affecting instance of the baleful effects of in- temperance on the mental and moral faculties. There formerly lived in New Gloucester, a man who was distin- guished and held high rank in the Revolutionary War. He was unfortunately addicted to the excessive use of ardent spirits and his faculties were becoming impaired. General FESSENDEN, although a young man, was on intimate terms with him, and considered it due to friendship to remonstrate ; which he did in a manner as delicate as possible, pointing out the inevitable results of such a course and lamenting
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WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN.
the necessity of referring to the subject at all. The matter was taken in a friendly spirit, and the unhappy victim of habit remarked with perfect calmness, that no one could understand the evil consequences of intemperance better than himself; that he saw plainly the terrible end which was before him and lamented it more than his friends pos- sibly could. But, he added, it was impossible for him to change. He could not reform if he would, and, so strong was the passion for drink, he would not if he could. Gen- eral FESSENDEN replied, that having done his own duty and performed the painful service required by friendship, he never should refer to the subject again. It was not many months after this, when sitting in his office one sum- mer's day, he heard a great outcry, with shouts for help. He rushed out and found some people from a distance endeavoring to force his old friend into a carriage. On demanding the reason for this extraordinary proceeding, he was informed that they had concluded to remove him to an insane hospital. The unhappy victim appealed in touch- ing tones to FESSENDEN for protection; but the latter replied that he had once endeavored to avert such a calamity in vain. He had done his whole duty and now he could not interfere. "Well," exclaimed the unhappy man, " if FESSENDEN will not defend me there is no help; I will resist no longer." He was removed to a hospital, where he passed the rest of his life.
WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN was not a native of the town, but was brought here when an infant. This eminent states- man, able lawyer and honest man had a national reputation ; it is unnecessary to go into any details here respecting his character and history.
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COL. ISAAC PARSONS.
"The name that dwells on every tongue, No minstrel needs."
Col. ISAAC PARSONS was in some respects one of the most remarkable men of our town. A native of Cape Ann and of a notable family, he early emigrated to Maine, where he became a large land owner. He was a Calvinist in religion and a Democrat in politics. Nor was he a man to hide his light under a bushel. On the contrary, he was decidedly aggressive as a religionist, and remarkably firm as a politician. In those days political sentiments and religious dogmas were held with such tenacity and entered so much into personal relations, that the young emigrant was not remarkably popular with his relatives in the old Bay State ; and when he went up to Boston as a Dem- ocratic member of the Great and General Court, it was with a feeling that he would not be well received by his own family. There was no occasion for this apprehen- sion. The most friendly feelings were manifested, and when his distinguished relative, Chief Justice PARSONS, made his circuit in Maine, he not seldom visited his country cousin, sometimes even prevailing with him, as I have doubtingly heard, to walk out of a Sunday. Deacon PARSONS was a man of great sense and sagacity, of con- siderable ability and remarkably "set" in his opinions. To no man could the line be more truly applied " Homo justus et tenax propositi," (which the "Antiquary " translates " a just man but obstinate as a baited bull.") He exerted great influence in the new town ; no man was more respect- ed, although he was not quite free from the peculiarities of his day. He stood by what he regarded as matters of principle and faith. I have often heard my mother describe
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COL. ISAAC PARSONS.
the Sundays at her father's home with a sort of shudder, although she did not regard them with that feeling. There was never a morsel of food cooked, nor the least manual labor performed which could possibly be avoided ; even the table was spread the night before for the whole day. It was Col. PARSONS who said, in those days of political ex- citement, that " Bonaparte was the Almighty's High Sheriff." He was literally a patriarch, for I must not fail to mention that he had five wives-not, let me hasten to add-all at once, but in an ordinary and lawful way, one after another. His own children were numerous, and some of his wives had children by other husbands, so that when the Deacon died at a good old age, it seemed as though half the county was at the funeral. There was no little difficulty in settling the points of precedence, and the procession extended from the home half way up to the Corner. He was a man of forethought, as the arrangement of his wives' graves made clear. Two were placed together, then a space was left for himself, and then two were placed on the other side. Alluding to this in his will, he ordered that his body should be placed in the center between the four wives, and " whereas their grave-stones were of slate, he directed that his should be of marble and a little higher than theirs." You will find the grave stones as I have described them, in the old grave yard. The fifth wife survived her husband. To the good sense and practical observation of Col. PARSONS the State of Maine is greatly indebted. Before he came here no farmer to the eastward of Old York, ever raised a bushel of corn to sell ; but the people were dependent mainly on the western and southern counties for their bread. He found that the settlers had not discovered the right way of managing and improving new lands. He found by strict examination in
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REV. ELISHA MOSELY.
1762, that land in a natural state, that had a full growth of hard wood upon it, if the trees were cut and lay a reasonable time, would collect so much nitre as to become light and more suitable for the roots of any vegetable to penetrate in quest of nourishment, than it could be made by all the arts of cultivation, especially when the wood was burnt off, and it had the additional benefit of the alkaline salts. He was fully convinced that if corn were planted on new land, cleared and well burnt over without breaking the surface any more than by chopping off the weeds and sprouts, a good and ripe crop might be produced, and that the opinion that it would not stand without "hilling" was entirely erroneous. A knowledge of this method soon spreading through the country, it proved a greater encouragement or inducement to the settling of the State, than any one thing except the withdrawal of the Indians. The statement is his own, made in 1824, but is amply corroborated.
I should be glad to allude to some of the other notable men of the town, especially to Master JABEZ WOODMAN, that eccentric but eminently honest, simple-hearted and scholarly man, who taught so many of the young in the higher branches of learning-to Captain MOSES WOODMAN and JEREMIAH ALLEN, to AMOS HASKELL, and many other model citizens and princely farmers ; to ELISHA MOSELY, so many years the minister of the parish, whose political principles and party sermons were so at variance with the ยท notions of his senior deacon,* and whose famous beer was
* In 1810, the 4th of July was celebrated in the town by both parties, the Federal oration being delivered by General FESSENDEN. It was on this occasion that Parson MOSELY gave out the hymn beginning thus :
"Break out their teeth, Almighty God, Those teeth of lions, dyed in blood !"
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DEXTER BEARCE AND COL. FOXCROFT.
so well known for its curative qualities as to attract many invalids to the town. His theology was mild and harmless, and he was not fitted for the religious controversies that arose towards the end of his life ; but his influence was always great, and uniformly exerted for the benefit of the people ; to Deacon NELSON, whose manly form and dignified bearing will never be forgotten by those who knew him ; to PETER HASKELL, senior, whose name was the synonym of honesty, and whose sons and his sons' sons are to-day among the most respected citizens of the town; to OBEDIAH WHITMAN, brother of the famous preacher, BERNARD WHITMAN, a man of most genial spirit and great intelligence ; to SOLOMON HEWITT CHANDLER, probably the wealthiest citizen the town ever had, a man of great energy and busi- ness ability, of the kindest nature, whose ringing laugh was contagious ; to ISAAC PARSONS, Junior, and DEACON GROSS, reliable officers of the town; to FREEDOM KEITH, the skill- ful mechanic whose well made furniture is now in most of the houses ; to DEXTER BEARCE, the kind neighbor and faithful friend, ever ready to enter into the joys and sorrows of others, who never turned the poor away from his door, and whose heart was large enough to welcome suffering humanity in whatever guise it appeared. In particular, I should be glad to refer at length to that model public officer, Col. JOSEPH E. FOXCROFT, whose personal manners so well became the important office he held for many years. You know of course, that his father was one of the first ministers of the town. He was a graduate of Harvard College and a son of the minister of the First Church in Boston (Chauncy street). The Parish and Church in New Glou- cester always had a strong influence in the Congregational denomination, and probably more young men in the past 6
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DR. TIMOTHY LITTLE AND PELEG CHANDLER.
generation of that Parish were liberally educated than of any other of the same size in the State. Is it not probable that the early influence of a well educated man has been always felt in this direction ; that he gave a tone to the public sentiment and a refinement to the people which were the direct result of his own learning and culture ?
Nor must I fail to allude to Dr. TIMOTHY LITTLE, the physician and surgeon, whose great reputation drew him to a wider sphere of action. For many years before he left, he had large numbers of medical students and was univer- sally held in great respect by all. Some of his students were wild young fellows. There were strange stories of midnight raids upon distant grave yards. Whether true or not will probably never be known; but certainly those incipient doctors sometimes came home very early in the morning with tired horses and attended by mysterious cir- cumstances. There was, always an air of simplicity about the old Doctor, well calculated to drown suspicion, although it is certain that there were a good many bones round his house and stable. His students once set up the skeleton of a cow at the head of the back stairs, which was left there when the family removed to Portland. I remember to have heard at the time, that the wife of the new tenant, going up stairs for the first time, fainted away at the unexpected sight.
I shall be pardoned for more than a mere allusion to PELEG CHANDLER, Father and Son. The former was the son of PELEG CHANDLER, of Duxbury, and his father bore the same name. One of the earliest settlers of New Glou- cester, he owned, lived and died upon the farm at the Corner. The family now have the old sign of the Bell Tavern in 1776, which he kept. He was an honest citizen, a blacksmith by trade, and a good one. He had the voice of
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PELEG CHANDLER, JR., AND EZEKIEL WHITMAN.
a Stentor. It is related that he would, at his back door, call his men to dinner on the intervale, although the state- ment requires some verification to be accepted as literally true. His youngest son, PELEG, graduated at Brown University in 1795. He was a classmate and chum of Chief Justice WHITMAN. The celebrated WILLIAM BAYLIES, of Taunton, was in the same class. He was fittted to enter a year in advance. Well mounted on a gray horse, with a little money and saddle bags containing his whole wardrobe, the young student wended his way to the distant State of Rhode Island. When approaching the village of Titticut, in Bridgwater, on a warm day in August 1792, he saw a youth reclining under a tree by the wayside. They entered into conversation, when it appeared that the young man was a member of the same class which CHANDLER proposed to enter. So much were they pleased with each other, that they agreed to room together. This was the beginning of a friendship which lasted through life. And it was by PELEG CHANDLER's influence, that his friend, EZEKIEL WHITMAN, who was a native of Bridgwater, commenced his pro- fessional life in New Gloucester, and began that career which was so marked and even brilliant, for he became the Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and of the Supreme Court, and a member of Congress from the most important District in Maine. Young CHANDLER made his way through College and returned home to meet a life of disappointments. His mother, (SARAH MARIA WINSLOW) being strongly opposed on principle to the legal profession, her son reluctantly took charge of the paternal acres ; acted as Justice of the Peace and in various positions of trust, until at length, when his parents were very old and near their end, and after the birth of the youngest of ten children, he
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PELEG CHANDLER, JR.
commenced the practice of the profession which he had chosen when a young man. Coming upon the stage at so late a day and under circumstances so adverse, he could not of course expect to take the highest position. But he was a man of marked ability, of great wit and humor, fairly read in the law, and an advocate of more than average success. In 1819, before the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Sessions, holding the office for several years after Maine became a State, and until his removal to Bangor. He con- tinued in the profession until his death in 1848, at the age of 74. He was buried in the old graveyard in New Glou- cester, and by his side there was placed years afterward all that was mortal of his beloved wife, ESTHER PARSONS, a woman of a character so fine, that no partiality of relation- ship can do it more than justice. She had much of her father's firmness and independence, with all his strength of religious faith, but united with a character so simple and a disposition so retiring and truly feminine, as to inspire in all who knew her a respect which was very great and a love which was very strong.
It is time that I should bring this letter to a conclusion. I have not attempted to indulge in moral reflections or flights of fancy or sentimental remarks on the interesting occasion which calls the citizens of the old town together. The humble task has appeared to me the better course, namely, to refer to facts and events which may not be known to many of the present generation. Some of them may seem trivial, but everything which helps to illustrate the history of the past is of some importance.
The town of New Gloucester compares most favorably, in some respects, with the rest of the county ; its local position
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A BEAUTIFUL TOWN.
is surpassingly beautiful. I have been in many parts of our own country and in some foreign lands, but I have often thought that there are views in your town which, for quiet beauty and a certain charm of contrasted scenery, are equal to anything to be found. It was formerly half-shire town and a place of considerable business importance. It has always exerted a strong and healthful influence. There never was an academy or a public high school in the place, but the common schools were good, and there were always excellent means of acquiring knowledge in private schools and by individual instruction. There is no place where the people have been in general more intelligent and respectable. It occurs to me, as I am writing this, that almost every teacher who lived in my days of going to school has passed away. There is certainly one exception in the case of the mother of your Orator of the day, who was for years a most successful instructor. I have the im- pression that she regarded the writer of this as almost incorrigible in point of idleness and indifference ; but she was patient and persevering, and it is a great pleasure for me, now and here, to record my thanks for her efforts to make something out of a dull boy, who appreciated her trials long after she had probably forgotten them.
I am, gentlemen, with great respect,
Your obedient servant,
PELEG W. CHANDLER.
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RESPONSE BY HON. W. W. THOMAS.
The Hon. WILLIAM WIDGERY.
Response by Hon. WILLIAM WIDGERY THOMAS, of Portland.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen :
As I sat here to-day and listened to the story of the men who were born here, these texts have occurred to me : " Walk about Zion and go round about her. Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following, and of Zion it shall be said this and that man were born in her." My mother, nearly a hundred years ago, was born on yonder hill, and I rejoice that I may claim for her so good a birth-place. You should rejoice that you may claim it as your heritage, and that your lines have fallen to you in such pleasant places. New Gloucester has much to be proud of, in the beauty of her scenery, her agricultural resources, and the industry and high moral character of her population. Much has been said about the pioneers of New Gloucester, their energy, their courage, their virtues and their hardships.
The name of WILLIAM WIDGERY, one of these pioneers, is the sentiment which has now been given.
WILLIAM WIDGERY was my grandfather; he came to New Gloucester before the Revolution. During the Revo- lutionary War he was a Lieutenant of a privateer com- manded by NATHANIEL THOMPSON, in which capacity he displayed the same resolute courage that characterized his after life. He came here poor, with a limited education, but with persistency of character and the determination to succeed. New Gloucester honored him with many official positions, and he honored New Gloucester in these positions.
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WILLIAM WIDGERY.
In 1787, he was chosen Representative from New Gloucester to the General Court of Massachusetts, and held the office by repeated elections for nine years. In 1788, he was elected delegate to the Convention of Massachusetts, which adopted the Constitution of the United States. In 1794, he was Senator from Cumberland County to the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1791, being a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, he procured a term of the Court of Common Pleas to be held in New Gloucester, in January of each year, which continued until 1805.
In 1810, after his removal to Portland, he was chosen Representative to the 12th Congress. New England, as is well known, was deadly opposed to the war of 1812, and Mr. WIDGERY was one of the few members of Congress from the New England. States who cast his vote for that most righteous war. This vote, given from a deep convic- tion of duty and in direct opposition to Mr. WIDGERY'S own interest, made him the object of popular indignation, which was visited upon him on his return to Portland, in the most insulting manner. At Boston he visited one of the insurance offices on State street, and crowds gathered about him, cursing him and reviling him for his vote. At Newbury- port, a mob gathered about the old stage house where he passed the night, hooting and yelling, and calling on " Old WIDGERY" to show himself. Mr. WIDGERY stepped out on the platform of the tavern and demanded what they wanted; told them he was there to defend himself, and that the first man who laid a finger on him did it at the peril of his life. The residence of Mr. WIDGERY on Exchange street, in Portland, was surrounded night after night by a mob that made night hideous, with beating of drums, blow- ing of horns, yellings and imprecations. Mr. WIDGERY
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WILLIAM WIDGERY.
was at last compelled to remove his family to a place of quiet and safety, but he stood at his post, occupied his house, and though the mob cursed and swore, no one dared to offer personal violence to the brave old man.
Some years since a gentleman then located at the West, in reviewing the course of Mr. WIDGERY in Congress, and his vote for the war with England in 1812, said, " In Congress WILLIAM WIDGERY was a moral hero, proving himself a man of more moral firmness and more unbending integrity and self-sacrificing patriotism, by taking on him- self the unenviable position and dangerous responsibility of voting against the express will of his constituency for a hazardous and unequal war, with the larger part of his wealth (his shipping) uninsured on the ocean to come in and rot at the wharves, while his town property, but just recovering from the desolation of the embargo (worse for the infant seaport than a war), must again become unpro- ductive and furnish but a precarious resource for his declin- ing years, and then buffeting the storm of popular indigna- tion which he did."
In my journeying I have met and conversed about Mr. WIDGERY with Messrs. TALIAFERO of Virginia, POINDEX- TER of Mississippi, CASS of Michigan, and POPE of Kentucky, and many other men who were active participators in the scenes and "times that tried men's souls," and all with one accord bestow on his memory the meed of their unqualified admiration for his political Holocaust, on the altar of his country's honor.
Mr. WIDGERY practiced law many years in New Glou- cester ; in 1812 was appointed associate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held until the Court was abolished in 1822. Mr. WIDGERY was a man of great
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WILLIAM WIDGERY.
courage and firmness. He frequently commanded his own vessels. On one occasion, when off the coast of North Carolina, his ship was thrown on her beam ends. The crew, fearing the loss of the vessel and the loss of their lives, were determined to leave her, and launched the boat and put their dunnage into it, but before they could get in them- selves Capt. WIDGERY cut the painter, set the boat adrift and said, "Now boys, there is no escape for us but on board this vessel ; we will sink or swim together," and they brought their vessel into port. On one occasion, in com- mand of one of his own vessels, by his superior sagacity and shrewdness, and by pleading his own cause before an English Admiralty Court, he saved her from the fangs of the British Orders in Council. On another occasion, at the time of the downfall of the great NAPOLEON, Capt. WIDGERY was in a port of France, in command of a swift vessel. There he was sought out by Marshal NEY, then fleeing for his life from the allies, who besought the Captain to take him on board and carry him to America. Capt. WIDGERY, however, had already chartered his ship, and was compelled to stand by his charter party, which rendered it impossible to receive the Marshal on board.
Judge WIDGERY was a man of commanding and fine per- sonal appearance, six feet or more in height, well propor- tioned, with a countenance expressive of dignity and intelli- gence. "Few men have seen more of this great world than Judge WIDGERY, or figured in a greater variety of scenes." He died in 1822, at the age of 69.
Mr. President, I am happy that I am a descendant of one of the pioneers of New Gloucester ; happy to join in this Centennial Celebration ; and may the places of these pion- eers, whose deeds of self-denial and usefulness we have not
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LETTER OF HON. S. C. FESSENDEN.
forgotten this day to recount, be filled by those who shall emulate their noble example.
The following letter from the Hon. SAMUEL C. FES- SENDEN, of Stamford, Conn., a native of New Glouces- ter, was then read :
STAMFORD, CONN., 4th Sept., 1874.
Committee of Arrangements for the Centennial Anniversary of New Gloucester, Me.
GENTLEMEN :
It was my intention to be present and participate in the inter- esting exercises of the occasion, but the unexpected arrival of a friend from the other continent, who can remain with me for a few days only, will not admit of my leaving home just now.
This is my reason for a disappointment which, however great it may be to my friends whom I hoped to meet, is more regretted by me than it can be by them.
As expressive of my feelings (and therefore you may regard it s my personal greeting to the assemblage of the day), this is what I would say, and to its truthfulness all will attest.
THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF NEW GLOUCESTER : They have been true to the principles of their fathers who gave to the town during the first half century of its existence, an influence for good in State, and church, not second to that of any other town in the State, and the power of which has been, and will be felt at home and abroad in succeeding years; it is with just pride that their memory is cherished by their descendants.
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