USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Sangerville > Sangerville, Maine, 1814-1914; proceedings of the centennial celebration, June 13, 1914 > Part 3
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JOHN FRANCIS SPRAGUE of Dover, Maine
Son of Elbridge Gerry and Sarah (Parsons) Sprague; born in Sangerville, July 16, 1848. He is a descendant of William Sprague who was born in England in 1609 and emigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1629 and later to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and about 1635 moved to Hing- ham, Massachusetts. William was the son of Edward Sprague of Upway, County of Dorset, England, who died in 1614.
He was educated in the common schools at the Brockway's Mills district in Sangerville; was admitted to the Piscataquis Bar in 1874; commenced the practice of law at Abbot Village, Maine, that year and moved to Monson, Maine, in 1879, where he resided until 1910, when he be- came a resident of Dover, Maine. Was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1885-1893; member of the Republican State Committee 1887-1891. He is referee in bankruptcy for Piscataquis County; trustee of Monson Academy; member of the Maine Historical Society and the National Geographic Society and president of the Piscataquis Historical Society; mem- ber and president of the Maine Society, Sons of the American Revolution; member and a past president of the Maine Sportsmen's Association; member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic orders; author of "Piscataquis Biography and Fragments;" "A History of Doric Lodge;" "Se- bastian Rale, A Maine Tragedy of the Eighteenth Century;" "The North Eastern Boundary Controversy and the Aroostook War," etc., and is now editor of Sprague's Journal of Maine History.
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Oration
By Honorable Willis E. Parsons
Mr. Chairman and Citizens of Sangerville :
Upon this, your one hundredth anniversary, I am pleased to greet you, and happy to recognize in the town of Sangerville a mu- nicipality which stands as one of the solid, substantial units of our beloved Commonwealth, one which has no superior among towns of like population in the best state in all the Union.
For intelligence, integrity and moral worth, the people of Maine are unsurpassed by any in our proud galaxy of states, or other portions of the civilized world.
Your history has been written by one of your own distinguished sons, John Francis Sprague, lawyer and author, and I shall only re- fer to it in a general way.
Our fathers who cleared the way and conquered the wilderness were of that hardy, Puritanical stock which believed in right living and good government, establishing as the foundation thereof the church and the school wherever it went, whether to the prairie lands of the West, or to penetrate the rugged forest of Maine.
From the landing of our Pilgrim fathers upon the rock-bound coast of New England until the present time, the sturdy, persever- ing, self-sacrificing pioneer, whether seeking freedom to worship God, laying the foundation of a mighty empire, strengthening polit- ical and religious liberty, or seeking a home for self and loved ones, has endured hardships and privations which make him worthy our highest praise and admiration ; and those who laid the foundation of your beautiful, prosperous homes in Sangerville deserve as a rec- ord of their heroic deeds a monument more enduring than the im- perishable rocks of the everlasting hills.
Many before them had located upon the banks of the Penob- scot, that great highway to the sea. and were almost as much at home in the boat or swift-gliding canoe as upon the land. Timber was cut upon the shores and the taking of it to market and return- ing with the fruits of their labor had relieved them of much of the privation that was to be the lot and experience of those who located away from the river in the dense forest which they must clear to raise food for their dependent families.
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But the brave men and women of Sangerville were equal to the task. They overcame every obstacle. They not only made for themselves comfortable homes, but maintained schools for their children that laid the foundation for useful lives.
As the felling of the trees and clearing away the forests let in the sunlight and warmth, so their industry, perseverance and in- tegrity laid a moral and social foundation for the intelligence, hap- piness and prosperity of today. We should now remember their noble work, their self-sacrificing toil, as we gather from their im- perishable harvest.
Those early pioneers certainly knew what toil was; they knew what it meant to conquer the forest and make the wilderness blos- som as the rose. Their day's work was not measured by hours, but lasted from sun to sun, or from daylight to dark. The log cabin was built, the trees were felled, limbs lopped; and then when they had dried a little, came the burning and piling, and the burning of the piles, and when the land was cleared, spudding in the potatoes, beans and corn, and sowing the oats, wheat, rye and barley, yes, and buckwheat, too, for what would a new country be worth with- out buckwheat griddle cakes ; and when not attending to their crops they were shaving shingles to take to that growing town on the Penobscot to exchange for produce at the store, and a little, very little, cash, or working on the highways and in the winter in the woods, while the good wife and boys looked after the stock and did the chores, or the boys and girls attended to the work about the place while mother spun the yarn and knit the socks and mitts, or wove the homespun cloth that her husband and little ones might be warmly clothed.
And into that labor of love, entered the boys and girls of Sangerville, for the Johns and Jims and all the Bills, as well as Tom, Dick and Harry, helped father, and Susie and Mary and all the other girls helped mother, and sometimes the girls worked on the farm.
And they all went to school in the winter, and the boys took turns building the fires, and the teacher boarded around ; and some- times there were spelling schools and excitement ran high, and the boys would pluck up courage to go home with the girls and by and by William would become steady company for Mary and a little
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later a new home would be started up here in the wilderness ; and who shall say that those young people were not just as happy up here, toiling for themselves and posterity, as the millionaire of to- day, for in all this heroic labor there were pleasant hours as well as sad, sunshine as well as shadow, and yet we can little realize today the privations and hardships of those early pioneers, who in this and other localities in the interior of our state, toiled unceasingly that they might ereet and maintain for themselves and families comfort- able homes and establish communities which should grow and de- velop into a blessing to all posterity.
Your first settler, Phineas Ames, in 1801, was soon followed by others, and the men who followed the bridle path and erected the log cabins, felled the trees and planted the seed, trusting in God for the harvest, had something in mind other than a mere sub- sistence, and soon schools were established, and, possessing that deep-seated interest for the spiritual welfare of their children that has ever characterized our people, religious services were held in the log schoolhouse and the little community of Amestown or Sanger- ville so grew and prospered that in 1814 a charter was asked for and granted by the General Court of Massachusetts, June 13 of that year, and the town of Sangerville entered upon her first one hun- dred years of usefulness.
Several years later, in 1822, your first settled minister, Elder Daniel Bartlett of the Baptist persuasion, began his labors among you, ministering to the welfare of your small community, in sick- ness and health, in sorrow and gladness, by the bedside of the dying and at the marriage rites, guiding the aged as well as the young, making the interests of the new settlement his own, ever pointing to a higher life, advocating that religious faith, morality and right living which still obtains in the good town of Sangerville. The fruits of his labors and of others like him, we now enjoy, and few there are, whether professed Christians or not, who do not wish to do some good in the world.
The martyred Lincoln, who among all the beacon lights of history, save Washington alone, still remains the surest guide to the American people, said, "God forbid that the world should not be made better for my having lived in it." And in his great life work he ever recognized that higher Power. before Whom earth's
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mightiest conqueror is but a grain of dust, or even as the shadow that fleeth away.
Only two years before your incorporation, the war was de- clared with England and there was here in this little community, as in Foxcroft and the surrounding towns, much alarm in regard to the Indians.
I have been unable to find any written history of Sangerville, but it is fair to presume that the same apprehensions as to the con- duct of the Indians prevailed here as in Foxcroft. There fortifica- tions were advocated, houses were strongly barred, and some families abandoned their homes for safe locations. That town was on the great highway of the Indians from the St. Francis Tribe on the St. Lawrence down Moose River to Moosehead, down the Wilson to Sebec Lake, and so on down the Piscataquis and the Penobscot Rivers to the Penobscot Tribe at Old Town.
Much evidence has been found in the way of flint arrow heads and other stone implements around the shores of Sebec Lake, show- ing that it was one of their tarrying places and a favorite resort. And from there they made frequent excursions into the surround- ing country in quest of game and often called at the white man's cabin. But as the war progressed and the Indians showed no dis- position to be unfriendly, all fears subsided and the fortifications were never built.
From your earliest settlement agriculture has been a leading industry and it may well be said, few towns, if any, have better farms, more prosperous people or happier families than those who dwell upon the hillsides or in the dales of good old Sangerville.
What more independent life can be led than is enjoyed by him who tickles the soil that it may laugh with a harvest ; who enjoys the fruits of his own labor in the open, close to nature, with nature's God as a partner, Who sendeth the rain and the sunshine, and giveth the harvest.
Sangerville is one of the leading agricultural towns of our state and agriculture is the principal industry of Maine and of America. In that fact lies the salvation of the great Republic, for the farmer not only feeds us all but, far removed from the corruption of con- gested districts, possesses a higher tone of morality and right think-
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ing and living than is usually enjoyed in our American centers of population.
The cities, too, draw their life blood from the country towns and rural population. A few years ago my attention was called to the fact in the Maine Legislature that everyone of the representa- tives and senators from the largest city in Maine were born in the country and most of them upon the farm. The farm, young man, is the best place in all the world to raise good citizens and the rural districts of our state are no exception to that rule.
I am going to assert that no great city in America could long survive without the energy, life and brains drawn from the country, but ere many generations had elapsed, would either be like Sodom and Gomorrah, or so degenerated as to be a disgrace to civilization and civic righteousness become as one of the lost arts.
Sangerville has been, also, a prominent manufacturing town, and from the early sawmill, grist-mill, and carding mills your streams long since learned to turn the wheels of a mightier industry and the hum of machinery in your village has long gladdened the hearts of your people, millions of dollars going to support your families and build up your town, making this prosperous community what it now is.
You have been fortunate indeed in having such men as the Carrs and the Campbells among you, who, as your own citizens, have taken pride in seeing their town prosper, and who, unlike a foreign corporation, have at times run their mills at a loss rather than shut down, knowing the effect that closed doors would have upon their neighbors and the entire community. Surely such men are appreciated by you.
The noblest work of God is man, strong, fearless, self-reliant, ready for the conflict, ready to engage in any contest which makes for the elevation and advancement of his fellowmen. And Sanger- ville has certainly produced men.
One of the world's greatest men still living, a mighty genius. Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, was not a product of the great metropo- lis, New York, or of lettered Boston, but was born, reared and edu- cated in the town of Sangerville, where his father was one of your early settlers of limited means. unable to give his boys more than a common school education. But Hiram Maxim, inheriting his
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father's inventive genius, coupled with practical ideas, has been one of the world's great benefactors in that his deadly weapons of war- fare have actually made for peace.
There comes to my mind many other families who have made your town famous.
The Clark brothers, noted lawyers of the Middle West and gallant soldiers of the Civil War, Colonel Charles A. Clark receiv- ing a medal from Congress for bravery and gallant services in that memorable struggle.
The Carrs and Campbells, who built up your great industries and whose descendants are still with you. Moses Carr, who died but a few years ago at the advanced age of one hundred and one, and David R. Campbell have left monuments behind them of more value than bronze or marble.
The Knowlton family at Knowlton's Mills. conspicuous among them, Professor W. S. Knowlton, Maine's famous school teacher and author and legislator as well, and we are happy to greet the old veteran today as poet of this occasion.
Colonel William Oakes, as town officer and otherwise, was long identified with your growing community and other sections of the county, was president of the board of trustees of Foxcroft Acad- emy, held other important positions in county and state, and was a commanding figure in Amestown. He built the first framed house, which was occupied by him and later by his son, William P. Oakes, as a family homestead. It still stands on yonder hill just over the stream that turns the wheels of your industries, its timbers staunch and sound as in the days of yore. He was of New England stock and heritage, being a direct descendant of Nathaniel Oakes of prominence in colonial days.
One of his sons, William P. Oakes, long chairman of town of- ficers of Sangerville and later occupying the same position in Fox- croft, when a young man, after leaving college, studied law but on account of ill health took up land surveying and by his great abil- ity and the soundest integrity became one of the greatest surveyors that Maine has ever known. Often appointed court surveyor, his judgment and skill were never questioned, and the very name of Oakes added luster to your town.
Honorable Stanley Plummer of Dexter, distinguished legis-
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lator, orator and financier, is another illustrious son who first saw the light of day in the rugged town of Sangerville, and I have thought that his sterling character and powers of oratory might be due to the early inspirations which he gathered from the magnifi- cent scenery of Piscataquis and that grand uplift of mountain brow which reaches from Mt. Abraham on the west to old Katahdin, king of mountains, on the east.
Honorable John Francis Sprague, your historian of today, is modest in the extreme. but nevertheless an able lawyer, politician, and author of note, prominent legislator in days gone by, versatile writer and now editor of "Sprague's Journal of Maine History." He and I are own cousins and used to go to school together in our native heath over in his famous "Cy Strong neighborhood."
Honorable E. A. Thompson, late of Dover, noted physician, prominent politician of Maine, holding many important positions in county and state, used to take pride in the fact that Sangerville was the town of his birth. And sometimes, after enumerating a long list of your illustrious sons, would add, "and you know, Par- sons, you and I were born in Sangerville."
Captain Abner T. Wade, of wide experience and knowledge, commanding appearance and great executive ability, was a strong personality of the town for many years,
And in the early days there were Barnabus Bursley, our first register of probate; Daniel Dearth, father of a large family of boys and girls, a son, Judge Freeman D. Dearth, still practicing law in Dexter and postmaster of that town many years; Doctor Leonard Dearth, who practiced medicine in Foxcroft and later in Los Angeles ; another son, Charles F. Dearth, former sheriff of Pis- cataquis, a prosperous citizen of .Foxcroft.
The Leland family of pioneer days whose descendants, thrifty farmers, still till the soil on the paternal acres to the third and fourth generations in the fertile Leland neighborhood.
Thomas A. Sanders, and scores of others whose descendants have made your town and the Piscataquis valley a desirable place in which to dwell, are too numerous to mention here but still revered by you.
And during all this time your citizens have been interested not only in the progress of your own community, but in the world about
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you, in the gigantic strides of the Republic and forward march of the century.
One hundred years! How brief a span in the history of the world, in the life of nations! And yet during that period what mighty changes have been wrought upon this continent and other parts of the civilized world.
Your citizens have been interested in them all. They have discussed them over the newspaper and periodical, and the more im- portant ones in groups and by the roadside.
They have seen the slow mail, requiring weeks for transmission across the continent, transplanted by the telegraph and telephone. The old stage coach replaced by the lightning express and overland limited moving sixty to one hundred miles per hour. The slow sail- ing vessel giving way to the huge leviathans of the deep and ocean greyhounds crossing the Atlantic in five days or less, and all lighted by electricity snatched from the clouds.
And now, located as you are in the central portion of the state, you are expecting soon to see the flying machines, like huge birds of passage, hovering over your town or alighting on some of your smooth fields, their occupants to revisit the scenes of child- hood. And your young people, instead of discussing the anti- quated automobile, will be talking of the fancy dips, curves and coasting thrills of the up to date machine.
Great progress has been made in all the arts and sciences, and the town of Sangerville, like the rest of the universe, has benefited by it.
The good housewife's duties have been lightened by the sewing machine and other inventions, while labor saving machinery upon the farm has exceeded the predictions of the most visionary.
The new discoveries in science are continually startling the wise as well as the foolish, and through all the changes the nation has been growing and expanding as no other people upon earth, our progress being the marvel of the world.
Mr. Parsons next referred in glowing terms to our own state, the grandeur of the nation, the possibilities of the future, and some of the grave questions which, under ever-changing conditions, will have to be met. If the Republic endures, it must rest upon the honor and integrity of the people. Much depends upon the rural
HONORABLE WILLIS ELLIS PARSONS
The son of Levi and Lydia (Ellis) Parsons was born in Sangerville, May 16, 1854. Mr. Par- sons read law with the late Honorable Augustus G. Lebroke and was admitted to the bar in 1878 when he immediately formed a partnership as Lebroke & Parsons, which continued until his election as county attorney in 1884. He served three terms as county attorney, and was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1895 and the Maine Senate in 1897, serving on the Judiciary Committee and taking a leading part in legislation. He has been a member of the Republican State Committee; is one of the trustees of Foxcroft Academy; was presidental elector in 1912 and is now a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Hospitals. He is prominent in the order of Odd Fellows, having served as grand patriarch of the Grand En- campment of Maine and is now grand representative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge. He is a member of the Society of Mayflowers and has twice served as governor of that society in this State. He is also a member of Mosaic Lodge, F. & A. M., of Foxcroft, is a member of the Chapter of St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, of Bangor, and anoble of Kora Temple of Lewiston. He has acquired fame throughout the State as a political orator and public speaker.
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population, upon the great agricultural sections of the country.
Like the rest of Maine, Sangerville is interested. "Her work is not finished," said the speaker, "but is just begun. She must continue to rear stalwart sons and daughters, who, as they go forth into the world, will be armed and equipped with right principles and the highest sense of justice toward all, that they may do their part in upholding the institutions of their fathers, and maintaining to all posterity the noblest nation that has ever blessed the sons of men, that beneath her flag, the emblem of liberty and good government. there may ever dwell a free, united and happy people."
Speech of Sir Hiram Maxim
(Read by Hiram Percy Maxim)
Ladies and Gentlemen of Dear Old Sangerville:
No one could regret more than myself my inability to be with you on this occasion-the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Sangerville. Let me tell you something about my early days in Sangerville.
Shortly after my father, Isaac Maxim. married Harriet Stevens, they built themselves a little house not far from Brockway's Mills. cleared a few acres of land and built a large barn. But I was not born in this little house. My father and mother went to Brock- way's Mills and took lodgings in old Estrus Nickerson's house and it was there that I was born on the fifth day of February. 1840. In the early spring, they returned to their little farm and lived there until I was six years of age.
The thing that I remember the most is seeing a big bear chas- ing our sheep. My mother screamed and the bear stopped and looked at us; my father ran for his gun but before he could get out the bear was in the swamp.
From the little farm we moved to French's Mills where my father had two wood turning lathes, one of the common sort for
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turning bedstead posts, etc., and the other for turning wooden bowls which were much in demand at that time.
We did not live very long at French's Mills however, but moved away to Milo, returning again to Sangerville village in the summer of 1856, where I worked for Augustus Williams making drag rakes and went to school in the winter following. At that time the village people used to assemble at Owen William's store of an evening. Cotton Brown's adopted son had been to Massachu- setts and brought back a first-class set of boxing gloves. I used to box with the boys of my own age but the boys of the same age as my brother Henry would not box with him because he was such a hard hitter. I remember one evening he was matched against a boy three years older than himself. He said it wasn't fair but Cy Prince was there, as large as life and twice as natural, and said, "That's nothing, I've often put on the gloves with old Elder Clark and he is more than twice as old as I am." Cy Prince was about thirty-two and Elder Clark was over eighty. By the way, Elder Clark was a cousin to my mother. His wife died while we were at Sangerville village and one day while I was walking up the main street I noticed approaching me what I took to be a very dapper young city man. He was dressed in black broadcloth with a black satin vest, white necktie, patent leather boots and the shiniest kind of a silk hat. He wore lemon colored kid gloves and carried the slimmest kind of a black cane with a gold head. His hair, eye- brows and moustache were jet black but his face was about the color of lard. It was old Elder Clark and a week later he was married to a maiden lady of forty.
I regret exceedingly that I have nothing classical to write about Sangerville although I have a very soft spot in my heart for it. the land of my birth.
Many years after I left Sangerville I revisited Maine and of course Sangerville. I first visited Captain Samuel Maxim, my uncle who lived near Brockway's Mills, and the second day I started to walk through the woods down to French's Mills. As I emerged from the woods I saw a very old man working on the land with a hoe. When he saw me he dropped his hoe and walked towards me, seized my hand and said, "It is Hiram," then he commenced to laugh, he said that I was "the queerest boy that ever lived." I
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